Category: Features

Marvel Studios’ first foray into television with WandaVision had very high expectations. You can make the argument that the show exceeded those expectations during the first eight episodes. We hadn’t gotten any content from the MCU due to the pandemic so we have literally been hanging on every scene and moment in this show. Heading into the finale we all had a bunch of questions. Some were answered, and some weren’t, but the show accomplished its most important goal: Wanda Maximoff became the Scarlet Witch, and she’s not to be trifled with.

As with anything these days, we overanalyze down to the minute details. All the devil references, the appearance of Evan Peters, and a mention of an aerospace engineer gave us something to think about every week. We obsessed over glances, lines, and so much more. While we did all of that there was something missing in that analysis. It was the entertainment that we were getting. WandaVision was operating at an extremely high level in giving us storytelling that MCU/comic book critics longed for. They made characters that aren’t as well known to the casual fan matter in a way that had to be rewarding for the people involved. For the diehards it was a chance to see Wanda as we’ve always wanted to see her; one of the most powerful beings in comic book lore.

The finale of the show wasn’t perfect, nor did it need to be. It’s not HaywardVision, MonicaVision, DarcyVision, or JimmyVision. It’s WandaVision. In professional wrestling terms, this show was designed to “put Wanda over.” They succeeded in that with her gaining a definitive victory over Agatha Harkness. Maybe there should’ve been a Dr. Strange cameo. Perhaps the Visions could’ve fought more physically instead of talking about the ship of Theseus. Would you have liked to see Jimmy Woo not escape so easily? Did you want Ralph to be more than what he was? Sure, all of those things could’ve happened. Then what? There would be a complaint about Darcy getting very little screen time or White Vision fleeing the coup so quickly. You can always find something wrong if you really look.

Seeing Wanda as The Scarlet Witch is a moment in MCU history we’re never going to forget. After not understanding what was happening in the first three episodes, the show then took us on an incredible emotional journey. Even if it was for a short time, we got to see Wanda and Vision as a family and that was cool. Billy and Tommy may be gone now but based on the post credits scene we probably haven’t seen the last of them. We got to sit with Wanda and her grief, and all of the complications that come with that. Did you want Wanda to pay for her actions in some type of way like getting arrested? A reality-bending witch? Right. She’s paying for her actions having to live with loss, hurt, and ultimately being alone once more.

You can say that a character like Monica Rambeau got shafted in the finale with a brief appearance. We can also say that Teyonah Parris became a star here, and Monica got the introduction she deserved. She was already a hero before she got thrown through the Hex a few times. Her story is just beginning. The courageous moments she was given in this show are a perfect springboard for her in the future. The chemistry between Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy Woo made the middle episodes so delightful. There can always be more payoff, and there can always be more story for these characters to be apart of down the line.

We also cannot talk about the critiques of this show without discussing the Quicksliver stuff. Kevin Feige said we were years off from getting X-Men related content. This is the first piece of material from Phase Four in the MCU. That’s on you if you expected anything along those lines. No Mephisto or Nightmare? Maybe we’ll see something in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness.

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany deserve their flowers, and the writers and creators too. Imagine what stuff they wanted to put in that they couldn’t, or didn’t have time for? It’s not something we ever consider. Not everyone may have preferred how the show concluded, but this is what they gave us. When it comes to WandaVision ultimately they may have not accomplished your mission, but they accomplished theirs.

The article contains spoilers for the final episode of WandaVision. Only continue reading at your own risk of getting spoiled on the show’s main revelations.

We’ve been spending the last few weeks speculating on what may be the big reveals throughout WandaVision. Marvel Studios’ first attempt at long-term storytelling got released during some difficult times. We haven’t had a new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a year, and the character of Wanda Maximoff has an extensive and confusing comic book history. She has close ties to the multiverse, demons, and mutants. Add the purchase of 20th Century Fox to the equation, and you have a recipe of unimaginable expectation. SWORD’s involvement just added to the pile that would skyrocket what we believe may happen. In the end, some theories have turned out to be true while others haven’t. It is something that director Matt Shakman hinted at in an interview before the finale release:

But there are some things that people have talked about that won’t add up to anything. That’s the joy of looking at something with so much care and love. I’m happy it has inspired so much passion.

There are a lot of Easter eggs throughout the episodes. Even early on, the animated intro alludes to Wanda’s midwife, Bova Ayrshire. David Payton‘s character references Herbert Wyndham, also known as the High Evolutionary. He was involved with the twins’ birth, as he lived in Wundagore Mountain: which was their original birthplace before it became Sokovia in the MCU. As you can see, Wanda’s origin is convoluted and the perfect showcase of how much speculation is possible based on small details. The animated intro even included the helmet of Eric Williams’ Reaper costume. He had an essential role in Tom King‘s The Vision run. Yet, even with this tease, he was nowhere to be seen in the show. The series is filled to the brim with secrets that reference the many comic influences.

So, how come many theories didn’t quite pan out? The drawback of a mystery-based series based on a character introduced in 1964 is that we’ve seen almost everything. We had seen Wanda give birth to demon spawn, meet a witch that was part of New Salem, recreated all of reality, and had a romantic relationship with a synthezoid. Wanda has pretty much gone through every crazy concept one can imagine, and this series had to draw the line on what to focus on. It raises the question of how you keep comic readers on their toes as the story unravels every week? Well, you make them believe that they already solved it all.

A recent interview highlights what the show was all about. Early on, Agatha, still in disguise as Agnes, makes a big fuss about Dottie. Emma Caulfield played the character that seemed to have some connection to what was happening. The show goes out of its way with wordings like the devil, nightmare, demons, and so much more. It creates the connection to Mephisto or Nightmare, who are well-known Marvel antagonists. Her casting was due to her time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It made her a perfect candidate to make an automatic supernatural connection. It pushed more towards the existence of a Witch coven and the set-up for the popular Marvel villain Mephisto to make his appearance. It was the perfect storm, and Caulfield confirmed that her casting was purely a red herring.

It was impossible for people to not be disappointed! I’m trying not to feel disingenuous, but knowing full well [their theories were] just so far removed from the truth. That’s tough, being the red herring. Again, I hope no one eggs my house.

Her character’s revelation doesn’t come until the final episode, where we find out that she is just a resident of Westview named Sarah Proctor. All she wants is to see her daughter again. Yet, her character’s name leaves more questions open, as Sarah Procter is the same woman who got famously accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Even as the show officially ended, we still have many questions that they purposely put out there. Most of the details are Red Herrings hidden like Easter eggs. It’s what makes the casting of Evan Peters one of the main discussion points right now. They are deliberate to keep us second-guessing, and it certainly worked.

No one else could’ve been a fake Pietro because there are only two actors we would believe taking on that role. The expectations of this plot exist purely on a meta-level due to our expectations. He was a Red Herring just like Dottie was. It is understandable that it isn’t for everyone and that people will be upset about it. Sadly, some of these hints were so prominent that they created false expectations because they overplayed their hands at times. At the same time, if it didn’t upset us, would it still be as shocking of a twist? Still, nothing is truly definite within the MCU, as everything is always in a state of constant flux. We only saw the intro to how this story might unfold, and who knows what the Darkhold may unleash upon the world.

Source: Toronto Sun, Black Girl Nerds, Vanity Fair

Eight weeks have passed since the WandaVision premiere and we’re now finally able to look back at the show as a whole. Being the first Marvel Studios production to use the more traditional television episodic format we knew from the start that its end product would differ from the usual theatrical releases, and we got exactly that. What audiences would probably not be expecting, especially coming from the MCU, was that the show would pack such a huge emotional punch. 

Marvel movies have always been characterized by the brilliance of the action pieces, the larger-than-life characters, and the growing spectacle that’s been developing in every single theatrical release for over a decade. We’ve certainly have had our share of emotional moments throughout, but the biggest ones have always been towards characters that have been developed in several movies, with an immense amount of screentime at their disposal. When this is the case, it’s easier to connect with audiences for the simple fact that those characters have been there for the amount of time that they have, and attachments are naturally created.

But WandaVision manages to accomplish the same thing with characters that were either just now added into the MCU or that have had limited screentime ever since their introduction, which is hardly easy. Many fans already had a soft spot for both Wanda or/and The Vision and that obviously helped, but the writing on the show was competent enough to take that to a whole new level, as they brought both Billy and Tommy along for the ride.

The show was always, at the core, about family. About the family we lose, the family we gain, the family we cherish, the family that makes us who we are, and perhaps most importantly, the family that makes us want to be better, something Wanda ended up doing by the end of the show. WandaVision was brilliant in the way it showed us just how much family truly means, how far we’re willing to go to bring happiness to the ones we love, even if sometimes in a somewhat (to put it mildly) selfish manner. Wanda and Vision’s love for each other and their children became as real as it gets, with them always wearing their hearts on their sleeves regarding the twins. They were always the first thing on their minds whenever danger was looming, and even Wanda’s immediate reflex when seeing that both would be gone if she released everybody from the Hex was to save them, not the entire town even if she knew that was what needed to be done. She showed us that she would put everything on the line just the keep them beside her. But as soon as she understood what needed to happen, she left them with words that only enhance their importance to her, and that quite possibly are even a small hint of events still to come:

You know… a family is forever. We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried.

If WandaVision was about Wanda discovering a new family that filled her need for one, we’re sure to be getting Wanda searching for her lost children as the following chapters of her MCU story unfold. It appears that she hasn’t quite given up on it, and bringing back the twins seems like quite the priority, as the post-credit scene seems to suggest. The seeds of this newfound meaning to her journey were planted in the season that just ended, in what is perhaps the greatest achievement of the entire show.

Here’s a crazy theory to throw out. At the end of WandaVision’s seventh episode, it ended with a massive twist. Agnes turned out, as predicted, to be Agatha Harkness. She even got a brand new intro that seemed inspired by The Munsters. As its title implies, she was responsible for some of the actions in the past episodes. It was her that manipulated the drunk Vision and the fake Pietro. Yet, was she really behind it all, as the title states? The latest episode revealed that it was Wanda’s grief that created the Hex. In reality, Agatha may be selfish, but she isn’t the villain that we think she is. There might be a softer side that will get explored in tomorrow’s finale.

The catchy musical entry reveals Agatha’s actions throughout the early shows. We see her manipulate Vision so that the townfolks would realize what is happening. She also frees Herb from Wanda’s control. If you look closely, she does it after he already cut through the wall. In a way, she was trying to reveal something to Vision that would make him realize what is happening. As we learned, the Pietro plotline was to get Vision to explore outside of the hex. So, while she was behind some of the shenanigans, she isn’t the root cause of it all. The latest episode confirms that Wanda created the sitcom world in her grief.

It’s also strange how the episode turns Agatha into a therapist for Wanda. Yes, her ulterior motive is to uncover how she used her abilities, but they tease some humanity. The moment we briefly see her shed a tear when they revisit her time in the Avengers compound solidifies the fact that she isn’t evil for the sake of it. As we are about to enter the final episode, I think Agatha will have a change of heart and support Wanda moving forward. They teased it when she wondered how she had no idea about runes but could put her magic on auto-pilot throughout Westview. She never was a villain in the comics. It was through her that Wanda learned to control chaos magic. The potential of teaching a new incarnation of the Scarlet Witch might be an exciting prospect for her.

Once the new Vision teased in the post-credit sequence enters Westview alongside SWORD, they have a common enemy. She might end up fighting alongside them, as she has no interest in losing a powerful witch like Wanda. Yes, she does absorb the life force of her fellow witches back in Salem. If you pay close attention, she seems to have no control over it. It almost seemed like the purple magic she was dabbling in was protecting her. At the end of the idea, it was self-defense. She didn’t attack them but retaliated when they tried to kill her. So, she is obsessed with mastering magic and has the perfect pupil. I would love to see her and Doctor Strange get into a dispute over who is the better teacher for her. As such, she would follow her comic roots and introduce Wanda and us to the world of witchcraft. It would be a shame to introduce this part of the MCU without exploring its history. After that brief tease at the beginning of the last episode, I want a history lesson on this crazy universe. Plus, I believe it would be a waste not to give Kathryn Hahn more time to shine in this ever-expanding franchise.