Last Friday WandaVision aired on the streaming Disney channel. I was amazed at how much they were able to mimic the early T.V. shows like “I Love Lucy”, the “Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Bewitched” with Elizbeth Montgomery. Two episodes are all that was released and they raise more questions than answers about where the story is going.
Spoilers Ahead: Wanda has conjured a world where Vision is very much alive and her husband in a suburban neighborhood of the early sixties. Crazy things happen and everyone acts like it is very normal. Wanda keeps hearing voices calling to her but she ignores them and uses her chaotic reality-warping magic to change the circumstances to suit her. By the end of the second episode, she and Vision realize she is pregnant and expecting. they both act overjoyed at this very unnatural event between an android and a human.
These events do parallel what has gone on in the comics of years past and it will be interesting how the writers integrate it into the story. We know that someone or something is trying to reach her in this reality and at this time we can only guess who that might be. Perhaps it is the Avengers or Nick Fury in S.W.O.R.D. or someone far darker in their intent. We will see if the person is a friend or antagonist.
During a meeting for the talent show, the conversation amongst the ladies offers up a potential Easter egg that may give viewers a clue as to who the actual villain of the series is. A seemingly throwaway line about “the devil” could mean big trouble for Wanda and Vision. Dottie remarks to the ladies in attendance that “the devil’s in the details.” Agnes leans over to Wanda and replies “that’s not the only place he is.”
The devil mentioned here could be none other than Mephisto, one of Marvel’s well-known versions of the Devil. Mephisto is an extra-dimensional demon and ruler of Hell, who uses deception and the desires and wishes of a person to entice them into servitude. Among his powers is the ability to mix one reality with another. Perhaps he is a major player in the events that are going on and will participate with some role in the new Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the rumored multiverse pandemonium happening in Spider-Man 3.
What is more interesting is the connection of Mephisto to Wanda in the comics. When the Scarlet Witch uses her magic to conceive children with Vision she creates the twins, Thomas and William, she unknowingly did so with two fragments of Mephisto’s shattered soul. Once he realized what happened, Mephisto reabsorbed those fragments, effectively killing the children. This loss is what drives Scarlet Witch insane and sets off the events of House of M, in which she attempts to alter reality to recreate her lost children.
All things considered in the recent events in Marvel with the loss of her brother Pietro in the Avengers: Age of Ultron and then the loss of Vision in Infinity War, Wanda could have had a mental breakdown and she could be caught in this reality and be her own antagonist by going insane.
Whatever the situation this production of WandaVision is a surprising twist on the MCU as we have come to know under Kevin Feige and all things Marvel. I am excited to see the future episodes in the coming Fridays ahead on the Disney+ Channel.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.