Doctor Strange 2 resolves the MCU Canon Issue with Agents of SHIELD.
WandaVision took a sudden turn in the last two episodes when the magical riddles were revealed, capping off a season full of comedy humor. Wanda was brought to the Darkhold by Agatha Harkness, who revealed her real identity as the Scarlet Witch. Wanda continued researching and being corrupted by the Darkhold after defeating the Salem witch, culminating to her latest malevolent turn in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Wanda exploited the Darkhold for a variety of wicked means in her quest to recover her children from across the Multiverse, including Dream-walking into the body of her Earth-838 incarnation to assault the Illuminati and Doctor Strange. Scarlet Witch finally discovered her depravity and made things right, destroying the book in the process.
Many of the doubts people had regarding the Darkhold following WandaVision were ultimately addressed by Multiverse of Madness, including the genesis of the book. While the Darkhold has only recently been crucial to Marvel’s blockbuster side, it has a long history on-screen, having previously featured in two Marvel TV shows.
WandaVision Agents of Shield’s Role in Marvel TV
The Darkhold appeared in Season 4 of Agents of SHIELD when a group of scientists were corrupted by the book during their investigations. Holden Radcliffe and his AI Aida eventually exploited the ancient text to improve their Framework virtual reality, inside which they ensnared some members of the crew. Aida subsequently used the book to create a completely human body, which led to her confrontation with Ghost Rider, who defeated her before returning the Darkhold to the Dark Dimension.
Morgan le Fay, a Runaways villain, subsequently obtained the Darkhold, intending to use it to combine Earth and the Dark Dimension. Fortunately, the Runaways were able to defeat her and utilize the Darkhold to confine her inside the Dark Dimension. After there, things become a bit complicated since the book wound up in the hands of Agatha Harkness.
Neither WandaVision nor Multiverse of Madness explained how the Darkhold went from the Runaways to Harkness in the six years that passed between the two. Many saw this as a hint that Agents of SHIELD and Runaways are not canon to the MCU, which was exacerbated by the stark disparity in look between the two.
Fans saw this as another more sign that the Marvel TV series does not take place in the same chronology or reality as the MCU movies and Disney+ series. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, on the other hand, may have provided an explanation for why the two volumes seem so unlike.
How Doctor Strange 2 Resolves the Darkhold Issue
The Darkhold was first copied from carvings of the demon Chthon’s black magic spells discovered in a castle atop Mount Wundagore in Eastern Europe, which also functioned as the demon’s resting place, according to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Chthon carved the Darkhold into the walls of the castle, which was intended to serve as a throne for the foretold Scarlet Witch as well as a canvas for his spells. The temple was guarded by the gigantic demon guardians known as the Knights of Chthon, who resembled the comic-book character Chthon.
The ancient book of the damned was said to have its beginnings in the Dark Dimension and to be made of dark matter, with its origins in the early days of bookmaking. With the Darkhold in the MCU merely being a transcription of Chthon’s original spells, the disparity between the book’s two designs may be explained.
Who’s to say there was just one Darkhold transcription? After all, the transcriptions have been sitting on top of Mount Wundagore for hundreds, if not millennia. There’s little doubt that Wong and Scarlet Witch weren’t the first to make the perilous trek up the mountain; maybe past visitors attempted to use the spells as well.
If this is true, there may be more than one Darkhold wandering throughout the MCU. Of course, the films and series will very definitely never address Agents of SHIELD’s Darkhold, but this hypothesis provides one possible reason for its presence that avoids canonicity difficulties.
WandaVision’s showrunner and director have already explained the difference in the actual world. The creators of the Disney+ series acknowledged that they constructed the Darkhold from scratch, partly owing to a lack of understanding about Agents of SHIELD and Runaways.
Is the MCU Over the Darkhold?
Scarlet Witch discovered her crimes under the corruption of the Darkhold during the last battle of Multiverse of Madness and resolved to make atonement. Wanda utilized a burst of Chaos Magic power from atop Mount Wundagore to destroy the Book of the Damned across all dimensions, topping Earth-616’s Darkhold Temple with it and making the ultimate sacrifice.
The old book and all copies of it seem to be lost, but that doesn’t mean its power is. In the comics, the Darkhold was never a source of strength, but rather a conduit for Chthon’s powers. Given this information, Chthon and his power may reemerge in some form, but the Darkhold itself is most likely gone for ever. After all, the Darkhold is no longer required now that the WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness storylines have concluded.
If the Darkhold in Multiverse of Madness is the same book seen in Agents of SHIELD, rather than a replica, it’s disappointing that viewers never learned how Agatha Harkness obtained the book. That being said, the Darkhold already has a convoluted past in the MCU. Runaways never explained how the book went from Ghost Rider’s possession in the Dark Dimension into Morgan le Fay’s hands for her wicked agenda.
Perhaps further information about the Darkhold will be found in the Agatha: House of Harkness Disney+ series, which is set to debut on Disney+ between late 2023 and early 2024. For the time being, WandaVision is available on Disney+, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is still in cinemas throughout the globe.
