Lots to discuss in this week’s jam-packed episode of WandaVision – the first one that really felt like an episode of the show Marvel likely wanted to make and not a piece of exposition to get us ready for the real story to begin. We have Vision starting to see through the ever widening cracks of Westview, questions about just what is or isn’t wrong with Monica now that she’s out of the fantasy realm, and, perhaps most importantly, Wanda really starting to lose control of the story threads. After all, how else did the Peter Maximoff from Fox’s X-Men film series (Evan Peters) pop over into the MCU? (I’ll get into the logistics of this at the end of the story, but I’ll dive a bit into how this “recasting” might impact the series and future films in the body of the review, so read on.)
On the sitcom side of things, we’re now firmly into the 80s, complete with allusions to Family Ties, Growing Pains, and Full House (a fun tip of the hat to Elizabeth Olsen’s siblings’ career-making sitcom in the episode’s opening credits), as well as other fun sitcom tropes like fast-aging kids and very special episodes that dial back the laugh track to deal with more serious topics – such as the death of a beloved family pet (and where the episode gets its title from). The time jump also allowed for Wanda (and, by extension, Olsen) to spend a bit less time mugging for the camera and more time trying to juggle family, friends, and controlling the minds and realities of thousands of Westview adults. And it’s looking like one of those responsibilities is a bit too much for our former Avenger, as Vision isn’t the only person openly talking about how they are living in a sitcom now, and SWORD is finding new and improved ways to poke holes into the fantasy world, albeit with some potentially deadly consequences.
Previously, we saw that Agnes was sure Monica/Geraldine didn’t belong in their world and was openly talking about it with her fellow Westview resident and Vision – planting a seed that something was rotten in the picturesque suburban landscape. This week, Agnes was worried she screwed up her lines and offered to do another take – throwing off both Vision and Wanda for different reasons. Then there was SWORD’s email incursion, which only served to further trouble Vision. What Wanda is attempting here – keeping this version of Vision alive and in the dark, keeping the entire town under her control, protecting the town via a barrier, and keeping control over her impossible children (who appear to have been created via her own powers and not from actual children within the town – as the town appears to lack any children, which is a blessing, I suppose, considering the damage Wanda is inflicting on the civilians) – is a massive display of power far beyond what we’ve seen from her in her past MCU appearances. We know she’s powerful, as Jimmy’s “Wanda vs. Captain Marvel” conversation alluded to, but expending this amount of power on a consistent basis day-in and day-out has to be wearing on her. And I suspect she’s slowly losing control of her own reality – leading to the cracks in the “characters” she wishes to protect the most (Vision, Agnes, Billy and Tommy), as well as in the appearance of her recast brother.
So, the appearance of Peter (not Pietro) Maximoff on the scene is a game changer in more ways than simply rewriting history and having the other Maximoff twin alive and well. Since the acquisition of Fox by Disney, there’s been talk regarding how the X-Men characters (and, naturally, their actors) would be brought into the MCU fold. I never imagined, however, that the X-Men version of Quicksilver would find his way into the MCU considering his counterpart was very much killed off back in Age of Ultron. Now, there are a number of possibilities for how this Peter arrived on the scene. The simplest is that it’s just a manifestation of Pietro with a fun Easter Egg to fans in casting Peters rather than Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who may not have been available). After all, recasting major characters is a long-standing tradition in sitcoms (think of the two Darrins on Bewitched or the two Aunt Vivs on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). The more complex (and intriguing) option? The MCU is starting to experiment with multiverses, and Peter was pulled into this reality when Wanda wished to have her brother back. Since she couldn’t snag his actual body and reanimate it (a la Vision), her powers pulled the next best thing: A Pietro who isn’t quite Pietro from another universe. It certainly would be a hell of a way to bring in more X-Men (and Fantastic Four) characters into the MCU – especially since mutants aren’t really a thing in the MCU (more on that background below).
And then there’s the Monica question. What happened to her – either before the blip or after her time in Westview – that made it impossible for her to be scanned by medical equipment? She shut down the idea of more tests pretty darn fast, which makes me think this isn’t a new thing for her. Perhaps something happened during her time with SWORD that resulted in some strange physical changes? Maybe that’s why she was so reluctant to talk about Captain Marvel when she was mentioned (after all, Monica looked up to her as her personal hero when she was a kid – what happened to change her thoughts on that)? Maybe she was involved in something strange in her pre-blip days and Captain Marvel was somehow involved (and this isn’t just her being made her mom’s best friend isn’t around when they needed her to be). And, of course, maybe something within Westview changed her on a more fundamental level than just changing her clothes. Lots of questions to answer there – and seeing as Monica will be part of the MCU beyond this series, I’m excited to get some of those answers.
With WandaVision picking up narrative speed, I’m now fully invested in the story and genuinely excited to see what might be on the horizon moving forward.
WandaVision Theories/Easter Eggs
— As promised, here’s the primer on Peter vs. Pietro and the whole Disney/Fox/Marvel situation. In the 90s, Marvel, looking for an influx of capital, sold both the X-Men and Fantastic Four to Fox, so that the studio could make filmed versions. This meant that when Disney launched the MCU (after acquiring Marvel) they lacked the rights to both of those properties. However, Disney and Fox worked out a settlement allowing them both to use versions of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Disney retained the rights to the names Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, while Fox kept the names Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (hence why Pietro is Peter there). Fox also kept the rights to use the term “mutant” and to have Quicksilver’s father be Magneto (although that was just hinted at in the films) – which explains why the twins get their powers from the Mind Stone and aren’t mutants in the MCU. Fast forward to today: Disney now owns Fox as well, which means that all of the Marvel properties are under the same awning for the first time in the modern superhero film era. So, they can have mutants in the MCU and the X-Men can join the party. If this Peter is in fact the same Peter from the X-Men films, well, we could be witnessing the first step of that integration, which is super exciting to someone like me, whose favorite comic series, by large, is the X-Men.
— So, back to speculation about Agnes. Seeing as she’s the only one of Wanda’s neighbors who routinely appears throughout the series thus far (and was the only character whose real name was not revealed last week), I think it’s safe to speculate that she is someone important to the character of Wanda within the comics. Perhaps the rumors that she’s actually Agatha Harkness, a witch and Wanda’s one-time mentor in the comics are true. Considering Agatha is also tied to the Fantastic Four (whom Marvel is rumored to be trying to get into the MCU), I think it’s a safe bet at this point.
— And here’s a crazy thought: If this isn’t an introduction to a multiverse arc for the MCU, perhaps it’s House of M…but in reverse? In that pivotal comic arc, Wanda uses her considerable powers to remove mutants from the world. But, as we discussed above, there haven’t been any mutants in the MCU thus far. Since Disney now has the rights to the word mutant – and all the mutants that exist in Marvel as well – maybe Wanda will end up creating mutants at the end of this arc? It would be a hell of a way to introduce the X-Men into the MCU. Personally, I’m leaning more toward the multiverse side of things…but who knows.
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