Alright, first things first – let’s get the *spoiler warning* out of the way. If you have NOT watched the season finale to WandaVision on Disney+ just yet, and you actually want to, do not read any further. This post is going to be littered with WandaVision spoilers. Spoilers left and right, folks. Now that you’ve been warned, let’s dive into the discussion about this series’ place in the MCU and what it means for the MCU moving forward.
The Theories
Let’s start with the criticism – Reddit was big mad that we didn’t see Mephisto, Nightmare, Ultron, Magneto, Professor X, X-Men, Doctor Strange, etc. “Maaaaan, we didn’t get anything?!?!” You didn’t get ANYTHING!?!?! You got nine episodes of awesome Marvel storytelling. GTFOH. I’ll admit that the theories were a massive part of enjoying the show – that probably wouldn’t have been there had Disney+ dropped the entire series at once. I loved going down the rabbit hole of all the possibilities that this series presented. But, you never go too crazy..you always have to be at least a little grounded in reality.
Look, guys – I get the outrage….if you’re genuinely expecting Al Pacino to show up and you get that ending, you’re going to be pissed. I get it. But, that’s on you. You should’ve listened to last week’s SoBros Power Hour. Brandon Vick said it best – this story was about Wanda. And, I told you guys that there was no real precedent for big shocking twists of the ‘Magneto showing up in Westview’ type in MCU history. That leap was too far to make to get the X-Men or Ultron in in a single episode. I cautioned folks on the latest episode of The Patreon Files – the simplest story is the most likely.
This show was about Wanda Maximoff becoming the Scarlet Witch….plain and simple. Would it have been cool to get some bombshell big villain at the end? Sure. Did I have my own theories that felt entirely plausible that didn’t come true (shout out Mordo)? Sure! Did I think Doctor Strange was a virtual lock to appear in the finale? You bet your ass I did! But, it didn’t happen, and that’s okay.
The Review
What transpired in the finale was the perfect ending to an outstanding series that stands up there with the top 4-5 MCU movies, in my opinion. The benefit of doing this as an episodic television series was that Marvel was able to really dive into the main characters. We felt Wanda’s trauma. We understood Vision’s confusion. It was a unique and refreshing way to tell the story of a hero coming into her own.
To me, I would compare it to what they did with the Thor character. After Thor: The Dark World, Thor fans let out a collective groan. That movie was very not good. But, with Thor: Ragnarok, the character was revitalized. His pain, everything he went through, and the vulnerability he showed coming out of it was one of the best character arcs Marvel has pulled off. WandaVision did the same type of thing for Wanda.
We’ve always known how powerful she could be if they really tapped into the power of her comic book counterpart, but it always felt like she never really got her time to shine as a character in this universe. So, this series felt like a real come-up for her, and a fitting introduction, perhaps even an uneasy one, to the Earth-shattering power she possesses. Elizabeth Olsen deserves an Emmy nomination for this one, too – she was absolutely fantastic. And, you can’t go wrong with Paul Bettany, either.
I thought the introduction of Agatha Harkness, as played by the phenomenal Kathryn Hahn, hit the nail on the head. To me, the White Vision swerve as a welcomed one (not to mention, we’re getting the sick White Vision Funko Pop out of it). My only real gripe comes with the Director Hayward character – you’re tellin’ me that this dude was hell bent on stopping Wanda…to the point that he fired a gun at a child….and we’re not even really going to figure out why? We know nothing of his motivation in the whole thing? He’s just some generic villain? That seemed a little lazy.
The Future
Don’t say none of your batshit crazy theories came true – it was confirmed that that book was indeed the Darkhold. Wanda understandably has a lot of questions coming out of what transpired in Westview. The Darkhold is all she has to learn about the nature of her power, as we see her hiding in some mountains somewhere reading it astral projection style in a post-credits scene. She don’t know no betta. But, folks – that is not good. If you’re unfamiliar with the Darkhold, it’s not exactly the healthiest way to learn magic. Maybe that’s what reels in Doctor Strange to this whole thing – as we’ve heard that WandaVision, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are supposed to be their own standalone multiverse trilogy. Also, judging by the screams in her head, it sounds like Wanda might be searching the multiverse for Billy and Tommy or something.
I said not everything would be tied up, nice and neat, with a bow on it by the end of this series. There was just too much to resolve, and while it told the story of Wanda becoming the Scarlet Witch, it was also the jumping-off point for new stories.
Let’s start with Monica Rambeau – it’s obvious she’s getting those Spectrum powers, and in the mid-credits scene, she’s visited by a Skrull to basically call her up to serve in space. Monica’s set to be in the Captain Marvel sequel, and WandaVision did a nice job of establishing her character in the MCU.
The future of Pietro is a little muddier. Was he really just some random townie that Agatha possessed? Was Marvel just doing a little fourth wall trolling by casting Evan Peters in the role? Or, is this version of Quicksilver still a way to introduce mutants into the MCU? It could be – they dropped the ‘nexus’ reference in the antidepressant commercial. Clearly, that was a reference to the Nexus of All Realities and/or Wanda being a ‘Nexus Being.’ Either way, it’s touching on the idea of the multiverse. Maybe Ralph Bohner really was just Ralph Bohner, and Marvel is just laughing at us. But, there’s still a logical way to get to mutants out of this character’s storyline, if they choose to really explore it. He was just pumped from another universe and dumped into Westview, ready to be possessed.
Also, White Vision is still out there. He just peaced out upon realizing he was the real Vision, and then Hex Vision dumped all his memories into his system. He’s just flying around out there somewhere, leaving the door open for a potential Vision return on down the road (and besides, as long as Wanda has that connection to the Mind Stone, it’s possible for Vision to show back up). Any way that we can get more Paul Bettany in our lives, I’m here for it.
So, where do we go from here? The Falcon and the Winter Soldier drops on Disney+ a week from Friday. Black Widow is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 7th. Loki premiers on Disney+ on June 11th. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, for which I’m super excited about, hits theaters in July. The Eternals drops in theaters in November, and Spider-Man: No Way Home rounds out 2021 with a December release. Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel are also supposed to drop some time in 2021. All of this is still obviously contingent upon the covid-19 pandemic, which has already caused several delays. It’s never been a better time to be a fan of the MCU. Hope you guys are ready, because we are in for MCU overload in the coming months, years, and HOPEFULLY even decades.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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