WandaVision Means The MCU's Future Is Still Defined By The Infinity Stones

WandaVision shows that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's future is still defined by the Infinity Stones even though they were destroyed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame. Both Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) were given powers by the Mind Stone and, in WandaVision, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) also gained superpowers indirectly via the Mind Stone. All three heroes will continue to play major roles in Phase 4 of the MCU.

The Infinity Stones are ancient power sources that were brilliantly woven into most of the MCU's first three phases of films. The Tesseract, AKA the Space Stone, debuted in Captain America: The First Avenger, and it also appeared in The Avengers along with the Mind Stone in Loki's scepter. The Reality Stone, alternatively known as the Aether, was part of Thor: The Dark World while the Power Stone was what everyone was after in Guardians of the Galaxy. The Time Stone turned out to the Eye of Agamotto in Doctor Strange while the Soul Stone was revealed to be hidden on the planet Vormir in Avengers: Infinity War. After he wiped out half of all life in the universe, Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to destroy the Stones. This necessitated the Avengers' using the Quantum Realm to heist the Infinity Stones in the past so they could assemble their own Infinity Gauntlet, undo Thanos' genocide, and kill the Mad Titan.

The first known human to receive superpowers from an Infinity Stone was Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in Captain Marvel. In 1989, Danvers was exposed to the Space Stone after she crashed an experimental aircraft built by Mar-Vell (Annette Bening). Danvers was imbued with awesome photonic powers but lost her memory; she was taken by the Kree and spent six years as a member of the Starforce until Carol learned who she really is in 1995. Almost 20 years later, Hydra came to possess the Mind Stone in Loki's scepter and used it on Wanda Maxmioff and her twin brother Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). However, WandaVision retconned this so that the Mind Stone actually unleashed Scarlet Witch's latent sorcery, setting her on the path to becoming the Scarlet Witch. Finally, Vision gained sentience and powers when the Mind Stone was placed on his forehead in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau powers Wandavision

Though WandaVision was ultimately about Wanda Maximoff discovering she has power over chaos magic as the Scarlet Witch, the series heavily emphasized the continuing importance of the Mind Stone. The incarnation of Vision that Wanda built to be her husband using the part of the Mind Stone still within her gained greater self-awareness, and he used the Mind Stone's abilities to unlock the memories of the people of Westview, who were held in psychic captivity by Wanda. Vision also used the Mind Stone's power to unlock the memories of White Vision, restoring him.

Meanwhile, WandaVision served as the superhero origin story of Monica Rambeau. By repeatedly passing through Wanda's magical Hex barrier, Monica's DNA was rewritten and she gained superpowers. While it's not clear how much of the Hex was powered by Wanda's Mind Stone-derived abilities and how much came from her chaos magic, Monica can also be considered to be powered by an Infinity Stone. Obviously, the Mind Stone had the greatest overall impact on the MCU when it comes to how many superheroes were created by it.

Although the Infinity Stones are gone (barring more time travel to retrieve them), they have left an irreversible mark on the MCU and its characters. Whether it's through Captain Marvel or the cast of WandaVision, the Infinity Stones continue to determine the future of the MCU and its heroes since Monica will be in Captain Marvel 2 and Secret Invasion while the Scarlet Witch will return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Beyond how powerful the Infinity Stones were, it also speaks to how huge their story in MCU Phases 1-3 was and how masterfully Marvel Studios' filmmakers integrated the Infinity Stones into their characters' adventures, both in the past and still to come.

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