Warning: This article contains spoilers for What If...? episode 5.
Easily the most impressive and strongest of all the zombies in Marvel’s What If…? is Scarlet Witch. The episode, which served as a fun take on the Marvel Zombies miniseries from 2005, introduced zombie versions of numerous MCU characters and Avengers, including Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Wasp, Falcon, and Scarlet Witch, who all proved to be serious threats to the heroes’ efforts.
Scarlet Witch was presented as the most powerful of them all, as she turned out to be biggest obstacle that the group had to face in the entire episode. Not only that, but she also doomed some of the main characters, including Kurt, Okoye, and possibly Winter Soldier, whose fate wasn’t confirmed. It took Bruce Banner transforming into the Hulk for her to be held at bay. With her power, Black Panther, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man were lucky to escape with their lives.
Wanda Maximoff being the “final boss” for the characters in Marvel’s What If…? episode 5 makes sense, especially when taking into consideration what her capabilities are in the MCU. At this point in her timeline, she doesn’t have her fully-unlocked powers from WandaVision’s season finale yet, but she’s still the MCU’s strongest character. Because even before her Scarlet Witch transformation in WandaVision, she was capable of beating Thanos. That’s not something that can be said for other victims of the zombie virus, such as Iron Man or Captain America. Arguably the only one in the episode whose power is even somewhat comparable to hers would be Thanos himself, who was teased as a zombie at the episode’s end.
Similar to the other Marvel Zombies, Scarlet Witch appears to retain all of the abilities she had prior to her death, which further contributed to why the heroes had so many problems fighting her. The Avengers may not completely understand what makes her so formidable, but the reveals that occurred in WandaVision shed light on this. Wanda is a being who possesses Chaos Magic, which seems to be the strongest ability in the MCU. In fact, Agatha Harkness said in the series that Scarlet Witch’s power trumps that of the Sorcerer Supreme. A character well-versed in the mystic arts being inferior in magic to an untrained sorceress is a sign of just how much raw power she really has.
A zombified Scarlet Witch who still has access to her powers is certainly a scary notion for the MCU, particularly when she can just telekinetically pull someone straight into her grasp whenever she wants a meal. The comics have proven in the past that a reckless Scarlet Witch who has no restraints on herself can bring death and chaos everywhere. And that’s exactly what Marvel’s What If…? did to Scarlet Witch by turning her into a zombie and unleashing her potential for destruction.
Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.
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