With exactly one month until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness drops in theaters, the promotional campaign is in full swing. Along with advanced tickets now opening up, fans were given a new look at what may be the most ambitious Marvel Studios film to date.
[Warning for spoiler talk below for Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness. Do you want to know more about The Scarlet Witch but don’t like spoiler talk? Check out our Scarlet Witch comics reading guide.]
The new spot included some jaw-dropping action shots of Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen as Doctor Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff. However, those who don’t follow rumors about the film might have been shocked by the revelation that Tommy (Jett Kylne) and Billy Maximoff’s (Julian Hilliard) return in this Sam Raimi-directed film.
So how do Billy and Tommy return in this film and reunite with their mother Wanda here? Astral projection may be the key.
Wanda’s Astral Projections and the Magic Required
In this new trailer titled “Dream”, we see a flash of a more domestic-looking Wanda kneeling before Billy and Tommy in a house similar to their house in WandaVision. She’s reaching up towards the boy’s faces, clearly in distress while the twins look scared. Moments later, we see Wanda in a similar position, however, the boys are gone and she is in her Scarlet Witch costume surrounded by candles in a mystical-looking place.
The setting and circle of candles look similar to a shot in nearly every other advertisement for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with Wanda floating cross-legged meditating. Seeing Wanda using that circle of candles in different ways indicates that this place is of great importance and perhaps necessary for the magic Wanda is attempting to do.
It certainly seems like Wanda is astral projecting herself into her other variants across the multiverse. She’s doing this of course, in an attempt to see and communicate with her sons. After the post-credit scene from WandaVision, this makes total sense. Hearing the voices of her children, Wanda would go to the ends of the earth to see them again.
Through her exploration of magic, guided by the forces of the Darkhold, Wanda would have learned how to now just astral project like Doctor Strange did in the first film. But for her, it’s a more complex projection through the barriers of the multiverse to see her children again. For those who do follow rumors and leaks, you probably already know that this is expected to be a focal point for why the conflict between Wanda and Doctor Strange begins in the film.
Repercussions and The Scarlet Witch
For a while, Wanda may be content with astral projecting herself into different variants of herself. In a way, it’s similar to her actions in WandaVision, living within a delusion of her own creation and for a while, she will have her perfect life. However, it stands to reason that eventually Wanda will want more. She won’t want to just see her children in small bursts, but to be reunited with them fully.
After Doctor Strange’s actions in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the walls of the multiverse will be greatly weakened. This would make it easier for Wanda to astral project across the multiverse, combined with new knowledge from the Darkhold. The Scarlet Witch’s magic and strength ripping into the fabric of reality would likely tear through the magical tape Doctor Strange used to seal the multiverse up. This would create a bigger problem for Doctor Strange, Wong, and America to fix.
Throughout this entire film, it seems that Wanda’s motivation will be to see and find her children once again. Her desire for love and happiness will push her to extremes, and perhaps the Scarlet Witch prophecy, as written about by Alex Perez here last October, will come to full and tragic fruition.
I think the look we see on Tommy and Billy’s faces in that small scene is fear. Fear of the actions our Wanda does in the body of their mother. It allows for viewers, along with Wanda, to fully realize that each universe is just as real as another and vastly different from one another. Hopefully, at that point, Wanda can walk away and repair the damage she caused, and start a new journey of healing for herself.
For a bit more on how Doctor Strange and company might go about saving the multiverse and what’s going on with that other book that’s been popping up in the movie’s trailers and posters, see Alex Perez’s exclusive from February 16:
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness comes to theaters on May 6, 2022. But, what do you think? Is Wanda astral projecting herself into variants of herself? Or is something else happening in the vast multiverse of madness? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!
