(spoilers ahead for “WandaVision”)
In comic books you live in a world of multiverses — multiple universes with many iterations of your favorite heroes and villains all alive and well, all interacting in big storylines. We haven’t seen that play out in the live-action television and movie adaptations of comic book storylines… at least not yet. On the latest episode of “WandaVision,” however, Marvel’s most experimental television show, the Multiverse made its debut. Yet, before we dive into that and all that entails, we need to first see how we got there.
In last week’s episode, we got a behind the scenes look at how Wanda had essentially kidnapped an entire town to use them as her cast members in a 20th-century sitcom that allowed her and her dead lover, Vision, to live a normal suburban life.
The most recent episode begins with our bizarre suburban couple trying to get their babies to sleep. The ever nosey neighbor Agnes arrives (dressed in very 80s like jazzercise gear), and in trying to get the kids to sleep, they suddenly “up-age” themselves to be five years old.
The event is just the most recent of numerous clues that Wanda is beginning to lose her grip on this pseudo-reality. The next clue comes when Agnes straight-up asks Wanda if she should, “take that from the top” after she flubs a “scene.” Vision is caught off guard by this, but Wanda brushes it off.
Wanda and Vision are now the proud parents of two five-year-old boys. Soon, those boys find themselves a puppy, Sparky, but Vision and Wanda don’t believe they’re old enough to care for it. Vision informs the boys they can have a puppy when they turn ten, then, right in front of Agnes, the boys up-age themselves again to ten-year-old kids. Throughout just a couple of days, Wanda has gone from becoming pregnant to the mother of two ten-year-olds. What a world she’s made for herself.
At work, Vision’s office gets the latest in 1980s technology: computers. He walks his office mates through the glory of “electronic mail,” where we get classic jokes like, “Where do I put the stamp?” and “Do I need a letter opener?”
Problems arise when the first email the entire office receives is a S.W.O.R.D. communique from Darcy which the entire office recites to Vision in a weird little segment. Puzzled, Vision uses his powers to bring Norm out of Wanda’s trance and ask him what’s going on.
Norm, in a state of panic, just wants to contact his family but can’t. He begs Vision to just stop Wanda so he can get back to his normal life. Then Vision, more concerned than ever, puts Norm back under Wanda’s control.
As with all Hollywood stories about a dog, it’s not long before the poor pooch dies. The cause of Sparky’s death? Eating some poisonous plants in Agnes’s yard. The two now grief-stricken boys ask their mom to bring the dog back to life, again, right in front of Agnes. The nosy neighbor then says, “You can do that?” Vision returns from work just in time to see this, comfort his boys, and take everyone home.
Once they’re home, Vision confronts Wanda about what happened with their kids, what Norm said, and why he can’t remember any of his life before being trapped in Westview. They get into a fight only a superhero couple could. They both elevate themselves, floating in mid-air. Then, just as they’re getting their powers spun up, the doorbell rings.
In the “real world,” we see Monica Rambeau trying to explain what happened in what Darcy has now coined, “The Hex” while she was under Wanda’s control. Confirming the suspicions of many viewers, what Wanda is doing is changing reality, warping it to her liking. The 1970s era bellbottoms that Monica was wearing when she got kicked out of Wanda’s vision were bulletproof. They were made from the same bulletproof vest she was wearing when she got sucked into the town.
Monica and the rest of S.W.O.R.D. hatch a plan to send in a 1980s era drone to see what happens if Wanda experiences technology she doesn’t have to warp to fit her preferred timeframe. Monica believes that it’s a peaceful mission to talk to Wanda, but when they meet the Scarlett Witch face to face, the S.W.O.R.D. director orders another operator into the room to fire a missile at Wanda.
This infuriates the former Avenger.
She destroys the drone, brings it out of The Hex, then confronts the S.W.O.R.D. team that has assembled there with their guns trained right at her. She tells them that no one is going to disturb her again and then uses her powers to point all their guns at the S.W.O.R.D. director before heading back into The Hex.
Now, back in front of the television signal, Darcy watches as Wanda goes to answer her doorbell. Lo and behold: it’s Wanda’s brother, Pietro, a.k.a. “Quicksilver.” This Quicksilver, however, is not the Pietro we met in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” — this is the Quicksilver we met in the Fox “X-Men” movies played by Evan Peters. The madness of the multiverse has arrived!
