Not since Lost have I been so excited about unpacking a show. Sure, I had some theories about Game of Thrones and got caught up in the mysteries of The Man in the High Castle, but WandaVision is making me as giddy as a kid on Christmas day.
So, allow me to nerd out, theorize, and ask some questions about this humdinger of a show.
(Spoiler alerts, obviously)
Questions
What is Westview? Is it a figment of someone's imagination? Is it vision made in a Holodeck-type place? Is it a Truman Show-style place created for a specific purpose?
When does this take place? After the events of Endgame when Thanos has been defeated? In between Infinity War and Endgame, after Vision is killed & Wanda is blipped/dusted? Is this where Wanda went when she blipped?
Who is Geraldine? An agent? A fellow superhuman? Is she "in" on whatever is going on? Remember, she doesn't know why she's there. That's what she tells Wanda when they first meet. Then, of course, there's everything that happens at the end of episode 3.
Who is Agnes? Friend or foe? Who is Dottie? Also, friend or foe? What about the other neighbors & recurring characters?
What is the significance of the colored things in the B&W worlds of episodes one and two? The helicopter with the SWORD logo, Dottie's blood, blinking light, etc. Was the switch to color a sort of Wizard of Oz, we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore leap?
What is the significance of the commercials? Fun little nods to Stark Industries, Hydra, and Baron Strucker? Hints at something more? A toaster, a watch, a bath soak. Toaster is a nickname for Vision in the comics. Watch = time? Bath soak...hydrostasis?!
Who is the bee guy? Why did Wanda rewind time when she saw him? Why did she seem frightened and resolute? How did he get into their maybe-imagined, maybe-fabricated world?
Wanda & Vision don't seem to remember much about anything pre-Westview. But what do they remember? Did Wanda remember Pietro on her own, or was it only because she had a reminder (newborn twins) that she remembered him?
How did Wanda get pregnant? Why did the pregnancy progress so quickly? (Gave me some Twilight vibes, not gonna lie) Did the babies cause some of those magical flares to happen? What are they?
What's up with Vision? Wanda seems to be the one running the place - controlling time, etc. But then he had that little moment in episode 3 where he was sort of "reset" rather than "rewound."
What happened to Wanda's accent?! (ok, this is more of a joke)
Theories
Ok, bear with me. The MCU has recently introduced the ideas of alternate timelines thanks to all the time-hopping done in Endgame. The comics, on the other hand, have been working with alternate histories and what-not for decades. While there are often storylines from the comics that are favored amongst fans, seldom is there a so-called definitive canon version. That's why we have so many versions of the same beloved characters (hello, retconned storylines!).
It makes sense, then, that WandaVision is playing around with decades - so far we've seen TV-versions of the 50s, 60s, and 70s (Marvel Comics, in its original form, came about in the late 30s, but it wasn't until the 60s that it was rebranded at Marvel). Just as characters have changed to reflect the times (ex. Peter Parker of 1962 vs. Miles Morales of 2011), what is contained in each of WandaVision's episodes may make the most sense for that accompanying decade. But we'll see as the episodes come out.
Now, in one version of the comics Wanda Maximoff & her twin brother Pietro are the children of Magneto, as in X-Men arch-nemesis Magneto. Based on this, it means that their abilities were inherited. In the X-Men universe, 'mutants' are born with their abilities, while so far in the MCU we've only seen supes that have either made themselves powerful (Iron Man's suit, Doctor Strange learning the mystical arts) or have freakishly inherited powers (Peter Parker being bit by a radioactive spider, Captain Marvel absorbing an alien lifeform in an explosion). Or, you know, they're aliens (Gamora) or gods (Thor).
The MCU has not explored the mutant parts of the Marvel Comic universe. When Wanda & her brother were introduced at the end of Winter Soldier where it is explained that their abilities came about after being experimented on using the Mind Stone by Hydra cronies. This was probably because of the Fox-Disney dispute over Marvel at the time, but so far that has all remained canon.
Ok, so here's where my theory comes in. Wanda & Pietro were the only survivors of the Hydra experiments. What if the reason they survived is because they were already genetically predisposed to have such abilities? They were orphaned at a young age, don't remember a ton about their family, maybe they weren't even raised by biological family. Now that Disney has X-Men, they can start introducing mutants to the MCU.
WandaVision has already nodded at other X-Men-linked things. Those sword symbols we keep seeing? In the comics, S.W.O.R.D. is an organization, much like S.H.I.E.L.D, that acts as a counterterrorism group. The difference? SWORD focuses on extraterrestrial threats. It was also introduced...IN THE X-MEN COMICS.
In the latest episode, Geraldine is magicked out of what looks like a forcefield and onto a field outside of what looks like a military base. Is she a SWORD agent tasked with keeping an eye on things in this Truman Show-like Westview? If so, why are Wanda and Vis IN Westview? (Also, shoutout to the cool, subtle change of screen proportion)
Wanda, grieving the losses and trauma she's endured (her brother's death, Sokovia, Vision's death, etc.), has become unstable. Uncontrolled her magic can cause serious damage. She has, voluntarily or not, been put into some sort of fabricated place (like The Truman Show) as a way to protect others from her unpredictable magic flares AND as a way to escape her trauma. SWORD agents are keeping an eye on her. Geraldine is one of those agents. The other Westview inhabitants? Other superhumans or associates of SHIELD/the Avengers that also need some TLC. Mutants also recently discovered and being observed? Skrulls?
My head is swimming with possibilities and the baby is waking up, so I'll have to return to this. What are your thoughts? Theories? I'm eager to discuss this with anyone who is also watching the show!
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