WandaVision is an American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it shares continuity with the films of the franchise, and takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019). WandaVision is produced by Marvel Studios, with Schaeffer serving as head writer and Matt Shakman directing.
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their respective roles as Wanda Maximoff and Vision from the film series, while Debra Jo Rupp, Fred Melamed, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, and Evan Peters also star. By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a number of limited series for Disney+ centered on supporting characters from the MCU films such as Wanda and Vision, with Olsen and Bettany returning. Schaeffer was hired in January 2019, the series was officially announced that April, and Shakman joined in August. The series pays homage to past sitcoms, with Wanda and Vision living in a reality created by the former that takes them through different decades of television tropes. Filming began in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2019, before production halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in Los Angeles in September 2020 and ended that November.
WandaVision premiered with its first two episodes on January 15, 2021, and ran for nine episodes, concluding on March 5. It is the first series in Phase Four of the MCU. The series received praise from critics for its sitcom settings and tropes, dark tonal shifts, and the performances of Olsen and Bettany.
Premise
Set three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Wanda Maximoff and Vision are living an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey, trying to conceal their true natures. As they begin to enter new decades and encounter television tropes, the couple suspects that things are not as they seem.
Cast and characters
An Avenger who can harness chaos magic, engage in telepathy and telekinesis, and alter reality. Olsen said the series brings the character more in line with the comic book version, including depicting her mental illness, and introducing the "Scarlet Witch" moniker that was not previously used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Executive producer Kevin Feige added that the series explores the extent and origin of Wanda's powers. Olsen felt her "ownership" of Wanda was strengthened during development of the series, which allowed her to explore new parts of the character's personality such as her humor and sassiness. She was thrilled that WandaVision focuses on Wanda rather than telling her story "through everyone else's story lines" as in the films, and was sold on joining the series when Feige mentioned specific Scarlet Witch comic storylines that inspired WandaVision. Olsen was influenced by Mary Tyler Moore, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Lucille Ball for her performance. Michaela Russell portrays a young Wanda.
An android and former Avenger created using the artificial intelligences J.A.R.V.I.S. and Ultron as well as the Mind Stone, who was killed in the film Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Bettany portrays a new version of the character created by Wanda within her reality, who he described as "decent and honorable" and for whom he was influenced by the performances of Dick Van Dyke and Hugh Laurie. Bettany also plays the original character, referred to as "The Vision", who is reassembled and reactivated by S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division). That version has an all-white appearance similar to when the comic book character was resurrected with an all-white body and without his memories and emotions. Bettany differentiated the two versions by making The Vision be both familiar and intimidating.
A New Jersey resident and husband of Sharon, who plays "Arthur Hart", Wanda and Vision's neighbor and Vision's boss, in the fictional WandaVision sitcom.
Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness:
A witch who masquerades as "Agnes", Wanda and Vision's "nosy neighbor" within the fictional WandaVision sitcom. Hahn described Agnes as the neighbor "that won't get off their couch at the end of the night" and is "always in [their] business". Hahn was fascinated by the "jolts of adrenaline and humanity" the MCU provided and the fact it had a "gasp of human magic". Hahn likened Agatha's relationship with Wanda to Antonio Salieri's with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, believing it was "maddening" to Agatha to see magic come so naturally to Wanda after she had spent centuries studying it.
The daughter of Air Force pilot Maria Rambeau and a captain in S.W.O.R.D., who first introduces herself to Wanda and Vision as "Geraldine" within the fictional WandaVision sitcom. She has a "toughness and an ability to be a woman" in a male-dominated world. As a child, she looked up to her mother's friend and colleague Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel. Head writer Jac Schaeffer's initial pitch for the series had a different character in Rambeau's role, but she was excited to use Rambeau instead when it was discovered that she was available for the series, with co-executive producer Mary Livanos adding Rambeau's inclusion in the series was a discovery during development that became "really enriched in the show". The series shows what Rambeau has seen and done since her introduction in Captain Marvel (2019), where she was portrayed as a child by Akira Akbar. Parris used Akbar's performance as the starting point for her own, and took Monica's relationships with her mother and Danvers into account.
An FBI agent working with S.W.O.R.D. who previously was the parole officer of Scott Lang / Ant-Man. Park felt introducing Woo using close-up magic, something he was trying to perfect in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), quickly showed the character's development since that film, indicating that he was getting better at multiple things and was being assigned to larger cases. Park was taught the magic trick by a magician and spent several days perfecting it for the series.
An astrophysicist working with S.W.O.R.D. who previously interned for Jane Foster and befriended Thor. Returning to the role for the first time since Thor: The Dark World (2013), Dennings felt Lewis would not have changed much as a person, but would be older and wiser after going to school to receive her doctorate in astrophysics. Additionally, Dennings felt the character has more confidence in herself now that she is viewed as "the boss" which she never was in the films.
Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner:
A Westview resident under Agatha's control posing as Wanda's twin brother Pietro, who was killed in the film Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. This was a nod to Peters' role as Peter Maximoff in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series. Schaeffer and Livanos were eager to bring Pietro back in the series, and decided to take advantage of its notions of "what's real and what's not, and performance, and casting, and audience, and fandom" by having the character be "recast" within the fictional WandaVision program. Schaeffer noted that this plays on the sitcom tropes of recasting characters without "much fuss" and also of having a relative arrive in town who "stirs things up with the family", and likened Peters' performance to a mixture of Jesse Katsopolis from Full House, Nick Moore from Family Ties, and Joey Tribbiani from Friends.
Recurring residents of Westview include Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon who plays Vision's co-worker "Norm"; David Lengel as Harold Proctor who plays "Phil Jones"; Amos Glick as a pizza delivery man cast as "Dennis", the mailman/delivery man; Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor, Harold's wife who plays "Dottie Jones", a "skeptical mom who rules the neighborhood with an iron fist and poison smile"; and David Payton as John Collins who plays "Herb". Ithamar Enriquez and Victoria Blade also recur as the man and woman in the commercials, along with Josh Stamberg as S.W.O.R.D. acting director Tyler Hayward, Alan Heckner and Selena Anduze as S.W.O.R.D. agents Monti and Rodriguez, and Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne as Wanda and Vision's sons Billy and Tommy, respectively.
Additional guest stars include Jolene Purdy as Isabel Matsueda who plays Wanda and Vision's neighbor "Beverly"; frequent MCU stuntman Zac Henry as Franklin, a S.W.O.R.D. agent who enters Wanda's reality as a beekeeper; Randy Oglesby as Dr. Stan Nielson, the doctor in Westview; Wesley Kimmel and Sydney Thomas as the boy and girl in the commercials; and Kate Forbes as Agatha's mother, Evanora Harkness. Ilana Kohanchi and Daniyar portray Wanda's parents Iryna and Olek Maximoff, respectively, while Gabriel Gurevich plays a young version of her brother Pietro.
The Verdict:
Right off the bat, I want to mention that this may be a rather unorthodox review of sorts as there hasn't been a superhero show quite like this for the Marvel Cinematic Universe until now. This is the first of its kind for the Disney+ streaming platform and the first "official" television series under Marvel Studios, unlike those that were under the now defunct Marvel Television banner.
This series is going to be a really tough sell for a lot of people, especially given the fact that both Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Vision have both had minimal exposure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to this point. Both of them have appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War (Vision's last appearance prior to this series), and Avengers: Endgame. The sitcom-style premise wasn't an idea that was intriguing to a lot of people I talked to leading up to this series' premiere either.
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| If there's casual viewers who are baffled at the numerous questions to be had from Wanda having children with a synthezoid android like my older sister who was calling me after every episode asking how does that even make sense, I'm going to tell all of you the same thing that I told her, "Welcome to the club. Us comic book nerds have been asking the same thing for decades now..." |
The first three episodes stick true to being heavily influenced by old television sitcoms with Wanda and Vision carrying out their lives day to day, but you could something wasn't quite right as the episodes continued on with them living happily together as husband and wife. Wanda even somehow gets pregnant and gives birth to twin sons, Billy and Tommy.
It wasn't until Episode 4 that we are introduced to an adult Monica Rambeau, daughter to Maria Rambeau who both were introduced into the original Captain Marvel film. She returns back to life after five years due to Thanos' infamous Snap, thanks to the efforts of the Avengers in Avengers: Endgame and quickly comes to the horrifying terms of what she had missed due to the Snap. I was glad that the Snap wasn't portrayed as a joke here like it was in Spider-Man: Far From Home as there were some very serious ramifications that needed to be explored concerning how it affected many people's lives in this continuity going forward. Episode 4 pretty much lays the foundation of what S.W.O.R.D. is currently in the MCU with Acting Director Tyler Hayward putting her on the assignment of helping FBI agent Jimmy Woo with a missing persons case in Westview, New Jersey. Apparently, Wanda has closed off the entire town within her "sitcom" that Dr. Darcy Lewis (one of many scientists brought in by S.W.O. R.D. to study this phenomenon) dubs "WandaVision" that Monica found herself pulled inside. Monica found herself thrown out of the town after mentioning Ultron, which brought forth her memories of Vision when he died.
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| At this point right here, I was convinced that they were going to fast track Wanda into being the villain in this ordeal in some capacity. I was glad to be wrong with Hayward having his own agenda. |
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| This moment did have people talking as much the second season finale on The Mandalorian, but too bad that it was as much of a swerve/misdirect as The Mandarin's reveal in Ironman 3. |
Episode 5 saw Wanda's sitcom attempt to resume, despite Hayward's attempts to kill Wanda. Vision becomes aware that Wanda is controlling the town of Westview after freeing the mind of one of his "co-workers" and attempts to confront Wanda about the scope of what she is doing until they are interrupted by the arrival of "Pietro", Wanda's thought-to-be dead brother. Pietro's arrival came as an utter shock to everyone - onscreen and viewers watching at home as he wasn't Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but instead Evan Peters, who portrayed the character in 20th Century Fox's X-Men movies. That would make for the first Fox X-Men actor to play the same character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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| Seeing Wanda, "Pietro", Billy, Tommy, and Vision all sporting Halloween costumes of their comic book counterparts really got a big smile out of me on this episode, especially when there was a point where Olsen said in previous interviews that she wouldn't be caught dead in that costume. |
Episode 6 had Vision dig deeper into what the scope of what Wanda has done to Westview, only to escape the static wall of Wanda's sitcom world. Upon exposure to the "real" world, Vision's body immediately begins to disintegrate as he collapses in front of the S.W.O.R.D. agents gathering nearby. Wanda expands the range of her "Hex" spell (that was surrounding the town of Westview to trap them within her sitcom), saving Vision, but engulfing everyone else nearby as well.
Whereas episodes 1-3 was painting the picture of Wanda's sitcom life with episodes 4-6 pulling the curtain back a bit and showing what was really going on, we finally had the final 3 episodes of this series that served as the "true" behind the scenes with director's commentary on what was really going on in Westview and the events that led up to this ordeal.
That begun with Wanda's "nosey neighbor" Agnes introducing herself as a witch named Agatha Harkness who has been interfering with the events of her sitcom life all along.
As much as I loved the Agnes reveal, I think a lot of people called it right off of the bat when the casting news got out for this show when Kathryn Hahn landed the role. What I didn't see coming was the fact that they were going to make Agatha Harkness the primary antagonist for this series. That was a rather "odd" choice, but it works for the most part, even though the entire world is going to see Wanda as the villain instead after what she has done to an entire town of people within Westview.
Most people didn't notice this until it popped up online, but the spell book in Agatha's basement on display was the goddamn Darkhold (sporting a different design from its appearances in both Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and Marvel's Runaways).
We get a little of time with Monica, who decided to re-enter the Hex after determining that Hayward has his own agenda to paint Wanda as the villain of this ordeal while profiting off Vision's technology and vibranium body. Monica desired to connect with Wanda on an emotional level as she could relate to the scope of her grief after losing her mother. Monica's return to the Hex seems to have awakened latent superhuman powers within her genes. If I were to speculate at this point, I think they are setting her up to be either Photon (her codename that she was already going by if you look at the S.W.O.R.D. documents in Episode 4) or Spectrum, given how her powers have been in flux to different colors throughout the remainder of this series.
Agatha forces Wanda to revisit her past to find out how Wanda is controlling Westview. Up to this point in the MCU, Wanda's powers have been never properly elaborated on exactly what she is truly capable of. Now that fuzzy cloud has been properly explored along with what Wanda truly is. Agatha deduces that Wanda has had magical abilities since she was a child, but only the exposure to the Mind Stone during HYDRA's experiments on her had amplified those abilities. Hayward's statement a few episodes back about Wanda "stole" Vision's body was a lie too when it was revealed that she merely visited S.W.O.R.D. to recover his body to give him a proper funeral, only to be unable to sense any life in him. This fact drove her to visit the lot in Westview that Vision bought before his death so they could live together, only to be consumed in so much grief that she manifested a house on the lot and a new version of Vision. This is the point where the Hex originated too, which caused Agatha to conclude that Wanda possessed a legendary form of magic called "chaos magic" and dubs her the "Scarlet Witch".
At that point, I said "No shit, Sherlock. Tell me something I don't already know..." They've been (unofficially) calling her the Scarlet Witch since her debut into this continuity by the marketing.
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| For the record, I absolutely adore Wanda's new costume. She desperately needed a proper look for a while now. |
The final episode had Wanda facing off against Agatha while Wanda's "fake" Vision and The Vision (who was reconstructed by Hayward and reactivated using a portion of Wanda's residual magic) went to war as well. "Fake" Vision would reprogram or rather restore The Vision's memories to the point of his demise at the hands of Thanos, causing him to promptly fly off and out of the Hex. Nothing Wanda could do seemed to gain her an upper hand against the much more experienced Agatha until Wanda used Agatha's own trick against her in the previous episode to neutralize Agatha's magic while simultaneously embracing the full scope of her own chaotic potential. Agatha isn't banished nor imprisoned upon her defeat, but merely trapped as her "Agnes" self from within the sitcom in a cruel sense of irony. Wanda then has to say goodbye to "fake" Vision and the twins after removing the Hex completely from Westview and freeing the people from her control. Wanda, now sporting a gorgeous new costume that looks more akin to the comic book counterpart, then goes into hiding.
Monica frees "Pietro" from Agatha's control, only to reveal that he was an actor named Ralph Bohner. Even though fans were disappointed about "Pietro"'s true identity, I wouldn't rule him out from a bigger role down the road. Most of the theorists online were pointing at him to being revealed as Mephisto, but I don't think the MCU is ready for that quite yet, especially when they didn't have the balls to pull the trigger on going much, much deeper into occult stuff before they cancelled Helstrom's TV series last year.
Even though I didn't review that series, I humbly give that series a thumbs up by the way.
Monica doesn't get to see much action in the finale, but was informed by a Skrull in a mid-credits scene (following Hayward's arrest) that a friend of her mother's wants to meet up - obviously in space. I would like to guess that this is going to lead into Monica appearing in either that upcoming Secret Invasion series that was announced starring Nick Fury and Talos or Captain Marvel 2. Hopefully, Monica will have a stylish costume by that point of her superhero career.
It should be noted that the final scene of this series shows Wanda studying the Darkhold that she took from Agatha in her astral form when she hears the voices of her twin boys cry out for help. If you ask me, the Darkhold is last goddamn thing that anyone should be allowing Wanda to read in her grieving state of mind.
The most interesting part about these revelations in this series are the mentions of "chaos magic", along with the fact that Agatha had the Darkhold within her possession. That makes me think that the MCU is going to bring the Elder God Chthon into this continuity, possibly as soon as Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Wanda has already been announced as a co-star with Dr. Strange in that sequel, so I think its safe to speculate that she will find herself in over her head with her newfound powers. Chthon has to make an appearance sooner more than later because chaos magic AND the Darkhold are his creations. That would make for a pretty cool adversary for Wanda and Strange to join forces to fight against, given the fact that the writers weren't alluding to Nightmare like a lot of fans theorized early on. Don't rule that out either as the director for Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness has gone on record stating that he would love to include Nightmare and the Dream Realm into that film in some capacity.
So what was up with those commercials?
Throughout the entire series, there would be a brief intermission of sorts where one of these commercials would pop up to serve as break between the first and second halves of each episode. Episode 4 doesn't have one since that was the audiences' first look of what was going on outside of Westview and away from Wanda's sitcom that was manufactured by the Hex.
You don't have to take what I say below as gospel, but this will serve as what I was personally under the impression of what each of the commercials were trying to convey.
(Episode 1) A commercial during the WandaVision program advertises a Stark Industries ToastMate 2000 toaster oven.
Stark Industries created the missile that landed in her family's Sokovian home in her youth that left her and her brother, Pietro, as orphans.
(Episode 2) A commercial during the WandaVision program advertises Strücker watches.
Wolfgang von Strücker was overseeing, or rather "watching" the experiments undergone on her and her brother that fully manifested her powers.
(Episode 3) A commercial during the WandaVision program advertises Hydra Soak bath powder.
Hydra was the organization that both Wanda and Pietro volunteered to as test subjects in Sokovia that was commanded by Strücker.
(Episode 5) A commercial during the WandaVision program advertises Lagos paper towels.
While trying to contain the explosion that Brock Rumlow (i.e. Crossbones) intended to kill Steve Rogers/Captain America, Wanda flung it upwards into the air, accidentally killing several Wakandan humanitarian workers to her dismay. This event led to the United Nations (UN) passing the Sokovia Accords, which would establish a UN panel to oversee and control the actions of the Avengers.
I'm sure that this is a mistake that Wanda wishes that she could simply wipe away good as new like one of those Bounty paper towel commercials.
(Episode 6) A claymation commercial during the WandaVision program advertises Yo-Magic yogurt.
A clever play on words to point out "Your Magic" in relation to the fact that Wanda has had magical abilities all along and they were merely amplified by contact to an Infinity Stone.
(Episode 7) A commercial during the WandaVision program advertises Nexus antidepressants.
In the comics, the Nexus is a cross-dimensional gateway which provides a pathway to any and all possible realities, this includes realities between realities. It is unknown whether it was created by some being or just if it's the one place in the entire multiverse where all realities naturally intersect.
The irony here is that Nexus is the name of antidepressants in the commercial whereas Wanda made her own standalone reality to cope with her ongoing grief and loneliness. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised that the Nexus isn't brought up again in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. They would be crazy not to elaborate on that concept.
Closing Thoughts
For me personally, I really enjoyed WandaVision from start to finish. I liked the homages to old television sitcoms in the first "act" (episodes 1-3), the behind the scenes look at what was really going on in Westview in the second (episodes 4-6), and final act pulling back the layers on Wanda's past and having her accept her present and potential future.
By chance, I saw this tweet show up on my timeline that was retweeted by a friend while I was working on this review.
Hey guys I got a great idea for a movie where a woman who feels sad and disenfranchised is imbued with phenomenal cosmic powers by divine circumstance but her volatile emotions make them difficult for her to control. pic.twitter.com/XZUog5w9T4
— Kelly Turnbull (@Coelasquid) March 11, 2021
It's easy to write off Wanda in the same category as these women - both versions of Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix and Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel - but there's some significant differences. 20th Century Fox has had two chances to portray the story of Jean Grey and her struggles with the Phoenix Force, only to result in two massive failures and colossal disappointments from fans. Carol has always been a character grounded by her emotions once you strip her away from nonsensical baggage that the character had been saddled with in her comics history - ranging from being impregnated by some alien god that grows up to be one of her main antagonists to recycling a lot of Mar-Vell's Kree adversaries and affiliations due to her Kree physiology. Carol's only had ONE solo film and one other cameo appearance in the MCU to date. I'm holding my judgment on her characterization in this continuity until after Captain Marvel 2's credits roll. A character that powerful, much like the Scarlet Witch, has to tread careful without undermining all of the other characters in this continuity surrounding her. It's the same dilemma as having Superman and Wonder Woman on the same team that leaves people wondering exactly what could challenge them to the point where their teammates aren't essentially useless in a fight?
In that aspect, I thought WandaVision did really well in taking these two really powerful characters, Scarlet Witch and The Vision, and peeling back the layers on them as individuals. It was a welcome change of pace when we have been accustomed to them being that silver bullet in the chamber for that one particular nasty baddie that you need someone on their level to deal with. Otherwise, they were mostly nonexistent to the core narratives outside of being plot devices to move the stories of other characters forward - i.e. Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Avengers: Infinity War.
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| If you didn't understand this, then you've totally missed the entire point of this show from start to finish. |
I think the point that is lost on a lot of people is that WandaVision is a story with Wanda's struggle with dealing with all of the grief that she has accumulated up to this point and her struggle to come to terms with that reality.
It's sad too to see that she had all of the good intentions in the world for making this paradise for her and Vision, only to create a living nightmare for the residents of Westview. I'm sure that there will be massive ramifications for her actions in this series, despite not having any control of the chaos magic that she wields. That's a plot thread that can be easily revisited if Marvel Studios wants to use that as a starting point to introduce mutants (and later, the X-Men) into the MCU.
There is a sequence where Monica tells Wanda, "They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them" and Wanda replied, “It wouldn’t change how they see me.” [Writer Jac] Schaeffer felt that with that scene and the other scenes that they did have, with the residents shouting at Wanda and noting that she even gave them her nightmares when they were allowed to sleep, they got enough of the point across, "I think Wanda’s walk of shame back into the town is really powerful, and it was written as such on the page. It was meant to be like an assault of death glares from people, and we were meant to feel how angry they all are. “I remember a note from [Marvel Studios chief] Kevin [Feige] being like, ‘More, more, let’s feel that for her, let’s understand that what she did was terrible,'”
Schaeffer elaborated on that point, “It wasn’t about landing her in a way where it’s like, ‘Everything’s wrapped up and squeaky clean, and she’s a hero and has done no wrong!’ She’s done a lot of wrong. And there will probably be reckonings down the line. No, I like how that’s in the gray area of misdeeds that she’s been involved in.”
Shakman agreed, pointing out, "We’re not trying to let Wanda off the hook at all. The daggers that she’s getting from every townsperson as she walks through town should clearly show that she’s not being forgiven, and she won’t be forgiven, by them. She understands that.” (Comicbook Resources)
I love that scene at the end too (mentioned in the quote above) with all of the townspeople of Westview staring daggers at Wanda for what she did to them as she slowly walked out of town. All wasn't forgiven and everything didn't revert back to normal Phantom Menace-style (a common trope in a lot of these superhero films and TV series). No, Wanda was left with another blemish on her reputation to give humanity yet another reason to fear powered people like her. Things aren't going to become any easier, I'm afraid. If anything, Wanda's actions here will make the Sokovia Accords even tighter on the actions of powered individuals like the Avengers. We may be a far cry from seeing mutants and the X-Men in the MCU anytime soon, but Wanda isn't making humanity's potential reception of them any easier. It's not like the Inhumans haven't already shit the bed on that already too, but that's a totally different subject altogether.
Speaking of the X-Men, I'm sure that a lot of people were disappointed with the swerve about the real identity of "Pietro", but I think that was a good thing. This series didn't need to be bogged down by a potential debut of Magneto and the debut of mutants. That would have distracted from the story that needed to be told concerning Wanda and Vision. It made for a much more intimate, personal narrative, despite including Monica Rambeau's origin story as a minor footnote/sidebar. There's plenty of time to integrate the X-Men into the MCU. Wanda needed this solo outing to flesh out her character, who has been pretty bland since her inception in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
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| I really felt that line here from Wanda. |
In terms of swerves, I'm glad that this story didn't go the predicable route of making Wanda the antagonist and driving her insane with power a la Dark Phoenix-style. We don't have to fast track her to the House of M-style breakdown already. It's a marathon, not a sprint. That's where Warner Bros. has been getting wrong with the DC Extended Universe, feeling that they need to "catch up" to the MCU when they have been decades ahead of them all of this time, but didn't have the foresight to think that a shared universe film continuity would be a worldwide hit and phenomenon. I feel that we're going to get that House of M ("No More Mutants...") moment down the road, but Wanda clearly isn't there yet. She doesn't even have full mastery of her powers, even at the end of this series when she started studying from the Darkhold after besting Agatha Harkness. There is no telling what sacrificing her personal paradise is going to do to further damage her psyche in the future, especially when the memory of her twin sons is fresh in her mind. I appreciated that this series showed us that what Wanda has displayed in terms of power has been child's play in terms of her true magical potential, so there's still some growth to be had in the maturity of her powers.
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| I thought this was a clever clue to the possibility that Monica Rambeau will using the moniker of "Spectrum" in her proper costumed debut. Then again, if you look at the S.W.O.R.D. documents in the background of several episodes, she's already being referred to under the codename, "Photon". |
I thought the now grown up Monica Rambeau was a great character to introduce (again) in this series. She completely understands where Wanda was coming from in terms of her grief and sorrow from losing her own mother and related to Wanda's loss of losing the love of her life. Where Hayward and his followers within S.W.O.R.D. were deadset on painting Wanda as the villain of this ordeal without any redeemable qualities, Monica was deadset on proving that Wanda could right the wrongs of this situation as long as she could get back into the Hex and talk Wanda off of the ledge before she truly becomes the villain that many have assumed that she is following the Lagos incident. It's a nice change of pace to find characters in this genre that don't immediately resort to violence in situations like this. Throughout the entire series, Monica has resorted to violence as the last resort or in self-defense, even after she manifested extraordinary abilities of her own. This character trait made her the perfect outsider looking into the Hex in a sense. She was able to relate to Wanda's plight unlike anyone else in S.W.O.R.D.'s organization.
While it would have been much easier to call upon one of the many Avengers post-Endgame, I think this decision made for better world-building in the larger scope of things. When the series ended, I was left with the feeling that we were robbed of some further development(s) with Monica, but in hindsight, I realized that this wasn't Monica's story. This was Wanda's story to tell and any further distractions from that would have muddled up the waters more than it needed to be. The MCU can easily follow through with Monica's story in either Secret Invasion and/or Captain Marvel 2. I repeat - Monica's story here was needed to have a character who could emphasize with Wanda's story of grief.
I don't think that I have mentioned Vision enough in this review, so I should talk about him briefly, despite this show being essentially a one-woman show in a sense.
The Vision in WandaVision isn't the Vision that we have come to know that died at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. This Vision is a physical manifestation of Wanda's memories and emotions of the real genuine Vision. The real Vision would be rebuilt by Hayward's subordinates working as part of S.W.O.R.D. and would be brought back to life by residual chaos magic left by Wanda's own devices throughout this ordeal. That being said, Wanda's "fake" Vision is still as charming as the Vision we know and love from the past. Their final confrontation in the series finale ends in a manner that only could work with two Visions in combat - a civil debate comparing notes on literature to their own existences.
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| While this Vision looked cool with a different color scheme, I wish they would have taken the time to do something about his overall costume design. It just never looks right to me in these films. They knocked it out of the park with Wanda's costume revisions, so why couldn't they do the same for The Vision? |
This "white" Vision echoes the Avengers West Coast storyline, Vision Quest, where he was stripped of all of his memories and rebuilt as a blank slate. This storyline would lead to the Darker Than Scarlet storyline, where Wanda would learn the truth about her twin sons not being real at all. In reality, they are fragments of Mephisto's soul. That drives Scarlet Witch mad and she turns on the Avengers as a villain. Another villain by the name of Immortus, better known as Kang the Conquerer (someone who has already been confirmed to be the primary antagonist for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), informs the Avengers that she is a "Nexus being" (see that term again?) - one who belongs equally to all possible timelines and all realities and divergences throughout the Multiverse. It's Immortus who engineered the Scarlet Witch's various tragedies — and her subsequent mental break — to make her susceptible to his control, allowing him to wield her probability-altering powers and safeguard key events across an infinite number of timelines.
With all of that in mind, it's very easy to see that Kang the Conquerer could be a major threat in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he wants to protect his timeline and potentially the Multiverse as a whole after the Avengers' tampering with time and space in Avengers: Endgame.
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| But was Vision ever truly alive though outside of an elaborate AI program and whatever the Mind Stone did that was housed within his forehead? Still... this was a great moment from Darcy nonetheless. |
Even though Randall Park's Jimmy Woo annoyed me to no end in Ant-Man and the Wasp, I thought him and Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis were great additions to this cast. Darby provided the voice of the audience, often uttering and commenting on things that viewers at home were possibly thinking at the same time from episode to episode of WandaVision.
My favorite commentary from her was "She recast Pietro!!??" during the Evan Peters reveal.
I think the biggest missed opportunity was having Darcy Lewis end up in a rundown diner and playing the role of a waitress in the Hex. That would have been a fun Easter Egg for Two Broke Girls fans to see her channel a little of Max Black here. Oh well. That's what I wanted instead of all of the people were bitching and moaning about the lack of Mephisto and/or Nightmare here.
Trust me, there's a lot of people still whining and complaining about the lack of Mephisto, Nightmare, or better yet - Dr. Strange - in this series, but like I have mentioned numerous times in this review, we still have something to look forward to in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. I won't lie though - I was expecting an appearance from Dr. Strange after the second that Agatha Harkness mentioned that Wanda's powers were derived from "chaos magic", but it didn't flat out ruin the show when he didn't show up. I think The Mandalorian, along with Avengers: Endgame, has spoiled a lot of people into thinking that every single time that one of these major crisises pops up in this continuity that we're going to get a big Avengers team-up/crossover with multiple heroes or something that calls back to older heroes that we haven't seen in a while. I think we as a whole as viewers and fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have to realize that there's a place for these solo, intimate films and television shows like this. WandaVision is an essentially a much needed sidebar venture that was needed to serve as a prelude of what is to come with the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
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| My thoughts exactly, Darcy. |
Like I mentioned at the start of this review, I think that WandaVision is a tough sell for both casual and hardcore viewers, despite being the first new thing that fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been provided with in over a year following the events of both Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The sitcom presentation for the first quarter of this series will more likely turn off a lot of impatient fans who were watching this week-to-week since the payoff wasn't until roughly halfway into its nine-episode order. Even then, the progression towards any sort of reveal or enlightenment about what was really going on in Westview dragged on and on until it reached a rather predictable, yet underwhelming reveal that most people saw all along in which Wanda had created this problem all on her own without being manipulated by any outside forces or some new big bad pulling the strings like a puppet master from behind the scenes. I guess you could assign Agatha Harkness to that role to a lesser extent, but let's be real here, she was simply given that spot to serve the MCU's usual "MO" or rather modus operandi where they have to have their heroes face off against someone with a similar or identical power set in all of these solo films. It's maddening once you realize how much they have reused and recycled that trope from the beginning to present day Marvel Cinematic Universe and get away with it.
Is this a must-see affair? Let's review a few things in hindsight before answering that question, starting with the characters.
The natural inclination to see this series will come down to how interested or rather intrigued at the chance at more backstory on both Wanda Maximoff and The Vision - two characters who haven't had any single film to expand upon on their origins and background outside of the minor roles in the shadows of the core Avengers. That alone should be enough to intice skeptics to check out this series, but it's totally understandable that there's people who have absolutely no interest in seeing more of those characters after how they have been presented in this continuity to date.
In that case, then who else is there to get behind in this series?
The last minute addition (something that was admitted by writer Jac Schaeffer in an interview) of Monica Rambeau's inclusion into this narrative shows from her limited role towards the climax of this ordeal and that's a shame too when I was looking forward to seeing more of her here. (Sighs) I guess that just leaves the door open for whatever next is for her journey to eventually joining the Avengers, with this series serving as her origin story of sorts.
The return of Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo were much welcomed additions to the cast as these minor non-powered characters deserve to have some more screen time in the MCU as well. No need to have the heroes have all of the spotlight when you need living breathing characters to flesh out these worlds. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Wanda and Vision's children, Billy and Tommy, easily pave the way for a potential Young Avengers team down the road. With Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) getting her own Disney+ series, Kate Bishop set to debut and co-star in Hawkeye's upcoming Disney+ series, and Stature (Cassie Lang) possibly making her MCU debut in the 3rd Ant-Man film, then that's even more reasons to do it in my eyes.
S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division instead of being Sentient World Observation and Response Department that its known for in its comic book counterpart) makes its proper MCU debut in this series after being denied by Marvel Studios to have any elements incorporated into Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (despite multiple requests to do so by Marvel Television at the time), but strays from its comic book origins. It was founded by Maria Rambeau, Monica's mother, but currently ran by Tyler Hayward instead of Abigail Brand like its comic book counterpart, with the entire organization being based on Earth instead of monitoring alien threats. With the mid-credits teaser, I think that will change in the near-future though.
While Marvel Studios did allow WandaVision to plant the seeds for what is to come on the horizon going forward, I honestly can't deny that most of this material here isn't must-see material. With a lot of Disney+ subscribers, especially fans hot off the heels of The Mandalorian last year, itching for more original content that is exclusive to the platform, one can't look at WandaVision in its entirety as something that can hold a candle to that spin-off series that may have single-handedly saved and/or rekindled fans' faith in the future of the Star Wars franchise. I know that's not fair to compare to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they are both properties under Disney's umbrella and there's a lot of skepticism, fear, superhero fatigue, and overall anticipation of how Disney will continue keep fans engaged following the heights the MCU reached with Avengers: Endgame.
That being said, I think it's completely unfair to compare this series to either The Mandalorian or Avengers: Endgame. You have to be delusional to think that every shot out of the cannon following the accumulation of over a decade of storytelling that served as a "finale" of sorts for that journey for a lot of characters is going to be a massive hit, especially when there were flaws in Endgame - something that I have pointed out repeatedly on several occasions. I expect the MCU to start again with small flickers of greatness before building back up to where we were at in Infinity War and Endgame. Those films on their own were massive undertakings in their own right. The same can be said about this first shot in the dark at a television series on their own streaming service. Much like Lucasfilm with Star Wars, Marvel Studios are more comfortable and at home making feature films - not condensing their stories to be stretched out over onto a streaming platform as a television series. The production values in terms of visuals and cinematography is still here in WandaVision - even going beyond expectations in some capacities - but at the cost of padding this story for a near four-hour affair, divided up into 25-40+ minute episodes.
Even I will admit that a lot of this story could have been condensed into a smaller, easier to digest format, but ultimately, it got its point across. This is a story fueled entirely by Wanda's grief as a result of the events of the Infinity Saga and how she overcomes the unique circumstances of dealing with this mental illness before it consumes her - and the people of Westview - permanently and forever.
TL:DR? All that I'm saying that while there's some bright spots in this story, I don't consider this a must-see entry in the MCU going forward. Instead, I see it as a minor footnote that I would suggest to fans of the Scarlet Witch and The Vision to compare with their comic book counterparts. Otherwise, most people could get by skipping over this entry and simply reading the summaries online. There's a lot of things tease for what is to come, but not enough meat to sink viewers' teeth into.
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