According to Screen Rant, in the final episode of WandaVision, Agatha tells Wanda, “Oh God, you don’t know what you’ve done,” after Wanda fully embraces her power as the Scarlet Witch. Right before Wanda imprisons her in her sitcom role as the nosy neighbor, she tells Wanda once more, “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.” In hindsight, now that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been seen in theaters and on Disney+, Agatha was absolutely right to worry about Wanda’s ability to cause chaos and destruction on a multiversal scale.
In fact, if Agatha had taken Wanda’s powers, fans might not have had to witness Mr. Fantastic grated like cheese or Professor Xavier’s neck snapping like a twig. Wanda’s atrocities as the Scarlet Witch are unspeakable, horrific, violent, and ruthless. She has lost all regard for human life being utterly corrupted by the Darkhold, desperately seeking to be with her children. If Wanda had never taken the Darkhold from Agatha, Wanda would not have been corrupted, as she did appear genuinely sorry for the atrocities she committed in Westview at the end of WandaVision. She resigns herself to isolation, which unfortunately leads to her corruption. But that stark warning from Agatha was one that Wanda should have heeded. Agatha Harkness showed incredible foresight: she saw what Wanda was capable of before anyone else, and we saw the consequences of ignoring her warnings in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
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Agatha Knew The Darkhold Would Corrupt Wanda
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Before Wanda, it was Agatha Harkness who possessed the Darkhold. And while she was no match for the fully powered Scarlet Witch, Agatha is an extremely powerful magic-user in her own right, as we see in WandaVision in a flashback to 1693, when she took the lives of the witches in her fellow coven. Agatha’s coven saw that she was growing too powerful and studying forbidden magic, so they attempted to eliminate her, and it backfired.
So, we can assume that Agatha was in possession of the Darkhold for quite a long time. Agatha had all the signs of being corrupted when she revealed herself to Wanda in the penultimate episode of WandaVision. She embraced the dark magic and used it to cause all sorts of calamity throughout WandaVision as she attempted to uncover how Wanda was able to create the Westview Hex. Once Agatha realized that Wanda was The Scarlet Witch, a being of untold power, thought to be a myth, she realized how disastrous it would be if Wanda were to get her hands on the Darkhold. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness validated Agatha’s concern.
Agatha Saw the Danger in Wanda’s Chaos Magic
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Agatha spent most of WandaVision “undercover” as the nosy neighbor Agnes. While comics fans saw this reveal coming, it was nonetheless quite spectacular when she revealed herself as Agatha Harkness. Once Agatha discovers that Wanda is the Scarlet Witch, she immediately understands that the magic Wanda used to control the hex was chaos magic, the most potent magic in the MCU (that we are aware of) that is also difficult to control. Chaos magic in the MCU allows its wielder to rewrite reality as they see fit.
Wanda’s inability to control her magic is a central recurring theme in her character’s arc, with her accidentally killing innocent people in the opening sequence of Captain America: Civil War. We also see how powerful Wanda’s magic is in her showdown with Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, when she overpowers the Mad Titan, driven by her fury and lust for vengeance, forcing Thanos to call a strategic audible to save himself.
Before WandaVision, Wanda did not realize she was a witch. She assumed her powers came from the mind stone when she and her brother were test subjects for Hydra. Once Wanda fully embraces her identity as The Scarlet Witch, she finally begins to understand the infinite amount of power with which she is embued. The Direct reminds us of Agatha’s proclamation: “Your powers exceed that of the Sorcerer Supreme.” Whether she was referring to Doctor Strange or Wong is unclear (as it is made clear that Wong is the Sorcerer Supreme in Spider-Man: No Way Home). However, the fact remains that in Multiverse of Madness, Wanda overpowers Doctor Strange and Wong with relative ease.
Agatha Knew The Scarlet Witch Was Meant to Rule or Destroy
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Agatha seemed to have some prescience; whether or not she knew the extent of the damage Wanda could cause throughout the multiverse is unclear. In hindsight, Agatha was right to be concerned. As prophesied in the Darkhold, The Scarlet Witch was meant to either rule over or destroy the Multiverse. This means Agatha knew about the Multiverse and the danger of dark spells and techniques such as dream walking. Immediately after the terror she caused in Westview, Wanda leaves and goes into isolation with the Darkhold now in her possession somewhere in the woods, as we see in the post-credits scene of WandaVision and again in Multiverse of Madness. The Darkhold’s temptation to be with her children again insidiously corrupts Wanda, making her more and more desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to get to her children.
Agatha’s foresight into what Wanda was truly capable of could have saved many lives. Suppose Agatha had been upfront with Wanda and the potential threat that Wanda’s magic (and her inability to control it) presented. In that case, we might have seen Wanda go down a different path in Multiverse of Madness. Instead, she ignores the warnings about her chaos magic, the nearly limitless amount of power the Scarlet Witch possesses, and the prophecy that she is meant to either rule or destroy the multiverse. As previously mentioned, Wanda not only ignores these warnings, but she also takes the Darkhold for herself, knowing the book’s insidious ability to corrupt its reader. And we know the rest. Kathryn Hahn will reprise her role as Agatha Harkness in the upcoming Disney+ series Agatha: House of Harkness. If the show takes place post Multiverse of Madness, we can expect a lot of “I told you so’s” from the MCU’s favorite nosy neighbor.
