Over the past three weeks, WandaVision has gone from “show I watch every week when I get a chance” to “a must-watch show the day it comes out” to “show I get up early on Friday to watch first thing.” The only remaining rung on this maniacal ladder is “show I stay up until 3:00 AM Eastern to see the moment it’s available.”
While we’re not there yet, Episode 7 (“Breaking the Fourth Wall”) did a lot to set the stage for the final two episodes.
There were several curious aspects to this episode, but we also got some major hints as to what’s going on (and what’s to come). In no particular order [*SPOILERS AHEAD*]:
1. Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, who is apparently a powerful witch from the Marvel Comics canon. My comic book phase was fairly brief, spanning something like 1987-1989 (ages 8 through 10 or 11), so I admit that I know more about the movies than I do the actual books. With that said, I don’t remember Agatha at all. If she’s a major player, then I was either oblivious to it, or it was before or after my time.
What’s clear in WandaVision is that she has been influencing / interfering with Wanda’s power all along. She is also very powerful. Note that, unlike everyone else in Westview, Billy is unable to read her thoughts / feel her presence telepathically.
But what is Agnes / Agatha’s motivation, beyond mischief? Given the commercial content we’ve seen in recent weeks, the implication seems to be that she is siphoning Wanda’s power to add to her own. Yet, even if Wanda has more raw power, Agnes is currently a far more skilled user of these abilities, which allows her to overwhelm Wanda when she chooses to do so.
2. Agnes is responsible for a lot of the weirdness we’ve seen in Westview. But the particular point of interest is still Pietro / Peter. Even if “Uncle P” were a puppet, or an illusion, created by Agnes, there’s still the very consequential point that he looks like the X-Men’s Quicksilver.
What this means is, even if his appearance is just Agnes-spawned witchcraft, she had to pull that appearance from somewhere. It isn’t a coincidence.
Bottom line: Agnes is almost certainly able to perceive, interact with, and draw from other realities. This is hugely meaningful to the MCU.
3. That brings me to the most important thing from this episode. The commercial. In it, a fake drug called “Nexus” is advertised as a remedy for depression. But the content of the commercial (including explicit references to other realities) provides definitive confirmation that alternate realities are a crucial part of the story in WandaVision. And it seems quite possible that Agnes’ basement is, in fact, the Nexus itself.
4. This foray into alternate realities also re-poses the question of who / what this Vision is. There’s a seemingly throwaway line from Vision this week, in reference to his missing memories, about how it’s almost as if it all happened to a different person. As I’ve been saying for a few weeks, it is possible that Wanda has made a deal with Mephisto Agnes that included bringing Vision (and perhaps Pietro) back.
Except that dead is dead. This is a rule that can’t be defied. Once someone is dead, they’re gone—at least that version of the person. So, as I said before, maybe this Vision isn’t “our” Vision. He comes from a different reality. Likewise, Wanda and Agnes can’t bring the MCU Quicksilver back, but they could pull in Evan Peters from the Fox Marvel reality.
Still, this cuts against the fact that Vision simply disintegrates when he is outside the Hex. One strong potential explanation for that is that he is the (dead) MCU Vision, and can’t exist outside of the pocket reality Wanda has created.
But, if dead is dead, and it’s a different Vision we see dying in front of the SWORD soldiers, then maybe anyone who isn’t native to the MCU reality can’t exist outside of the Hex. That would include Quicksilver and perhaps Agnes and Wanda’s children.
If it’s the latter, then we have our motivation: Agnes wants the run of this world, so she needs Wanda’s tremendous (but unrefined) power, augmented by Wanda’s interaction with the Mind Stone, in order to “terraform” Earth—and perhaps beyond. But why would Wanda do that? Well, if her children, and Vision, cannot exist outside the pocket reality, then that incentivizes her to help Agnes / Agatha achieve her goal. Also an open question is whether Agnes is in league with some bigger, badder power (e.g. Mephisto).
4. Speaking of “Dead is Dead,” I got some serious Lost vibes when Wanda finally makes it down into Agnes’ basement and sees all of the various doors (portals?) and dark magic stuff. There’s a lot of potential lore / mythology to analyze, there, and, like Lost, I’m guessing we’ll only get a bit of it explicitly explained.
And I’m fine with that. I compared this show’s slow burn to Lost previously, and, to me, that’s not a bad thing.
5. While we didn’t get the big reveal of Monica’s astrophysicist friend (I think the smart money is still on Reed Richards or Victor Von Doom), we did get confirmation that she has become a super-powered being after her third pass through the Hex barrier. The references (and dialogue) to Captain Marvel are unmistakable, and Monica / Spectrum will be a formidable player in the MCU moving forward. And, was it just me, or did her outfit evoke some serious “Fantastic Four” imagery?
6. Finally, and speaking of Monica, we don’t see Quicksilver at all this entire episode, except briefly, from behind, during Agnes’ explanatory song about how she’s been influencing all of the weirdness in Westview.
That is, until the post-credits sequence.
Yes, there’s a post-credits sequence this week. If this is news to you, I suggest you stop here and go back and watch it.
Anyway, we see Monica looking for Wanda at Agnes’ house, and, just as she’s about to go into the cellar, Quicksilver pops up out of nowhere and gently chastises her for snooping. But is he fully under Agnes’ control? Is he even really (X-Men) Quicksilver?
Those are the key questions to which we’ll likely get answers over the final two episodes of WandaVision. I fully anticipate at least two or three other big surprises / cameos / reveals, all of which funnel us toward a fully-unleashed Wanda having a mental breakdown that leads to the events of the Multiverse of Madness (which, sadly, we won’t see for over a year thanks to COVID-19).
See you at 3:00 AM next Friday!
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The Axis of Ego 
Dead is Dead – Or Is It?
While we’re not there yet, Episode 7 (“Breaking the Fourth Wall”) did a lot to set the stage for the final two episodes.
There were several curious aspects to this episode, but we also got some major hints as to what’s going on (and what’s to come). In no particular order [*SPOILERS AHEAD*]:
1. Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, who is apparently a powerful witch from the Marvel Comics canon. My comic book phase was fairly brief, spanning something like 1987-1989 (ages 8 through 10 or 11), so I admit that I know more about the movies than I do the actual books. With that said, I don’t remember Agatha at all. If she’s a major player, then I was either oblivious to it, or it was before or after my time.
What’s clear in WandaVision is that she has been influencing / interfering with Wanda’s power all along. She is also very powerful. Note that, unlike everyone else in Westview, Billy is unable to read her thoughts / feel her presence telepathically.
But what is Agnes / Agatha’s motivation, beyond mischief? Given the commercial content we’ve seen in recent weeks, the implication seems to be that she is siphoning Wanda’s power to add to her own. Yet, even if Wanda has more raw power, Agnes is currently a far more skilled user of these abilities, which allows her to overwhelm Wanda when she chooses to do so.
2. Agnes is responsible for a lot of the weirdness we’ve seen in Westview. But the particular point of interest is still Pietro / Peter. Even if “Uncle P” were a puppet, or an illusion, created by Agnes, there’s still the very consequential point that he looks like the X-Men’s Quicksilver.
What this means is, even if his appearance is just Agnes-spawned witchcraft, she had to pull that appearance from somewhere. It isn’t a coincidence.
Bottom line: Agnes is almost certainly able to perceive, interact with, and draw from other realities. This is hugely meaningful to the MCU.
3. That brings me to the most important thing from this episode. The commercial. In it, a fake drug called “Nexus” is advertised as a remedy for depression. But the content of the commercial (including explicit references to other realities) provides definitive confirmation that alternate realities are a crucial part of the story in WandaVision. And it seems quite possible that Agnes’ basement is, in fact, the Nexus itself.
4. This foray into alternate realities also re-poses the question of who / what this Vision is. There’s a seemingly throwaway line from Vision this week, in reference to his missing memories, about how it’s almost as if it all happened to a different person. As I’ve been saying for a few weeks, it is possible that Wanda has made a deal with
MephistoAgnes that included bringing Vision (and perhaps Pietro) back.Except that dead is dead. This is a rule that can’t be defied. Once someone is dead, they’re gone—at least that version of the person. So, as I said before, maybe this Vision isn’t “our” Vision. He comes from a different reality. Likewise, Wanda and Agnes can’t bring the MCU Quicksilver back, but they could pull in Evan Peters from the Fox Marvel reality.
Still, this cuts against the fact that Vision simply disintegrates when he is outside the Hex. One strong potential explanation for that is that he is the (dead) MCU Vision, and can’t exist outside of the pocket reality Wanda has created.
But, if dead is dead, and it’s a different Vision we see dying in front of the SWORD soldiers, then maybe anyone who isn’t native to the MCU reality can’t exist outside of the Hex. That would include Quicksilver and perhaps Agnes and Wanda’s children.
If it’s the latter, then we have our motivation: Agnes wants the run of this world, so she needs Wanda’s tremendous (but unrefined) power, augmented by Wanda’s interaction with the Mind Stone, in order to “terraform” Earth—and perhaps beyond. But why would Wanda do that? Well, if her children, and Vision, cannot exist outside the pocket reality, then that incentivizes her to help Agnes / Agatha achieve her goal. Also an open question is whether Agnes is in league with some bigger, badder power (e.g. Mephisto).
4. Speaking of “Dead is Dead,” I got some serious Lost vibes when Wanda finally makes it down into Agnes’ basement and sees all of the various doors (portals?) and dark magic stuff. There’s a lot of potential lore / mythology to analyze, there, and, like Lost, I’m guessing we’ll only get a bit of it explicitly explained.
And I’m fine with that. I compared this show’s slow burn to Lost previously, and, to me, that’s not a bad thing.
5. While we didn’t get the big reveal of Monica’s astrophysicist friend (I think the smart money is still on Reed Richards or Victor Von Doom), we did get confirmation that she has become a super-powered being after her third pass through the Hex barrier. The references (and dialogue) to Captain Marvel are unmistakable, and Monica / Spectrum will be a formidable player in the MCU moving forward. And, was it just me, or did her outfit evoke some serious “Fantastic Four” imagery?
6. Finally, and speaking of Monica, we don’t see Quicksilver at all this entire episode, except briefly, from behind, during Agnes’ explanatory song about how she’s been influencing all of the weirdness in Westview.
That is, until the post-credits sequence.
Yes, there’s a post-credits sequence this week. If this is news to you, I suggest you stop here and go back and watch it.
Anyway, we see Monica looking for Wanda at Agnes’ house, and, just as she’s about to go into the cellar, Quicksilver pops up out of nowhere and gently chastises her for snooping. But is he fully under Agnes’ control? Is he even really (X-Men) Quicksilver?
Those are the key questions to which we’ll likely get answers over the final two episodes of WandaVision. I fully anticipate at least two or three other big surprises / cameos / reveals, all of which funnel us toward a fully-unleashed Wanda having a mental breakdown that leads to the events of the Multiverse of Madness (which, sadly, we won’t see for over a year thanks to COVID-19).
See you at 3:00 AM next Friday!
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