welp, I used Wanda to try some different approaches to lineart and colouring, which required a lot of trusting the process, but I think I really like it! + I’ve also been having a lot of emotions after MOM, help!
The Issue with Multiverse of Madness: Wanda’s Characterization
I really wanted to like Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, but Wanda’s characterization kind of ruined it for me. Honestly, the writers seemingly erased all her character development from WandaVision.*spoilers ahead*
The whole point of Wanda’s arc in WV is that she went through all the stages of grief, and in the finale, she reached a point of acceptance. She got a sort of closure. She accepted the loss of her family and made peace with it, acknowledging that preserving her family was not worth the cost of innocent lives. So you’re telling me that it makes sense for her to then turn around and murder tons of innocent people so she can get her family back? When the exact opposite of that was literally the point of her character development? Honestly, I feel betrayed.
MoM reversed (or straight-up ignored) her arc. The WV finale made it seem like she was getting a fresh start, albeit a bittersweet one. This movie made it clear that isn’t happening. Even though she redeemed herself in the end by sacrificing herself, Wanda is an amazing character who deserved so much better than this! She deserved better than erased character development, becoming a mass murderer, and then getting killed off. I also resent how in the WV finale she finally came into herself and reached her true potential with this incredible moment of transformation, and then they turned her into a crazy, murderous villain. Yes, I know the Darkhold corrupts its readers, but still! That wasn’t shown. If the whole movie had been Wanda reading it more and slowly sliding into evil and obsession, that would have felt more believable. As it is, Wanda going from closure and acceptance straight to this level of “evil obsessive villain” felt wrong on so many levels.
Also, where the heck did the White Vision storyline go? In WV, Wanda’s Vision gives White Vision his memories and essentially his consciousness, and it was kind of implied that now White Vision embodies everything about the Vision we know and love in the MCU. So, theoretically, he could be with Wanda, and things wouldn’t have been much different. There was every opportunity for (and plenty of hints toward) a happier storyline for Wanda where she gets to continue on her journey of healing. She didn’t get that, and I don’t see any good reason why not.
Basically, just because you can go with a certain storyline or twist doesn’t mean you should.
I have to agree. DSMOM has other issues–chief among them the fact that Strange remains a rather two-dimensional character, also that they introduced America Chavez as a victim incapable of heroism before Strange’s pep talk magically fixes her–but the shortchanging of Wanda’s story/characterization is the most egregious. We’re just told “the Darkhold did this to her” without seeing it, without getting any sense of her other choices, anything. The only reason the movie works at all is Elizabeth Olsen’s powerhouse performance, which finds whatever honesty the material is capable of possessing.
And given the incredibly picayune moments Marvel has chosen to pull actors in for cameos, it’s RIDICULOUS that they couldn’t get Paul Bettany for at least one scene in Wanda’s ideal universe, because he would absolutely be there. Like, my love for Patrick Stewart’s Professor X is vast and unending, but all the Illuminati cameos didn’t mean as much to this story as 15 seconds of Vision would have.
saw the MoM again with my mom and aunt, and this time someone clapped very loudly when Billy and Tommy finished the ice cream song and it was incredible
Rewatching wanadavision and now im getting this strong inkling that the Wanda we saw in multiverse of madness trailer (the levitation scene) might be one of the versions of Wanda they mentioned in we’d see throughout the multiverse, though alot it is heavy speculation.
I could certianly just be me hyper-analyzing the changes in her Wimble from the finale to the trailer, BUT since they released a teaser photo with split versions of steven (strange Supreme and stephen) maybe that’s another Wanda they haven’t revealed in the story yet? (Also considering there was tale of a version of her fighting Professor X? Sounds a Lil fan-made but I mean…..♂️? )
Again, could totally be reaching…but it’s a theory.
