Update: WandaVision Comes Out This Week! Watch It On Disney+ On January 15th!
There have been more updates to the formula for WandaVision in the time since this article ran, but at it’s core, it still speaks the truth that WandaVision is a huge gamble for Disney and Marvel to run as their first streaming show. Which makes it all the more important for Marvel going forward.
WandaVision is coming at a time of great peril and intrigue for entertainment. The show on Disney+ combines the worlds of Marvel’s movies with TV. Literally, the show is parodying and borrowing from TV shows of the past. So, we’re in a time of transition for Disney in particular. They might be seeing that movie theaters might not be the best place for storytelling anymore. The Mandalorian has proven that Star Wars can survive and even thrive outside the theater. Why not Marvel?
Well, with the release of WandaVision, we’ll all find out. Entertainment Weekly had a HUGE blowout issue this month for all things WandaVision, so all the images you see are from them, and we thank them for their work. That issue comes out on Friday or you can order it online here.
So what goes into WandaVision that’s so revolutionary? I mean, we’ve already seen long-form storytelling out of the Netflix Marvel shows. This one can’t be that much more special, can it?
The Show Spans Multiple Decades Of TV And Marvel
Starting off in the classic 50’s era of television, you can immediately tell the kinds of shows that WandaVision is riffing from. I Love Lucy, which is one of the most influential TV shows ever, is well represented here. The show isn’t just borrowing from TV in the past though. Like the best Marvel movies, WandaVision is taking from Marvel’s past, present, and future.
A show like WandaVision might be a little much for someone new to Marvel. But it’s giving us looks at not only classic costumes for the two characters (as seen in this trailer), but Marvel characters from the past, all grown up.
Yes, that’s Monica Rambeau from Captain Marvel. While we don’t know exactly how she fits in the show, she’s a major player in the comics. She has powers similar to Scarlet Witch. Who knows what we’ll see out of her in the show.
A Level Of Detail Unparalleled
The first episode, which is the one we have the most information about (for spoiler reasons, duh) is pretty insane with it’s level of detail. They shot the episode in black and white, for starters. They used all kinds of older lenses and implements for the cameras. The crowd? You guessed it, a live studio audience in period clothing. You can’t see it very well in that image, but the objects levitating and floating, they used fishing wire like an episode of Bewitched would. That’s the level of detail that they’re going with, for this show. But be wary, this isn’t going to be some happy-go-lucky 50’s sitcom. There’s something bubbling under the surface.
The show is a love letter to the golden age of television. We’re paying tribute and honoring all of these incredible shows and people who came before us, [but] we’re also trying to blaze new territory.
Head Writer for WandaVision, Jac Schaeffer
We’re Very Likely Getting A Riff On ‘House of M’
House of M is one of the most famous Scarlet Witch sagas in Comics. In that story, Scarlet Witch goes mental and tries to alter the fabric of reality. That sort of sounds like something she might do after the death of Vision in Avengers: Infinity War. After all, he was not one of the ones brought back with the second snap. This is also a pivotal story for her brother Quicksilver and her father (in the comics) Magneto. I doubt we’ll be getting a Magneto cameo at any point, but Quicksilver could show up.
This also all leads into Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which starts shooting very soon. That film will likely introduce the idea of a multiverse to the current Marvel Cinematic Universe. Something that’s commonplace in the comics, but not in the film universe so far. Are Wanda’s realities actual ones or is she breaking the barrier between realities with her visions of Vision. We’ll have to see when the show releases.
The Trouble Bubbling Up
Who exactly is Agnes? Some of the people that we’ve seen in trailers and promo material for WandaVision are either generic stereotypical sitcom characters and then there’s Agnes. Played by Kathryn Hahn, she seems like she knows more than we do. She plays the “nosy neighbor” here in the 50’s section of the show, but what other secrets does she hide? Who knows? Marvel is being extraordinarily tight-lipped about almost everything involving this show (and their other projects for that matter).
Her words to Vision in the trailer set off what seems like a meta crisis for the show. So we’ll have to see if her character is more villainous than just a nosy neighbor.
Darcy And Agent Woo Return, But How And Why?
While Darcy likely won’t be making a return in Thor: Love and Thunder, she is showing up at some point in this show. Same goes with Agent Woo from Ant-Man and the Wasp. Both actors, Kat Dennings and Randall Park are veteran TV sitcom actors, so they add some experience in the world of sitcoms to WandaVision. Like with many details about the show other than the frame of sitcom TV, we don’t know how these two characters add to the narrative, yet.
WandaVision Is Shaping Up To Be An Awesome First Look At Marvel TV
If you weren’t excited about the prospects of what Disney and Marvel can do together in the TV sphere, this show has to have you perking up a bit. The show releases on Disney+ on January 15th. So we don’t have to wait too much longer to see the debut of Marvel in the streaming sphere on Disney+.
For more on WandaVision, Disney+, or any other general pop culture, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show for more.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
