WandaVision Theory: Wanda Was Pregnant But Lost The Twins In Real Life

Though she gave birth in episode 3 of WandaVision, it's entirely possible Wanda had been pregnant in real life but lost the twins - and it's what caused her to snap and create the sitcom fantasy bubble of Westview in the first place. The series, Marvel's flagship Disney+ endeavor, is wildly different from anything the studio has done before. Rather than being an obvious "Marvel show" full of superheroes and villains, it utilizes the format of the classic sitcom, with each episode representing a different decade - the first episode was the 1950s (I Love Lucy), the second the '60s (Bewitched) and this third episode, the '70s (The Brady Bunch).

Despite it leaning all the way into the campier elements of sitcom, however, from sometimes overwrought dialogue and contrived situational humor to the clear and distinct aesthetic of each decade, there is a sinister undercurrent running throughout the show. Something is amiss in the town of Westview, its seemingly perfect exterior occasionally punctuated with small, strange moments that are deeply unsettling because they're so out of place, from a bright red toy helicopter breaking through the black & white to their neighbors' unarticulated terror breaking through their bright and sunny smiles.

Marvel fans know – and non-fans are likely figuring out by now – that the world of Westview is some sort of fantasy construct and it's being controlled by Wanda herself. It's Marvel's live-action adaptation of the "House of M" storyline from the comics, in which Scarlet Witch, who experiences a loss so profound it fractures her mind, creates an alternate reality strong enough to temporarily supplant the entire Marvel universe. For a while, fans have assumed it was the loss of Vision in Avengers: Infinity War that finally put Wanda over the edge in the MCU. But if the comics are anything to go by – and so far, they have been – it may very well have been a loss not yet revealed that was the last straw for Wanda's fragile mind: being pregnant with the twins in real life and then losing them through miscarriage or other, darker means.

Scarlet Witch Lost Her Children In The Comics

Even as the "villain" of the "Avengers: Disassembled" and "House of M" storylines, Wanda was a deeply sympathetic character, lost in grief so encompassing that her mind retreats to the safe space of an alternate reality rather than face the truth: her children are gone. The events of "Avengers Disassembled" stemmed from everyone around Wanda having let her down years before. She realizes she wants to have children with her husband, Vision, but due to him being a synthezoid, they can not conceive naturally. Instead, she uses her powers, powers that, at the time, she neither fully understood or knew how to control, to create two children: Billy and Tommy, the future Young Avengers.

Unfortunately, Wanda inadvertently made them with part of the demon Mephisto's soul, which is discovered by Agatha Harkness, Wanda's mentor in witchcraft, when Billy and Tommy start randomly disappearing. The boys are essentially no more than the manifestation of Wanda's will, and her full focus is the only thing that keeps them anchored in reality. When Mephisto learns of it, he reabsorbs the spark of the boys back into himself. To protect Wanda, Agatha erases the twins completely from existence and blocks Wanda's memories of them.

Comic books have shown memory blocks and brainwashing never, ever go well, and sure enough, years later, Wanda's memories of her sons return to her when Janet Van Dyne accidentally lets a mention of them slip. The memories of the time in which she, Vision, and the boys were a family are so painful that her psyche, already battered from multiple traumas, starts to break down and it all eventually leads to Wanda supplanting reality with her own happier one.

Why Does WandaVision Revolve Around Pregnancy And Babies?

Wanda and Vision have dinner with the boss in WandaVision.

From the very first episode, WandaVision has indicated that it's not just the loss of Vision in Infinity War or even that combined with the loss of her brother, Pietro, a.k.a. Quicksilver, in Avengers: Age of Ultron that causes Wanda to break down in the MCU. In the premiere, all is seemingly well in Wanda and Vision's perfect 1950s life until a well-meaning but intrusive question shatters that illusion of peace. When Vision's boss, Mr. Hart, and his wife are over one night for dinner, Wanda's reaction to Mrs. Hart's question is the first indication something may be amiss in Westview. It's the first time Wanda's equanimity is shaken and it's the mention of children that does it.

"How long have you two been married and why don't you have children yet?" asks Mrs. Hart. Immediately, the smile drops from Wanda's face and she stares into the middle distance. It's a haunted look, the look of a woman who either can not conceive children – or who did and tragically lost them. It's clear something must have happened to Wanda regarding having children in reality that affected her deeply enough to momentarily shock her subconscious. It's possible that simply knowing she can't have children with Vision was enough to send her spiraling, but it's unlikely. Everything about Wanda's fantasy alternate reality speaks of her desperately trying to regain what she'd lost – not just Vision, but her boys, too. Her babies.

Wanda Has Lost As Much In The MCU As She Had In The Comics

Wanda has always been sensitive in the MCU, strong in so many ways but hinting at a vulnerable fragility: The post-credits scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier in which Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are introduced for the first time and it's clear she's not fully in her right mind yet after Hydra's experiments. The moment in Age of Ultron where she's too terrified to go outside and fight Ultron's army and Hawkeye has to give her a pep talk. Her literally explosive grief and rage later in the movie when she feels the moment Pietro is killed. Her overwhelming guilt when her powers go awry and accidentally kill innocent civilians in Captain America: Civil War. And the devastating heartbreak of Vision being killed by Thanos in Infinity War.

Despite the immense tragedy and loss she'd endured, however, when Wanda was brought back after the Snap in Avengers: Endgame, she wasn't broken. She wasn't a shell of herself or seemingly fragile or unable to function. Instead, she was full of rage and vengeance and it was all aimed squarely at Thanos, so much so that she came close to singlehandedly defeating him. Her leveled-up powers were extraordinary but completely focused. One could argue Wanda simply held it together long enough to do the job they had to do in beating Thanos, but her appearance in Endgame didn't at all indicate she was a woman coming undone by her grief or unable to face reality. The vast jump in Wanda's mental state from nearly defeating Thanos in Endgame to a complete break with reality in WandaVision indicates something else happened to finally push her into creating an alternate reality.

Scarlet Witch & Vision's Children Were Her Last Link To Vision

Vision carries Scarlet Witch to safety in Avengers: Age Of Ultron

That something is losing her children in real life. Until WandaVision, very little of Wanda and Vision's relationship outside of being Avengers has been shown in the MCU. But it's known they spent time together in the wake of Civil War. Wanda would sneak away from Captain America's team, which had gone underground after being declared fugitives, and meet up with Vision for a few days or even weeks. When they're first introduced in Infinity War, they're in Edinburgh, Scotland, hiding away from the world and pretending to live normally. It's clear Vision and Wanda's romantic relationship had developed and deepened into something significant since they were last seen, no longer an implicit mutual attraction, but true, deep love and an unshakable connection.

The audience wasn't privy to those private moments between them. But they spoke of things like a future outside the Avengers, of running away together. It's unlikely they didn't also talk about things like marriage, having children, and impossible they didn't have sex (a thing Vision can do according to comic book canon). In borrowing from the comics, WandaVision has set up a scenario in which it's entirely possible that Wanda used her powers to become pregnant and have children with Vision, just as she did in the comics. Whether she knew she was pregnant before or after Vision's death doesn't really matter. Either way, losing her babies, whether through a miscarriage or magical means, would be her losing her last link in this world to Vision, the love of her life.

In the comics, the loss of her children and Vision both are what tip her over the edge in her grief; it's entirely possible the same catalysts will be revealed as the reason for the events of WandaVision. Vision's death wasn't the only loss that rocked her, but also that of her children. Through her alternate reality, she can have her family back and whole again, making her story all the more tragic.

More: WandaVision Theory: Mephisto (Marvel's Devil) Is The Real Villain