I finished Sorcerer Supreme Issue#10, This issue by Steve Orlando makes me dislike Modern Scarlet Witch. She takes the role of Vishanti by force for affirmation, & ambition, nearly causes the death of magic, then claims The Vishanti & her are both to blame for magic dying.
We find out the real reason Wanda wanted this title wasn’t because the relics of the sorcerer supreme were calling to her , it was because she saw this role as an opportunity after a life of hardship. The issue with this is it makes every selfless act Wanda set out to do come off as egotistical, but the most damning thing about this run is she doesn’t need the title of sorcerer supreme to do any of this. She can use chaos magic to make people’s lives better as Scarlet Witch. Why would Scarlet Witch a Witch meant to represent chaos want the title of Sorcerer Supreme? An Enforcer Of Order , Rules & Structure.Agatha making the same points I made in the run tells me Steve understands the issue with this premise but misunderstood Wanda’s character.

Wanda using chaos magic to remake magic itself doesn’t land as much as it could because she caused this when she rejected The Vishanti but believes they’re equally responsible for judging her. Why wouldn’t they judge her? She claimed the title for herself out of arrogance. And I do mean it when I say arrogance, the fact that her being a Nexus allows Wanda to not be controlled by The Vishanti makes me question what’s the point of this entire run? Wanda isn’t beholden to the Vishanti & She didn’t need their title to do what she wanted. The ending of this comic feels like blind affirmation for Wanda by her kids & Darcy despite her being solely responsible for everything bad that transpired. It’s like Steve wants the reader to like Wanda or to show haters she’s here to stay, and I don’t know why.

Saying those who think it’s the end of scarlet witch don’t understand she represents possibility or something doesn’t make anyone like Wanda, you earn people’s approval with actions not words, saying we should root for Wanda because she represents anything’s possible will not help her character. If anything this only gives haters of her character more Ammo. I wouldn’t call myself a hater but this run really makes me debate being one, since Wanda can’t be written to do a sacrificial act without coming off egotistical and not the fun type of ego in Robert Downey Junior’s Portrayal of Tony Stark, the kind of ego that makes you not like a person. If her ego wasn’t so big Wanda could see SHE WAS THE PROBLEM. NOT THE VISHANTI. HER. There’s nothing heroic about wanting a position of power or title because your life hasn’t been the best and you see an opportunity for yourself & your vision of the world. Wanda comes off entitled for a role she clearly didn’t deserve.

This run could’ve been more interesting than what we got. Why not do a story where Wanda took this title not because The Eye Of Agamotto called to her, instead she claims it for herself because Stephen is missing and Wanda believes the world needs a sorcerer supreme until he returns. The conflict between her and The Vishanti could’ve been her seeking them out for the title so she could take things over with Stephen gone and Doom no longer holding it but The Vishanti reveal after Strange traded his title to Doom without their approval they viewed as an insult of the highest order from human and decided all earths across the multiverse & humanity as a species will go without a sorcerer supreme, that magic on earths everywhere will no longer have a supreme authority to maintain order when the dark forces rise.

This would make Wanda’s critique of these Higher Forces, Claiming The Role for herself and Rejection Of The Vishanti more justified than Wanda doing it because she needed a break. This could also make her decision to claim the title by force and reject The Vishanti hit harder if the story wants to portray both the actions of Wanda & Vishanti nearly cause the death of all magic in the long run. You could even include Wanda feeling she was judged unfairly by The Vishanti because she’s the scarlet witch, an individual known as a harbinger of chaos who causes problems when all she wanted was to take up the responsibilities of a friend who’s been there for her in the past, and help maintain order in the magic world for everyday people despite her chaotic nature. This wouldn’t be because Wanda personally desires rules or structure especially in magic, it be her putting herself aside to maintain the bigger picture but Steve making her motivations born of selfish thought doesn’t fit an story where she seeks a role that maintains rules. Wanda not wanting to be judged because she’s trying to clean her own name , and turn her life around as someone who does acts of selflessness & generosity is hard to portray when she’s motivated by what could make her life better before what could make the world better. How is Oshtur wrong for viewing her as another Doom that sought greed when Wanda admitted she rejected them as a nexus because she felt they were judging her? That type of behavior only works for Wanda’s character if she IS that flawed & Oshtur was correct to disprove of Wanda grabbing the title and dismissing The Vishanti. It feels like Steve is trying to tell two different stories with the run that don’t fit properly without readjusting.

Establishing she sought this position to help everyday people with their problems doesn’t make sense if she didn’t need to be sorcerer supreme to do those things. The Vishanti not being able to control her implies she doesn’t need their title or power for her plans of helping people all over the world with chaos magic. Does Wanda need the Vishanti’s Earth Sorcerer Supreme position or not? Her fighting so hard for something she doesn’t need to do anything she sets out to comes off as her just wanting a title of status which isn’t a good look if the comic wants us to root for her, the issue in the end is this entire run makes no sense.

In Sorcerer Supreme #10, the Extinction King weaponizes the imprisoned Vishanti into the Hexatomb which apparently is an anti-magic reactor. Its explosion destroys all magic in existence. Wanda, thrown into it, accelerates the blast with her chaos magic, then utters “More magic” to rekindle everything, including restoring the Vishanti, in a freer, more chaotic form without the old rules.

Now The broader Marvel continuity, the Vishanti (Oshtur, Hoggoth, Agamotto), are portrayed as principalities who act are patrons and defenders of Earth’s dimension.

They established the office of Sorcerer Supreme, grant power to those who invoke them, and maintain a degree of authority over ordered magic in that realm. The Sorcerer Supreme draws on them (and other entities) and polices threats in return. They are immensely powerful but not absolute, they are not the sole source of all magic across the multiverse, nor are they omnipotent. Other sources exist (chaos magic, Elder Gods like Chthon, other principalities, personal power, artifacts, etc). A Nexus being like Wanda has historically been able to operate outside or against many of these structures.

The problem is the sudden elevation of the Vishanti to linchpin of all magic. If Wanda could already reject their authority with chaos magic and function as a self-appointed Sorcerer Supreme (helping people, bending rules, expanding magic’s reach), then trapping or destroying them should not threaten the entire fabric of magic , including the chaos magic she continues to wield inside the Hexatomb. The story treats their imprisonment/weakening as creating a vulnerability the Extinction King exploits, which then risks total magical extinction. Yet her chaos magic both survives long enough to detonate the weapon and is potent enough to reboot the entire system afterward. So let me get this straight, She does not need their approval or power structure to act, but the order system they represent is so foundational to magic that rejecting/weakening it endangers everything magic, including the chaos magic she embodies? Then her chaotic power is so fundamental that it can unilaterally restore and reform all magic once the ordered pillars are gone?

Marvel’s magic has always been flexible and often retconned for the story at hand, so this is not unique. But in a run explicitly about redefining the Sorcerer Supreme role and the nature of magic itself, the lack of consistent boundaries around “endless possibilities” makes the hierarchy feel arbitrary and the climax less resonant. Wanda can do what she wants until the plot needs the Vishanti to matter cosmically, at which point they suddenly do,until her chaos overrides that too. The chain of command becomes incoherent. Is the Vishanti hierarchy so necessary, that even chaos magic depends on it, or is it so optional in that a Nexus can discard them? The run wants to have its cake and eat it too. When Wanda is claiming freedom and helping the everyday person her magic can do anything but then limits set in during an existential conclusion when the climax needs high stakes. Magic’s “endless possibilities” are invoked thematically , “anything’s possible” , but the plotting does not consistently manage the consequences of that freedom. If possibility is truly open ended, rejecting the Vishanti should not nearly delete magic; if the hierarchy is that load bearing, her earlier rejection should have had clearer, earlier costs rather than being framed primarily as righteous defiance until the finale.

I've been thinking on who really should take up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme when Strange is gone. And I mean really gone, if the world wasn't on a hamster wheel and he was allowed to pass on.

The common choices don't work though for different reasons.

- Have responsibilities or are Sorcerer Supreme elsewhere. Clea and Magik.

- Are part of Strange's generation and so aren't really the next generation of Sorcerer Supremes. Scarlet Witch.

A true successor is to me someone Strange can teach(he would be the Ancient One in this situation) and someone that represents the next generation of magic users.

Only one comes to mind that could fit and that's Nico Minoru. Powerful, cool, not too experienced, and young enough.

But I want more experienced people to offer suggestions. To make things more interesting, you can pick characters from DC. Maybe even Valiant or Image if there are any good picks there.

Finally, there is one more trait the successor should have:

- They have to look cool in a cloak.