Wanda Maximoff AKA Scarlet Witch wields what we now know as Chaos Magic. And this magic comes from Chthon, the God of Chaos.
WandaVision showed Wanda Maximoff making use of her powers to create the Westview anomaly. It is only in Episode 8 that Agatha Harkness tells her, and us, that it is Chaos Magic, capable of spontaneous creation. Here’s what we know about this power that enables the spell-caster to warp reality.
Watch: Wanda Creating the Fake Reality Scene | WandaVision
Chthon and Chaos Magic in Marvel Comics
Simply put, Chaos Magic can manipulate, warp and reconstruct the fabric of reality according to the spellcaster’s wishes. A raw force of creation, it can easily destroy the entire cosmos. Chaos Magic is powerful beyond comprehension so much so that it was considered to be non-existent by the likes of the Sorcerer Supreme AKA Doctor Strange.
In the Marvel comics, the first use of Chaos Magic can be traced back to a time when the Elder Gods walked the Earth a billion years ago.
The first among them to harness this dark magic was Chthon, the arch-demon. He ruled the Earth as the God of Chaos before being banished from the then-present plane of existence by Atum, the God-Eater. He was trapped within Mount Wundagore in another dimension.
Before disappearing, he transcribed his work in the form of scrolls. These scrolls were translated and eventually made into a book called Darkhold. The same Darkhold that Agatha Harkness mentioned in episode 9 of WandaVision, i.e. the Book of the Damned. In the Marvel comics, cultists used the Darkhold to conjure dangerous supernatural creatures, like werewolves and vampires. However, the true purpose of the book is to serve as a conduit for Chthon.
Interestingly, Mount Wundagore is the very place where Wanda Maximoff was born. And Chthon’s most notorious attempt to invade Earth by breaching the dimensional barriers involved Wanda AKA Scarlet Witch herself. On the occasion, Chthon emerged by the bedside as Wanda’s mother was giving birth to her in Mount Wundagore. What gave Wanda her abilities was a graze of Wanda’s infant hand upon Chthon. This is how Chthon gave some of his powers to her and every time she used it, she strengthened the link between herself and Chthon. Chthon intended to use Wanda’s body as his own vessel but when the time came, Wanda was far too powerful and defeated Chthon.
Reality Warp in WandaVision
What we have understood from Wanda’s altering of reality in WandaVision is that the people related to the matter, either directly or indirectly, remain oblivious to the fact of the alteration. Who knows, with enough power, Wanda might even alter the reality of the whole of Earth and no one would even realize it.
But there are exceptions. We have noticed that Wanda’s control over people’s minds is not absolute. If Wanda decides to warp reality, characters that possess heightened senses, like Doctor Strange or even Spider-Man would realize that something is not right. And they might do something about it.
We get further info about how Wanda’s reality-warping effect works from Darcy Lewis. We do remember how she was able to make receive unusual broadcast frequencies coming out of the Westview anomaly. As she observed, the frequency came out with an enormous amount of CMBR (Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation); a radiation left-over after the Big Bang. This relates to the Mind Stone that seems to exist since the Big Bang if not before that. This proves that her powers are of cosmic proportions.
Wanda Maximoff’s Powers in WandaVision
As for her powers, she can manipulate people’s perceptions and make them hallucinate. Her other powers include the use of chaos magic for energy manipulation in any shape and form. Telekinesis, disintegration (what she did to the Ultron sentries in Avengers: Age of Ultron). Besides these, she can create force fields, can fly, has mental and more importantly emotional manipulation abilities, along with telepathy.
Is Wanda more Powerful than Dr Strange?
Going by the words of Agatha Harkness in the final episode of WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff is indeed more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme. You may doubt it but her powers are easily at par with those of Sorcerer Supreme. She also mentions that Darkhold has an entire chapter dedicated to the Scarlet Witch.
Will Chthon Arrive in the MCU?
Will we see Wanda Maximoff come face to face with Chthon? What we know for sure is that we will see Wanda next in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And considering Chthon deals in magic, he is sort of a baddie to tangle with Dr. Strange’s affairs and is at the root of Wanda’s powers.
