As we're sure many of you will have heard by now (even if you haven't watched the episode yet), last night's season finale of VisionQuest included a surprise post-credits scene that featured the long-awaited return of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen).
We hadn't seen Wanda (alive, at least) since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, when the powerful former Avenger found some redemption for her villainous deeds by destroying every copy of the Darkhold and bringing Mount Wundagore down on top of herself.
In the VisionQuest stinger, we see Doctor Doom (we're not sure if it was actually Robert Downey Jr.) "resurrect" -- though she was looking very well for a corpse... perhaps she was never actually dead? -- the Scarlet Witch, while making his intention to claim her power for his own nefarious means abundantly clear.
This would obviously seem to confirm that Maximoff will indeed factor into Doomsday (whether she will mask up as one of Doom's Latverian Witches remains to be seen), and the Countdown Clock is now glowing red to mark the character's return.
Olsen was asked about potentially reprising the role in a recent interview.
“It's a character I love going back to when there's a way to use her well and I think I've been lucky when I started I was used well... and they kind of didn't know what to do with me for a second there! If there's a good way to use her, I'm always happy to come back.”
The actress also hinted at her return - while stopping short of confirming anything - during a separate interview with Collider.
"It’s really unusual," said Olsen when asked how it feels to play a character for so long in live-action and animation. "It’s something that’s been incredible. I assume it’s how people feel when they get to do a TV show for a long time. To be able to return to a character and continue to move them forward has been so much fun for me, especially because they gave me something like WandaVision to really blow it all up. And from there, Doctor Strange was such a wild and crazy turn. I do feel very lucky that I’ve been able to play a character for over 10 years of my life, and I’d love to keep doing more. But the animation thing, I feel like it’s a parallel world. I don’t really know how it intersects with what we do. But I’ve really enjoyed getting to play her over 10 years, and I continue to feel lucky that I have the opportunities I did, creatively."
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Universes collide and the Multiverse Saga begins its final chapter in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday. Beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and ultimately face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered. This epic film will lay the foundation for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.