Before WandaVision, I can’t say I was a Wanda Maximoff fan. I certainly didn’t dislike her; she just didn’t resonate with me. After watching WandaVision and seeing Wanda’s journey of grief, I could relate and empathize. I felt connected and understanding.
After watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now I’m wondering what happened to that Wanda. However in the Doctor Strange 2 press conference, Elizabeth Olsen defends her character and will continue to do so. “I feel like in the previous films before WandaVision I took up a lane for storytelling that was more grounded in sincerity, love, loss, grief. With WandaVision, I got to become anything and everything and really grow her into a woman.”
She continues to say that Wanda realizes she is a mythic woman and that is her destiny. She hopes that in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness people see that continuation of her acceptance of who she is and the journey it has taken her to get to this moment. “I feel like she has way more clarity now than ever in this film.”
I feel like she has way more clarity now than ever in this film. -Elizabeth Olsen on Wanda in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
In WandaVision, Wanda took on so many personas. At times it was hard to know what was real and what was fiction. Olsen assures us that in Doctor Strange 2, Wanda has “a sense of confidence we haven’t seen of her yet.”
When asked about strengths and weaknesses of her character, Olsen said “I just think that my biggest goal for everything is to play the lawyer to my character. And to defend, defend, defend. So whether or not their greatest strength is their greatest weakness, wherever they’re coming from, or whatever they’re processing, my goal is to just defend their perspective.”
After watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I was having a hard time grasping Wanda’s story arc. Frankly, I didn’t like it. But I love what Olsen says here about defending her character’s perspective. Whatever opinion we may have from the outside looking in, we do not know what Wanda is going through. Elizabeth Olsen is brilliant as Wanda Maximoff in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now playing in theaters!