The opening of WandaVision’s seventh episode featured a series of images with Wanda’s name on them, but one had a hidden tribute.
WARNING: Minor spoilers follow for WandaVision Episode 7, “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” now streaming on Disney+.
WandaVision Episode 7 paid tribute to The Office, and this included the opening theme song. However, this opening was accompanied by a series of signs and notes with Wanda’s name on them, as well as some Easter eggs. This included the number on the license plate that has Wanda’s name on it, as well as several numbers.
One eagle-eyed viewer on Twitter caught what the numbers meant and deciphered them. The numbers — 122822 — represent Stan Lee’s birthday (December 28, 1922). Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018, at the age of 95, and this Easter egg is a touching way for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include him, even if it isn’t a traditional cameo.
Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
RELATED: WandaVision’s Project Cataract Could Lead To This Multiversal Threat
Ever since Marvel movies began to make it big, Stan Lee cameoed in almost every movie that hit theaters. While he didn’t appear in Blade, he did shoot a scene that ended up on the cutting room floor. However, Lee was in the first X-Men movie as a hot dog vendor on the beach when Senator Kelly arrived after his abduction by Magneto. He went on to appear in the Spider-Man movies and the first two Fantastic Four movies.
When the MCU began, the studio made it a point to have Stan Lee cameo in all its movies. It made sense, as Stan Lee had a hand in creating many characters the MCU brought into its world, like Iron Man and Thor. As for WandaVision, his hand was also apparent, as Lee and Kirby created Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, introducing them in X-Men #4. The duo also created Agatha Harkness, debuting the witch in Fantastic Four #94.
RELATED: Paul Bettany Discusses WandaVision Theories – But Won’t Talk Mephisto
Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Stan Goldberg and Artie Simek also brought Wanda Maximoff into the Avengers and made her a hero rather than a villain in Avengers #16. In that issue, Iron Man, Giant-Man and Thor chose to take a break and leave the Avengers, setting up a way for new members to join, including Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, all under Captain America’s leadership.
The last appearances in MCU movies for Stan Lee came posthumously in 2019. He appeared in Captain Marvel, but he passed away before the movie was released. In that appearance, he portrayed himself, reading his lines for Kevin Smith’s movie Mallrats, in which Lee appeared. Later that year in Avengers: Endgame, he was de-aged and appeared in the 1970 scene. This was the last appearance for Lee in an MCU movie. However, with Phase 4 starting, WandaVision had one more way to pay tribute to the legendary comic book creator.
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+.
KEEP READING: A WandaVision Guide: News, Easter Eggs, Reviews, Recaps, Theories and Rumors
The Simpsons: How Treehouse of Horror Turned Bart & Lisa Into Superheroes
About The Author
Shawn S. Lealos (1118 Articles Published)
Shawn S. Lealos is a freelance writer who received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma with a minor in Film Studies. He has worked as a journalist for 25 years, starting in newspapers and magazines before moving to online media as the world changed. Shawn is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a current voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has work published on websites like The Huffington Post, Time Warner Cable, Yahoo Movies, The Movie Network, Chud, Renegade Cinema, 411mania, and Monsters & Critics. Shawn is also a published author, with a non-fiction book about the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers and has begun work on a new fiction series as well. Visit Shawn Lealos’ website to learn more about his novel writing and follow him on Twitter @sslealos.
Outage tracker Downdetector reported that some users were experiencing technical problems shortly after midnight Pacific Time.
Disney+ experienced technical problems for some users in the early hours of Friday morning as people rushed to view the latest episode of Marvel’s WandaVision.
Outage tracking website Downdetector reported a huge spike in user-submitted problems with Disney+, rising from zero reported problems to over 8,000 just after midnight when the new episode dropped. Downdetector reported that most of the outages occurred on the West Coast, with clusters centered around Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
At the same time, there were also thousands of tweets about the Disney+ outage and the inability to watch episode seven of WandaVision.
The technical problems appeared short-lived with many of the users reporting problems on Downdetector providing updates that they were able to stream the show once again ten to fifteen minutes later.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Disney for comment on the reports of technical problems.
Wanda waking up to realize she fell asleep in her clothes from the other night.Gif: Disney+/Marvel
In addition to excitement about where WandaVision will go next, one of the more common feelings that has been in the air over the past few months is a general state of existential dread and disillusionment that’s been precipitated by millions of people having to quarantine in place to combat the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
For those still commuting to work, the material realities of having to worry about a deadly airborne virus that’s made inhabiting physical spaces with other people dangerous are obvious and easy to understand. But many who’ve found themselves more or less confined to their homes for months have found similar ways in which being at home has effectively meant living at work.
Aside from a brief mention of Wanda’s Hex being a sort of “self-quarantine,” WandaVision hasn’t really touched on our real-world pandemic woes. But in a new clip from the show’s upcoming episode—dropping tomorrow on Disney+—Ms. Maximoff is channeling an all-too-relatable energy that’s equal parts “I can’t deal with today” and “You’re damn right I slept in the same clothes from last night.
Short as the clip is, everything from its Modern Family sensibilities to the way that reality in the Maximoff household’s glitching out as Wanda tries to rest points to the next episode being yet another significant one because everyone seems quite aware of what happened last week. Just what this awareness will end up meaning for Wanda and her family, though, we won’t know until Friday.
G/O Media may get a commission
WandaVision is now streaming on Disney+.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.
WandaVision pretty much blew the Marvel Cinematic Universe wide open in the final moments of last week’s epic installment, so it felt like a long wait for episode 6 to hit Disney Plus. The episode returns us to the sitcom town of Westview after Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) got a most unexpected visitor: her late brother Pietro, but the version from the X-Men universe (Evan Peters).
Outside the Westview hex, SWORD agent Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), astrophysicist Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and FBI guy Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) are busily scheming about how to get back in.
Let’s dive into this beautiful sorta ’90s-themed episode, but beware of spooky SPOILERS from here on out.
Pietro has slipped into the role of the man-child uncle beautifully, but seems to have the memories of MCU Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) rather than ones of the Fox X-Men universe (a separate reality) that’d match his face.
“Details are fuzzy, man. I got shot like a chump in the street for no reason at all, and the next thing I know, I heard you calling me. I knew you needed me,” he tells Wanda, who’s similarly confused about Pietro’s new look.
He clearly doesn’t remember that he sacrificed himself in Avengers: Age of Ultron, by dashing in front of Hawkeye (who’d just saved a kid) as Ultron fired a hail of bullets. Wanda later briefly sees a flash of X-Men Pietro with the fatal wounds sustained by MCU Pietro — much like she did with Vision in episode 4.
Was this a moment of reality or an echo of her trauma? What would happen if Pietro stepped outside the barrier? Would his memories of the X-Men universe be restored, or would he revert to MCU Pietro and die? The former seems more likely — Wanda (or whoever’s really in control) probably brought Pietro in from the X-Men universe and gave him MCU Pietro’s memories.
They did it again.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
We also see that Wanda’s fondness for Pietro isn’t without its limits. When he callously says Vison can’t “die twice,” she flings him away with her powers. I’m with Wanda on this, don’t be a jerk Pietro.
Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.
How Wanda made Westview
Pietro is also aware that Westview is Wanda’s construct, and is apparently cool with it. He wonders where she’s been hiding all the kids who’ve shown up for the Halloween hijinks — we’ve seen no kids aside from Tommy and Billy before this episode — but brushes past it quickly. However, Wanda doesn’t know how she created this version of Westview.
“I only remember feeling completely alone. Empty, I just… ” she says. “Endless nothingness.”
It sure sounds like she had some help, perhaps from the suspicious as heck Agnes (Kathryn Hahn)?
Brother and sister, comic book-style.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
The costumes
I dunno about you, but I’ve certainly whined about how much comic book movies have strayed from the original costumes over the years, but this episode uses the Halloween theme to go full comic-accurate on the outfits. And they’re beautiful.
Wanda says she’s dressed up as a Sokovian fortune teller, while Vision is a Mexican wrestler. Pietro doesn’t give a reason for his Quicksilver outfit, nor do Tommy and Billy (whose comic codenames are Speed and Wiccan). Agnes is dressed in a straightforward witch costume, which could hint at her magical nature.
New movies coming out in 2021: James Bond, Marvel and more
See all photos
Witch at the edge of town
It seems like Wanda is giving Vision more agency after their fight in the last episode — early on, she starts to say “You’re not supposed to…” and cuts herself off. She also lets him go out on his own instead of joining the family for Halloween fun.
As Vision gets further away from Wanda, he finds the townspeople going in loops or just standing still — perhaps hinting at the limit of her influence. One woman has a tear running down her face, suggesting that her true, traumatized self is close to the surface. Which is pretty horrible.
Villain or victim?
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Vision discovers Agnes sitting in her car, having seemingly gotten lost. When he “wakes her up,” she refers to him as an Avenger, tells him he’s dead and says Wanda won’t let them leave town.
“All is lost,” she says, laughing maniacally before Vision has her resume her “role.”
This is mad suspicious — is Agnes faking it? She seems to wake up easily and dumps a bunch of troubling info on Vision, perhaps to push him to step outside the barrier. And what’s lost? It feels like a hint at some grander plan, but it’s unclear if she’s the mastermind or a puppet.
Tommy and Billy pretty much become Speed and Wiccan.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Super-powered boys
Tommy and Billy get closer to their comic book counterparts this episode, with Tommy gaining super-speed like his uncle Pietro, while Billy displays magical abilities similar to his mother. Tommy is also the cool troublemaker, but it’s obvious that Billy is vastly more powerful — he stops Tommy in his tracks, and can sense when Vision is in trouble.
Wanda implores them not to “go past Ellis Avenue” — which is at the edge of town and right beside the hex barrier. They definitely will though.
Expansion
A curious and increasingly concerned Vision steps out of the Westview barrier, and immediately starts to die. He appears to be reverting to the form he was in when Wanda broke into the SWORD facility and stole his body, rather than the corpse left behind after Thanos pulled the Mind Stone out of his head in Avengers: Infinity War.
Vision doesn’t fare too well outside Westview.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Warned about Vision’s situation by their son Billy, Wanda saves him by expanding the Westview boundaries. In doing so, she also consumes the SWORD base (which becomes a circus), the agents (who become the clowns Wanda presumably considers them to be) and Darcy (we don’t see what role she takes on).
Monica, Jimmy and jerk-face acting SWORD director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) are safely outside the barrier’s new boundaries.
Pop culture confusion
The intro pays homage to classic sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, which actually doesn’t fit the episode’s ’90s theme — it ran on Fox from 2000 to 2006. It also shows Agnes hanging out with the twins, hinting that they’re her true objective.
In the “Dorkasaurus Rex” flashback, Tommy is wearing a Minecraft beanie. The world-creating game was first publicly playable in 2009 and officially came out in 2011.
The movies playing the Westview theater were released years apart — The Parent Trap remake came out in 1998, while The Incredibles was 2004. However their themes are appropriate for this show — the former is about twins trying to reunite their separated parents, while the latter is about a family with superpowers (and both are on Disney Plus, conveniently enough).
This could be hinting at Wanda’s spotty pop culture knowledge of the ’90s and ’00s, or maybe she’s making continuity errors because she’s distracted by her conflict with Vision and by Pietro’s arrival.
The ad
This episode’s in-universe commercial break — for “Yo-Magic, the snack for survivors” — is super unsettling, and doesn’t appear to be as direct a reference as the previous ads.
It features a boy starving on a small desert island, when a shark offers him a magic-themed yogurt. The boy can’t open it and he ages rapidly, leaving only a skeleton behind (this reminded me of the terrifying “He chose poorly” scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).
It could be alluding to what’s really going on in the show. A predator (Agnes?) approaches a desperate person (Wanda?) with a false offer of salvation, but it’s an illusion. It’s unclear what the shark gets out of it in this case — maybe the boy’s soul (Wanda’s kids?).
Darcy, Jimmy and Monica are about to part ways.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Mysteries of Monica
Monica and Jimmy set off to meet her aerospace engineer friend, who’s created a vessel that’ll get her back into Westview safely (perhaaaaaaps Reed Richards?)
Monica Rambeau, in the comics costume she wore in the ’80s.
Marvel Comics
However, Darcy reveals that going through the hex twice has rewritten Monica’s cells. It’s unclear how this has changed her, but it reminds Monica of her mother’s cancer and she’s apparently unwilling to worry about it right now. She’s determined to help Wanda no matter what, because she sympathizes with her grief.
In the comics, Monica gains the ability to transform herself into any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum after getting bombarded by extra-dimensional energies — which sounds a whole lot like what’s going on here. Monica has also used multiple codenames over the years, including Captain Marvel, Spectrum and Pulsar.
If MCU Monica gets superpowers, I suspect she’ll call herself Photon — her late mother’s pilot callsign, and another one of Monica’s comic codenames.
Observations and WTF questions
Hayward is eager to kill Wanda, likely so he can resume experiments on Vision’s unique body (he’s tracking Vision’s movements within the hex). What were they doing with him?
The answer lies beyond Hayward’s last firewall, which Darcy cracks and emails to Jimmy shortly before she’s consumed by the expanding hex.
Hayward’s file is called Cataract, but that doesn’t refer to anything in the MCU. In real life, it’s a medical condition in which a cloudy area forms in the lens of the eye, leading to a decrease in vision. When Wanda gets flashes of “dead” Vision and Pietro, their white eyes resemble cataracts.
Tommy and Wanda use the term “Kick-Ass,” perhaps an indirect reference to the 2010 superhero movie. It featured both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters.
Pietro has a tattoo that says “Mom” on his left shoulder — that’s Evan Peters’ real ink. Conveniently, we can read it as “MoM,” a reference to upcoming MCU movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which hits theaters March 25, 2022, and will tie directly into the events of this show).
The SWORD ponchos Monica, Jimmy and Darcy wear are lovely and I want one.
This episode reminded me how much I miss the sitcoms of the ’90s and ’00s; it hit my nostalgia buttons way more than I expected.
Join us for more Easter eggs and observations next Friday, when episode 7 of WandaVision hits Disney Plus.
CNET’s Caitlin Petrakovitz contributed to this recap.
Elizabeth Olsen stars as Wanda Maximoff in “WandaVision” on Disney+.
Disney
Kevin Feige warned us that the Marvel series on Disney+ would have implications for the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. And he’s kept that promise.
On Friday, the fifth episode of “WandaVision” arrived on the streaming service, bringing with it a major cameo that has left viewers with a lot to ponder before episode six arrives next week. The reveal not only has ramifications within the sitcom-based TV show, but for the entire Marvel universe… or should I say multiverse.
Now would be a good time to look away if you haven’t seen the most recent episode of “WandaVision.”
**Spoilers ahead**
The fifth episode, titled “On a Very Special Episode…,” our ragtag team of FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, Dr. Darcy Lewis and Captain Monica Rambeau inch closer to understanding the Westview anomaly.
Meanwhile, Vision, still part of the simulation, but now set in the ’80s, grows more and more suspicious of the world around him. Neighbors have begun to act strangely, his twin sons age at their own will and his wife, Wanda, while attempting to dismiss his concerns, only causes them to grow.
Just as the newly minted husband and wife are set for a superpowered argument, the doorbell rings. Wanda, confused by this twist, answers. Standing on the front poor is Pietro Maximoff, just not that Pietro Maximoff.
Elizabeth Olsen stars as Wanda Maximoff in “WandaVision” on Disney+ with special guest Evan Peters as Pietro Maximoff.
Disney
It’s Peter Evans, not Aaron Taylor-Johnson that appears on the other side of the door. The actor portrayed the mutant Quicksilver in several X-Men films, which up until 2019 were owned by 20th Century Fox.
It’s hinted that Wanda had not planned to bring her brother into her sitcom simulation. After all, only a few scenes prior Wanda refuses to bring her sons’ deceased puppy back from the dead.
“You can fix anything mom, fix dead,” one son remarks. After declining, even nosy neighbor Agnes, who is theorized to be pulling at least some of the strings of Wanda’s simulation, asked if she actually could do that.
“I am trying to tell you that there are rules in life,” Wanda explains to her two boys. “We can’t just rush aging because it’s convenient and we can’t reverse death no matter how sad it makes us. Some things are forever.”
This statement sparks two questions: Is Vision dead or has Wanda (or someone else) brought him back? And Did Wanda bring back a different Pietro accidentally or did someone else?
Both will likely be answered before the credits roll on the final episode in just a few weeks.
Already, audiences have gotten glimpses of what happened prior to the Westview anomaly early in the episode when Wanda appeared on security camera footage stealing Vision’s body from a secret lab. And there are likely plenty of Easter eggs yet to be uncovered that provide more clues.
Welcome to the multiverse
So, what about this new Pietro?
Before Disney acquired Fox’s entertainment brands in a deal worth $71 billion, the two studios made an agreement. Disney could use Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, but could not make reference to them being mutants or being the children of Magneto. It’s why in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Wanda and Pietro derived their powers from an infinity stone and not genetically.
Keen viewers might have noticed during Friday’s episode that when Tyler Hayward, the director of S.W.O.R.D., asked if Wanda had a moniker like some of the other Avengers it was said that she did not. Wanda has never been called Scarlet Witch in any of the MCU movies.
As for Fox, the studio was permitted to utilize Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in its films as long as it did not make any references to the Avengers. In fact, Peters’ Quicksilver goes by Peter and not Pietro.
Elizabeth Olsen stars as Wanda Maximoff in “WandaVision” on Disney+ alongside Paul Bettany as Vision.
Disney
In recent months, rumors have circulated as Marvel executives have hired some familiar faces to return in future MCU films.
Disney has already confirmed that Jamie Foxx will return as Electro, from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” which featured Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. And Alfred Molina, who portrayed Doctor Octopus during Tobey McGuire’s turn as the famed webslinger, is also confirmed as appearing in the film.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange is also set to appear.
There has been speculation that other characters from the MCU, or even from the previous iterations of Spider-Man, will join the cast, but Disney has not confirmed these rumors.
The return of Pietro in the form of Peters signals that Marvel is already on its way to exploring the multiverse. This was teased during San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 when Marvel announced that the Doctor Strange sequel would be called “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”
For those unfamiliar, the Marvel multiverse is just a fancy way of saying a collection of alternate universes. They are similar in nature to each other, but have slight variations. It’s a very popular concept in comic books, as it allows writers to reinvent characters and storylines for new generations.
With Wanda already confirmed as part of the Doctor Strange sequel and Doctor Strange part of “Spider-Man 3” it’s no surprise that Marvel is sprinkling bread crumbs early. After all, the seeds of the infinity stones show up in “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” long before they are named as such.
Marvel used the mind, power, reality, soul, space and time gems over the course of a decade, using them to weave in new characters and situations that ultimately led to “Avengers: Infinity War” and the highest-grossing film of all time “Avengers: Endgame.”
Introducing the multiverse in “WandaVision” works on multiple levels for Disney. Not only are they setting a path for future MCU movies and shows, the company is also making its streaming content must-see television. Fans have to watch these shows if they don’t want to miss out on plotlines or character introductions that will be integrated into feature-length films.
“WandaVision” may have been the first Marvel project to debut since “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in July 2019, but it won’t be the last in 2021. On Disney+, it will be quickly followed by “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” in March, “Loki” in May and the animated series “What If…?” in the summer.
Theatrically, Marvel is set to debut “Black Widow” on May 7, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” on July 9, “Eternals” on Nov. 5 and its co-produced “Spider-Man 3” on Dec. 17.
WandaVision got a little Wonder Woman 1984 on Friday, dragging the Marvel Cinematic Universe back to the ’80s as its fifth episode landed on Disney Plus. We pick up after Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) gave birth to twin sons Billy and Tommy (following a ludicrously short pregnancy) and the true nature of Westview was seemingly revealed.
“It’s Wanda. It’s all Wanda,” says SWORD agent Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) after being kicked out of the New Jersey town. It seems the Avenger has turned the whole town into a shifting period sitcom, and wasn’t happy when Monica tried to give her a dose of reality.
Let’s put on our fashionable leg warmers, toss back our shiny mullets and dive into the episode. SPOILERS comin’.
The episode ends with the arrival of Wanda’s brother, Pietro (aka Quicksilver), whom we last saw played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Avengers: Age of Ultron… in the MCU. He was killed by Ultron in that movie, a source of major trauma for Wanda.
“She recast Pietro?” asks astrophysicist Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) upon seeing him.
Don’t mind me, just in from another cinematic universe.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
The Pietro who arrives at the door in this episode is played by Evan Peters, whom you might remember as the version of the character in the last few X-Men movies — Days of Future Past, Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. These weren’t set in the MCU, since 21st Century Fox had the cinematic rights to the X-Men characters.
However, Quicksilver and Wanda were major Avengers characters too, so Fox and Marvel Studios came to an arrangement that’d let them use their own version of the characters in their cinematic universes. That became irrelevant when Marvel Studios parent Disney acquired Fox (and the X-Men cinematic rights) in 2019, and it seemed like the Peters version of the character would fade with the Fox X-Men universe.
Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.
“Long-lost bro get to squeeze his stinkin’ sister to death or what?” says Pietro to a shocked Wanda.
She may have been trying to undo her brother’s death and accidentally brought the X-Men’s Pietro into the MCU. We already knew the X-Men were going to appear in this universe in some form, but a reboot seemed the most likely entry point — I certainly didn’t dare hope we’d see any of the OG cinematic X-Men again (even though Dark Phoenix included a fun MCU Easter egg).
It’s unclear exactly what his appearance means for this universe — it could be the beginnings of the multiverse, a limited crossover, or we might see a bunch of characters from the X-Men universe show up (Hugh Jackman Wolverine and Michael Fassbender Magneto next please). The Deadpool movies are ostensibly set in that universe as well — Peters had a cameo in 2018’s Deadpool 2 — and Deadpool 3 is confirmed to be part of the MCU.
It also opens up the possibility that the J. Jonah Jameson we saw in the Spider-Man: Far From Home postcredits scene is the one from Sam Raimi-Tobey Maguire trilogy.
Your move, DC.
New movies coming out in 2021: James Bond, Marvel and more
See all photos
Them rascally boys
We open with Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) stressing out over their crying twin sons Billy and Tommy. Wanda tries to make them sleep with a spell, but it seems she can’t influence them the same way she can most of the others in Westview.
“Why won’t you do what I want?” she wonders.
Enter the neighborly Agnes (Kathryn Hahn), in her spectacular Jazzercise outfit, who volunteers to help with the crying babies. Vision resists the idea, and we get a weird moment.
“Should we just take it from the top?” Agnes asks Wanda, briefly breaking character and the illusion to reveal that she knows about Wanda’s ability to rewind events that displease her.
Suspiciously enough, Agnes knows exactly what the boys need.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
The babies stop crying for that moment, and kick off again when Agnes returns to her role. She’s not under Wanda’s spell, and seems to be playing along voluntarily. The boys also age up twice — first from babies to five, then to 10 — while Agnes is present.
“Kids, ha. You can’t control ’em. No matter how hard you try,” she says, apparently cool with the weirdness. Could Agnes have tried to control Wanda at some point? Is Westview a result of some deal they made? It’s possible Agnes is the puppet master here, and wants the boys to age up for her own purposes.
Billy and Tommy later resist Wanda’s direct control, by rebuffing her assertion that it’s Monday, and push her to remember her lost brother Pietro.
“He’s far away from here, and that makes me sad sometimes,” she responds — perhaps our first hint that she knows there’s another version of her brother in a different reality.
Wanda instills the importance of family in her sons.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Woof
The boys also find a dog in the garden and name him Sparky, at Agnes’ prompting. Agnes later finds Sparky dead, having seemingly eaten leaves, and Wanda refuses to resurrect the pup.
Did Wanda consciously or subconsciously kill Sparky, mirroring her own sense of loss over Vision in Billy and Tommy? Or could Agnes be the one doing it, to shape them in some way?
Things get heated between Wanda and Vision. Note the “M” shape of the blinds — Maximoff or Mutant?
Marvel Studios
Trouble in paradise
Vision is increasingly aware that Westview ain’t right, and confronts Wanda directly about it. Her ability to influence him is waning too — she even tries to end the “episode” by rolling the credits on him — but Pietro’s arrival provides the perfect distraction.
We don’t know if Pietro was summoned by Wanda, the twins, Agnes or some unseen force.
The ad
The commercial break in this episode presents us with Lagos paper towels — “For when you make a mess you didn’t mean to.” This is reference to the incident in Lagos, Nigeria, in Captain America: Civil War.
Here’s what happened: The Avengers stopped terrorist (and former Hydra sleeper agent) Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon, and Rumlow blew himself up in attempting to kill Cap. Wanda used her telekinetic powers to fling him high in the air, but this accidentally killed a bunch of Wakandan humanitarian workers — creating further controversy around the Avengers and indirectly resulting in Wanda and Vision getting into a relationship.
Lagos paper towels are seemingly good for cleaning up red liquid.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
In the ad, we hear a continued dripping sound after the mess is wiped away, suggesting it’s not really cleaned up. It feels like a hint that Wanda can’t just magic away everything she doesn’t like.
Hero or villain?
Outside Westview, FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) runs through Wanda’s history for the SWORD (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division) agents — she was born in 1989 to Irina and Oleg Maximoff. This show is set in 2023, so Wanda is 34, and it’s likely Irina and Oleg are the people seen in the commercials.
We also learn that this all kicked off nine days ago, when Wanda broke into SWORD headquarters and stole Vision’s corpse (what were they doing with him?). She also defied Vision’s wishes by resurrecting him.
“He didn’t want to be anybody’s weapon,” says Jimmy.
Monica Rambeau has a plan to get back into Westview.
Marvel Studios
Acting SWORD director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) seems eager to cast Wanda as a terrorist (rewriting reality in his own way) for taking control of Westview and for past links with Hydra, much to Darcy’s and Jimmy’s chagrin.
He highlights Monica’s description of how being under Wanda’s influence felt — “excruciating, terrifying, a violation” — making it hard to argue with him.
Steppin’ out
When Wanda steps out of Westview to confront the SWORD agents for sending a drone in, she’s wearing her Avengers: Endgame outfit and speaks in her Sokovian accent. Monica tries to appeal to her, to no avail.
“I have what I want, and no one will ever take it from me again,” she says.
With an awesome flick of her wrist, she makes the armed agents aim at Hayward. The fact that they don’t fire suggests she hasn’t gone full bad guy.
Observations and WTF questions
Vision mentions Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man, an 1871 book in which the naturalist details his theories of evolution and the dominant role of women in mate choice. That notion might seem a bit old-school now, but Wanda did resurrect Vision to start a family.
Could Vision’s decision to read be linked to his sense that Wanda is controlling him?
The intro pays homage to ’80s sitcoms Growing Pains, Family Ties and Full House, the third of which saw the debut of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen — Elizabeth Olsen’s older sisters.
Darcy calls the anomaly “the Hex,” after the hexagonal shape of the affected area.
Hayward also wonders if Wanda has an alias or “funny nickname,” but Jimmy rebuffs that. In the comics, she’s known as Scarlet Witch, but that name hasn’t been used in the MCU.
Sparky is the name of the synthezoid dog created by Vision in the 2015 Vision comic series.
Monica didn’t seem eager to talk about Captain Marvel. Since Carol Danvers and her mom were friends in the ’90s-set Captain Marvel movie, it’s possible Monica is angry that the wildly powerful Carol left Earth and her friend battled cancer while she was gone.
“I know an aerospace engineer who’d be up for this challenge.” Monica wants to create a vessel that’ll get her into Westview safely, and contacts someone who sounds quite like Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. We know the Fantastic Four are coming into the MCU, so this could be the first reference.
Alternatively, she could have texted Riri Wiliams, aka Ironheart, who has a similar skillset. She hasn’t been introduced to the MCU, but is getting her own Disney Plus show (she’ll be played by Dominique Thorne).
What exactly happened when the drone fired? The transmission and broadcast cut out, then Wanda steps out of the Hex.
Wanda seems eager to “go to sleep” — could the effort of maintaining the Hex be tiring her out, is it just an effort to escape, or does going to bed “reset” everything?
When Vision briefly frees Norm of Wanda’s influence, he immediately thinks about his sick dad. Monica also sees her late mother when she’s freed, suggesting Wanda’s influence papers over grief.
Join us for more Easter eggs and observations next Friday, when episode 6 of WandaVision hits Disney Plus.
CNET’s Caitlin Petrakovitz, Eli Blumenthal and Roger Cheng contributed to this recap.
In one of WandaVision’s most heartbreaking moments, Wanda tells her twin boys that, “We can’t reverse death, no matter how sad it makes us.” That’s not great news for all the Sparky stans out there, whether you’re a fan of cute dogs or the Tom King ‘Vision’ comics this little critter was inspired by.
However, what Wanda says isn’t entirely true. Sure, the mechanics of Vision’s resurrection are yet to be determined, but we do know that Maximoff is somehow responsible for his return, reanimating his robot corpse like a creepy puppeteer.
And then of course, there’s that ending. We’ve suspected for a while that Pietro would return to life in the MCU, because if Wanda’s husband can come back, why not her dead brother too?
YouTubeMarvel Studios
What we didn’t necessarily expect — internet leaks aside — was that this version of Pietro wouldn’t be the one that Wanda fought alongside in the Avengers. In fact, this Quicksilver hasn’t even appeared in the MCU until now, something which was only made possible very recently thanks to the Disney/Fox merger.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First of all, who is this “long-lost brother” and why does he look like Evan Peters? Wanda sure did look confused, and plenty of viewers probably shared that sentiment too.
As Marvel fans will remember, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played Pietro Maximoff in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the speedster’s time on screen went by pretty quickly because Ultron killed him before the credits rolled.
The Pietro who shows up here in WandaVision instantly claims to be Wanda’s brother, and he seems to recognise her too, so why hasn’t Aaron Taylor-Johnson been recast in the role? A year before Marvel brought the silver-haired speedster to life on screen, Fox’s X-Men introduced their own version played by American Horror Story’s Evan Peters.
For years, the MCU and Fox’s X-Men universe were unable to cross over with each other for boring legal reasons, keeping apart characters who regularly hang out together in the comics.
Things were mostly kept separate on screen because of this, but Quicksilver was an unusual case, because in the source material, he’s both a mutant and an Avenger. As this complicated things, these blurry lines enabled Marvel and Fox to both create their own unique versions of the same character.
DisneyMarvel Studios
However, that all changed a couple of years ago when Disney and Fox merged, allowing Marvel to finally integrate long-lost characters like the X-Men into their world. Fans have been speculating about this for quite some time, but finally, WandaVision has now confirmed that mutants are officially part of the MCU. Or has it?
More on that later, but for now. the question remains: why would Wanda resurrect a different version of her brother? Did she just “recast him”, as Darcy suggests? Was Aaron Taylor-Johnson just busy that day?
Right now, there are two prevailing theories, both more bewitching than even Wanda herself. The first possibility is that this isn’t actually Pietro and Marvel are just messing with us by casting someone who once played this character for a different studio. And if that’s the case, we don’t imagine that this “Pietro’s” intentions are good.
WandaVision’s latest episode does a lot of heavy lifting to suggest that Wanda is the MCU’s new Big Bad, and yes, the way she manipulates innocent people is unforgivable, but it still feels like someone else is also manipulating her in the same way. After all, Agnes clearly knows more than she’s letting on, and although Vision thinks Wanda is fully in control, even she was surprised by Pietro’s arrival.
This suggests that Evan Peters is playing someone else external to all this who isn’t under Wanda’s spell. When she brought Vision back to life, this was an intentional move on her part, but that’s not the case here, and wouldn’t she need to focus in order to bring Pietro back? Sure, he could just be another manifestation of her subconscious, but if that were true, wouldn’t he look like Aaron Taylor-Johnson?
For some time now, fans have suspected that someone else is pulling the strings here, and an obvious choice from the comics is Mephisto, Marvel’s version of Satan. This demonic entity has manipulated comic book Wanda before in a bid to harness her power, and the story of her children is inextricably tied up with his. Then there’s also Master Pandemonium, a former Hollywood star who now does Mephisto’s bidding using demons for limbs. Yep, really.
DisneyMarvel Studios
Both characters have caused Wanda untold suffering in the comics, destroying her hopes for a happy ending to call her own, so it’s entirely possible that Evan Peters is actually playing one of these villains in disguise. And the actual devil’s arrival in the MCU would be a big game-changer, right?
But then, that still doesn’t explain why Evan Peters appears instead of Aaron. If this isn’t just stunt casting, it seems the most likely explanation for all this is that he really is playing Pietro, but the one we first met in the X-Men films.
DC’s Flash can use his super-speed to race between alternate realities, but Quicksilver hasn’t been known to his use his powers this way, whether you’re talking Marvel’s Pietro, Fox’s Pietro, or even comic book Pietro. With that in mind, what seems more likely is that Wanda has actually pulled this version of her brother directly out of the X-Men universe and into the MCU.
This episode goes out of its way to confirm that Wanda can rewrite reality, so it’s possible that she may have subconsciously dragged a different version of Pietro into Westview. Wanda can only bring Vision back to life because he’s synthetic and they both share a connection to the Mind Stone. Resurrecting an actual human could exist outside the realms of even Wanda’s power set, so instead of bringing her Pietro back to life, she may have (subconsciously) scoured the multiverse for a different Pietro who survived.
Multiverse shenanigans have been on the cards for a while. Not only do we know for certain that Deapool 3 will bring Ryan Reynolds into the MCU, but it’s also been confirmed that previous Spider-Men from the Sony universe will meet Tom Holland’s Spidey too. And it’s no coincidence that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will arrive before then…
Marvel StudiosDisney
Knowing that Wanda has been confirmed to appear in that film too, it stands to reason that all of Wanda’s meddling with reality could disrupt the fabric of reality at large, forcing Doctor Strange to step in and help fix the multiverse before it’s too late.
With multiple Spider-Men and a confirmed Fantastic Four film heading our way, the X-Men are definitely going to start rubbing shoulders with the Avengers sooner rather than later, and it looks like WandaVision is the key to unlocking all that.
If that’s true, it’s too early to tell if Evan Peters will stick around for long as a “new” Pietro. And honestly, we’re a bit worried about Vision’s future beyond this show too. After Sparky’s death, Billy and Tommy tell their mother that “Family is forever,” but we’re not so sure that Wanda will get the happy ending she deserves…
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
WandaVision airs weekly every Friday on Disney+.
Sign up for Disney+
Disney+ Disney+
Marvel Studios: The Infinity Saga – Collector’s Edition [Blu-ray, region-free]
Marvel Phase 1-3 complete set Blu-ray
Marvel Studios Amazon
£148.70
Avengers: Endgame 4K Includes Bonus Disk [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
£20.00
Avengers: 1-4 Complete Blu-ray Boxset Includes Bonus Disk [2019] [Region Free]
Marvel Studios Collector’s Edition Box Set – Phase 3 Part 1 [Blu-ray] [2018] [Region Free]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
£27.49
Marvel Studios Collector’s Edition Box Set – Phase 3 Part 1 [DVD] [2018]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
£23.99
Marvel Studios Collector’s Edition Box Set – Phase 2 Blu-ray [Region Free]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
£38.73
Marvel Studios Collector’s Edition Box Set – Phase 2 [DVD]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
£27.99
Marvel Studios Collector’s Edition Box Set – Phase 1 Blu-ray [Region Free]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
Marvel Studios Collector’s Edition Box Set Phase 1 [DVD]
Disney/Marvel Studios Amazon
£23.99
Digital Spy’s digital magazine is back! Check out issue 6 – including an exclusive chat with Ant & Dec – plus all past issues with a 1-month free trial, only on Apple News+.
Interested in Digital Spy’s weekly newsletter? Sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox – and don’t forget to join our Watch This Facebook Group for daily TV recommendations and discussions with other readers.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
WandaVision‘s most recent outing at last answered some of our burning questions… then swiftly introduced another major one.
In Episode 4, which revealed how S.W.O.R.D. and other agencies on the outside are handling what’s happening in Westview, Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo noticed an odd censorship of Wanda and Vision’s sitcom: For example, when Jimmy tried to contact Wanda via a swim club radio in the Bewitched-esque installment — which we know resulted in Dottie cutting her hand on shattered glass — the episode that Darcy was watching jumped ahead by a few seconds, completely skipping over the radio incident.
In discussing that curious twist with TVLine, showrunner Jac Schaeffer concedes “there’s so much that we don’t understand about what’s going on” inside the Westview bubble. But even though Schaeffer can’t specify what, or who, is behind the sitcom’s censored moments, she confirms we’ll get more answers as the season continues.
“The next few episodes will absolutely clarify a little bit more about this situation as we move forward,” she hints.
Among Schaeffer’s other teasers…
* Though Episode 4 almost entirely sidelined Wanda and Vision’s sitcom existence, Schaeffer says the series “will absolutely return” to the Westview we’ve been watching and piece together “what [Wanda and Vision’s] journey is for the rest of the show.”
* Echoing an ominous teaser from star Paul Bettany, who hinted to TVLine that “couples aren’t necessarily that fond of each other” in more modern sitcoms, Schaeffer similarly warns of “complicated times” ahead for the titular couple. “[Viewers have] invested so much in Wanda and Vision, and in their love story and their marriage in this town,” she elaborates. “And like all marriages… there are differences of opinion, and that was always something I was really interested in about this show — the domestic picture of the two of them and getting more authentic in that space.”
* After seeing an overwhelmingly positive response to Darcy and Jimmy’s rapport, Schaeffer points to an “organic” development of their working relationship as the show progresses. “[In the script] we don’t really underline the fact that they sort of click and buddy up right away… but people really seem to be jumping all over that, and I love them together,” she says.
Though Schaeffer admits the astrophysicist and FBI agent are “consistently underestimated” in the workplace, “they see each other as being good at their jobs, and being professional and talented and good people, above all else. It was always our hope that they would align very quickly.” (With reporting by Keisha Hatchett)
The following may contain spoilers for Disney+’s WandaVision. We don’t know yet.
Disney+’s first Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in, WandaVision, has quickly been transitioning from a weirdo sitcom parody to a proper superhero story, and star Elizabeth Olsen—the Wanda half of that weird title—is teasing some big exciting stuff that’s yet to come. TVLine, inspired by Mark Hamill’s digitally de-aged appearance in the season finale of The Mandalorian, recently spoke with Olsen and decided to cut right to the chase and ask her if there’s anything on par with that (specifically “a casting that she can’t believe hasn’t leaked yet”) coming up on her show. Olsen, who is either very confident or doesn’t care about managing expectations, responded with a simple “yes.” TVLine says she then laughed and added, “I’m really excited.”
That’s all we’ve got to go off of, but it certainly seems intriguing. It’s worth noting that it doesn’t sound like Olsen specifically said that there’s an exciting surprise character showing up, so it’s not necessarily exactly like Luke Skywalker on The Mandalorian, but that is the sort of thing the MCU is already very good at. If we trust that she is talking about an unexpected character stopping by for a visit, who will it be? Doctor Strange would be an easy choice, since Wanda is going to be in his next movie, but it wouldn’t be as exciting as Luke Skywalker’s appearance was. Aaron Taylor-Johnson appearing as Wanda’s dead brother Pietro/Quicksilver would be wild, but the internet seems pretty confident that it’ll actually be Evan Peters’ version of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men movies that will make an appearance—establishing some kind of connection to that series and the MCU now that they’re all under Disney’s roof.
Then again, if people are expecting Evan Peters’ Quicksilver to be on WandaVision, would it really be an exciting reveal on par with Luke Skywalker on The Mandalorian? Is there anything that could,now that we know to expect something? Wanda is (sort of sometimes) Magneto’s daughter in the comics, so maybe Michael Fassbender could come by? We don’t know, but just thinking about it and tossing out ideas like this runs the risk of either spoiling it or setting up unfairly high expectations, so really it was kind of mean of Olsen to bring this up in the first place.
WandaVision has a shocking secret MCU cameo coming in a future episode that Elizabeth Olsen can’t believe hasn’t already leaked online.
WandaVision has a huge secret cameo that Elizabeth Olsen can’t believe hasn’t leaked. After COVID-related delays, the MCU’s Phase 4 has finally arrived, and WandaVision is its first offering. The Disney+ series premiered in the middle of January and immediately plunged audiences into the picture-perfect sitcom world of Westview. Newly married couple Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) have finally achieved domestic bliss, but not everything is as it seems. Outside of Westview, the MCU’s latest defense organization SWORD, is hard at work trying to figure out just what is happening to Wanda.
Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
WandaVision has so far dropped four episodes with five more on the way, and it’s only going to get wilder from here. So little is known about what’s coming next on WandaVision that fans are bracing themselves for some massive surprises, and that might be for a good reason. After all, the last major Disney+ series to release a new season, The Mandalorian, ended its sophomore run with the jaw-dropping arrival of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). This moment instantly went down in fandom history and was somehow kept a secret right up until airing.
Though The Mandalorian and WandaVision are two very different entities, they might have something in common: Shocking cameos. While talking to TVLine about what’s to come on WandaVision, Olsen was asked if there’s a shocking cameo that she’s surprised hasn’t leaked yet, and she said, “Yes.” She, of course, could not provide further details, though she added, “I’m really excited.”
Olsen’s teased WandaVision cameo could most likely be the same as the secret actor Bettany has referenced in interviews multiple times. Bettany got the chance to work with someone he’s always wanted to on WandaVision, though their identity remains a secret. Provided they are the same, it sounds like WandaVision‘s mystery performer could be a familiar MCU actor. Here’s where the speculation begins.
As with any Marvel project, fans have often theorized about which characters could appear in various projects, and WandaVision is no exception. Keeping in mind that Bettany hasn’t worked with this performer yet and that their arrival would have to be on the same level as Luke appearing on The Mandalorian, there might be a few options for who it could be. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange is a popular choice since WandaVision is said to lead into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That would undoubtedly leave fans’ jaws on the floor, though it could also just as easily be someone else. Perhaps Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury – who appeared to be working for SWORD when last fans saw him – could be eligible for WandaVision‘s surprising cameo. There are many possibilities, and fans will have to wait and see who it could be.
More: WandaVision Episode 4 Ending Explained: What “It’s All Wanda” Means
WandaVision continues with episode 5 Friday on Disney+.
Source: TVLine
Black Widow (2021)Release date: May 07, 2021
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)Release date: Jul 09, 2021
Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 (2021)Release date: Dec 17, 2021
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: Mar 25, 2022
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
Captain Marvel 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
Why Billie Piper Won’t Return to Doctor Who
About The Author
Rachel Labonte (1581 Articles Published)
Rachel LaBonte is a news and features writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for movies and television. A recent graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.
/2019/04/26/0d76509f-f1e7-4632-8adf-cb898fd43ea0/into-the-spoilers-we-go.gif){kind=link}