After an extended absence of new MCU content, WandaVision has finally arrived, and the new series’ first two episodes have left plenty of questions for fans to speculate over. The two-part premiere delivered on all the mystery, absurdity, and classic sitcom charm promised in the trailer footage, setting up an interesting story to come. While the first two episodes gave hints at the show’s true nature, they close with more hanging questions than answers.
Episode 1 follows a pretty standard early sitcom format: think I Love Lucy with intentionally cheesy magic special effects. Wanda and Vision live a charmed suburban life in a spacious suburban home – cooking, cleaning, and going to work at a meaningless job. The main story centers on Vision’s boss coming over for dinner – a situation that quickly turns unsettling as the man nearly chokes to death, is saved by Vision, and promptly leaves with no mention of the weirdness. The last shot shows the whole ordeal seemingly being monitored by an unseen force. Episode two introduces more of the neighborhood through a neighborhood talent show, mysteriously introducing some color to the black-and-white and leaving more clues that our heroes are being watched.
Mostly, the WandaVision premiere built tension and mystique. A lot of tidbits were dropped in set dressing and throwaway lines, but the core questions remain. As the story progresses over the next seven weeks, the mysteries should slowly unfold. Right now though, fans have been left with a bevy of uncertainties.
What Exactly Is WandaVision’s Westview?
WandaVision is set in Westview, an idyllic American suburb seemingly stuck in the mid-twentieth century. The town itself is at the core of the show’s mystery, and it begs a number of major questions simply by its existence. What is Westview? Is it some sort of prison? Is it all in Scarlet Witch’s mind? Are the neighbors innocents, figments, or agents of some malicious power? And how did Wanda and Vision get there in the first place?
So far, two theories of Westview seem to be the most likely – that the town is either a creation of Wanda’s reality-altering power, which outside forces are attempting to infiltrate, or that it is some kind of cage built to keep her in. The 1950s setting clearly sets the suburb outside of reality, but it’s still unclear how the whole place actually works. Is it a Truman Show-esque dome world, or prison meant to restrain Wanda’s powers?
The nature of Westview will also impact its other, curious residents. Neighbors like Agnes and Dottie could be spies sent to keep an eye on the heroes, or they could be unwitting prisoners themselves. Ultimately, the inner workings of the world of WandaVision will reveal the answer to another, related question.
Who Is In Control Of WandaVision?
The end of episode 1 shows the events playing out on an actual TV screen, seemingly being watched closely be an unseen figure in a mysterious room. Early footage, comics plotlines and some Easter eggs within the first two episodes themselves all point to one likely suspect – Marvel's secret intelligence agency S.W.O.R.D. A subsidiary of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics, S.W.O.R.D. has yet to make a proper appearance in the MCU until now. While their intentions are unknown, the toy helicopter found in Wanda’s bushes bearing the organization’s logo suggests it’s heavily involved in the show’s events.
S.W.O.R.D. isn’t the only likely culprit, though. Episode 2 ends with a particularly unsettling shot: a shadowy figure in a beekeeper’s suit, surrounded by a buzzing cloud of bees, emerging from a manhole in front of Wanda and Vision’s house. Comics fans have already made the connection to A.I.M., another secret organization in the Marvel universe whose members are famous for their beekeeper-esque outfits. A.I.M. was already introduced to the MCU as the villains of Iron Man 3, but they’ve haven’t been seen on screen since. It’s possible that the villainous group is the one actually behind Westview, and that S.W.O.R.D. is trying to get in from the outside.
Still another possibility is that it’s Scarlet Witch herself who’s actually in control of everything. Given the immense trauma she’s experienced throughout her life and the great loss she suffered at the end of Infinity War, some theories hold that Westview is an escapist fantasy of her own creation, which could be having repercussions outside the confines of suburbia. The end of episode 2, when Wanda rewinds time by uttering the word “no,” gives some credence to the idea that she’s actually lost in a prison of her own making, and that the strange radio transmissions are attempts to wake her up.
How Is Vision Alive In WandaVision
Vision is supposed to be dead. He died at the end of Infinity War in truly brutal fashion when Thanos ripped the Mind Stone right out of him (“My husband and his indestructible head”), and he was not resurrected upon the Mad Titan’s defeat in Endgame. So how is Vision still alive in WandaVision?
The most obvious explanation is that he isn’t really – that Scarlet Witch, as part of her escapist fantasy, created a world where her love was still with her. It’s possible that the whole thing is a façade, and that Vision is still just as dead as he was in Endgame. A plotline of that nature would be strikingly similar to the famous House of M comic run (visually referenced in the show’s end credits), which saw Scarlet Witch create a warped reality across the whole world in response to the loss of her children.
In some ways though, a House of M explanation for Vision’s survival seems too obvious. With Elizabeth Olsen set to appear as Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, another possibility is that Wanda’s powers have either sent her through or pulled Vision out from some alternate timeline. That could explain why the whole situation feels so dangerously unstable. Some fans have even theorized (partially due to a passing joke about the devil in episode 2) that Wanda made a deal with Mephisto for the return of her love.
It’s also possible that Vision was genuinely resurrected through some undisclosed aspect of Wanda’s powers. Her abilities were either bequeathed or awakened (unclear) by Hydra’s experiments with the Mind Stone, which means that some of the power that created Vision also lives in Wanda. With the limits of Scarlet Witch's powers still largely undefined in the MCU, Vision’s return could be due to any of these reasons, all of them, or something else entirely.
What Do The WandaVision Commercials Mean?
One of the more intriguing elements of WandaVision so far is the inclusion of commercials in each episode. At face value these might seem like simple Easter eggs referencing other parts of the MCU, but the two revealed so far have a potentially dark tie to the series’ protagonist. The first commercial advertised a toaster from Stark Industries, which ticked ominously like a bomb at the end of the ad. The second commercial showed a watch by a company called Strucker – a reference to Hydra’s Baron Strucker, who conducted the Mind Stone experiments on Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver leading up to Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Both commercials take place seemingly out of time with the rest of the show, but they also each allude to different moments of intense trauma for Wanda. If Westview is in fact a conjured fantasy of her own creation, the commercials could be instances of her past or subconscious breaking through the barrier. Some are even theorizing that the two actors in the commercials could be Wanda’s parents – a memory that’s intruding on her constructed escape. Of course, until the nature of Westview is revealed, the exact meaning of the commercials will remain a mystery.
Where Is Agnes’s Husband Ralph?
Out of all the ancillary characters in WandaVision’s first two episodes, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) appears to be the most central to the plot. She references her husband Ralph multiple times through the premiere in what seem like simple jokes, but which could be hiding something else entirely. At the talent show, when all the citizens of the town seem to be present, Agnes sits alone with no Ralph to be found. Is it possible Ralph could be a piece of the puzzle? Until the nature of the neighborhood is revealed, that will likely remain just a question. Agnes’s role in the world is still unknown, but her questionable claims about Ralph could suggest she’s somehow different from the other neighbors.
What Will Become Of Wanda’s Pregnancy?
At the end of episode 2, Wanda miraculously (horrifyingly?) appears to become pregnant instantaneously. The moment is shattered by the appearance of the beekeeper, but when Wanda rewinds to the pregnancy revelation, her whole world suddenly springs into color. In the comics, Wanda creates her children using magic borrowed from Mephisto, as Vision is unable to conceive human children. It is later revealed that the children were created using pieces of a demon with ties to Mephisto, and they are subsequently reabsorbed and essentially destroyed.
The death of Wanda’s children sends her into a spiral in the comics, which leads up to the House of M story. However her pregnancy takes shape in the show, it’s likely to harken back at least partially to that arc. Perhaps Wanda attempted to conceive children with magic and lost them, or maybe her pregnancy is just part of her grand fantasy of a normal life with Vision after his death. Whatever the answer, WandaVision is sure to deliver more riveting mystery as it continues.