Marvel’s What If …? The Scarlet Witch’s most frightening moment was given a darker twist and shows how the situation could have turned out much worse.
Although a lot of events in Marvel history could be called iconic, only a handful carry quite the same weight as M-Day. With just three words, the Scarlet Witch reduced the population of mutants across the world to a fraction of the size it was before. What If… made things worse by expanding the extent of Wanda’s grief to the point that it covered almost every villain and hero that the Marvel Universe has known.
Paolo Pantalena, Jim McCann, and Brian Reed read “What If… Scarlet Witch Ends The House of M’ with a resounding, ‘No More Power?’ From the pages of the 2008 issue of “What If?” House of Mbrought readers back to the fateful moment in which Wanda Maximoff single-handedly altered the course of the history of the world. After the shocking reality of the events of House of M was revealed and her brother Quicksilver dead at Magneto’s hands, Wanda took it upon herself to attack their father in the most painful manner that was possible. Instead of erasing the power of mutants, however, this time the Scarlet Witch determined to wipe them out just by changing a single word.
RELATED: Scarlet Witch Is Renovating the House of Magneto
How what if …? Marvel’s M Day
By uttering “No more powers,” in place of “No more mutants” Wanda left not just Magneto and his fellow mutants, but the likes of the Avengers powerless too. The extent of this shift was already shocking enough, but the fallout made it even more disturbing. It reinforced what readers knew already in frightening new ways. The primary Marvel timeline’s M-Day version was a story of anti-mutant terrorists who make use of the occasion to launch all-out attacks on institutions that at the time were insecure. What If? the House of M created an unprecedented power vacuum? In turn, more technologically or classically inclined groups such as A.I.M., Hydra, and The Hand came together as a near-unstoppable united front of evil.
Iron Man and other heroes were able to fight in the frontline despite not possessing superhuman capabilities. Even though this served to show the severity of Wanda’s demise but it was not enough. Even though Wanda’s Decimation could be reversed in the Marvel Universe, it is impossible to prove it was ever reversed in the What If? counterpart is an egregious reminder of how much worse things could have turned out. However, this isn’t limited to comics. There are many reasons to consider the Marvel Cinematic Universe to explore similar if not the same area.
Related: Scarlet Witch is facing an obscure (and powerful) X-Men Villain
What a World Without Powers Could Look in the MCU
There is nothing to suggest M Day or Decimation will soon be shown on the big screen, even though mutants are not yet a central element of the MCU. When it comes to the tiny screen, on the other hand, Marvel’s What If …? This is an ideal opportunity to look at the possible scenarios that Wanda’s ability to alter reality could lead to. There are obvious questions about where such a story could go in light of what the MCU already has to offer, but the answers to those are equally obvious.
In 2021’s WandaVision and 2022’s Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of Madness, Elizabeth Olsen played the Scarlet Witch as an evil threat that can reshape reality to her liking. Both allowed Wanda to be a hero who at least partially compensated for her actions. If none of these events ever happened and they did, then Wanda would get the chance to take on the most destructive elements of her abilities in the same way that Doctor Strange’s evil counterpart did in the first season of What If …?. This would allow her to defeat the rest of the world’s powers and could be the beginning of making sure that she doesn’t lose another time. It’s a fascinating and dark angle that viewers might see if the show gets a continuation one day.