‘I Just Have No Idea How or When’: Marvel’s Scarlet Witch Star Elizabeth Olsen ‘Keen’ To Return, But Plays Down Hopes For Avengers: Doomsday

Marvel star Elizabeth Olsen has told fans not to expect her return in Avengers: Doomsday, despite the actress being keen to reprise her role as Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.

Speaking to The Playlist, Olsen said she was “proud” of her time as Maximoff, but was unsure when she would next play the character — even if she was looking forward to doing so.

“I don’t have an answer for that,” Olsen said when asked when viewers will see Wanda again. When told that Marvel fans will assume she’ll appear in next year’s star-studded Avengers: Doomsday, Olsen replied: “Well, I can’t.”

“I want to see [her] return in this role because I think what they’ve done with her is really great, and I love the journey she’s taken,” Olsen continued. “I think it’s always a fun one to get to go back into, and I just have no idea how or when, for sure.”

Still, things sound a little more promising than Olsen’s previous comment on the matter, when she said she didn’t even know if Wanda was alive. When viewers last saw Olsen portray the character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Maximoff’s fate was left up to intepretation. Sacrificing herself after spending most of the movie as a baddie, viewers saw Wanda crushed under the weight of Mount Wundagore, followed by a brief flash of red light.

Maximoff’s corpse then turned up in the first episode of WandaVision spin-off series Agatha All Along, though this was ultimately suggested to be a magical illusion.

Still, fans have spent the past few years suggesting all the ways Maximoff could still return — and why it was likely she’ll do so. Whether through some magical spell or multiversal portal, Wanda’s eventual return feels inevitable, especially considering the various plot threads related to the character that still need wrapping up.

Fans are keen to see Wanda finally rid herself of her demons and use her powers for good, after trapping a small town in an illusion to deal with her grief, then bloodily murdering an alternate-universe superhero team to try and steal the powers of a teenager.

Questions remain around the fate of Wanda and Vision’s sort-of-real children Billy and Tommy, the first of whom played a key role in Agatha All Along. With next year’s VisionQuest expected to delve deeper into this plotline, will Marvel really pass up the possibility of reuniting them both with their mother.

And, speaking of families, what about Magneto? With Ian McKellen set to reprise his X-Men role in Avengers: Doomsday (and potentially also Avengers: Secret Wars?) will Marvel really ignore the chance to pair him up with his daughter?

Of course, the possibility remains that Olsen knows exactly when she’ll return as Wanda, and is simply employing the now-familiar tactic of keeping tight-lipped about things she’s not allowed to discuss (otherwise known as the Andrew Garfield approach). Olsen is the latest in a line of stars adamant they won’t appear in Avengers: Doomsday, including X-Men veteran Famke Janssen, Daredevil star Charlie Cox, and — of course — Andrew Garfield. Time will tell if they were fibbing.

Image credit: John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social