The #1 show in the world right now, Marvel’s WandaVision, is over. And now, a moment of silence… The Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off its ambitious Phase Four with a wacky show about a witch and her robot boyfriend (actually, synthezoid if we’re getting technical) living in the suburbs of Westview, New Jersey. At its core, it was about loss, grief, trauma, and love, and immediately engrossed both casual and die hard Marvel fans. From outlandish theories to red, purple, and blue laser beams flying around, let’s unpack the series finale of WandaVision. (Spoilers ahead, duh!)
Wanda, Agatha & Incredibly Sad Goodbyes
What once was a cutesy sitcom style show about a couple concealing their magical abilities in a small town ended as a gut wrenching game of make believe with Wanda and her dead boyfriend while she enslaved hundreds of people using mind control. In the final episode, Wanda faces Agatha and during the witchy fight learns more about her abilities. “Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme,” Agatha tells her. “It’s your destiny to destroy the world.”
Shortly after, Wanda is joined by her twin boys, who fight off S.W.O.R.D. agents and are saved by Monica who used her new powers, and Vision, who starts fighting White Vision until they just talk it out with philosophical analogies. You know…dudes being dudes.
Speaking of dudes, Jimmy Woo saves the day by calling in his friends from Quantico and arresting Hayward. But back to downtown Westview—after a lot of fights and CGI galore, Wanda outsmarts Agatha and gets a classy superhero makeover. Then, the sad part comes in.
As the Hex closes in so life can return to normal, Wanda has to say goodbye to her family since they can only exist in the world she made up. The goodbye scenes tug at the heartstrings; they were somber, calm, and inevitable. Embracing each other, Vision asks Wanda what he was since he never truly understood his true origin. Wanda replies, “You are my sadness and my hope. But mostly, you are my love,” as if I was done processing the “what is grief, if not love persevering” line. Life hack: if you stop the episode at 31:25 you can pretend they all lived happily ever after!
Once again, Marvel proved that even with flashy fight sequences and magical characters, its true triumph lies in the human: grief, loss, family, and love. The episode was a satisfying ending to its specific storyline, giving Wanda the closure she needed and the strength to keep going.
Debunked Theories
In true Marvel fashion, WandaVision had tons of Easter eggs and references which led fans to point them out and explain what they could mean. This was especially the case when Evan Peters, who plays Fake Pietro—Fietro as we shall call him, made a surprise appearance in the end of Episode 5, sending fans everywhere into a frenzy pondering on what his character could implicate for the MCU.
According to all the theories that were popularized on TikTok: a demon character from the comics, Mephisto, was the villain (he wasn’t), Ultron was going to make a major comeback (he didn’t), Dottie was a witch (she wasn’t), Doctor Strange made a cameo (he didn’t), Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four was the engineer helping Monica (he wasn’t), Fietro was going to reveal himself as Quicksilver from the X-Men franchise/universe (he didn’t), and there’s a secret surprise tenth episode (there isn’t).
Theories are incredibly exciting as they keep the conversation going and build anticipation for the next installment. However in this case, the theories and discourse surrounding them were so intense that WandaVision’s director, Matt Shakman, had to apologize ahead of the finale, assuring some fans would be disappointed by the way some theories pan out. Fans were even trolled by Vision actor, Paul Bettany, as he explained in an interview there was a cameo from an actor he had longed to work with which turned out to be…Paul Bettany.
What’s Next for Wanda & the MCU
Would it really be a Marvel production if they didn’t give clues to what fans can expect? The mid and after credit scenes in WandaVision alluded to future projects like Captain Marvel 2. Monica is approached by a Skrull (an alien species from the first Captain Marvel) who tells her they were sent by an old friend of her mother’s. “He’d like to meet you,” the Skrull says and points toward the sky.
Though nothing has been confirmed yet, it is most likely Nick Fury who’s been working from a space station as seen in Spider-Man: Far from Home. Rumor has it, Monica will join her Auntie Carol—a.k.a. Captain Marvel—in the second installment of the titular role’s film, further exploring her powers and cementing her role in the MCU.
The after credit scene shows Wanda astral projecting—one of her makes a nice cup of tea and the other is in full-witch mode, floating while reading the book of the damned, the Darkhold. Fans have explained she’s most probably educating herself on her own Chaos Magic. Then Wanda hears her twin boys (the very same ones who can’t exist outside the Hex) crying out for help in the distance and the screen goes black.
It’s confirmed Wanda appears in Doctor Strange 2 and there’s a few theories as to what could happen: one, she drives herself crazy looking for her sons and damages the multiverse while doing so which will make her the villain in Strange’s movie; the second theory is pretty much the same thing except she’s not the villain and Strange will help her rather than fight her. Either way, we probably won’t know anything until it comes out since production on the second Strange film has been kept incredibly tight-lipped (they’re almost done filming and not one picture from the set has been leaked). Wanda’s actions might also affect Spider-Man: No Way Home since there’s been an insane amount of rumors that all Spider-Man actors will make an appearance and blame it on the multiple realities concept.
One thing’s for sure…we haven’t seen the last of Wanda Maximoff.
All episodes of WandaVision are available to stream on Disney+.