Earlier this month, Disney+ released its miniseries WandaVision, exciting Marvel Cinematic Universe fans everywhere. The series revolves around the lives of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) after the epic events of Avengers: Endgame, a film in Marvel’s phase three of the Infinity Saga movie franchise.
Though the show is fairly easy to pick up even if you haven't seen every Avengers movie, the episodes will probably make a lot more sense once you understand the backstory of the main characters, Wanda and Vision. To help you out, we rounded up basic info to read through before watching anymore WandaVision.
First off, who is Scarlet Witch and Vision?
Let's start from the beginning with Wanda, who later is known as Scarlet Witch. Based on what we know from the MCU movies (note: the comics depict Wanda differently), Wanda's story originated in the fictional country of Sokovia. There, Wanda grew up with her twin brother, Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Tragically, the twins were orphaned in their preteen years when an explosive suddenly hit their apartment building and killed their parents. After discovering that the shell had the name "Stark Industries" on it, the two developed a deep hatred for Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr.), also known as Iron Man.
Later on, the sibling duo became test subjects for the evil organization HYDRA. While undergoing an experiment, Wanda and Pietro picked up superhero powers. From then on, Wanda had telepathic and all kinds of mysterious manipulative powers, while her brother acquired the ability to move at supersonic speeds. Per Time.com, they then became known as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
Meanwhile, Tony creates Ultron, a highly-intelligent robot, as a defense against HYDRA. But his plan goes horribly wrong when the android tries to kill the Avengers. Driven by their hatred of Tony, Wanda and Pietro join forces with Ultron, a plot viewers see play out in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Later on, however, Wanda and Pietro change their alliance and become Avengers after Wanda discovers Ultron's true intentions to wipe out humanity.
In the meantime, Tony forges another powerful android, Vision, to destroy Ultron. Through an epic battle in Sokovia, the Avengers complete their mission, though the group loses Pietro to gunshot wounds in the fight.
So when do Wanda and Vision fall in love?
While Wanda and Vision are introduced in Ultron, their relationship takes root in Captain America: Civil War. After Wanda accidentally kills civilians while rescuing Captain America (Chris Evans), she's put under house arrest, and Vision is tasked with making sure she stays put. While there, the two flirt with one another and bond over their outsider status. Though they wind up fighting opposite each other — Wanda with Captain America and Vision with Iron Man — Vision becomes worried about injuring Wanda. At the end of the battle, the two make up and grow closer.
The two are also bound together by the Mind Stone, one of the six all-powerful infinity stones that later become a huge plot point when the supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin) tries to get his hands on them all. Doing so gives him the power to snap his fingers and destroy half of the universe's population.
Unfortunately Wanda and Vision's love story doesn't have a happy ending. Because the Mind Stone rests in Vision's head, Thanos won't stop until he has the stone. Realizing the danger if Thanos accomplishes his goal, Vision tells Wanda to take the stone from his head and kill him. Sadly, their plan goes awry when Thanos is able to turn back time and kills Vision himself.
Even though the Avengers are able to undo the snap that wiped out half of the population in Avengers: Endgame, Vision was killed and the superheroes can't bring him back. That leaves Wanda, utterly distraught once again, with no family and the love of her life gone. And all of this finally brings us to WandaVision ...
What is WandaVision about?
Though Wanda and Vision seem happy as ever in the first few episodes of the Disney+ series, what viewers are likely seeing, according to Insider.com and MensHealth.com, is an alternative reality created by a grieving Wanda. Alternatively, an outside force could be controlling Wanda, perhaps to keep her powers at bay.
As the episodes progress, viewers are given hints that Wanda and Vision aren't actually living out their happily ever after together. We see this in the Stark toaster commercial that includes the tagline "forget the past, this is your future!" in the first episode. We also see Wanda and Vision struggle when Vision's boss and his wife ask them about their life together. All of these instances are likely hints of a more heartbreaking twist about to come — one perhaps where Wanda learns to accept that Vision is no longer a part of her life.
Super sad, right? Long story short, things really aren't what the seem to be in WandaVision. Perhaps now, though, some elements of the show will start to make more sense, especially as season 1 progresses.
