“WandaVision” (2021) is the first Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) (mini) series. Three weeks after “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) have assumed sitcom personas in Westview, New Jersey, but how? It consists of nine episodes and has a run time of five hours fifty minutes.
I always thought that Wanda got a raw deal as an Avenger. In “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), a certain hypocritical, paternalistic Avenger punishes her for a deadly accident while he tries to commit murder, enlists a child soldier, attacks all his friends, oh yeah, and met her when making the biggest whoops of all, Ultron. I was not thrilled that she got saddled with the storyline, “Bitches be crazy.” It gave me unfortunate flashbacks of “The Iron Lady” (2011). I thought the sitcom premise was executed well in the vein of “Bewitched” and other sitcoms, but because I correctly guessed the sitcoms’ function in the overall narrative, I was impatient to get to the meat of the story and did not get into “WandaVision” until episode 4. I know that I am in the minority, but I would have preferred a chronological series with some of the events from episode 8 being featured in the beginning of the series, spending an episode or two in sitcoms then episode 4. Episode 8 could still be an analysis of Wanda’s life, but for events predating “Avengers: Endgame.”
As a fan of Joss Whedon’s work prior to “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015)—to be fair, I have neither seen “The Nevers” (2021) nor Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” (2017), I enjoyed Whedon’s work on the latter especially after Snyder’s dreadful “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016)—and with no knowledge of the Scarlet Witch’s comic origins, “WandaVision” made me realize that Wanda was like River (Summer Glau) from “Firefly” (2002) and “Serenity” (2005) except with different powers. Both characters have traumatic childhoods, close relationships with their brothers, are never trusted because of their struggle with mental challenges and similar powers, underestimated by the institutions that they associate with, have dancing fighting styles, and tend to hurt their close friends/family. Wanda was a chance to see how River would have been as an adult with romantic relationships and moving on from her childhood and no longer in hiding. Forcing Wanda to deal with her trauma and mental health throughout the course of the series works, but the last end credits scene made me wonder how the MCU would continue to explore Wanda’s powers and mental health. Seems as if she has picked up some new negative coping mechanisms while abandoning the old. We will have to wait until “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022) to find out.
“WandaVision” gave Vision more screen time than ever, but did it? While the series explores Wanda’s relationship with Vision more than any other entry in the MCU, it did not address the moral implications of his existence in all its incarnations pre- and post-snap. His closest MCU brother is Agent Coulson in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (2013-2020). We know what Vision wants. It gets ignored, and now Vision must deal with the consequences. Coulson never gets more than a few beats to be furious about the things that are done to him before his latest incarnation gets back into the rhythm of the familiar setting. Everyone is happy to pretend that he is Coulson so they do not have to deal with their loss. Sometimes he is Coulson who is going to have to deal with the psychological impact of his final wishes being ignored, and sometimes he is not. He is an entirely different being not treated like his own person, and I do think that the MCU pulls punches in terms of the latter. If you ever mistake one twin for the other, it is an unpleasant experience for all involved.
I am most excited at how “WandaVision” continues Captain Marvel’s storyline in unexpected ways.
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We get to see Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) as an adult and emerging superpowered hero. Her presence instantly transformed “WandaVision” into a parable of 2016 election and its fallout for me. The entire political landscape just will not listen to ninety-four percent of black women tell the truth and be real friends. A white woman’s emotions hold everyone hostage until she snaps out of it and realizes that her best friend is actually the enemy who is trying to destroy all women for power, i.e. all women are not cool, and some are the enemy. Solidarity solely based on gender is a bad idea. She will never get punished because we feel bad for her even though she has the most power, and she did something wrong by subjugating people to make herself feel better. Meanwhile a random white dude uses all this infighting to take their power to bolster his own.
I am excited that the Skrull are back. I am disappointed that S.W.O.R.D was not tied into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fifth season as I had anticipated, and the institution’s history felt rushed instead of developed, but I can deal. Also how dare the MCU give us the Darkhold but make “Agent Carter” (2015-2016) and “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” not canon. The latter was canon when they were explicitly tied into every movie. Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) return felt perfect because they were recognizable supporting characters on the margins who could be expanded without throwing off their original story lines in “Ant-Man and the Wasp” (2018) and “Thor” (2011) respectively, but I am intrigued if the latter will play a big role when Jane Foster returns to the Thor franchise.
Evan Peters’ casting was simultaneously the most exciting and anti-climactic reveal in “WandaVision.” I thought we somehow stumbled into the multiverse and were receiving an introduction in how the Mutants would be introduced into the MCU only to have my hopes dashed. I almost feel as if another actor should have played Pietro/Ralph because it worked for Ralph, but kind of closed a door for the best Quicksilver incarnation.
I have loved Kathryn Hahn forever and have suffered withdrawal since “Transparent” ended. Even when I was not into “WandaVision,” I enjoyed her performance as Agnes/Agatha and was willing to trudge forward. I am having problems understanding how magic works in the MCU with gods being aliens from different planets, but I did not care if Hahn delivered the lines.
Let’s circle back to Vision. Um, Wanda gave birth to her husband, had children with her chaos energy son and married him, not her alleged true love, Vision pre-snap but he also bought property in New Jersey, so fair?!? Pre-snap Vision’s dream was living in NJ. Sit with that information for awhile. White Vision is going to need a lot of therapy. No wonder three weeks later, your girlfriend moved on, and this incarnation of Vision is more interesting than the original. On a shallow note, I have watched Bettany in tons of movies, but when he was out of his Vision makeup, he looked funny to me as if his skin was pulled too tight across his skull. Maybe it was the hair?
