NoScans: WandaVision Episode 5 and it's bigger impact to the MCU

[icon_uk]

Okay, now this was a pretty big episode with a LOT of implications, so I think it deserves it's own post.

A fascinating episode, a spot-on, cloyingly cheesy 80's sitcom opening (whoever is doing these episodes title sequences deserves ALL the Emmy's), Wanda's awareness (or lack of same) in the goings on becoming slightly(?) clearer, Vision being more than a floppy haired foil for the comedy, the twins actively abusing television's habit of aging kids up improbably, and shenanigans on the outside, but that was before the final scene.

The appearance of Evan Peters in the final scene as Wanda's brother was a jaw-dropper.

Now the big reveal had been hinted at with some casting announcements last year that I'd completely forgotten about, but it has to be said, if you're going to integrate the MCU and the X-Men, this was a fascinating way to do it.

For ages people have speculated how to integrate the MCU and the extant X-Men from their own movies since they clearly happened on completely different universes.

In the words of Darcy "She recast Pietro!?" (A wonderful meta reference to what was going on at some level from her point of view, made MORE meta to us viewers because we know this IS sort of Pietro, well Peter)

Given that Peters' Quicksilver was one of the few non-core mutants to actually make any sort of favourabl impression in the recent movies, thanks in no small part to a couple of movie-stealing set pieces and some actorly charisma, he seems so obvious a link in retrospect, but I never thought they'd actually do it like this.

So what did you think of it? Clever idea? Too cute? Not clear enough yet to decide?

Comments

[tcampbell1000]

Not clear enough yet to decide, definitely. If this were the last episode (I know, never happen, but bear with me), then it'd definitely be a fun, cute salute to the X-movies.

As it is, it's either that or some cracked window through which X-continuity is going to start spilling. My craziest theory is that the song "Daydream Believer" is even more relevant than it looks here. If Wanda's not running the whole show, as she claims to Vision that she isn't, then who else could? Who could possibly mentally control an entire town, overwriting them into sitcom characters with the force of her grief? Who? Who could it be?

"Cheer up, sleepy Jeeeean..."

But... I don't want to get too married to that sort of theorizing. It's somewhat more likely that the X-references won't go much further than this over the course of the miniseries. This show is, after all, called WandaVision, not Marvel Phase Four: Acquisitional Synergy Begins. And if there's one thing Wanda and Vision did a little too much of in the Avengers movies, it was play second fiddle in stories too far-ranging to give them more than a few minutes of focus. Sometimes a cute bit is just a cute bit. We'll see.

(Oh, and BTW, hard agree on the opening sequences. The music for the series comes from the same people who composed the tunes for Frozen, so they probably have some awards by now!)

[icon_uk]

This show is, after all, called WandaVision, not Marvel Phase Four: Acquisitional Synergy Begins

This is also leading into a Doctor Strange movie which has the word "Multiverse" in it, so i wouldn't be so sure about that! :D

[nyadnar17]

Its a total mindfuck.

The implications are nuts. Is this a multiverse, is she rewriting history? If she does "merge in" mutants what does that mean for the timeline? Weapon-X, Wolverine, Xavier and Magneto all take on very different contexts if they didn't exist until yesterday/

I have no idea where they are going with this, but Marvel has earned enough of my trust for me to be optimistic.

[dewinged]

I remembered Peters was cast about...5 seconds before Wanda opened the door. I always liked him from some of the American Horror Story seasons.

The pace felt glacial by episode 3, but 4 and 5 started explaining things and it picked up. Monica is a delight and I will defend Astrophysics Doctorate Darcy to any haters.

I have a feeling the Outside-Westview story is going to be Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy vs. SWORD and Hayward and I am here for it.

(Ep. 5, Monica's medscans came up blank. Being turned into an energy based being will do that.)

And...we have Billy and Tommy. I'm more partial to Billy, but I've spent a lot of the MCU seeing characters I want to see being ignored...I'm actually happy. (Also, a lot of LGBT representation in non-comic superhero media tends to skew towards LGBT women characters, so this is a change.). I am surprised at how much I needed to see this.

[mister_terrific]

I was more than a little surprised to see that people seemed to pass over Monica's test results. Granted, the reveal at the end was pretty big (I laughed and applauded), but that's hinting at a helluva lot and I expect it's going to get bigger in the next few episodes.

The one thing I keep thinking is "don't assume there's only one big bad working here--one inside, one outside?"

[scorntx]

Monica having something up with her isn't really surprising, since... y'know.
It's what we're all waiting for.

[scorntx]

Going reserve freaking out about anything Pietro related until there's some more clarification on what's going on.
But I don't think it's bringing in the X-Men en masse.

Think the implication with Wanda is that, like in House of M, her powers are out of her control.

Though for other crazy speculation, I'm thinking Agnes probably might not be Agatha Harkness after all.
And Dottie may or may not be Moonstone. (That one's looking unlikely, though. But if F & WS has Zemo, and that was supposed to be first...)
Pretty sure neither of them will turn out to be a cunningly disguised Bova, though.

[cyberghostface]

I'd be a little surprised if this goes much further than Wandavision.

Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are both done, Deadpool is in his own meta-continuity and the Fox continuity is a huge mess so it would probably be easier for Marvel/Disney to just start over as opposed to trying to co-opt whatever is left into their universe.

[megaspork]

They actually confirmed the 3rd deadpool is going to be in mcu continuity in the last month so....

[cyberghostface]

The same way Deadpool was in the Fox continuity, yes. Which is, again, his own meta-continuity. You can easily insert Reynolds' Deadpool into the MCU and just explain it with a joke about Disney buying Fox.

[icon_uk]

If it means we get a new X-Men line up without every single movie focussing on bloody Charles and Erik AGAIN, I will be a happy fanboy.

[scorntx]

*sound of leathery finger curling shut*

Aim for a low bar! A low bar!

[mistersandman]

I hope this is a cute gag without any further implications about the nature of the multiverse or the future of mutants in the MCU.

Invoking some multiverse mumbo jumbo to justify using the Fox franchise as the foundation of the MCU X-Men movies would immediately kill my interest in any MCU X-Men project. On the whole, those movies were not very good!

[thezmage]

So I got about three or four different theories about the show from this one episode alone.

There are no children in Westview. Dottie said “we’re all here for the children” followed by everybody repeating “for the children” in a cultish monotone.

The twins aged up five years at a time, the exact same length of time as the Blip.

I’m thinking that for most of Westview, but Agnes in particular, the adults were snapped away and the children stayed. Even if none of them starved and they all wound up in stable foster homes, those parents still lost five years of raising their children and might not even have been able to get them back. I think, to some degree, there are residents of Westview who believe that this is a way to get them back.

[owlbrigade1]

I'm thinking it is probably just a casting gag, a prank on the audience, at this point, but am willing to be wrong though. I want to be wrong. I'm also kinda low-key sus of Monica too at this point. She seems kinda off, in as much as a character we know so little about can be off, since she was spat out by Wanda. Marvel has me on the hook, I must admit.

Now they only need to add a Deadpool cameo and it has hit all the high points.

[icon_uk]

Given this is leading up to a tie in with the Doctor Strange movie "Multiverse of Madness" which will feature Wanda, I'm thinking it has a lot more implications that just a gag.

[owlbrigade1]

Fingers crossed you are right, just, pop culture has burned me too many times lately for me to get excited by it right now. I've seen that damn monkey's paw twist too many anticipated thrills. I really want you to be right though, and me to be wrong. I really want it to be him, just...

[deepspaceartist]

I'm also kinda low-key sus of Monica too at this point. She seems kinda off, in as much as a character we know so little about can be off, since she was spat out by Wanda.

I agree with you here. She gets stuck under Wanda's mind control, gets kicked out but now her medical scans are weird and she's super defensive about and supportive of Wanda? Even with the likely Photon stuff, I'm thinking her mind might not be as clear of Wanda's control as she thinks it is.

[lordultimus]

The audio description said "the Pietro from the Fox X-Men", so I imagine that's really him. While I don't think he'll stay and I don't think this will lead to any reality merging, this will probably lead to Wanda being reconfirmed as a mutant and maybe even reveal Magneto as her true father. The fact that Monica seems to have gotten powers and glimpses of the Hex expanding in the trailers (along with Monica's claims that Wanda erected the barrier to keep it from spreading further than Westview) I can't help but wonder if this will end with the Hex expanding across the world and acting as a mass superpowering event, and if not being the actual introductions to MCU mutants and the MCU version of the X-Men, at least opening the door for them.

[crabby_lioness]

Spider-Man Far From Home had a multiverse tease in it. I imagine this is going to be a bit bigger tease. An appetizer, not the full meal.

My money is on little Billy summoning his Mommy's twin to make her happy.

[icon_uk]

I'm waiting for the doorbell to ring and this time Wanda is confronted with the Pietro from Spider-Ham's Universe... who foes by the name Quacksilver

(I have no idea if that's the case, but it's too good a name to NOT use IMHO)

[zachbeacon]

Its possible people are reading too much into this. Recasting happens all the time but - Deadpool aside - the characters don't generally draw attention to it. Breaking the fourth wall is a big part of WandaVision.

I mean, we're already on our third Hulk and if this kind of stunt casting happened in a DC show (especially Flash or Supergirl) no one would bat an eye.



My main takeaway from this is that I want Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy to be the backbone of the new SWORD after they have to take down the obviously secretly evil guy running it now. I'm really enjoying their team dynamic.

[ladymidath]

I didn't see that coming to be honest. I do love the way they take all the cheesy elements of sitcoms but I love the way Vision is becoming more aware of what's happening. The pain and fear that Wanda is causing. I love this series.

[coldfury]

I caught up yesterday, and I'm surprised to find after sleeping on it I'm *really* mad at the OG Avengers who survived the snap.

Vision, their teammate they all ostensibly cared about, the one who saved them from Ultron and was 'worthy' of wielding Mjolnir died fighting Thanos. They were so hung up on saving him that they basically caused the snap to happen.

(That's probably the weakest part of Infinity War. They don't 'trade lives', but they were willing to let the Wakandan army die to try to save Vision's? But that's another rant...)

So Vision, this dude who was so important to them in Infinity War, dies. And obviously the snap happened so tons of others died too, and there was a lot of trauma going on. He dies on Wakandan soil and somehow ends up in SWORD custody being dissected in pieces in a lab five years after his death?

First off, that paints the newly established SWORD in a very bad light. Secondly, how the HELL did the original Avengers let this happen? Why is Wanda, a few weeks after resurrecting, the one to figure this out and storm SWORD HQ solo?

Maybe I'm misreading this, and SWORD took advantage of the chaos of Endgame to exhume or steal Vision's body and thus the acquisition was a recent thing. I hope they establish that, because right now it makes me *very* mad at the callousness of the surviving Avengers.

If SWORD doesn't change hands at the end of this, I feel like we can already write it off as another lawful evil super organization that Nick Fury is associated with.

[deepspaceartist]

Agreed, even if Steve and Natasha didn't care to do anything about it, it is wildly uncharacteristic of Tony to just let a government agency have Vision's body for numerous reasons, the least of which is JARVIS being a central part of Vision that probably contains a whole lot of data on the Arc Reactor and Iron Man that he doesn't want to get out. (Possible lead-in to Rhodey's Armor Wars series?) So I'm thinking that Sword acquiring Vision was definitely a secret from the Avengers, whether they stole him recently or not. Perhaps they swapped Vision for a fake in the three weeks post-snap before Tony and Nebula got to Earth, and in his grief Tony never examined the body before burying/securing it?

[shadwing]

My guess is that SWORD only RECENTLY got Vision's body, because like you said there was NO WAY Tony would not have had Vision 'buried' per his wishes and had safety measures in place to keep him there. Heck Tony might have gone as far as to do some of the 'disassembling' we saw in the ep *himself* to insure that even IF his corpse was stolen there would be nothing they could use to 'resurrect' him against Vision's wishes.

So it's possible SWORD used the chaos post Tony's death and the Avengers scattering in order to obtain the corpse. Its also possible something ELSE did the same thing, made sure SWORD (who would be the top contact when Westview's problem was discovered) recovered it then let Wanda know where the corpse was setting HER off with the bonus of her not trusting SWORD when they came into the scene.

[zachbeacon]

It certainly isn't a great look for Steve and Natasha. Everyone else had given up to one degree or another (though Tony REALLY should have learned to clean up his messes by then). Those two were supposed to be keeping the world safe.

Unless it was a specific request from his family (Wanda, Tony, Bruce or Thor), I can't see Shuri wanting to let him go.

Wanda really got screwed by Endgame. Everyone else got their loved ones back. Sure Clint lost his best friend to a heroic sacrifice but Wanda lost the two people most important to her. She even got robbed of her revenge (though I did enjoy her smacking around Thanos for a briefmoment).

I can't wrap my head around Monica being involved with SWORD in the first place. Comics SWORD, sure. MCU SWORD exists to keep tabs on people (sorry, "sentient weapons") like her aunt Carol.

As for the grave robbing, I assume that the obviously evil SWORD director leaked the info to Wanda anonymously to set Wanda up.

[deepspaceartist]

Unless it was a specific request from his family (Wanda, Tony, Bruce or Thor), I can't see Shuri wanting to let him go.

Shuri was dusted too, we don't actually know yet who ran Wakanda during the 5 years. But really any likely candidates (such as Queen Ramonda or M'Baku) would be far more likely to give Vision's body up to someone other than the Avengers than Shuri.

Given that a) MCU SWORD was founded by Maria Rambeau, b) that Monica had a less than stellar reaction to Captain Marvel being brought up and c) Carol clearly spent very little of the intervening 30 years since her movie on Earth, I'm thinking Carol and the Rambeaus had one hell of a falling out. Like Carol came back and did something poorly thought out and destructive (so business as usual for Carol Danvers) to the point where Maria decided that letting vastly powerful beings do whatever they want with no supervision isn't a great plan and founded SWORD.

[zachbeacon]

I have to be honest, I forgot Shuri was dusted. No wonder Tony was the first person to crack time travel.

I've spent so much of the last week hearing an Endgame fan theory* repeated as fact that I must have internalized it. In MCU Carol's defense, she's going to have to burn a LOT more bridges before she even comes close to her comic counterpart.

*That Carol was there for Maria in the end and that's (a) why she's been visiting Earth more often until she all but stopped and (b) the reason she has a new hair cut.

[deepspaceartist]

Honestly Carol could have still been there for Maria in the end. Even if they had a falling out bad enough that Maria founded SWORD, the pain of the snap, and losing Monica in particular, could've led to a reconciliation between the two. But that's all speculation and theory until something hard canon shows up, and the face Monica makes when Jimmy brings up Carol very strongly leads me to believe that Carol was not on good terms with her as of the Snap.

[zachbeacon]

I focused less on that and more on her conversation with EvilMcEvilFace (or whatever his name is). He talks about the threats "out there" and she mentioned the "allies". As far as Monica would know, Captain Marvel and Thor are the only allies "out there" and I don't think she was talking about the Thunder God. Maybe she meant Goose?

[deepspaceartist]

True enough, but it could easily be the kind of situation where Maria still acknowledged Carol as an ally and not not a threat to Earth, but they weren't friends anymore. Also Monica would presumably know about the Skrulls as allies as well, considering that the Nick Fury and Maria Hill currently on Earth are Skrulls. Either way, Like I said it's all speculation until we get hard proof one way or the other.

[silverzeo]

Hmm... hard to really be impress with the MCU with stuff like this... Disney has showed that they will go any length for this franchise with them giving into Sony's jacked up the price for Spider-Man or them buying out FOX when MCU's Inhumans fell through (ARE they still cannon)...

I would just want to be something ELSE besides Disney pulling something this big for a change...

[coldfury]

Right now, as far as I'm aware the canonicity of anything Marvel TV made is in question.

Wandavision is the first TV show that Marvel Studios itself has made. At this point, unless otherwise stated I would treat anything from any of the Netflix or Marvel TV productions as a 'Marvel Legends' a la Star Wars. It could be canon, if they choose, or if they contradict each other then it's just a nice alternate tale.

It's sad that we're already here so quickly, but the falling out between Perlmeter and Feige was pretty legendary and the shows definitely suffered for it.