Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has a phenomenal villain in the Scarlet Witch, transforming one of the most powerful Avengers into one of the most fearsome villains the MCU has ever seen.
Audiences might be wondering how one of the most beloved Avengers ended up becoming so antagonistic and all the answers are tied to the Darkhold. However, Wanda isn’t the only character in the MCU to use the highly sought-after book of spells. A couple of individuals have placed their hands on it but who among them is the most powerful?
11 Eli Morrow – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D
The former Momentum Labs employee becomes obsessed with the Darkhold soon after learning about it. This throws him into conflict with former colleagues, Lucy and Joseph, who do everything they can to keep its contents away from him.
As villainous as Eli is, he doesn’t have much going for him in terms of special abilities. Reading the Darkhold doesn’t help him much either. Over the course of the series, the only power he successfully acquires is material creation. The Quantum Particle Generator enables him to shape and move objects at will but he still doesn’t get to do much with this power.
10 Holden Radcliffe – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D
After getting fired from GT Agrochemicals for his transhumanist beliefs, Holden Radcliffe gets recruited by HIVE. Then, after chancing upon the Darkhold and reading its contents, his mind becomes corrupted.
As a transhumanist, Radcliffe’s decision to boost some of his bodily functions comes as no surprise. His most notable power is is his telescopic vision, which is all made possible by his synthetic eye. But despite spending most of his days trying to achieve human perfection, he never gets to become as big as force as some of the best MCU villains.
9 Nico Minoru – Runaways
After finding out about her parents’ activities, Nico acquires the Staff of One and teams up with her pals to form the Runaways. She accesses the Darkhold via footage that her father recorded using the WizGlass spectacles.
Nico’s abilities are mostly tied to the Staff of One, which she uses to cast multiple spells. She can easily manipulate sound and the weather, hence tailoring everything to her convenience. Her sensory tracking abilities are marvelous too as she is able to track Alex Wilder effortlessly when he disappears. Sadly, she has been shown to be weaker whenever she isn’t in possession of the Staff of One.
8 Lucy Bauer – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D
Initially a Momentum Labs employee, Lucy is one of the first people to get their hands on the Darkhold. After getting killed by Ghost Rider, she becomes a ghost.
Thanks to her time being trapped between two dimensions, Bauer has ghost-like abilities. While her ghost-like powers, such as Ingtagnibility and Invonsibility, are impressive, they don’t enable her to accomplish her goals. The moments when she truly shines are when she infects minds with a single touch or whisper, causing her enemies to hallucinate.
7 Anton Ivanov (Superior) – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The boss of the Watchdogs and a former SVR member, Anton Ivanov hunts down Phil Coulson, who he believes is responsible for the slaughter of his former unit. He then attempts to use the Darkhold to create a new universe where Inhumans are the dominant race.
Ivanov’s quantum brain enables him to control all his duplicates, ensuring they function just like him. The fact that the generally superior Aida praises his bodily strength is also additional confirmation of just how powerful he is.
6 Tina Minoru – Runaways
Tina serves as the CEO of the tech company Wizard and as a member of the elite society known as PRIDE. Thanks to the WizGlass spectacles, she is able to access the Darkhold spells her late husband had recorded.
Tina’s ability to perform magic tricks with or without the Staff of One makes her rank higher than her daughter, Nico. She can perform all kinds of dark dimension magic such as levitation, weapon calling, teleportation, and shockwave generation. It’s a shame that she doesn’t face any real threats.
5 Agatha Harkness – WandaVision
Accused of indulging in dark magic during the Salem Witch trials, Agatha shows up in Westview 330 years later, attracted by the activities of Wanda. In order to avoid being under the control of Wanda’s fake reality, she uses the Darkhold to boost her powers, a move that makes her one of the most intelligent WandaVision characters.
Remarkably, Agatha sneaks under Wanda’s own reality and spies on her for a while without Wanda knowing. Apart from being able to absorb the energy of fellow witches and remain undetected by their powers, she can also pride herself on being one of the few characters that are able to restrain Wanda, something she achieves by conjuring bindings from thin air. She has also lived longer than most characters in the MCU.
4 Aida (Ophelia) – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D
Aida is initially created by Holden Radcliffe as a life-model decoy meant to have the same mannerisms as his lover, Agnes. She soon turns villainous when her mainframe gets severely corrupted by the Darkhold.
Aida beats many other characters in terms of power because of the composition of her body. Since her body is made of Dark Matter, Aida has just about as much power as the Darkhold itself and because of her regenerative healing factor, wounding her is next to impossible. The ability to think quickly is also a valuable trait in a world full of superheroes and Aida’s brain has the ability to process a quadrillion functions per second.
3 Morgan Le Fay – Runaways
An enemy of King Arthur, Fay spends years trapped in the Dark Dimension before reappearing. She is shown using the Darkhold to induct Nico into her witch group, the Fay’s Coven.
Proof of Fay’s power is in the fact that other witches respect her sorcery so much that they are willing to work under her. Moreover, protecting herself is an easy task because she can cast a spell over anyone. Additionally, she is one of few characters capable of creating communication between the Earthly Plane and the Dark Dimension.
2 Stephen Strange (Doctor Strange) – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Despite only having two solo movies so far, Stephen Strange has had a lot more to do than most other Avengers, and, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he attempts to save Wanda from the influence of the Darkhold.
As the Master of Mystic Arts and head of the New York Sanctum, Strange is powerful and happy to flaunt it. Thanks to his Eldritch Magic ability, he doesn’t need to fight physically. He can do so by simply forming constructs of energy. He sure does deserve to be lauded for impressive feats such as toying with the memory of the whole world. Having tapped into the Darkhold and accessed his third eye at the end of Multiverse of Madness, there may be no limits to his powers.
1 Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) – WandaVision, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Wanda starts off as one of the most likable members of the Avengers but turns villainous when the Darkhold corrupts her mind and makes her believe there is a version of herself in the Multiverse that has children. She then goes on a mission to infiltrate a universe where her children exist.
Thanks to her magical abilities, she can do anything almost anything she wishes, which is how she was able to create a sitcom universe to make herself happy in WandaVision. She has frequently come out on top when battling other Avengers too, with the best example being how she was able to put them in a trance in Avengers: Age of Ultron. When Eart-838’s Illuminatti take her on, she kills almost all of them in a matter of minutes.
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