Reality goes a little bit strange in the first trailer for Disney+ series WandaVision, which is packed with story clues, Easter eggs, and references to Marvel Comics. Starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, WandaVision is set in a strange sitcom world where Vision is somehow alive again and living a life of married bliss with Wanda. As the trailer makes clear, however, all is not right with this world.
WandaVision was originally going to be one of multiple Marvel TV series launched on Disney+ in 2020. However, filming and release delays due to the coronavirus pandemic mean that - if the rumors of Black Widow being pushed back again are true - WandaVision may be the only release from Marvel Studios this year. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have faced a long wait for more adventures since Spider-Man: Far From Home released last year, and it will be particularly exciting to see Scarlet Witch and Vision given a central role after having been relegated to ensemble team-up movies so far.
Vision was killed by Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, with the Mad Titan brutally ripping the Mind Stone out of his head. Wanda retaliated in Avengers: Endgame, telling Thanos, "You took everything from me." With Thanos now dead and no revenge left to take, it appears that Wanda's powerful mind is fracturing. Here's our breakdown of the biggest reveals from the WandaVision trailer.
#23 Just Married
The trailer opens with the newly-married, totally-happy, neither-of-them-dead couple arriving in the picturesque suburban town of Westview. It appears that this black-and-white 1950s sitcom aesthetic is what WandaVision will open with, before color (and reality) start bleeding through. It's interesting that Wanda has such an intimate knowledge of American sitcoms. Perhaps she used to watch them in her childhood in Sokovia, or maybe she did some binge-watching when she was on house arrest in the Avengers compound during Captain America: Civil War.
#22 The Mind Stone Is Back
The Infinity Stones were destroyed by Thanos at the start of Avengers: Endgame, and the borrowed Infinity Stones from the past that were used to undo the snap were returned to their rightful place in the timeline. In the world of WandaVision, however, the Mind Stone is still safely planted in the middle of Vision's forehead. It was from this stone that Wanda originally got her powers, when it was still inside Loki's scepter, so it makes sense for it to return in WandaVision - even if it is just a copy created by Wanda rather than the real thing. Note that the small window on Wanda and Vision's front door is also in the shape of the Mind Stone.
#21 Wanda's Still A Witch
Wanda Maximoff's dreams of having a "normal" life don't include the loss of her powers. In this shot we see her winding up to perform some magic with familiar hand motions, and later on she levitates a bottle of wine. The most obvious influence for this part of Wanda's new reality is the sitcom Bewitched, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, a witch who marries a mortal man and must keep her powers under wraps while living the life of a suburban housewife.
#20 What's In The News In Westview?
In the same shot as above, we see Vision holding a copy of the Westview Herald, where front-page news is an adorable baby's first words. It appears that after emerging from the greatest war in the history of the universe, Wanda has over-compensated by creating a world with absolutely no conflict whatsoever.
#19 Vision's Human Disguise
Vision first demonstrated his ability to take on a human form in Avengers: Infinity War, when he and Wanda were on the run in the wake of Captain America: Civil War. It is, after all, hard to stay undercover when you're a burgundy robot with a glowing yellow rock in the middle of your head. In WandaVision, Vis's transition into his human disguise gets a cutesy makeover complete with sound effects, sparkles, and a little head wriggle that's reminiscent of Samantha's nose twitch in Bewitched.
#18 Kathryn Hahn As The Nosy Neighbor
Kathryn Hahn's character in WandaVision is currently unnamed, with Hahn only saying that she has been cast as a "nosy neighbor" - which sounds similar to nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz in Bewitched. Hahn appears friendly enough in her first appearance in the trailer, declaring, "This is going to be a gas!" However, it could be revealed that Hahn is actually the antagonist of WandaVision - especially if fan theories about which comic book character she's playing prove accurate.
#17 House of M Wine
This shot shows Wanda using her powers to poor a bottle of "Maison du Mépris" wine, which seems very romantic... unless you speak a little French. "Mépris" is French for contempt - a clear indication that something isn't quite right. More importantly "Maison du" means "House of," and the label pointedly has an "M" emblazoned on the neck. "House of M" was a crossover event in Marvel Comics in which Scarlet Witch went mad with grief after losing two children she had created with magic from the shards of the demon Mephisto. She used her powers to alter the fabric of reality so that her children would be returned to her, with far greater ramifications. Though she's grieving a different loss in the MCU, it looks like WandaVision will be loosely based on "House of M."
#16 A Lot Of Questions
WandaVision wouldn't be a sitcom homage without a little bit of sitcom royalty. Enter Debra Jo Rupp, who played main character Kitty Forman in Fox comedy That 70's Show. Rupp appears to be playing another nosy neighbor (this is really Wanda's fault for choosing to set her fantasy life in the suburbs), who asks a rapid-fire series of questions about Wanda and Vision's history and family plans.
#15 Wanda Starts To Slip
Upon being bombarded with questions, Wanda starts to struggle to keep the fantasy of her reality intact. Notice that in this shot she's making hand gestures that indicate she's performing magic - as if she hasn't yet written this part of the reality yet and is unconsciously trying to weave it on the fly. Unfortunately, being asked for their story appears to be bringing back memories of the real story.
#14 Vision's Missing Origin Story
This moment in the trailer is also the first indication that Wanda may have brought back Vision as a thinking, feeling person, rather than just a manifestation of her own personality - and he's starting to realize that there's something wrong. Because Wanda and Vision's new world is the result of reality manipulation, their life before they drove into Westview doesn't actually exist, and Vision finds himself lacking any memories of how he ended up there.
#13 "Arthur, Stop It!"
Across the dinner table is "Arthur," played by Fred Melamed, who isn't so gentle in his questioning about Wanda and Vision's past. Melamed is known for his role in the Coen brothers' 2009 film A Serious Man, and has made many appearances in Woody Allen movies. Coupled with Debra Jo Rupp he is the perfect bit of casting in that viewers will probably recognize him, but won't be sure of where they know him from. If Scarlet Witch is drawing on her memories of sitcoms to create this reality, it's fitting that the world is populated with naggingly familiar actors.
#12 A Change of Scenery
Following an abrupt rewind after the dinner scene, it looks like Scarlet Witch tries to start over fresh - this time planting herself and Vision in a 1980s TV show instead, complete with color and new aspect ratio. Vision, watching the color bleed into his hand, seems somewhat perplexed, and the voiceover of Wanda asking "is this really happening?" strongly suggests that even she isn't conscious of the fact that she's creating these realities. After the color shift the aesthetic is now more reminiscent of '80s sitcoms like Full House - particularly when there are a couple of kids thrown into the mix.
#11 Wanda and Vision Have Twins! What, What?
As mentioned earlier, the "House of M" event is triggered after Scarlet Witch creates children for herself and Vision using magic. However, the two children that she has are actually made from parts of Mephisto, and they end up being reincorporated into the demon. In order to get her children back, Wanda rips the fabric of reality to create a world where she has her babies again. She hasn't lost any children in the MCU, so the twins in WandaVision are likely intended as a nod to the comics and also Wanda's attempt to "fix" things after being asked why she and Vision don't have any kids yet.
#10 Return of the Neighbor
There's one thing that Wanda apparently didn't shake when she made the jump forward to the 1980s: Kathryn Hahn's character returns with an amazing new look involving leg warmers and a headband, apparently making herself very at home in their kitchen. This further suggests that Hahn's nosy neighbor is distinct from the rest of the people populating Scarlet Witch's new reality: someone from the "real" world who has been pulled into the fabric of the world Wanda created.
#9 This Is Halloween
The distraction of Scarlet Witch's classic look Halloween costume and Vision venturing out in the world distracts from the fact that there appears to have been another shift forward in time - or, at the very least, that Wanda has lost her grip on the cheery and colorful look of the world. By this point in the trailer things are starting to look normal again, with the exception of a suspiciously fake-looking house.
#8 Vision Gets Some Perspective
This scene of Vision flying up and over the town of Westview, with Scarlet Witch nowhere in sight, further indicates that he has definitely been brought back as his own person, and is now searching for the boundaries of his new reality. This is particularly interesting since it raises the possibility that Vision could be fully brought back to life even after Scarlet Witch's new reality inevitably collapses.
#7 Vision's Magic Touch
After flying over the town, Vision descends in front of the car of Hahn's character, who is seemingly in a trance. He touches the side of her head and transfers a yellow energy into her that certainly looks like he's using the powers of the Mind Stone. Again, this raises interesting questions about Vision's powers in Scarlet Witch's new reality and where they come from. Has she merely created a similacrum of his former abilities, or has she somehow brought an Infinity Stone back into existence?
#6 "Am I Dead?"
After being awoken from her trance, the first reaction from Hahn's character upon seeing Vision is to ask, "Am I dead?" When he asks her why she'd think that, she replies, "Because you are." This is further evidence that Hahn is playing a character that has been pulled into Scarlet Witch's new world, but still has memories of the previous world - including the fact that Vision is supposed to be dead. It may well be that a little nudge from the Mind Stone is what allowed her to remember this information that she'd previously been cut off from.
#5 Is Kathryn Hahn Playing Agatha Harkness?
With Han wearing a witch costume and cackling, now is as good a time as any to touch upon the fan theory that she's actually playing Marvel Comics character Agatha Harkness. Agatha is a powerful witch and acted as a mentor to Wanda Maximoff. Crucially, she also guided Wanda towards the magic she used to create her own children, in the storyline that became a prelude to "House of M." It's possible that Scarlet Witch went to Agatha Harkness for guidance after the end of Avengers: Endgame, and ended up learning magic that could bring her lost love back by ripping apart reality itself and restitching it.
#4 A Classic Look For Vision
Previous teases of WandaVision showed a treat from Marvel Comics fans in the form of Wanda wearing her classic Scarlet Witch costume - in the form of a Halloween costume. The new trailer for WandaVision reveals that Scarlet Witch won't be alone in her retro look, as Vision has also adopted a rather hokey version of his traditional costume from the comics. It's a pretty good look; maybe if he'd worn this in the fight against Thanos he wouldn't have died.
#3 The Fabric of Reality
The bubble finally bursts towards the end of the WandaVision trailer, when we see Monica Rambeau being forcibly hurled out of the reality that Scarlet Witch has created and back into the real world. This offers an idea of what Scarlet Witch may have done: not changing the entire world, but commandeering the town of Westview and turning it into her own personal dollhouse. Of course, the universe can probably only sustain a completely different reality within itself for a while before things start to go badly wrong.
#2 The Perimeter
Outside the boundaries of WandaVision world, we see what looks like a military perimeter set up with the intention of containing Scarlet Witch's magic and attempting to break her hold on reality.
#1 Monica Rambeau, All Grown Up
One of the most exciting parts of WandaVision's cast of characters is Monica Rambeau. Played by Akira Akbar as a child in Captain Marvel, the adult Monica is played by Teyonah Parris. Monica at one point carried the Captain Marvel moniker in Marvel Comics, and has a power-set similar to Carol's. She seems to survive being hurled out of Scarlet Witch's reality without being too phased, so it's possible that she already has her powers when WandaVision begins. Alternatively, we may actually be seeing the moment when Scarlet Witch's magic gives Monica her first set of superpowers.