by Cristina |
Last Updated: April 26, 2021 WandaVision premiered earlier this year on Disney Plus. You may or may not have heard about the hype building around this show. That might have led you to the question, What is WandaVision About?
Nutshell: Love story between a powerful witch and an android. How would you handle grief if you had the power to bend the world to your will? An homage to classic TV.
CB Rating: 9.2
You may have written it off because it is a part of this very overwhelming universe, called the MCU, or Marvel Cinematic Universe. You then may have thought to yourself that you would never catch up or don’t have the passion for superhero drama or lack of social life (like me). However, I would tell you that you’re wrong. You can read that article HERE.
In this article, I am just going to tell you what you need to know to get going.
What to Watch if You Want to Know it All
Marvel is not really “spoiler” material, because most of the plots are loosely based on the comics and most of its die-hard audience is going in knowing what happens. For those of you who would rather watch the movies first, here are the movies that would give you all the information you need to understand what’s going on in this sitcom:
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: End Game
Stick with me if you want to know what WandaVision is About
So for anyone looking to watch WandaVision without having to get into the whole universe, I am going to go ahead and tell you what you would need to know:
First, you have Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen, yes Mary Kate & Ashley’s sister). Wanda is a twin, her and her brother’s fictional town got bombed and her parents died, as part of the collateral damage of a strike powered by Tony Stark’s weapons company. She grows up despising Tony Stark, and all Avengers. Wanda volunteers for a super duper secret project with a mission of avenging the Avengers, in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Still with me? The plot of the movie is pretty much summed up in this clip:
Wanda is working with Ultron against the Avengers, until the end of the movie where she sees that the Avengers may not actually be the worst guys and that Ultron actually was a sociopath (can computers be sociopaths?). Unfortunately, her hometown is on the planet Ultron wants to destroy. She changes sides (very dramatically, obviously).
From Alexa to irobot
Then you have Vision (played by Paul Bettany). Vision originated in Iron Man as Jarvis, which is Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) computer. In Avenger’s: Age of Ultron, there is another computer program that the Avenger’s create, Ultron, that eventually takes on a life of its own and turns evil. Ultron’s evil mission throughout the movie is to take over the world by eliminating all humans. Classic humans create artificial intelligence and then artificial intelligence figures out the humans are the only thing wrong with the world story line.
The Avengers obviously defeat Ultron, by stealing a body that he was making for himself out of vibranium (Wakanda steel see Black Panther). The Avengers are split over what to do, Iron Man, The Hulk, and Thor want to create their own robot, by putting Jarvis into this body, and Wanda, her brother (has superpowers also) and Captain America do not.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, I’ll get you soon… This may help it is a clip of Vision coming to life:
Vision comes to life with the help of the “Mind Stone” which is 1 of 6 magical stones that exist in the universe. If these six stones come together it will create an unstoppable force (becomes important in Infinity War and End Game).
Stay With Me
Fast forward to another movie, which I watched out of sequence and used to make no sense to me, Captain America: Civil War (one of my favorites). All of the normal humans realize the super heroes are capable of causing great harm during these fights. People are dying. Cities are destroyed.. Maybe, just maybe, there should be some laws around when or how they should engage. Drama ensues. The Avengers break up over whether they should agree to these rules or whether the rules would hinder their ability to protect Earth. Half of them are team Captain America (against the rules) and the other half are on Team Iron Man (for the rules).
In the meantime the Avengers lock Wanda away in their base, because as it turns out she is pretty powerful, maybe the most powerful of all the Avengers and she is a quasi-illegal immigrant. (gasp!) Vision is tasked with guarding her. They slowly begin to fall in love.
You can watch a montage of their love story HERE:
It’s All About the Stones
Enter Infinity War. What you need to know here is that there is a guy named Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) and he is truly terrible.
Thanos wants to collect all 6 of the aforementioned stones on that crazy looking glove and use the power of all the stones to get rid of half the universe’s population. He believes that the universe is overcrowded. (THIS clip from Guardians of the Galaxy really explains the stones and why they are so powerful, also yes- watch Guardians of the Galaxy).
Thanos believes he must see his mission through, no matter the collateral, and you meet him throughout some of these movies on his journey to find all the stones. There are three on earth. The first is the Space Stone, located in the Tesseract, which is the weapon the Avengers acquired in Thor. Here it is with Loki (Thor’s sort of evil brother, his show on Disney is coming soon).
The second stone is the Mind Stone, which was found in the Scepter, a mind controlling weapon also found in the first Avengers movie. Here it is, also with Loki (he may be full on evil).
The Mind Stone is relocated to the center of Vision’s head.
The third stone, the Time Stone, allows someone to manipulate time, and it is protected by Doctor Strange and the other sorcerers (specifically sorcerers and not Wizards, h/t Falcon and Winter Soldier, don’t even get me started- YES it’s amazing).
Is WandaVision about the stones? No. We’re almost there, keep reading…
A war, an Infinity War, if you will, ensues. All the Avengers come to battle Thanos and stop him from collecting the stones. However, our heroes just don’t seem to have it in the end he gets them. Vision has died. Even worse Thanos has snapped his finger and half of the universe is gone, including Wanda.
If Wanda and Vision are Dead, What is WandaVision About?
Are you still with me? Are you not confused yet? I have to be honest, I am writing this and I am terribly confused.
The Avengers, in End Game, have figured out a way to go back in time and collect the stones to bring back everyone who disappeared at the “snap” (Thanos’ successful universe wide genocide).
Wanda is back, they win the war, but Vision is still dead and this is what WandaVision is about.
WandaVision picks up right after the final all-heroes-on-deck battle in End Game.
This show starts slow, and it can feel a little confusing. For starters, the first two episodes are in black and white. Keep going. They are laying a foundation for a buildup that is definitely worth it.
Also, if you are a long time TV fan (hi!), each episode is paying tribute and giving nods to some of the best shows of each generation (think Dick Van Dyke, Bewitched and more). It was so creative and extremely well done.
Also, I am willing to bet that most of you end up wanting to go all in on Marvel once you start this one. Welcome to the MCU!