Why you should watch: WandaVision

If you’ve been sleeping on the newly released Disney+ show, WandaVision, consider this your gentle nudge to check it out. With the latest mid-season trailer just released today, the Internet is going crazy at how the rest of the season is going to play out. 

Ever since WandaVision was first announced in 2019, anyone with the slightest interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been speculating the significance of the show on the rest of the franchise. Now that it’s here, it’s clear it’s not just your average TV series.

The nine-episode series, which stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as Avenger members Wanda Maximoff and Vision respectively, has been releasing new 30-minute episodes once a week for the past three weeks — it’s now on episode four. 

The show, which began structured like a classic American sitcom, may feel like a small-time affair, especially after the universe-spanning action of Avengers: Endgame. But don’t be fooled by what seems to be mundane plot points about married life in the suburbs. WandaVision, like previous MCU films, is going to have a far-reaching impact on the universe as a whole. 

Even during the first two episodes when the show played up the sitcom gimmick straight up, viewers could sense something was “off” about the idyllic world depicted on the show. By the fourth episode, it’s clear Wanda is trying to suppress underlying mental trauma. And because she’s one of the most powerful characters in the MCU, with the ability to alter reality and control minds, this makes the potential for her to lose control quite scary for everyone within the MCU. 

Those well-versed in comics will know WandaVision is very likely an adaptation of the infamous Marvel comic storyline House of M, which saw Wanda’s unstable mental state mess with reality so much that the Avengers and X-Men considered killing her to stop further damage. 

And since Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has already confirmed that the events of WandaVision will directly connect to high profiled upcoming MCU movies (Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and the still untitled Spider-Man sequel), this means we can expect some major weirdness in those movies — like the rumor that past Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will show up in the next Spider-Man film despite being set in different universes. 

Feige also has said WandaVision’s unique TV sitcom format is the franchise’s boldest work thus far, and an unexpected way to reveal more about significant Marvel characters who only scratched the surface in the big screen films.

While the show itself is set in a simple suburb, it’s becoming clear that WandaVision is not so simple after all, and the multitude of easter eggs revealed in each episode point to the fact that this show alone will have a far reaching impact, opening up alternate realities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for at least the next five years

So buckle up and tune in: Wanda isn’t just any housewife, and WandaVision isn’t your average family-friendly sitcom.

Learn more about WandaVision at disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/wandavision

In this Story: #culture / #entertainment