About Elizabeth Olsen’s New “Seven Year Contract” with Marvel Studios
Rumors, rumors...
Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, newly transformed into the long-prophesied Scarlet Witch, has become one of the most beloved characters in the MCU, and now a new rumor claims that her contract with Marvel Studios has been extended. Is that rumor reliable, though?
We were first introduced to Wanda in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which she’s sent by Hydra to take out the Avengers but ends up joining them instead. Wanda eventually falls in love with Vision (Paul Bettany), only to lose him—twice!—to Thanos. Although she’s a supporting character in the Avengers films, Wanda comes into her own in WandaVision, the high concept Disney+ series that follows Wanda and Vision through a funhouse mirror of American sitcoms as Wanda is forced to come to terms with her grief over losing Vision.
Wanda’s struggle with unimaginable trauma and grief has made her into a wounded hero that viewers find deeply relatable, and when she returns to the screen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6, she may go back to being a villain. But what’s in store for the Scarlet Witch after Multiverse of Madness? Twitter user and self-described “Marvel insider” Harry Bowls claims to have insider information that her contract has been extended.
Hmmm. I’d take this with a massive grain of salt. For one thing, I’m no Hollywood executive, but don’t actors sign contracts for projects, not years? (Imagine an actor walking off the set because their contract expired in the middle of a shoot!) Secondly, as we all know, anyone on Twitter can say anything they want.
Does this mean that Elizabeth Olsen isn’t going to be in more Marvel movies, though? Nah, I think we’ll see plenty more of Wanda Maximoff. Keep in mind that Wanda just went through her big transformation, complete with new costume and title and everything. WandaVision was also a huge critical and audience hit. Would Marvel go through the trouble of setting up the Scarlet Witch, only to have her appear in one movie? I don’t think so. I think Olsen still has plenty of years in the MCU ahead of her.
What might the evolution of the Scarlet Witch look like? Fans, of course, are clamoring for a solo movie. That may or may not happen, given that Wanda already got her own Disney+ series, but Wanda’s character arc definitely has a lot of new and interesting directions it could go in, so there’s plenty to explore.
Even if she doesn’t get a solo movie, there’s still the next team-up film, whenever and whatever that may be. Her twins Tommy and Billy are also members of the Young Avengers, a team we hope to see onscreen soon. And remember that Kang the Conquerer is still lurking out there, and it’ll take all of Marvel’s heroes to fight him.
In the meantime, be sure to catch Wanda in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness on May 6!
(Image: Marvel)
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