By Mikayla Walton, Associate Editor
Photos from Google
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
WandaVision is the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Rather than the movies the fans are used to, it is delivered to us in half hour episodes every Friday as a television sitcom. This delivery style for Marvel is new, but there are more shows besides this coming to Disney+ to show what the heroes are up to. WandaVision shows us what exactly has become of Wanda Maximoff since the events of both Infinity War and Endgame.
Wanda Maximoff, also known as The Scarlet Witch, has been in the MCU since The Avengers: Age of Ultron and has been one of the characters to lose a lot within her character arc. It is pleasant to see her in a much nicer and lighter atmosphere in this television show. The show takes place in a town called WestView in New Jersey. The location is set to one area but the timing of the show itself can be a little confusing. The show travels through the decades and pays homage to our old beloved sitcoms such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, and Bewitched.
Though the show is a sitcom, it does have an air of mystery about it which makes it a perfect option for those who are also fans of mystery shows or novels. The mystery comes in because of the fate of Vision in Avengers: Infinity War which opens up a question: how is this very situation possible and who is behind the changing decades? The show takes place 21 days after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Is someone putting Wanda through all of this or is it possible she is doing it herself? Wanda was forced to kill Vision herself in Avengers: Infinity War to stop Thanos, the mad titan, from getting his hands on a stone with unimaginable power called ‘The Mind Stone’, which was placed in Vision’s forehead and ultimately was his source of life. Then, when half the population was blipped from existence, Wanda was blipped as well. Once that blip is undone and she returns, she nearly murders Thanos herself but is intercepted. Once Thanos was beaten and the population restored, nobody had seen Wanda—and the audience had no clue as to her whereabouts until now.
At first it seems like some outside sources are forcing Wanda to live in this cookie-cutter little town, but rather it is made apparent to the viewers that it is Wanda doing this herself. She is creating her own reality where she can live happily ever after with the love of her life. Vision is dead and hasn’t made a reappearance until now. So, how can that be?
Those who are fans of Marvel know that every detail is meticulously thought out and that they give their fans clues as to the state of the characters and the universe they are in. Now, there was an unreleased end credit scene at the end of Endgame that showed Wanda opening up a drawer and revealing Vision’s body. There are several details pointing to the fate of Vision and how he is alive again in the town of WestView that make watching the show infinitely more pleasurable. However, there is a jump scare that does let us know exactly what is happening with Vision. Wanda, who is struggling to cope, is trying to delude herself into believing Vision is still alive—even going as far as to puppeteer his body with her abilities, revealed in last week’s episode. Some television shows are hard to rewatch, but this is a show that can be watched several times over without getting boring. Every time watching it is like the first time because there are always more details that can be caught with every viewing.
There is some teasing to a darker side of Marvel throughout this series. There are some rumors that this show may even lead into Dr. Strange’s Multiverse of Madness, which is said to be the first horror movie for the MCU. Wanda is showing a much darker side to her character; she is holding these townspeople hostage, after all. In Episode 4, ‘We Interrupt This Program,’ it is revealed that there is a missing persons case, and not only that, but also a missing town with someone from Witness Protection inside. This gets S.W.O.R.D. involved. S.W.O.R.D. is a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is the program that hires The Avengers and sends them to their potential threats. S.W.O.R.D. is the branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. that usually deals with galactic threats, which also ties this into Captain Marvel, and shows just how much of a threat Wanda’s abilities truly are to the universe.
Now, Wanda holding the Westview townspeople hostage, whether she’s aware of it or not, lends its hand to her villain history in the comics. There are some nods towards the comics throughout the four episodes we have currently that support this claim if you look close enough. How can this lighthearted sitcom lead to the dark lore in The Multiverse of Madness? It seems that this character arc may be leading her on the slippery slope to being the villain in the next Dr. Strange movie. Tune in tonight for the new episode to find out more on Wanda’s fate.
