WandaVision is bonkers but now I’m a fan of the MCU

I’ve never seen Avengers. I’ve never wanted to. With two young children, I have enough crashing and banging at home. But there was something about the trailers for WandaVision that seemed intriguing – it was like The Truman Show meets The Stepford Wives meets The Twilight Zone.

Three episodes in, I’m hooked. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) first Disney+ series is a parody of the family sitcom; each episode is set in a different decade of TV, starting in the 1950s. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany – whose chemistry is unmistakable – are brilliant as two married superheroes, Wanda Maximoff and Vision, living in suburban bliss.  

I’m reliably informed that it’s all part of a complex tapestry of the MCU: the series takes place after the events in Avengers Endgame (2019) and sets up the “Phase Four” film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), in which Olsen will reprise her role as Wanda. But it’s still magical to watch WandaVision as a standalone TV spin-off.  

That is, until I start to worry. Am I missing out? Are the nods to Wanda’s origin story passing me by? Am I being left in the dark while everybody else is fitting it together like a jigsaw puzzle?  

There's a scene where Wanda touches her baby bump, overjoyed. She and her husband Vision look like any other happy couple discovering that they will soon be first-time parents. Vision might have a dark red face with a silver skull when he’s in the privacy of his own home, and Wanda might have mind control powers, but other than that, nothing seems that out of the ordinary.  

Within 48 hours of becoming pregnant, Wanda gives birth to twin boys. But with only a passing knowledge of the superhero world, I’m clueless about any hidden meanings or backstory. It passes me by that their kids will likely become the teenage superheroes Wiccan (Billy) and Speed (Tommy) from the Marvel comic-books. I haven’t seen any of the Avengers or Captain America films in which Wanda and Vision turn up, nor have I read the Marvel Comics where Wanda is known as the Scarlet Witch. But does it matter?  

No, not really. When Wanda decorates the nursery by moving the paintbrushes with her mind, and a cot assembles itself from floating parts in the air, it may as well be an episode of Bewitched. Meanwhile, the only real sign that Vision is a powerful superhero is when Wanda suddenly goes into labour and he flies back with the doctor at lightning speed.  

The MCU has several more shows based on comic-book characters coming to Disney+ later this year: Hawkeye, Ms Marvel, Loki, Falcon and Winter Soldier. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said viewers would not need to be familiar with the MCU to comprehend it, but there would be a “wealth of rewards” for those who have seen all the films. That includes clues in the fake adverts that pop up in the show; they are fun Easter Eggs for MCU fans.  

But when I see the advert for the Stark Toast Mate 2000 in episode one (“It’s the go-to for clever housewives”), it means nothing to me. How would I spot that it’s a nod to Stark Industries, the company run by Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, who is played by Robert Downey Jr in the franchise?

As I start swotting up on the MCU, I become more curious. Vision was killed during Avengers: Infinity War (2018). So how is he here in domestic bliss with Wanda? Has Wanda – whose powers include warping reality – created this dream world of idealistic love to cope with the grief of losing her lover? It’s one theory. I have no doubt there are more.

One thing's for sure: WandaVision is wonderfully bonkers. Once a newcomer to the MCU world, I’m now a fan. Bring on the boxset.

‘WandaVision’ is on Disney+ now