#this was in my dradts way too long

[sofiadragon]

The power scaling is way off in this. They treat her like a horror movie villain. When a vengeful spirit pops up and starts doing some random shit like breaking out of a room that can't be escaped, it adds to the horror aspect and works as rising action. It doesn't matter if it isn't used again, the supernatural scare works and then they move on.

When Wanda does something never before seen as a one-off, we are confused. The MCU has a soft magic system, but we've established some rules. Worse, Stephen suffers from this one-off showcase as well, and he's supposedly the protagonist. So we have our two main characters doing random things. Wanda's break established rules, making her seem all powerful. Stephen's are mostly comic book references, but he too often comes up with absolutely nothing and just runs for that to feel like power and creativity. He's too outmatched.

I ask myself: Can I do my plot hole pave-over fanfic/headcanon fixit? No, this needs more than my usual tweaks.

For Wanda, just say it is the corruption of the Darkhold breaking reality, or something. She can do these things because she's not anchored to this universe or something. That also fixes the incursion issue on her end, but this has to be in the characterization as well as the look. Let the implied threat that she will find "her" kids, destroy that universe by being in it, and then use America's powers to do it all again in another reality until the multiverse is destroyed, be an on screen explicitly stated thing that raises tension instead of just having her effortlessly destroy so many supposedly high-power characters. It isn’t as scary to introduce someone and then immediately kill them as it is to have Stephen realize the domino effect world destroyer that's about to start rolling. Lean into the horror! You have Sam Raimi. Let this be a horror movie. Give me some dread.

This means changing the cameos. This means giving Wanda a weakness that can be exploited to give them time, perhaps known only to Xavier the OP telepath so the cameos have plot relevance. This means fixing the book of Vishanti, which instead of being dust and disappointment just gives them what they need in a very old-school fey-style "but not what you want" manner. America looks in it and just sees encouragement. Throw in a gag shot that's just "You go girl!" on one page and "You've got this!" on the other. She thinks it's useless. Stephen figures out he needs to encourage her to use her power.

For Stephen, have them reach the book earlier in the movie. We can trim down some action and, no matter how cool it is, get rid of a few of the really universe breaking OP moves Wanda does. Have the fight start right there in the orchard, smaller scale between just them, and she follows immediately when he retreats. Leaving them a day to fortify is a flex that doesn't work at the beginning of the second act, it's way too much. Do I love the visuals? Yes, but the story suffers. You don't start there, because where can we go to raise the stakes after that?

This way, we have more time for Stephen to have a story about accepting that Christine doesn't want him, or maybe handle something else because we've done the control freak thing with him before and they finiahed the last movie with their toxic on and off relationship sorted out as just friends now. It would be better if he's ready to be a mentor instead of just a leader, but doesn't trust himself- this makes America's plotline match his. An ironic lack of confidence for a very competent character with a lot of ego, but it fits after the trauma of the Infinity War duology.

It's also relatable as hell! Lots of confident, high skill people freak right out about having to deal with a kid. Did we do this a bit with Tony Stark and Peter Parker? Yeah, but Stark went full domestic in the MCU after that. This mentorship is far more professional from square one and won't go that way, so it isn't just a remix of what we've had before.

Keep Zombie Strange, that's the kind of awesome spectacle we want to see in these movies, but fix the way he shows up a bit. Yes, Chekov's corpse at the beginning sets it up, but we need to hear that this kind of thing is taboo more than 60 seconds before Stephen does it or the ghosts have no stakes attached to them. Have him suggest it as a way to communicate with Wong, but discard the idea because things aren't dire enough just yet. It's too dangerous, they'll just find a way back and Wong can hold out. With fewer ass pull powers and a bit of time to let the idea marinate, we can have something really grotesque at the end that is an exciting crescendo.

The story retains the same shape generally, but definitely needs a few more dents banged out than my usual "if you just tweak this one thing the movie improves a lot" style plot hole fill.

Have you this concept art for MOM👆?.

Turn out raimi really wand make Wanda look possessed or totally corrupted that she look like can't thinking straight again but well we got poor scenes that basically said that 'Wanda is evil from beginning and darkhold just something push her but still she is evil and no need help'

No, I hadn't seen it, thank you.

What I don't get is one thing. Well, two. This movie was supposed to be about Stephen, did they ever care about that part? Because all concept art or ideas or what have you are ALWAYS about Wanda - and maybe two or three about him. Stephen is like a damn afterthought, it's insane. As if he doesn't have enough lore to explore and... ugh. Anyway.

The other thing I don't get is they seemed to care about showing her corruption in her clothes and looks... anything to not have to actually address her corruption in the movie. It doesn't matter how scary she looks if 85% of the film is everyone around her treating her like a character with agency who is acting out of her free will.

I wouldn't have minded some super evil freaky Scarlet Witch at some point, but only if that is combined with proper characterization and a purpose for that character. Wanda's presence serves no purpose at all besides being a villain, killing innocent people (and murdering the Illuminati, that's my girl, will forever be grateful for that) and using cool spells that look good on screen. Dress her however you want, that's a terrible and boring character.

I wonder what other female character was brought to the spotlight in somebody else's show but was given nothing to work with and pretty much no personality at all... Is that Waldron's MO? Oh man, if he does end up writing the Avengers movies it's going to be hilarious in a very bad way...