I'm a big fan of Marvel and the MCU, even if I've never been into actual comic books, and they've been just about the only movies my wife and I have seen in theaters for years. It'll be impossible to explain everything from the ground up considering everything preceding this show, so I won't try. Spoilers (about Infinity War, Endgame and Wandavision) also really can't be avoided in the discussion today, though I should be able to keep the new stuff in the second half of the post. You'll be warned if you care about such things.
It's been since July 2019 and the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home that we've had anything new in the MCU. (I'm not counting Agents of Shield, and neither apparently does Marvel.) Black Widow was supposed to come out in 2020 but like many other things, movies in particular, it was delayed. For a massive tentpole universe that was releasing three films a year, it was a long layoff.
And what we got first was unusual, from the content to the format. One of the strengths of Wandavision, a new nine episode series that just finished its run on Disney+, was its pacing in how it meted out information. Each Friday it seemed perfectly reasonable expecting to finally have some understanding of what was going on. Instead you were ever so slowly spoon-fed context or whatever and then teased (until the finale anyway) just as things were getting interesting. This is a clear case where releasing an episode a week was beneficial and won't be quite the same to people who later binge it. One result, once I got caught up and ventured to look at them, was some pretty hysterical fan theories. r/marvelmemes was a fun place the last two months.
"I request elaboration."
Spoilers for the Avengers movies from here.
Until watching that trailer again, I had forgotten we already knew even when this takes place. I'd always assumed this would all be a reality built by Wanda Maximoff following the events in Infinity War and Endgame, though I didn't know how that would all work. But it seems we do know that by this time Vision is indeed dead, killed by Thanos, so this must happen after Endgame. Considering that, it also makes sense that Wanda is doing this as an escape. She's had a rough go, a powered orphan who's already lost her twin brother and love in rapid succession. Captain America, one of her few defenders, is gone now too. How would someone in her position, with crazy abilities, left alone, deal with all that?
"What is grief, if not love persevering?"
Here's how the show actually progressed. In the first episode, Wanda and Vision are newlyweds living together in suburbia, in black and white, and the plot revolves around a dinner party for Vision's boss where they struggle to hide their abilities. It's a 50s sitcom, that's it, and you learn nothing except that someone is watching this on a TV. The second episode moves up to the 60s and the two do a magic act as part of a neighborhood talent show. It ends with the implication Wanda rewinds time, erasing the appearance of a strange man. Continuing onward, the third episode is in the 70s, and in color! Wanda, now pregnant, advances absurdly quickly and even gives birth, to twins!, all in one day. Another resident of town asks her about her own twin brothers death. Wanda was not a fan of the question.
Sensing a pattern? That's the idea. Every episode jumps forward a decade or so and pays homage to the great sitcoms of the past. Fwiw I recognized many of the later ones and Wikipedia helped with the rest.
1950s -> I Love Lucy/The Dick van Dyke Show
1960s -> Bewitched
1970s -> The Brady Bunch/Good Times
1980s/90s -> Family Ties/Growing Pains/Roseanne/Full House
2000s -> Malcolm in the Middle
2010s -> Modern Family
"Vision, this is our home."
This is all beside what's actually going on, of course, which comes out painstakingly slowly. (Almost) Everything is revealed, including the use of sitcoms, in time.
Spoilers for WandaVision from here.
Things start to take off when it's revealed that this all takes place inside an area with a physical barrier called the Hex. When someone or something goes through, they change. S.W.O.R.D., an agency akin to S.H.I.E.L.D. but previously (as far as I know) unmentioned, is investigating. Back on the broadcast, there's a fairly shocking arrival, one that made everyone think Disney was incorporating the X-men. Vision, who clearly has no memory of the time before this, goes looking for answers as he discovers various weirdness and irregularity. All this time it's quite obvious there's something, or someone, interfering with Wanda and her imaginary world, which starts to fall apart around her. This leads to an even bigger whooper, and a killer little theme song.
"It's an oversimplification of events, but yes."
Even with all the questions (Is Vision alive somehow or still dead? Where did the kids come from? Who's the brother, really? Will there be a major cameo like Dr. Strange to 'fix' this?), Wandavision was thoroughly enjoyable. Olsen and Bettany were both completely fabulous and further exploring their relationship and love was more than worth the time, even if it all came from her mind. The constantly shifting time and outfits will be memorable. There were some great quotes. Going through a bunch of sitcom tropes was surprisingly fun. There were an impressive number of considered details, as is typical with Marvel. And then side characters at times stole the show, Agnes above all, though using Darcy (from the Thor movies), now a capable astrophysicist, and Woo (from Ant-Man 2), finally good at slight-of-hand, was also certainly genius.
I should've known Wanda would get both a more fleshed out origin (as one of the more under-explored Avengers) and a story to carry her forward in the MCU. We already knew she gained powers from HYDRA experimentation with the Mind Stone, but knew nothing of her parentage. In the comics she's a mutant and the daughter of Magneto. Now we learn, officially, that's not the case here.
Perhaps the most clever piece of all was that the plot and resolution to it all was relatively simple. In several ways Marvel was trolling us. Wanda made this bubble because she so badly wanted a normal family life and is hanging on regardless of who it impacts. Her actions attracted the attention of multiple interlopers, who forced her development and an end to the insane far-reaching mental takeover. What the Scarlet Witch does next, and what this means for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will keep us curious for another year. As will, for an unknown amount of time, the transformation of Monica Rambeau and location of Vision's body.
"So long darling."
For now, onto The Falcon and the Winter Soldier!
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