- Siobhan Kelly
Why People are Talking about WandaVision
Written by Hayden Lysecki and Siobhan Kelly. Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!What’s all the hype?
“We are an unusual couple”
Wanda and Vision: Witch and Synthezoid. The magical couple has taken the world by storm, platform by platform. Whether it has caught your eye on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter or Disney +, WandaVision is the show to watch right now. The show’s content is deeply rooted into Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, following Wanda right after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
If you’re looking to follow Wanda’s entire story, you’ll need to binge a few movies. We’ve got you covered! You’ll need to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame (all in that order, on Disney +). If you’d rather skip the details, we’ll catch you up with some spoilers: Wanda basically loses everyone she loves.
“Wanda was born in Sokovia in 1989 to Irina and Oleg Maximoff, both killed during an air raid when [Wanda] and her twin brother, Pietro, were ten. The twins were subsequently radicalized, volunteering at HYDRA [(essentially, the bad guys of Marvel)]. After unspecified experimentation with the Mind Stone, [Wanda] gained telekinetic and telepathic abilities.”
In Age of Ultron, the twins have a change of heart and join the Avengers in their mission of fighting off evil, only for Pietro to be shot. (Tragic, right?) With no home, Wanda stays in the Avengers compound with Vision to develop her powers. As you might expect, they fall in love.
In MCU’s climactic movie Infinity War, the biggest bad guy of all rips the mind stone out of Vision’s head, murdering him in front of Wanda.
So, I tried the first 2 episodes… what’s going on?
You’re undoubtedly confused: so were we! This series is like an egg that slowly breaks open: this eerily-perfect sitcom world starts to crack at the seams with unsettling scenes and hidden easter eggs.
In the first episode, Mr. Hart starts choking to death once he mentions Wanda and Vision’s past life. Ms. Hart seems unnaturally normal at the table, which left most viewers very lost. And what is with the end? Have we returned to modern day MCU?
The second episode becomes increasingly more intense as Wanda finds a colourful helicopter in her garden (quite out of place for a black-and-white episode); she sees a suspicious beekeeper emerge from the sewers and hears a mysterious man call through a radio saying, “Who’s doing this to you Wanda?” Obviously, something is out of place.
So when Wanda and Vision appeared alive, in a 1950s sitcom world, after Avengers: Endgame, Marvel fans were stumped to say the least. So let’s break it all down!
Do not worry, all of your questions will be answered. We’re not kidding when we say that episode 4 explains it all. So hang tight!
Why you need to keep watching
Aside from the fact that the show evolves into an incredible, full-scale MCU adventure, WandaVision has really taken Marvel to a new caliber of film and TV. On a basic level, this show pays homage to the sitcoms and decades of television through it’s clever cinematography and music, honoring classics such as Full House, The Office, Family Ties and Bewitched. Trust me, those theme songs will get stuck in your head. (Fun Fact: the musicians behind the themes, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, are also the writers for Frozen!) Director Matt Shakman perfectly encapsulates each decade, careful to do them all justice without inching on parody. But on a much deeper level, this show explores themes of grief, family and what it means to be human. The relationship between Wanda and Vision is explored in depth and tells a beautiful story of two people lost in the world who find solace in each other. Wanda herself finds more power than she’s ever had by accepting the death of her husband and paves the way for her eventual rise as the Scarlet Witch: one of the most powerful magic users in the entire universe. While her powers increased manifold, she finds power in living out a traditional domestic life, juxtaposing the epic action and battles women in the MCU are known for being a part of. The series itself is so antithetical to the rest of the marvel universe, focusing less on epic battles between hero and villain and more on building up Wanda’s own character arc. If you’re a Marvel fan looking for a strong female led mystery show with twists and betrayals at every corner, this is certainly a show for you.
WANDAVISION AS A SERIES (Spoilers Ahead)
True Marvel Comics fans will recognize this show’s story is inspired by the House of M storyline from the X-Men comic series, written by Brian Michael Bendis in 2005, where Wanda uses her reality warping powers to live out a traditional domestic family life with her husband Vision. While many changes are made to the story (such as the omittance of certain X-Men characters like Professor X and Magneto), the show does an excellent job integrating this idea into the current MCU storyline without disturbing the continuity of its other characters. The series cleverly reworks lesser known characters from Marvel lore into compelling, big-players in the story of WandaVision. The evil hag Agatha Harkness from Marvel’s Fantastic Four comics is given new life (figuratively and literally) by actress Kathryn Hahn, who adds a level of mystery and whimsicality to the original source material. Randall Park portrays Jimmy Woo, a SHIELD agent tasked with observing and extracting people from Wanda’s hex. Recognizable from past MCU film “Ant-Man and The Wasp”, Jimmy Woo is given a loveable comedic charm that is sure to propel him into involvements in future MCU projects in the future (some fan’s even speculate he will star in a series similar to “X-Files”). Finally, the energy-manipulating Monica Rambeau of past Avengers lineups is given her first live action adaptation by actress Teyonah Parris. We’re still a little unsure if she’ll go by Captain Marvel, Photon, Pulsar or even Spectrum, but she’ll certainly become a full fledged Avenger soon enough.
We hope you enjoyed our little WandaVision pitch, and we hope you’ll give the show a chance. Don’t be afraid to leave a comment below: what did you think of the show? What do you look forward to most in the MCU? What shows do you recommend?