Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: WandaVision

  • How Marvel Studios Plans to Take the Fight to Superhero Fatigue

    How Marvel Studios Plans to Take the Fight to Superhero Fatigue

    It probably feels like a lifetime ago but it was only in 2017 that the MCU started releasing three feature films every year. By that time the franchise was approaching its 10th year with 17 movies under its belt and many started wondering just how long could Marvel Studios’ dominance at the box office truly last until audiences’ superhero fatigue managed to creep up on it. The following couple of years presented everyone with a resounding answer to that question as five out of the six movies released in that period surpassed the 1 billion dollar mark at the box-office, with two of those going over the 2 billion dollar mark while making Avengers: Endgame the highest-grossing movie of all time.

    By that point, and besides being the final chapter of a story being told since 2008 through 23 interconnected movies, the end of the Infinity Saga had audiences saying goodbye to arguably its two most important characters, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, that had been at the forefront of the MCU since its inception. So being, Marvel Studios had a few problems on their plate as 2019 came to a close: How to reintroduce surviving characters making them a bigger presence within the franchise filling the void of the ones lost, how to make fans care for the new characters being introduced as they did the legacy ones, and most importantly how to maintain global audience interested in the MCU avoiding the aforementioned superhero fatigue to finally become a real thing, in what the MCU is concerned.

    A few of the issues mentioned above had already started being addressed head-on by taking a chance on characters like Black Panther and Captain Marvel, allowing for a larger and more diverse audience to feel embraced by the superhero cinematic universe Marvel created, all while keeping longtime fans engaged by diversifying the type of stories being told, the angles in which they were told, and the voices that told them. Phase 4 would be doubling-down on this idea of bringing into the franchise a much more diverse group of filmmakers (Cate Shortland, Destin Daniel Cretton, Chloé Zhao, Nia DaCosta) and introducing characters like Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Ironheart, and the incredibly diverse cast of Eternals that are further living proof that the MCU is trying to evolve and become a much richer and relevant franchise by allowing so much different voices to shine through.

    But today, exactly one week after the WandaVision finale and one week before The Falcon and The Winter Soldier premiere, it’s becoming increasingly clear that, as contradictory as it may sound, another way Marvel Studios is trying to avoid superhero fatigue is by going all out and delivering ten projects in a single year. One would think that that would be against their interests as this means that there’ll be hardly a week throughout the year without some sort of new MCU content, but Marvel Studios is managing to circumvent that by turning inwards and redefining what the superhero genre can aspire to become. This way, instead of only releasing properties that could be described as being the generic superhero production and thus paving the way for audiences to quickly lose interest by the lack of novelty, they are expanding into sub-genres that are already a reality across the industry.

    As WandaVision played with sitcom tropes while combining romance, mystery, and drama, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set to be more of an action-thriller experience. Ms. Marvel could be categorized as a teen drama while Hawkeye (mystery-thriller), Eternals (action epic), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (martial arts action film), and Loki (sci-fi adventure) will each have their particular characteristics, making each project fresh in its own right. Going beyond 2021 we’ll find the same being applied to shows like She-Hulk (courtroom drama) or movies such as Thor: Love and Thunder (space opera rock show). All of this seems to mean that Marvel Studios is thinking that, by diversifying, audiences won’t grow tired of what they have to offer in the same way they don’t get tired of movies and tv in general. Even if all properties are a part of a larger franchise, their particulars will allow all of them to be experienced without the added weight of being presented with the same formulaic concepts and narratives.

    Marvel Studios broke the mold for what franchises of this magnitude could become, and by keeping themselves in the public eye year-round but also understanding that a gimmick can only keep itself relevant for so much time, so much so that it’s not afraid to reinvent itself on the go (as we were able to see with WandaVision), is likely doing it again, before our very eyes.

     

  • ‘WandaVision’: White Vision’s Quest in the MCU

    ‘WandaVision’: White Vision’s Quest in the MCU

    The much-anticipated finale of WandaVision provided us with a deep dive into Wanda’s grief. It was beautifully brought full circle to acceptance in her final scene with her Hex-created Vision. There have been some criticisms of the finale, which unfortunately did seem to suffer from cuts in plotlines for certain characters. That seemed to be mainly due to the production trying to finish up during a global pandemic while sticking to its premiere date on Disney+. However, I would like to tackle one criticism in regards to the White Vision’s behavior, which I will respectfully disagree with.

    I don’t agree that it was wrong to have the White Vision just up and leave, and not join Wanda’s battle against Agatha Harkness. The main reason I feel it was the right choice, is that it was really Wanda’s battle to win or lose, not anyone else’s. WandaVision was centered around Wanda’s grief and her mourning. It was about how she handles or mishandles it, and so having someone swoop in to win the battle for her, or demand that she let those people go, or defeat her so that the people of Westview are freed, would have taken away from the overarching theme that the real “big bad” in this story was the profound grief she was feeling.

     

     

    To “win” this very personal battle, especially in light of what she had done wrong as she’d processed her grief, it was incredibly important that Wanda herself decided to let this fantasy world go and at least try to move on with her life. A promise that she could have the kids or Vision with her in the end, would have undercut the bravery and strength it took for her to do the right thing finally. All this so she can let those people go.

    As for White Vision’s sudden exit, it made sense to me that this cold and unemotional android would leave. Even if he consists of Vision’s original parts, he is not the Vision who we came to know and love during the WandaVision series. Yet he isn’t the Vision that we met in Avengers: Age of Ultron either. A sudden influx of memories from his life before Thanos led to an interesting change in his eye color. It went from a cold emotionless blue to the much warmer and human tint that reflected Paul Bettany‘s eyes rather than that of a machine. Even if memories and emotions transferred from the Hex Vision to his synthezoid psyche, it would certainly be a lot of “data” to process, even for him.

     

     

    So, he took off, bursting through the glass of the library instead of phasing. It’s possible that the director just really liked the explosive and dramatic visual effects of this exit and that’s why. However, I think it’s also very plausible that Vision was distracted by these newly discovered memories and emotions – especially if you remember how the Vision has been distracted by thoughts of Wanda before, such as in Civil War, and Infinity War. My assumption when I watched the scene the first time is that White Vision simply needed to go somewhere to figure all of this out. Keep in mind, this exit and his status being unknown, leaves him in a really interesting place, full of potential for character exploration in the future. Here’s hoping this quote from the Hex Vision’s final scene is a hint that there is much more to come from Vision in whatever form. 

    I have been a voice with no body, a body but not human, and now a memory made real. Who knows what I may be next?

  • How ‘WandaVision’ Leaves the Door Open for Evan Peters’ Future in the MCU

    How ‘WandaVision’ Leaves the Door Open for Evan Peters’ Future in the MCU

    There are many unsolved stories left when WandaVision ended. Among them is the identity of Jimmy Woo’s missing person. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I can’t blame you. The line came early in the show’s fourth episode. It was when Woo explains to Monica Rambeau how he discovered the Westview anomaly. He revealed that he was searching for a person in the FBI’s Witness Protection Program, who had recently disappeared. After this, the missing person never got brought up again, understandably overshadowed in the government’s eyes by the giant magical hex encompassing an entire town. Luckily for fans who never stopped wondering, the series finale might have given enough clues to deduce the identity of this protected individual. The best part is that it offers a chance to also to expand Evan Peter‘s role in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

     

     

    Ralph, initially introduced as a “recast” version of Pietro Maximoff, was theorized from the get-go to be many different characters from Marvel comics canon. Many assumed the unseen husband of Agnes would get revealed as the big bad Mephisto. There was also the theory that the show’s fake Pietro was Peter Maximoff of X-Men: Days of Future Past fame. All of this was eventually proven untrue, as Monica realizes that Peters‘ character is simply another manipulated Westview resident. It left many feeling a bit underwhelmed, wishing that an actor of Peters‘ caliber would have a larger role in future MCU projects. Well, despite all the interviews to the contrary, I think there is more to Mr. Bohner than meets the eye. Although I’ve been a vocal advocate of letting theories go, I’m here to eat my own words and tell you there may be one more worth holding on to. I believe he might turn out to be Simon Williams at one point.

     

     

    Williams has tried to join the MCU for years. Director James Gunn cast Nathan Fillion in the role for a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 cameo appearance, but it got scrapped. There were hints with his addition, such as a blurry image of the character in the first featurette during WandaVision‘s marketing campaign. It led to many assumptions that he would appear in some capacity during the anticipated nine-episode run. Yet despite this heavy pre-show speculation, the former Avenger never popped up. A recent interview with WandaVision showrunner Jac Shaeffer confirmed that there were never any plans to include Wonder Man in the series. However, Marvel Studios has never shied away from a little retroactive continuity change, as evidenced by All Hail the King‘s “fixing” of the infamous Mandarin twist from Iron Man 3. With this precedent in place, I don’t think it would be much of a stretch to evolve Ralph Bohner into Wonder Man.

     

     

    There are a few details that could be re-worked to line up with Simon Williams’ characteristics. Firstly, the picture held by Monica in Ralph’s home appears to be a headshot. We never learn what Ralph’s profession is, but the presence of a headshot could indicate prior aspirations towards acting. If this turned out to be true, Agatha would make use of a former actor as her double for Pietro, knowing he’d be capable of pulling the character off in a pinch. Secondly, the way Bohner seems to be unfamiliar with his name. Sure, it probably has something to do with him being under Agatha Harkness’s control, but if Ralph is Woo’s missing person, it stands to reason that he might have picked out a name that appealed to his immature side. The former Mr. Williams might have then relocated to the safe and unassuming town of Westview, unaware he’d soon get swept up in magical shenanigans.

     

     

    Now, why would a goofy thespian like Ralph even be forced to enter witness protection in the first place? Some fans may be aware that Simon Williams isn’t the only masked member of his family. His older brother Eric is the villainous Grim Reaper. He even was once heavily rumored to be involved with Marvel Studios’ debut series. The antagonist even got a maybe-accidental nod during WandaVision‘s second episode, where the silhouette of his mask was included in the animated opening sequence. With that in mind, one could piece together that Ralph may have gotten caught up in his brother’s criminal activities, forcing him to give up his dreams of acting and join the Witness Protection Program.

    We never actually get to see what happens to Ralph after his apprehension by Monica. We know that he got freed of Agatha’s control. The shell necklace gave off a purple glow, which isn’t dissimilar from the energy produced by Wonder Man in the original Marvel books, but nothing is shown after that. Evan Peters’ open-ended plotline is perfect to set-up a return of “Ralph Bohner” in the future of the MCU. Perhaps then he’ll be going by a more familiar name, in a town that doesn’t have dueling witches or philosophical androids running amok in the streets. Or maybe he’ll have to deal with them again, who knows?

  • Kevin Feige Won’t Say No To Another Season of ‘WandaVision’

    Kevin Feige Won’t Say No To Another Season of ‘WandaVision’

    The minds behind WandaVision are making the press rounds this week to dissect the big moments that the show did and did not make good on and to talk about what’s next for the characters. We know that we’ll see the newly christened Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and that Monica Rambeau has a big part to play in Captain Marvel 2 but beyond that, we don’t really know what’s next for the rest of the core characters from the show, leaving fans wondering if we might see a second season of the streaming hit. Comicbook.com asked Marvel Studios One-Above-All Kevin Feige about the possibility of another season of WandaVision and while he didn’t say no, he definitely did not say yes, either.

    Elizabeth Olsen and Jac Schaeffer on Wanda Maximoff's Grief and Journey to the Scarlet Witch | Marvel

    We are developing all of these shows the way we’re developing our movies. In other words, when we start with a movie, we hope there’s a part two; we hope there’s a part three. But we aren’t factoring that into part one. We are trying to make something that hooks people enough and that people enjoy enough and want to revisit enough, that they want to see the story continue. So that is the way we’re proceeding on television as well.

    I’ve been at Marvel for too long to say a definite no or definite yes to anything in regards to your question about another season of WandaVision but some of the shows that we’re about to start filming, we are keeping in mind a structure that would lead into a Season Two and a Season Three in a more direct way than, say, a show like WandaVision which clearly goes into a feature. But it is new. That’s part of the fun, exciting, adrenaline-boosting creativity that we’re able to do, thanks to Disney+, and really to figure out new ways of storytelling. Perhaps someday we’ll chart out five seasons of a show, but really we’re focusing on delivering the best seasons we can one at a time so far.

    Reading between the lines of Feige’s comments, it seems less likely that WandaVision ends up with another season than something like Loki or She-Hulk and that seems directly related to the fact that WandaVision was designed to move Wanda’s story along from one film (Avengers: Endgame) to another (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) while some of the other series are seemingly being designed with future seasons in mind. Given the unique structure of season one, It’s hard to imagine what another season of WandaVision might be about at this point given the way things were left but maybe there’s a way to spend some more time with many of the same characters in another, differently names series down the road.

     

    Source: comicbook.com

  • Jac Schaeffer Explains Why Wonder Man Didn’t Make the Cut in ‘WandaVision’

    Jac Schaeffer Explains Why Wonder Man Didn’t Make the Cut in ‘WandaVision’

    Marvel Studios layered plenty of easter eggs and red herrings into its first Disney Plus streaming series, WandaVision. From Bova milk to the Whizzer to the Grim Reaper’s helmet in the Episode 2 opening to allusions to the devil that led many fans to think Mephisto was coming to the ultimate bait and switch with Evan Peters, the show kept fans on their toes. Even one of the behind-the-scenes features had fans crafting theories after a picture of longtime Avenger and one-time love interest of Wanda Maximoff, Simon Williams, appeared on screen. According to an interview with Entertainment Tonight, showrunner Jac Schaeffer, however, that Wonder Man tease wasn’t really supposed to be a tease.

    WandaVision: Did a Featurette Just Spoil Wonder Man's Debut?

    I will say emphatically that that was not a red herring inside of a featurette. Not that I know of. Marvel might’ve done you all with dirty with that. [Laughs] But I was not doing that on purpose. That writer’s room was papered from floor to ceiling with just about everything, and so that was just one of the many things that made it up on the wall.

    After being unceremoniously dismissed as pretty much the worst Avenger by director Joss Whedon, it seemed that the character might finally find life in WandaVision. However, it seems that Williams once again never made it past the brainstorming stage of the creative process for the project, leaving him sidelined again and leaving fans to wonder if Wonder Man will ever crack the lineup.

     

    Source: ET Online

     

  • ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Talks Doctor Strange’s Absence

    ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Talks Doctor Strange’s Absence

    WandaVision built up a mystery that could crumble the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reality as we know it. As Wanda transformed a small suburban town in New Jersey into a real-life sitcom, we all wondered if this might attract the attention of another sorcerer. The introduction of the witch Agatha Harkness and the Darkhold would certainly be on the radar for the Sorcerer Supreme.

    Sadly, he did not end up making an appearance to confront Wanda on her actions. Well, in an interview with Deadline, the Disney+ series executive producer Jac Schaeffer was asked that question and her answer seems to imply that he was certainly included at one point:

    I heart Doctor Strange just like anybody. Yeah, it’s one of those things, that’s how the chips fell, that’s how the cookie crumbled, is what I will say, but I look forward to seeing him on screen with Wanda in Doctor Strange 2.

    As we learned from director Matt Shakman, their production was affected by the pandemic. Storylines they filmed didn’t make it into the official release, especially as the finale was only finished shortly before it aired on the streaming channel. Shaeffer tries to avoid the question, but she does hint that he was in the cards at some point. It could also have been affected by how much they could include in the finale while working through the crunch. Still, even if he didn’t make an appearance in WandaVision, we know it sets up her story for when she joins Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It’ll be interesting to see how these stories interconnect when the film premieres March 23rd, 2022.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Reveals Why There Was No Secret Villain in the Finale

    ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Reveals Why There Was No Secret Villain in the Finale

    Sadly, WandaVision has come to an end last week. It gave us a story about personal trauma and overcoming the hardships of our past. Of course, when a superhero is involved it gets a bit messier than just a few therapy sessions. She ended up revisiting her past to face the events that shaped her and unconsciously rewrote an entire town’s reality and turned it into a living sitcom world. She also ran into the witch Agatha Harkness, who revealed her destiny.

     

    Who Is Agatha Harkness in WandaVision? Agnes Revealed as Westview Marvel Villain

     

    Throughout the show’s run, many of us believed that there was another mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes. Yet, as we found out, it was Wanda that affected this town. In an interview with Deadline, executive producer Jac Schaeffer revealed that this was always part of the plan when asked why Mephisto didn’t make an appearance:

    We didn’t think this series needed a big bad. I mean, the big bad is grief, you know, and that’s the story that we were telling. and then we got a bonus baddie in the form of Agatha Harkness who ended up facilitating Wanda’s therapy, so yeah, I think we feel preggy good about that.

    It was a great choice to avoid this trope of some evil manipulating the events from the shadows. This way, we got to take a closer look at Wanda and she had to face the consequences of her own actions. They highlighted this aspect in the season finale when she got confronted by the townsfolk. At the same time, Mephisto was heavily involved in the comics with the creation of Wanda’s children, so it is certainly a departure.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘WandaVision’: How Matt Shakman Handled that Big Bohner Twist

    ‘WandaVision’: How Matt Shakman Handled that Big Bohner Twist

    WandaVision masterfully played with audiences’ preconceived notions and expectations specifically around the notion of character teases and reveals. Fans were waiting for Blue Marvel, Talos’ daughter, Reed Richards and Mephisto to show up but nothing messed with fans more than Evan Peters. Brought in as a “recast” Pietro, who Agatha called “Fietro”, fans fought tooth and nail over whether or not Peters was Fox’s Quicksilver brought to the MCU through multiversal hijinx or just another stiff from Westview. That was all settled in the finale as Pietro was exposed as Ralph Bohner, a Westview resident who had been powered up by Agatha as a way to take advantage of Wanda’s grief over the loss of her twin.

    The Bohner reveal has left some fans feeling pretty raw and has really continued to stick out among the popular topics of conversation even a few days after the show streamed. In an interview with Kevin Smith, WandaVision director Matt Shakman talked about his inspiration for the reveal and how “playing with expectations” is always enjoyable. Shakman mentions how he was inspired to use Bohner by another MCU twist that wasn’t necessarily met with wide-ranging applause: Iron Man 3′s Trevor Slattery/Mandarin twist.

    Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t argue that Peter’s Bohner subverted expectations and did so cleverly within the studio’s genre-specific “rules.” Peters “Fietro” got to explore all the “uncle” sitcom tropes and even the character’s name is yet another sitcom reference, this time a nod to a character from the late-80’s/early-90’s sitcom Growing Pains. At the end of the day, he was never going to be more than a side character brought in to drive the story in one very particular direction.

    WandaVision Episode 6 May Reveal Pietro's True Intentions | CBR

    Even though Peters’ appearance in WandaVision was discovered, the studio still handled the Bohner twist delicately, making sure that the surprise wasn’t blown prematurely. It’s understandable that a lot of fans feel like they’ve been jerked around and are still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Peters to somehow be revealed as Quicksilver; however, it’s pretty clear that this was the reaction that Shakman and the studio were hoping for and they absolutely nailed it. Kevin Feige has often talked about how even though the MCU is based on comics, he doesn’t want to do direct adaptations because fans would know exactly what to expect. As we enter Phase 4, it looks like The-One-Above-All’s philosophy has grown into something bigger and is going to keep us all on our toes moving forward.

  • ‘WandaVision’ Was Originally 10-Episodes Long

    ‘WandaVision’ Was Originally 10-Episodes Long

    A huge point of contention among fans prior to the release of WandaVision was the show’s episode count. Kevin Feige continually described Marvel Studios’ streaming output to be strictly in the 4-6 hour count so the possibility of having more just enticed the fans into speculation. Conflicting reports surfaced left and right, as behind-the-scenes evidence pointed towards having more than 6 episodes, with some of our insider sources corroborating it. All the speculation was put to rest when the 9-episode count was confirmed by a Disney+ press release two months ago, or so we all thought. Some fans persisted with the idea that there were more episodes, going so far as to think that Disney+ was putting out a secret unannounced episode for the finale. That didn’t happen as evidenced by this week’s finale but in a new interview with series director Matt Shakman, he confirmed that the show was originally supposed to be 10-episodes long.

     

    Well, yeah, things were constantly changing and getting rebroken. The story was changing, especially a lot of the real-world stuff and the finale. There was a lot of experimentation going on and sort of trying different things out. We also at one point had 10 episodes planned and we ended up collapsing a couple, you know just to make the rhythm feel a little bit better. But yeah, they constantly changed and then of course, once we wrapped in Atlanta the pandemic hit and we ended up having months off so then further changes during that we were doing post-production and then ideas would come up and little changes would happen as a result.

    There’s been a lot of debate on whether the show managed to efficiently wrap up all the crazy plot threads of the season. Some felt very satisfied with the ending as it delivered a very emotional send-off for all the characters while some felt it was lacking, as some loose ends weren’t properly tied up and that the season would have benefited with a bit more time. Clearly, the filmmakers had more time at one point but then the pandemic hit and changed it for everyone. Judging from the other stuff Shakman has said about the development process, they had to get rid of a lot of stuff they simply didn’t have time to work on. Maybe somewhere in the multiverse, we get a Shakman cut of WandaVision. 

    Source: Youtube

  • ‘WandaVision’: Matt Shakman Opens Up About How the Pandemic Changed the Finale

    ‘WandaVision’: Matt Shakman Opens Up About How the Pandemic Changed the Finale

    It’s crazy to think that WandaVision has officially come to an end. After its nine-episode run on Disney+, we are anxiously awaiting the next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Yet, we still are looking back at the ending of the first entry in Marvel Studios’ venture into long-form storytelling. The series nailed its main focus by exploring Wanda’s grief, but there have been some dangling plot threads that still remain in our minds. In an interview on Kevin Smith‘s Fatman Beyond podcast, they had an interview with direct Matt Shakman, who offered a bit of insight into how they were affected by the pandemic.

    The studio was originally planning on releasing the first three episodes simultaneously, which makes sense with the narrative arc they set-up. However, they only finished the finale around two weeks before its official release, which means they had faced a lot of crunch time. If they went with their original plan, they would’ve had to delay the finale.

     

    https://static2.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/wandavision-3.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&h=370

     

    It also seems that the engineer’s tease was 100% intended, but was getting worried when people suddenly expected Reed Richard to show up. A lot was left on the cutting room floor, so it may have originally had a bigger pay-off. They also confess that a lot of CGI edits were a bit awkward, as pointed out by Smith, as they had to finalize those post-lockdown. Monica was even originally going to have a bigger role in the finale, such as her, the kids, Ralph, and Darcy trying to steal the Darkhold from the basement. There we would find out that the bunny Scratchy was a demon. It was all filmed but they couldn’t finish the VFX for it.

    There might be a lot more that got cut down. It is a shame to see their original vision get affected strongly by the ongoing pandemic. If they had the chance, I would hope they could add the missing sequences later in, as we saw with a correction in an episode of The Mandalorian. It explains why Darcy only had one line in the finale even though she was a major supporting character throughout the show.

     

    If you are interested in listening to the interview, you can check it out below:

    Source: YouTube