Could some of the original plans for Doctor Strange 2 have led to the villain for WandaVision?
The question and speculation of “who is the villain” for Marvel’s WandaVision has been consistent since the first episode. Most theories have speculated that it will either be Mephisto or perhaps Nightmare that end up taking advantage of Wanda and being the cause of all the turmoil in Westview. With Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes climbing the ladder of potential suspects, even more so after Norm played the pronoun game, referencing “she” when Vision briefly pulled him back to reality.
While the majority of theorists contend that we’ll be seeing Mephisto by the final episode, evidence from the past and plans for the Doctor Strange sequel may point to our antagonist proving to be Nightmare instead.
At the very beginning of 2020, it was reported that Scott Derrickson was stepping down as the director of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Marvel Studios, when confirming Derrickson leaving the project, attributed it to “creative differences”.
Could those “creative differences” be on how to introduce the villain to the MCU that he had been wanting to use for a Doctor Strange sequel since the release of the first film?
In an interview with IGN back in 2016 while doing press for the first Doctor Strange film, Derrickson referred to Nightmare and its different dimensions:
“I really like the character of Nightmare and the concept that the Nightmare Realm is a dimension. […] That’s early – that’s like the first Strange tale. I think that’s in the introductory episode of Doctor Strange, and I always loved that.”
Derrickson went on to explain why they didn’t use Nightmare for Doctor Strange’s first outing:
“We decided not to do that because that’s a bit of a complex idea to try to introduce everything we do introduce and introduce the idea of nightmares themselves as being a dimension. I hope somewhere down the line we do get to explore that because I think that’s super cool concept.”
Could Derrickson had been wanting to introduce Nightmare and the Nightmare Realm in Multiverse of Madness, only to have those ideas repurposed and first be introduced in WandaVision, to then carry over into the Doctor Strange sequel?
WandaVision started production back in November 2019, just a few months prior to Derrickson stepping down being officially announced.
Could Marvel want to have Agnes be Nightmare or an accomplice of Nightmare who is using the Nightmare Realm (a separate dimension) to manipulate Wanda be those “creative differences?
We know we’re getting the multiverse. It’s no secret that WandaVision is leading into both Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in one way or another. WandaVision director Matt Shakman has even been said to have had to collaborate with Jon Watts and Sam Raimi (the new director of the Doctor Strange sequel) to ensure the storylines and puzzle pieces fit how they should. Could Derrickson have leftover dissatisfaction of having his original concepts be taken and altered/dictated by others prior to him ever being able to get started?
We only have a few episodes of WandaVision left, so it won’t be long before we truly do know what’s going on, and if we are indeed dealing with Scott Derrickson’s Nightmare scenario.
Thoughts? Opinions? Who do you think will be proven to be the villain of WandaVision? Leave a comment or hit us up on Twitter and let us know what you think.
