Picture this: It's December 31, 2020, and everything people are talking about is the sixteen day countdown until the release of the highly anticipated, "WandaVision." It's now February 26th, and WandaVision is one of the top trending hashtags every Friday, why? Let's take a look.

By now it's no surprise that Walt Disney Studios, the parent film studio of Marvel Studios, knows how to keep their customers coming back for more. If you haven't yet heard of WandaVision, you're missing out. WandaVision is Marvel's mini-series in their cinematic universe that shares continuity with their previous 22 films in the franchise and takes place after the events of 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Now before the thought of watching 22 films scares you off, you do not technically have to have seen them to enjoy the mini-series. In this article, I will break down the episodes that have been released thus far, and connect the dots to the past movies for those who may not have seen or simply forgotten.

Episode One

Episode One opens up in an all-black and white 1950's setting, a strange move that had many Marvel fans wondering what the studio had under their sleeves. In this episode, we meet our protagonists, Wanda Maximoff and Vision as they attempt to blend in with their Westview neighbors... despite Vision being an android and Wanda having telekinesis powers. Throughout the episode, we watch as the couple attempt to remember anything before their lives in Westview and seemingly, being unable to. This, for many fans (including myself), was a red flag seeing as the mini-series takes place after Endgame. 2019's Endgame was part two to 2018's Avenger's Infinity War, where we all witness the antagonist murder Vision, an action that was never undone. 

In the episode, we also meet Agnes, a nosy neighbor that off the bat seems like she's got something to hide. After introducing herself to Wanda, the two begin to chit-chat about a mysterious special event that was to take place later that evening. The humor in this, miscommunication. Wanda and Vision, alike, have no clue what the event marked in their calendar could be until it's too late. While Vision later finds out the event is dinner with his boss and his wife, Wanda believes it's their anniversary, a hiccup to the beginning of their night. Now while the dinner is mysterious and red flag worthy, the real shock is at the end as the credits roll. It's only then that we see the camera zoom out and reveal that there is a third party watching WandaVision on their own television.

Episode Two

Like episode one, two comes to us in black and white but with a bit more depth to the shades. The episode itself has no connection to prior films, a move that worked to make us all wonder where we were heading. Throughout the episode, strange things happen that Wanda seems unable to explain. We begin with her finding a red and yellow helicopter, in a black and white world, in her bushes. At a planning committee, Wanda befriends another neighbor, Geraldine. This is later followed by a strange voice on radio calling out to her, asking her, "Who is doing this to you?" This is followed by a secondary character cutting herself and bleeding red blood.

During this time, Vision is at a Neighborhood watch meeting where he accidentally swallows a piece of gum that causes his internal machinery to malfunction, causing him to appear intoxicated. The premise of the episode revolves around Vision and Wanda performing a magic act for their town where Vision unintentionally reveals his abilities. Wanda uses her own abilities throughout the show to make everything seem like simple magic tricks. The episode begins to come to an end as Wanda is suddenly visibly pregnant, only to be interrupted by a noise outdoors. When they see a strange beekeeper climbing out from a manhole, Wanda resets their reality with a simple "no" back to before the beekeeper emerged. The 1960's set becomes colorful as we leap forward to the 1970s.

Episode Three

This episode summary will be short and sweet for those who are already in over their heads! 

Episode three focuses on Wanda's sudden pregnancy in a 1970's setting. The episode begins with Dr. Nielson saying Wanda is four months pregnant, despite the pregnancy being hours new. Later that same day, Wanda's pregnancy elevators to six months. As her contractions begin, her powers spiral causing things to move and eventually a blackout for the town. Geraldine, our new neighbor, helps Wanda deliver two twin boys, Tommy and Billy. After the delivery, Vision catches his neighbor, Herb, gossiping with Agnes. They talk about Geraldine and how it's strange she has no home or family. 

A big thing to know is the moment that Wanda tells Geraldine she was a twin once, to a brother named Pietro. Pietro was murdered by Ultron, a robot and primary antagonist of 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. Following this revelation, Geraldine accidentally reveals she knows about Ultron and Pietro's fate. Wanda interrogates Geraldine before Vision enters abruptly. When Vision enters the home, Geraldine is gone. The episode ends with Geraldine being thrown out from a wall of static outside of Westview and surrounded by S.W.O.R.D agents.

Episode Four

Now here's where it starts getting interesting and where we'll make sense of what has been going on thus far. We begin our episode with Captain Monica Rambeau, a S.W.O.R.D agent, returning from the Blip (the name given to the event from Infinity War, where half of all living beings were wiped from existence). Captain Rambeau returns to us in a hospital where she was last with her mother. She meets her mother's doctor where she is informed her mother has died. To this Rambeau replies that it can't be, she was with her mother in the room no more than 20 minutes ago. Doctor Harley informs Monica her mother died three years ago, two years after she Blipped. For Monica, the Blip was no more than minutes, but over five years to those who stayed.

Rambeau returns to work three weeks later where she is assigned to help FBI agent Jimmy Woo with a missing persons' case in Westview, NJ. Rambeau and Woo discover a hexagonal static field around the town where Rambeau is pulled into. S.W.O.R.D establishes a base and recruits Dr. Darcy Lewis to help with the phenomena. It is Lewis. that discovers broadcast signals coming from the Hex and with the help of her equipment and an older TV, receives signals for the sitcom "WandaVision." They sit and watch (as we had been) the past two episodes where they identify Monica appear as Geraldine. Agent Woo attempts to reach Wanda inside through a nearby radio (as heard in episode 2) asking her "who is doing this to you?" Outside the base, S.W.O.R.D sends in an agent through the sewage system to get a look at the inside. As the agent crosses the barrier, his hazard suit changes into a beekeeper's suit and bees fly around him. He exits through a manhole and turns to see Wanda and Vision as Wanda resets reality.

We once again see Monica mention Ultron, but this time watch as Wanda casts her out of Westview. Vision enters the house and Wanda sees him appear as he did when he died. Horrified by this, Wanda restores her illusion.

Episode Five

Wanda and Vision struggle to stop Tommy and Billy from crying in their new 1980's setting. Agnes offers to help with the boys but Vision questions her behavior (as do we Vision, as do we). 

Everything is interrupted when the crying suddenly stops and we see both boys have now aged 5 years. The boys find a dog and Agnes suggests they name it Sparky, to which Wanda says they are not allowed to have a pet until they turn 10. The boys age another 5 years to keep Sparky and Vision becomes concerned with Agnes being around when abilities are used. At his job, Vision reads an Email from S.W.O.R.D that reveals what is really happening in Westview. He released his coworker from his hypnotic state and learns that "she" is controlling the entire town. 

Outside, S.W.O.R.D director Tyler Hayward sends a drone from the 1980s into the Hex and orders the drone to kill Wanda. Following an explosion, there is a breach at the static barrier and Wanda emerges with the drone and warns Hayward to leave her alone. Agnes finds Sparky dead. Vision later confronts Wanda about her actions but is interrupted when Pietro, Wanda's dead twin, arrives. Watching from the base, Darcy notes that Wanda has recast Pietro.

Episode Six

If you’ve stuck around this long, congrats! You’re 66% of the way through the season and a week away from the conclusion to the mini-series (as of 02/26/21). Now if you’re sitting there wondering who the heck this new guy passing himself as Pietro is, and why people around you are freaking out over his appearance, I’ve got a long answer for you. 

As we learned in episode three, Pietro was Wanda’s twin brother who was murdered by Ultron, six years ago. At the time, Pietro was portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson whereas, in WandaVision, we see Pietro being portrayed by Evan Peters. Now for those reading this because they're in the dark but have come to enjoy the ride that has been WandaVision, let's break it down.

It's incredibly important to note that the superhero universe is a very large one thanks to Stan Lee, the writer of many hero comics. Stan Lee's vision goes far beyond Wanda, Vision, and the Avengers; in fact, his world included others such as X-men and Spiderman. This is especially important when it comes to the rights of characters and who can make what movie. Unfortunately for Disney, 20th Century Fox obtained rights to the X-Men characters in 1994. This set a few bumps in the road for Disney when they introduced Wanda and her brother, known as Quicksilver in the X-Men universe, to their own Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This was noted in Age of Ultron when these characters were not referred to as Quicksilver or Scarlet Witch, but instead as test subjects of an organization known as Hydra. 

This being said, with the rights to X-men characters being owned by Fox in 2015, Quicksilver was introduced to the X-Men universe a year prior with Evan Peters in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Fans, of course, knew Pietro was intended to be Quicksilver but couldn't be official. This all changed in 2019 when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox (along with its rights) through its acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

With the new rights to the X-Men characters, fans were excited to see how they would be introduced into the MCU. A hint dropped at one point was the possibility of multiple universes, the multiverse. This was shown in the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and then later reinforced in 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home. At the moment, the rights to Spiderman are owned by Sony rather than Disney, and so a way to pin things together had to come sooner than later. In Far From Home, Peter Parker learns from Mysterio that there is a multiverse and that he himself is from another earth. This, of course, ends up being a lie as Mysterio later thanks his colleague for the idea because "they'll believe anything, even a multiverse." This of course felt like a hit at us fans for believing the lie along with Peter at the time.

Returning to WandaVision: Seeing as Pietro died years ago, the sight of Peter Evans as QuickSilver threw everyone off. The biggest thought, a multiverse. We all thought back to what Mysterio said and thought,"could Wanda have plucked Evans from the X-Men universe and placed him into her own?" This action opened the debate for the week on whether or not Evans was in fact from the X-Men universe and whether or not more characters would make an appearance on the show. 

On the side-line, at the same time as Wanda is trying to figure out where Pietro came from, Vision goes off exploring in search of answers to what is really happening in the Hex. He comes to the outskirts of Westview to find people frozen in place and Agnes sitting in her car, frozen. Vision sets her mind free and learns he is dead, and Wanda won't let them think of leaving. He puts her back under the trance and she drives off. Vision makes his way to the static wall and pushes through.

Upon coming out from the other end of the wall, S.W.O.R.D stands around him watching as he begins to disintegrate. He pleads for them to help the people of Westview as Dr. Darcy Lewis pleads for them to him Vision. Inside the Hex, Billy senses this and runs to his mother, who after locating Vision, expands the Hex's barriers. Vision, Darcy, and other agents of S.W.O.R.D are sucked into the Hex.

Episode Seven

Episode seven saw us moving at a faster pace than the previous six episodes as there is still a lot of ground to cover. This episode opens in a mid-to-late 2000s setting with Wanda deciding she needs a day to herself and so Agnes agrees to look after Tommy and Billy for the day. While sitting at home, Wanda begins to notice that items in the house are constantly changing from decade to decade and she is unable to control them. Oops.

Vision awakens after nearly dying the night before and finds Darcy and other S.W.O.R.D agents inside the boundaries as members of a circus. He attempts to communicate with Darcy who is under the Hex's spell and is of no help in this condition. Vision frees her mind from the spell and after driving off together, explains to Vision how he died and the events leading up to the present day.

Outside the barrier, Woo and Rambeau meet with loyal S.W.O.R.D personnel to obtain a vehicle that is said to allow Monica back into the Hex. When this fails to be true, Monica decides to cross herself. After struggling through the static barrier, she emerges on the other side, changed and newly changed. Due to this being the third time (once sucked in, the second cast out, and now walking) through the barrier, Monica's DNA is changed at a molecular level, transforming her to her superpower alias. 

When Monica reaches Wanda, she is thrown from the house and rejected. Agnes tells Monica to leave and leads Wanda into her home. Wanda wanders into the basement in search of the boys and stumbles into a lair. Agnes introduces herself as Agatha Harkness, an ancient witch from the Salem witch trials. The episode ends with a catchy tune, "It Was Agatha All Along," where we see her messing with things around town, sending the Pietro Imposter, and killing Sparky. 

Episode Eight

So here we are, second to final episode of the miniseries and if you're anything like myself, your heart is racing wanting more. There's a lot to unpack in this episode but right off the bat, I have to applaud Disney. The way they handled everything in this episode was truly amazing and brought light to real issues real people struggle with every day. Let's begin:

We begin the episode with some background on Agatha and where she descends from. In Salem 1963, Agatha is brought upon her coven and tried for practicing dark magic. As they attempt to kill her, Agatha drains their life forces, killing her entire coven. At the present time, Agatha demands to know how Wanda is able to control all of Westview, wanting her secret to Wanda's magic on "autopilot." The episode becomes a little heavy when Agatha makes Wanda relive her past traumas.

The traumas begin in her childhood home where Wanda sees her parents and brother once more. During the illusion, Wanda lives this moment as a child where we learn about her love with sitcoms, giving us an idea as to why this shows reality has been sitcom-style through the decades. As they begin to watch **** Van **** their home is blown up, killing her parents and trapping her and Pietro. A Stark Industry bomb lands in front of them and young Wanda reaches out towards it. Agatha questions Wanda about the decision and Wanda says the bomb never went off in the two days they were trapped. It is then we discover Wanda has been a witch since she was a child, not at the hands of Hydra.

Trauma two comes within a Hydra facility where she came into contact with the Mind Stone, one of the six infinity stones, which amplified her powers. Wanda once more confines sitcoms to get her through.

We take a moment to watch a beautiful moment between Vision and Wanda at the time following Age of Ultron. Vision shows empathy towards Wanda and states that while he has never felt anything like what she is feeling, it can't all be sorrow. An important quote from Vision in this episode being, "What is grief, if not love persevering?"

We skip forward to a time following Avengers Endgame, where Wanda searches for Vision's body at a S.W.O.R.D.S facility in an effort to give him a proper funeral. She is allowed to see him and watches as they pull his body apart. In anger, Wanda shatters a window and makes her way to Vision. After a very heartbreaking scene between her and Vision's body, Wanda leaves the facility. This comes as a surprise to us as we were under the impression that Wanda had stormed the facility and stolen Vision's body.

Wanda makes her way to Westview, NJ where she drives up to an empty lot. Once in the lot, she opens a piece of paper, revealed to be a Property Deed for the lot from Vision. The deed holds a red heart over the vacant lot with the words "to grow old in, V." This seems to be the breaking point for Wanda, who after falling to her knees crying, lets out an explosion of magic. This causes an entire house to be built around her. A second blast of magic rushes through town, changing everything to a black and white 1950's setting. Back in the house, Wanda's magic creates a new vision entirely out of nothing. She takes a step towards Vision and she took transforms into episode one's Wanda.

In the final moments, Agatha exclaims to Wanda that she is dangerous, a mythical being capable of spontaneous creation. Agatha tells Wanda she has chaos magic, and for the first time since the introduction of the character, calls her the Scarlet Witch. In the mid-credit scene, Hayward reactivates Vision's reassembled corpse.

Now What?

I'll be honest, I'm asking myself this same question. As of the moment, our multi-verse theory has been thrown out the window as Agatha admitted to Pietro being a fake. There is still so much that could happen in the finale seeing as Disney seems to know how to fit so much content into a 42-minute window. We won't truly know where the MCU is headed until next week's episode if we're lucky. At the moment, we know WandaVision connects to the new Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse of Madness, therefore, meaning no season 2 and giving us hope of multiverse crossovers to introduce X-Men characters... such as Evan's real Quicksilver. If WandaVision hasn't gotten you wondering what you've been missing these last 13 years, you're doing it all wrong. If it has, it might be time to sit down and have a 22 movie marathon.