WandaVision introduced the Darkhold, the powerful dark magic book that told the prophecy of the Scarlet Witch. By Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) completes her descent into villainy by abusing the book. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) also used dark magic from it, potentially causing an incursion that we’re yet to see unfold. And while Wanda might have destroyed the Darkhold by the end of Multiverse of Madness, the book will continue to be important for Agatha: Coven of Chaos and the MCU as a whole.
A Marvel insider who recently revealed the puzzling author of the Darkhold is back with more details about the dark magic book. Before we can explain, you should know that big spoilers might follow.
Alex Perez from The Cosmic Circus said a few weeks ago that Marvel wants to turn Kang (Jonathan Majors) into one of the authors of the Darkhold.
Wanda destroyed the Darkhold physically at the end of Multiverse of Madness, including all the copies from the multiverse. Knowing how powerful an antagonist Wanda might become as the Scarlet Witch, a version of Kang might have ensured they had control over the book’s contents.
This way, a Kang variant might have ensured that Wanda received this version of the book eventually, but it would be a Darkhold that might contain errors compared to the original book of magic that Chthon had devised.
We’ve explained that Loki delivers a big reveal about the MCU story that we’ve witnessed in Infinity War. The Avengers win in Endgame because the He Who Remains version of Kang made it so. He carefully orchestrated everything until the point Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) came to face him in the finale.
Why the Darkhold is so important for the MCU
The same Perez addressed the Darkhold in The Cosmic Circus’s latest podcast episode. He reiterated that Chthon might have been the original author of the Darkhold magic atop the Wundagore Mountain. But that a variant of Kang might have actually tampered with it about 1,000 years ago when the actual book was printed.
The age of the book is something Marvel established when talking about the art in its MCU movies. Per Perez, Marvel wanted the Darkhold to have been written in the style of the first books. Therefore, the Darkhold must have been printed before the Middle Ages, around the turn of the tenth century. The only person with the ability to perform such a bait-and-switch would be Kang.
His motive, again, is to prevent a superbeing as formidable as Wanda from challenging his eventual dominion over the multiverse. You’d achieve that with a particular version of the Darkhold that Wanda would one day use.
If this is accurate, then only He Who Remains might qualify. He’d be the Kang variant that would have to let the Darkhold exist in the Sacred Timeline.
Perez also speculates that Kang might have introduced an intentional lie in the Darkhold. That Wanda is a Nexus being, unique in the multiverse. As we’ve learned in Multiverse of Madness, there are billions of Wandas out there. The only Nexus being we’ve met so far is America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), whom Wanda chased in Doctor Strange 2.
There’s a lot of speculation about the Darkhold’s creation here, but there’s also one other important thing about it. Whether Kang messed with it or not to ensure Wanda wouldn’t be a real threat, others had access to it.
The Darkhold, Coven of Chaos, and incursions
Perez added that Marvel will still have to explain the Darkhold and deal with it. The book will be a big plot detail for the upcoming Agatha: Coven of Chaos Disney Plus TV show. Rumors say that’s where Wanda will return after Multiverse of Madness.
Also important are the Doctor Strange characters of the multiverse who abused the Darkhold. Earth-616’s Stephen Strange is one of them, and his actions in Multiverse of Madness have caused an incursion. Doctor Strange 2 ends with Clea (Charlize Theron) showing up to tell Strange about the incursion that they need to stop.
With all that in mind, Marvel has plenty of explaining to do about the Darkhold “magic” or science, even though the book appears to have been destroyed.
