Before Marvel’s superhero boom in 1961-62 began to take their publishing in a different direction, they published standard offerings of the time, such as romance comics, westerns, fantasy/horror, etc. When the FF, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, etc. came on the scene there was still a traditional romantic element in several comics: Bruce Banner had Betty Ross, Thor had Jane Foster, Reed Richards macked on Susan Storm.
When Vision debuted in Avengers 57 back in 1968, he was an oddity right from the get-go. The android body of the original Human Torch with the brain patterns (but not the memories or emotions) of Simon Williams (Wonder Man), cobbled together by an angry AI in robot form, Ultron. Vision didn’t stay a villain for very long and soon joined the Avengers as a team member, which is how he was introduced to Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.
Wanda’s origin has been played around with a little bit in the comics over the years, but at this stage she and her brother Pietro were the children of X-Men foe Max Eisenhardt (Magneto). The pairing of Wanda and Vision was an oddity, often very melodramatic as the latter wrestled with one existential crisis after another.
In the MCU, they tried a different tactic. Vision (Paul Bettany) became a comforting figure for Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) following the death of her brother Pietro at the hands of Ultron…whom she played a part in creating. Off screen they began a romance that was briefly shown in Avengers: Infinity War, and Vision was wrecked when Thanos remove the Mind Stone in that same movie.
The emotional depth had no time to be developed on screen. Vision was essentially guarding Wanda at the Avengers compound and then they are in Europe together hiding out from the U.S. government.
Along came WandaVision, the Disney+ series not many fans were asking for, and an unusual choice as neither had extensive appeal beyond their devoted fans. The teasers and leaks indicated Wanda was creating a magical fantasy environment where Vision was “alive” again and they were living a perfect sitcom romance in small town America.
Through flashbacks, we see the unfolding tragedies that took everything from her she cared about: her parents, her home, Pietro, and finally Vision. When she discovers his dissected body (courtesy of S.W.O.R.D.) and the deed to a foundation for a home Vision had purchased for building a life together, Wanda’s pain erupts in primal fashion. She is emotionally broken, the unfairness of life grabbing her soul and rending it without mercy. Out of her agony erupts a giant network of hexes that enthrall the town’s inhabitants and encase the town itself in a giant magic dome which eventually becomes invisible to the outside world. Vision is reborn, a house appears, and a magical new life for the two is created.
Agatha Harkness is introduced as bossy, nosy neighbor Agnes (perhaps a tribute to Bewitched co-star Agnes Moorehead as well as a contraction of Agatha Harkness). Agatha was attracted to the town by Wanda’s elaborate transmogrification of Westview, New Jersey, sensing a type of powerful magic. She begins manipulating Wanda’s actions in order to find out more and develop a strategy for stealing Wanda’s power for herself.
Simultaneously, Assistant Director Tyler Hayward successfully reanimates the Vision using what appears to be Stark arc reactor technology and some of Wanda’s hex magic absorbed from a drone sent into the hex dome surrounding Westview. This White Vision (lost his color for some reason) is sent into Westview to kill Wanda and Vision to…save the town? That’s the rationale Haywood keeps pushing, anyway.
Everything concludes in a big climax of Wanda defeating Agatha, Monica Rambeau and Wanda’s materialized kids defeating Haywood’s S.W.O.R.D. assault squad, and the Vision defeating White Vision with a Ship of Theseus philosophical debate on who is the real Vision in need of getting his ass beat. Vision activates White Vision’s memory center and the latter suddenly remembers everything from his creation up until his death by Thanos. At least, that is all that seems to happen. White Vision flies away, doesn’t bother phasing through the glass ceiling of the library the two were in for some reason, causing more property damage.
Wanda’s power expands a la Dark Phoenix and Agatha warns her nothing good will come of it before getting deluded via a spell into believing she is an ordinary townie. Wanda realizes her motives have been very selfish and she rescinds the hex spell over the town, which ultimately takes away the two kids and she loses Vision for a third time. She is left standing in the dirt of the lot before she cast the giant hex spell, no home, no kids, no Vision. Wanda seems to have made some peace with her situation she didn’t have before, and after a goodbye to Monica Rambeau she flies off to (post credit scene) what appears to be perhaps the base of Wundagore Mountain, where she studies the Darkhold book of ancient magic she lifted from Agatha. She is startled to hear the voices of her two children, which may be a foreshadowing of evil forces trying to manipulate her power for their own ends (again). Roll credits.
Many fans were disappointed by the lack of big character cameos in the final episode. Here’s just a partial list of names being bounced around: Reed Richards, Hank McCoy, Magneto, Ch’thon, Mephisto, Nightmare, Doctor Strange, Charles Xavier, Ultron, Baron Mordo, Doctor Doom, Hawkeye, Shuma-Gorath, and Blue Marvel. Personally, I’m glad they didn’t go this route. This show was, at its heart, about Wanda Maximoff. It was a very solid performance by Elizabeth Olsen, and Paul Bettany as well. The writing was effective and, at its best moments, on par with any previous MCU content.
There is a lot this review does not touch on, such as the fake Pietro (Fietro), the virgin birth of the twin kids, Monica Rambeau’s arc, the various sitcom parodies, Darcy and Jimmy Woo, Senor Scratchy, and more. You could talk a long time about this series, and people have. I encourage people to check out The Cosmic Wonder and Emergency Awesome on YouTube, for extended analyses.
What did I think? I thought this was really solid, in no small part because it was something different and featured characters we hadn’t gotten to know much about previously. I would definitely recommend checking this out.
