*Spoilers*
Back in 2019 when Marvel announced its newest television series “WandaVision”, nobody could have predicted what this show would be about, and now viewers can’t get enough of it!
The latest Marvel installment was released on Disney Plus and has been airing new episodes weekly since January 15. Marvel had the genius idea to release new episodes each Friday, thus keeping fans interested each week instead of allowing them to binge watch the entire series in a day and promptly forget about it.
As a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I must say that I was not entirely excited for a television show in place of a movie; however, the new concept has proved itself brilliant in its ability to dive even deeper into the characters, more so than a two hour film would allow.
In this new series, we follow Wanda Maximoff as a 1950’s housewife in a black and white styled sitcom with her husband Vision. To people who may not have seen the Marvel movies — spoiler alert — Vision died at the end of the film “Infinity War,” which led fans to wonder if this world in “WandaVision” that the characters live in is real, a fantasy, or maybe both.
Another aspect of the show that contributes to this confusion is its constant change in era. As I stated earlier, the series starts off in a 1950’s style era, but that approach is not continued as the episodes progress.
Each week, we see newly constructed sets of clothing, color, and designs. For example, the second episode began based on the 1960’s, episode three was inspired by the 1970’s, and I believe that episode five will be replicating a 1980’s type of television program.
So far, I have not touched upon the series’ fourth episode, but that is because it is by far the most important episode that we have seen thus far. In this episode, the creators took us out of “WandaVision” the sitcom, and revealed that it was in fact an alternate reality — within our world — protected by a defensive shield.
From the details exposed in the recent episode, we now know that Wanda is aware that she lives inside of the alternate reality and is guarding it with her magic. This is an important factor of the show because it indicates a level of consciousness from her; whereas other characters like Vision and Dottie appear to be unaware that the world they live in is not real.
Additionally, at the end of episode four we see Wanda lose control for a split second and when she looks at Vision, he emerges into view as his dead body as it appeared in “Infinity War.” This glitch in Wanda’s alternate reality also has fans now questioning if the version of Vision shown in the alternate reality is actually the real Vision at all — or perhaps some reimagining of his dead, synthetic body.
As we look into previews for the upcoming episodes, it is clear that even if Vision’s body is dead, his soul is not. The soul in question — the mind stone — is a part of an explosive theory that “WandaVision” is the catalyst for the introduction of the multiverse.
In this theory, Wanda attempts to bring Vision back to life by putting together the pieces of the mind stone; however, at the same time, this process rips apart the multiverse which sets up the second “Doctor Strange” movie and “Spiderman 3.”
Fans have been buzzing about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield possibly reprising their Sony Spiderman characters and joining Tom Holland in Marvel’s third “Spiderman” installment. This theory about the multiverse would surely be an easy segway to the Spiderman movies and would allow for all three Spidermen to share the screen without confusion.
Although this series is limited, it will provide the first step into phase four of the Marvel universe. “WandaVision” is expected to conclude its episodes in early March, but if you can’t wait to binge it all in one day, you can watch it streaming weekly only on Disney Plus.