We've finally come to the end of our first Disney+ MCU TV series and what a crazy ride it has been. For the longest time, the MCU at large had focused on cosmic and science-based stories, only occasionally delving into mysticism with characters like Doctor Strange in the films or Ghost Rider in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but now with WandaVision, we're finally deepening our understanding of magic in the MCU. There was a lot of potential with this series and it definitely didn't disappoint, so let's dive right into our series retrospect.
SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT)
Introduction: If there's one word I would use to describe WandaVision, it would be "insane". I'm pretty certain that when everyone started this series, no one could've imagined that it would become the final product we got with the series finale. Being set 3 weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame, we see Wanda trying to cope with the death of her husband Vision at the hands of Thanos and underneath all the fun sitcom-y shenanigans that happen throughout a good portion of the series, we learn that almost everything has happened is a result of Wanda's grief. As the series progressed, WandaVision developed into a compelling story depicting a widow's sadness, and acceptance of her own powers and past, as well as opening a realm of possibilities for the MCU's future.
Series vs comics: There's a lot of stuff happening in WandaVision, with so many hours of content to cover, I won't be able to explain everything so instead I'll talk about 6 specific characters in the series (Wanda, Vision, Agatha Harkness, Monica Rambeau, Billy and Tommy). Wanda (and her brother Pietro's) comic origins have been retconned and rewritten countless times over the years. The most popular and the one that stuck for the longest time was that they were Magneto's mutant children. That changed in 2015, when it was revealed that the Maximoff twins were actually the children of sorceress Natalya Maximoff and were kidnapped by the High Evolutionary, who genetically altered them. Disappointed with the results, he would return them to human civilisation, disguising them as regular mutants. While Pietro did receive his powers from the genetic alteration, Wanda inherited her magical abilities from her mother, with the High Evolutionary's experimentations only making her more receptive to magical energy. She would also eventually inherit a title passed down from generation to generation, that of the Scarlet Witch.
In the MCU, the Maximoff twins were first introduced in the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and made their first proper appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where they were thought to have been given powers through Baron von Strucker's experimentations with the Mind Stone, making them human mutates. However, WandaVision has shown us that much like in the comics, Wanda has innate magical abilities. Originally, it was believed that the reason the Stark Industries warhead didn't blow up and kill them in their childhood was because it was defective but now we know that a young Wanda had cast a probability hex on it. The Mind Stone didn't give her her powers but instead unlocked her powers (as well as placing a part of itself in her). The series also gives us our first official namedrop for Wanda's superhero alias, with the Scarlet Witch being a title given to a powerful wielder of Chaos Magic. This is somewhat similar to her comic origins, with her latent magical powers being unlocked by an external factor.
In both the comics and the series, Wanda is manipulating Chaos Magic, which allows her to alter reality and control various forms of mystical energy. In the comics, she also draws her powers from the malevolent Elder God Chthon and the famous use of her power happens in the Decimation event, where she wipes out 91.4% of the X-Gene in the global mutant population, with the legendary catchphrase "no more mutants". In the series, she demonstrates reality manipulation on a vast scale, enough to alter the very makeup of an entire town's population and even recreate a whole copy of her dead husband Vision (although she does this by drawing on the piece of the Mind Stone within her). She's even capable of creating new human life by materialising twin children Billy and Tommy (more on this later).
We can't talk about this series without mentioning the other titular hero, everyone's favourite android Vision. I won't cover the differences in his origin from print to screen because that was a part of Avengers: Age of Ultron rather than this series itself but there's still quite a lot of interesting adaptations. In the comics, Wonder Man's brain patterns are input into Vision's android body, giving him his emotions and "soul". After the android is dismantled and reassembled, Wonder Man refuses to let his brain patterns be used again, leaving Vision a colourless and emotionless synthezoid, a white blank slate. Eventually he regains his emotions through a series of events I won't explain but that's the gist of it. In the series, we do actually get this emotionless Vision. After the events of Avengers: Endgame, S.W.O.R.D. has taken and dismantled Vision's body, wanting to find out the secrets to what they call the most powerful sentient weapon of all time. Acting director Tyler Hayward's ultimate plan is to create his own version of Vision and much like in the comics, his organisation rebuilds the android but without the Mind Stone, the final product is a soulless white robot, which will henceforth be referred to as The Vision.
In WandaVision's final battle, Vision and The Vision engage in intense combat, making full use of their intangibility, flight and energy beams. At the end of it, Vision (who's functionally a new being created by Wanda without any of his past memories) uses the power of the Mind Stone to unlock the hidden memories of The Vision (who's actually the true original Vision), helping the blank android regain his emotions. It's an interesting take on the comic storyline and I was very surprised that they decided to go this route. They executed it well though so I'm glad for that.
If Scarlet Witch and Vision are the most important characters in this series, Agatha Harkness will probably come in in third place. In the comics, Agatha is an ancient sorceress who has been alive for thousands of years and is generally a benevolent character, often seen helping Scarlet Witch control her powers. She's believed to be one of the original witches at the Salem Witch Trials and is the matriarch (for lack of a better word) of an entire lineage of powerful magic users/demons. The series has changed her role quite drastically, portraying her as the main antagonist of WandaVision. While they keep the origin of her being part of the Salem Witch Trials, Agatha is shown to be far more villainous, manipulating dark magic and absorbing other magic users' life force to grow more powerful. She's attracted to Wanda's sudden burst of reality manipulating magic and wants to absorb her powers, believing our heroine to be undeserving of such vast power. Despite that, I feel like the series wants to push Agatha as a sort of "necessary evil" in a way, wanting to absorb Wanda's powers so that she doesn't cause harm to others. In that way, she's somewhat similar to her comic counterpart, albeit more sinister.
The aforementioned trio are the more important characters in the series so now let's get to the remaining trio of more prominent supporting roles. Monica Rambeau, the powerful superheroine known as Spectrum, has taken on many aliases in the comics, including Captain Marvel and Photon. A lieutenant in the New Orleans Harbour Patrol, she gained the ability to turn herself into and manipulate any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum after being bombarded by extradimensional energies. Having been part of many teams such as the Avengers and the Ultimates, Spectrum is undoubtedly one of the most important players in Marvel's cosmic phase. In the series, Monica is a S.W.O.R.D. agent who was snapped away by Thanos and subsequently brought back to life 5 years after. She's later sent to investigate Wanda's reality and after passing through the reality distortion barrier 3 separate times, her DNA is rewritten and she gains superpowers. Although we haven't seen much of her abilities yet, we know that they have something to do with energy, as she can see the EM spectrum beyond normal human capabilities and manipulate other energies to some extent, such as being able to detect Agatha's magic and absorb kinetic energy from bullets. While not entirely the same, Monica does gain her powers in a similar fashion in both print and screen, by being altered through extradimensional energies.
Last but not least, we have Billy and Tommy, Wanda's twins. In the comics, Billy and Tommy were supposedly born to Wanda and Vision but in truth, were magical constructs created by her using some of the Demon Mephisto's life essence. Eventually, the twins were reabsorbed by Mephisto, temporarily driving Wanda insane. Not to worry though because the pair were eventually reincarnated in the form of mutants Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd, aka the Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed. Wiccan shares powers similar to his mother, being able to manipulate reality, while Speed (obviously) possesses superhuman speed like his uncle Quicksilver. In the series, Billy and Tommy are created by Wanda in her reality, a result of her desire to have a real family with Vision. They age themselves into 10 year olds and demonstrate abilities similar to their comic counterparts, Billy possessing psionic abilities and Tommy possessing superhuman speed. By the end of the series, Wanda dissipates her distortion field, with her twins disappearing as well, in a manner somewhat similar to their comic counterparts. However, the post-credits scene reveals that they're presumably still alive and trapped somewhere, as they call out to Wanda for help (more on this later) so maybe they'll make a return eventually as Wiccan and Speed.
Pros: The best thing has to be our heroes' chemistry. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are absolutely knocking it out of the park with their onscreen chemistry, and their acting is truly outstanding. One of my favourite scenes is when Wanda and Vision have their argument in episode 5, as the android believes that Wanda is keeping the Westview residents in her reality against their will. It's the first time we're seeing the typically stoic and logical Vision exploding with emotion and it's quite terrifying to see. Amazing acting range from Bettany on that part. Olsen has also done a good job playing both the grieving widow as well as the occasionally menacing sorceress, sometimes even treading the fine line between heroism and villainy. I thought it was a great step-up from whatever we've seen in the films because these two were more of supporting characters than anything. Of course, being the stars of their own show I was very pleased to see the development of their relationship.
Another outstanding part of this series has to be Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness. Hahn is an excellent actress, whether it's as the goofy "nosy neighbour" Agnes, who's somehow always present around Wanda and Vision with her comedic antics, or as the menacing sorceress Agatha. She's an absolute joy to watch on screen and I sincerely hope we see more of her. It's a real shame we didn't really get to see much of her throughout the series but I'm not too worried because she's bound to return at some point.
I also really liked the sitcom tropes peppered throughout the series. People who know me know that I have a very off brand sense of humour and I cackle at the weakest stuff, cheesy sitcoms being one of them, so trust me when I said I was cackling at some of the stuff in WandaVision, especially the earlier episodes when they were based off 1950s or 60s sitcoms. Absolutely hilarious to watch and super unique. It worked very well in the context of the series as they were based off actual TV shows Wanda watched throughout her life, whether it was old stuff like The Dick Van Dyke Show from her childhood or Malcolm in the Middle sometime before Captain America: Civil War.
And can we just talk about Wanda's suit? Scarlet Witch's comic outfit has always been a little outlandish and maybe even a little cheesy, even in more modern iterations, but somehow they managed to pull it off. We got a great onscreen adaptation of it, complete with fancy pointy headgear and Olsen really shines in it. Marvel has done a pretty good job of adapting their characters' looks from print to screen, and even though some of them are modernised to be less outdated or "cheap-looking", they're still extremely faithful, with Wanda's new costume being no different. In truth, it sort of reminds me of Magneto's costume from X-Men: Apocalypse and I'm sure many others will feel the same. It's that dark red leather and metal look.
Cons: As much as I enjoyed this series, there're still some things that I felt could've been improved. For starters, I think they could've expanded a little bit more on Agatha's backstory. For the fact that Agatha's reveal was fairly hyped up by Marvel themselves, the reveal wasn't anything astounding because even before episode 1 aired, people were already theorising that Agnes was just an alias for Agatha Harkness. Also, she disappeared a little too quickly. Granted, she'll probably return at some point but I feel like they built her up so much only to end it so quickly. In that same vein, while WandaVision did a pretty good job of setting events up, they wrapped up really fast in the end, everything almost degenerating into a typical MCU big bad vs good guy fight, of course with the latter coming out on top. Granted, there's a silver lining in all this because the strong connection between the series and the films means that the story will always get expanded on later so they can afford to skim over some things in the series itself. That said, I do think that this is something that could've been executed better.
Connection to the greater MCU: It's no news to us that WandaVision will have connections to the MCU at large, having been confirmed to directly tie into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Disney+ series were always meant to be more interwoven with the films so that was expected but did you know that they even brought back material from previous TV series? That's right, behold the Darkhold, an ancient book of magic and spells, capable of granting whoever reads it extreme knowledge and power. However, the Darkhold is very dangerous and will corrupt anyone who reads it, even if only briefly skimmed through. The book first appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where it was used by evil forces to push an anti-Inhuman crusade, before being taken by Ghost Rider and returned to Hell for safekeeping. Eventually, the Darkhold would find its way into the hands of villainous Dark Dimension enchantress Morgan le Fay in Runaways and she would attempt to conquer Earth with its power.
She would ultimately be sent back to the Dark Dimension, with the whereabouts of the Darkhold being unknown. Of course, as we now know from WandaVision, the book would end up in the hands of Agatha Harkness and from it, we know that the Scarlet Witch is a legend and a magical title. In the post-credits scene, we see that Wanda is using her astral form to sift through the Darkhold, absorbing its information and increasing her own magical powers, much like Doctor Strange in his solo film. What an insane callback to the older TV series. For the fact that the MCU films have barely acknowledged the TV series if at all, it's a nice little nod that they do indeed exist in the same universe and a huge moment of catharsis for fans who wanted confirmation from the higher-ups at Marvel Studios to acknowledge the existence of the TV series.
Anyway, the point is, there hasn't been a good track record with the Darkhold because everyone who uses it gets corrupted by its power. Yes, Wanda is a being of immense power and magical prowess but it is still worrying that she might end up becoming corrupted by it's tempting mysticism. We know that Wanda will return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and while the film's premise dictates that Doctor Strange will be hindered by a "friend-turned-enemy", it is uncertain if that description is for Wanda or for Baron Mordo. If it's the former, I guess the Darkhold did indeed corrupt her but that remains to be seen.
The future of the MCU: Rather than the more obvious references and links that most viewers thought would happen, I feel that WandaVision has affected the MCU in more subtle ways. As mentioned earlier, we've known that this series would lead into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and many thought that we would get cameos from an important MCU character, with hopes that the Sorcerer Supreme might even make his own appearance. Of course, Paul Bettany was totally lying to us and we didn't actually see any of that happen. Rather than showing a specific character in a cameo, as I said up top, Wanda is now studying the Darkhold.
Agatha does reveal that being the Scarlet Witch gives Wanda more power than the Sorcerer Supreme and at the end of their climactic battle, she warns our heroine that finding out her true nature as the Scarlet Witch will spell disaster but we don't get a conclusive answer to that statement. My prediction is that somehow as Wanda grows more powerful (with or without the Darkhold), she'll probably end up breaking the barriers of reality, bringing the multiverse into play. There were lots of theories being thrown around about how WandaVision would incorporate the multiverse, with people theorising that Wanda really pulled Earth-TRN414's (aka the X-Men film universe) Quicksilver into the MCU. This would've (literally) opened up an immediate realm of possibilities, although it's later revealed (quite disappointingly) that this "Quicksilver" was actually another Westview resident, this time under Agatha's control, an actor by the name of Ralph, who just so happens to also be played by Evan Peters. Either way, Wanda's increasing power will definitely affect Doctor Strange in his upcoming film and I'm excited to see how this will play out. I also fully expect Agatha to make her return in later projects but we shall see.
The MCU's magical side isn't the only thing being expanded on here and it would be remiss of me not to mention our mid-credits scene with Monica Rambeau, who we already know is on the path to becoming Spectrum, although her powers only briefly being shown in the series. We see Monica being approached by a Skrull disguised as a cop, telling her that a "friend of her mother's" has been observing her and wants to meet her in space. Of course, that friend is none other than Nick Fury, who worked with her mother Maria in Captain Marvel. This could very easily be a set-up for The Marvels, which will see Teyonah Parris reprising her role as Monica, reuniting her with her aunt Carol aka Captain Marvel herself. WandaVision gave us the vibe that there's no love lost between Monica and Carol, presumably because the former is still struggling with the death of her mother while she was snapped away and because the latter was off-world struggling with the ramifications of Thanos' actions. Monica probably resents Carol for not being there and I'm sure The Marvels will give them a chance to hash things out.
That said, this could also be tying into another upcoming Disney+ TV series, Secret Invasion (which is based on the comic storyline of the same name). We don't know much about it other than the return of Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn as Nick Fury and Talos respectively but the premise of the series will be about how a sect of Skrulls have infiltrated every aspect of life on Earth and I guess Fury and Talos will be working together to save the Earth. From Spider-Man: Far From Home's post-credits scene, we know that the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. director has been working in space with Skrulls, potentially working in secret with S.W.O.R.D. There've been theories that the agents loyal to Monica are Skrulls in disguise under Fury's command but we don't know for sure. Either way, it's definitely a precursor to what's to come for Monica as Spectrum and I'm excited to see what's in store for the cosmic side of the MCU.
At the end of the series, The Vision flies off into parts unknown to contemplate his existence, having regained all his memories and emotions. It's obvious that he'll be making his return at some point but we don't know for sure when it'll happen. Could he be returning alongside Wanda in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or might he even make a return in another Disney+ series like Armor Wars? That remains to be seen but I'm certain this won't be the last time we see Paul Bettany donning on the colourless cloak of The Vision.
WandaVision's connection to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will also indirectly tie the series into Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, both of which have ties to our Sorcerer Supreme's second solo film. With Loki exploring the trickster god's time-traveling shenanigans post-Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man's third outing carrying on from the disastrous ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home, we'll undoubtedly be exploring the multiverse and lots of alternate timelines with all these projects, and WandaVision has just opened up the door for all of them, albeit in a more subdued manner.
Last but certainly not least, I mentioned up top that Wanda hears Billy and Tommy calling for her while she's examining the Darkhold, indicating that they're not as gone as she thought. This might potentially be one of the reasons why she returns alongside Doctor Strange, enlisting the hero's help to find her children, who might be lost in an alternate dimension or universe. We're definitely going to see the return of these superhuman twins and when they do come back, they might be closer to the young heroes we know as Wiccan and Speed. The MCU could potentially be setting up the Young Avengers as well because apart from Billy and Tommy, we're getting Kamala Khan, Kate Bishop and Ms. America, all in different upcoming MCU projects. The original leader of the Young Avengers, Iron Lad, also has ties to the major villain Kang the Conqueror, who'll be appearing in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania so it's becoming increasingly clear that Marvel might want to go that route. It's an interesting prospect and definitely something I'm intrigued by.
Final thoughts: I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried about Marvel branching out into the Disney+ series but WandaVision has laid those worries to rest, at least for the foreseeable future. Considering how it's been met with such success, I believe that it'll be no different going forth into future series. I still do fear that the connection between the series and the films could potentially result in alienation for casual film watchers but through research, I've found that god emperor Kevin Feige has stated that the films will still be produced in a manner where you don't really have to watch the series to know what's going on. That's good to hear but we shall see what comes out of it.
I'm sure many people had high expectations for this series and they were mostly met but there's definitely some underlying disappointment, especially since many viewers threw out so many possible theories about more obvious connections to the MCU's future, such as the introduction of mutants into the MCU or even showing us Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. There was so much hype about Richards potentially being Monica's aerospace engineer contact and everyone was so excited about that possibility but it came to naught. Disappointing, yes, but it makes a lot of sense that they wouldn't want to have such an important character and an important stepping stone for the MCU's future be relegated to a small cameo in a series that doesn't even really involve them.
The same goes for the mutants. Feige has stated that his current 5-year plan for the MCU doesn't include the X-Men at all even though they have plans for an as-of-yet untitled mutant-centered film as well as for a Deadpool sequel with Ryan Reynolds returning as the merc with the mouth so I'm not too worried about anything. They haven't really gone wrong with the stories they wanted to tell so knowing Marvel, they've probably planned everything out really well and we're going to get a proper Phase Four before we head on into mutants, possibly in Phase Five.
Anyway, I really enjoyed WandaVision, not just for the fact that it was a comic book TV series bringing back some of our favourite characters but also because it was a well-told story that opens up a whole realm of possibilities. The future looks bright for the MCU and seeing as how this method of storytelling has worked pretty well thus far, I have high hopes for the rest of the Disney+ series. I would highly recommend this series, whether you're a hardcore Marvel/MCU fan or whether you're just looking for a good series to catch. I do use an online streamer to watch it rather than actually getting Disney+ (I do love me some piracy) so if you're interested, I wouldn't mind sharing that website with you guys. Thanks for reading.
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