Ep 92: WandaVision Tutorial

Topic: WandaVision Tutorial

 

With the much anticipated return of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the next major collection of material for the universe is scheduled to be TV shows, primarily featuring the other Avengers, and not the main set.  And having missed out on Black Widow, which has been very patiently waiting since the summer of 2020, the first new installment in the Phase 4 is a TV series about Wanda and Vision.  So lets get mom up to speed.

 

 

Where did we leave off?

Last major production was Spiderman Far From Home, set a few weeks in theory after the end of Avengers: Endgame. At the end of Endgame, everyone originally blinked out of existence by Thanos, known as the ‘Blip’ or the ‘Snap’, returns and the world is going through the process of healing and getting back to normal as nearly half the population returns from a five year absence. 

 

In the case of Wanda, she had only recently returned from being blinked out of existence, fighting with Thanos and memorializing Tony Stark after his death.  Her exact whereabouts after the events of End Game are a mystery.

 

In the case of Vision, Vision is considered dead at the end of Avengers: Infinity Wars, having first been up in the devastation left behind when Wanda Destroyed the Mind Stone, only for Thanos to reverse time, bring vision back, and kill him a second time in front of Wanda when he ripping the Mind Stone out of his head.  Its presumed that his pieces were picked up in Wakanda and transported to the Avenger’s facilities for safe keeping.

 

 

Mutants in MCU

To really walk about Wanda is also to talk about Mutants and the X-men in the MCU.  During the late 90s, Marvel was actually in a fairly bad position, having filed for Bankruptcy protection in 1997.  It was during this time, that marvel began selling the rights for their character to other movie studios, in an effort to infuse cash in to their holdings.  This led to movies such as Blade (1998), X-men (2000), Spiderman (2002), and The Hulk (2003).  As a part of the deal, X-men franchise’s TV and Film rights were sold to FOX, but not just the X-men, but the concept of Mutants as well.  This meant that any character that was a Mutant was considered fair game for FOX to make movies out of.

 

Enter 2006, and Marvel Studios begins preproduction on Ironman (2008), their first solo Superhero flim, and the kick off what we know today as the MCU.  During the this time, X-men movies were still coming out, but the juggernaut of what Ironman started in 2008 couldn’t be fully realized.  Numerous film rights began returning to Marvel, however, mutants were not among them.  By 2015, Avengers Age of Ultron (2015), there was an agreement that both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were shared characters with Fox and could be in the MCU, denoting that they weren’t mutants, but were instead, individuals whose powers were given by the Mind Stone.

 

By 2009, Disney had purchased Marvel outright, the Film/Television side was put under different management from the Comic Book/Print side. For the next few years, the Comic Book side began to deemphasize the X-men and Mutants, focusing more on characters they owned out right.  There was a push for ‘Inhumans’, a variation on mutants, for a while, along with most major stories only including a few major Mutant characters that were main stream.  This culminated it a number of major storylines, including House of M, and even with the death of several major X-men, including Wolverine, Cyclops, and Professor X. 

 

By 2015, the leadership of the Comic Book/Print side of the business was ousted and all major developments from all of Marvel were in the hands of Kevin Feige, who has been leading the Film/Television side of the business.  And now as of 2019, with Disney now owning FOX media, the rights to the X-men and Mutants are owned once again by Marvel.  Fan expectation is that either Marvel will make their own outright X-men movies, or potentially add them in to the MCU in some way. 

 

 

Wanda Maximoff (The Scarlet Witch)

Born of Max Eisenhardt, better known as Magneto, alongside her twin brother Petro(Peter) Maximoff, the two are mutants who have been seen throughout the Marvel Universe.  She and her brother were raised as Ophans and Gypsies, famously by a Cow-woman named Bolva.  A young age, her magical powers began to blossom, and she was trained by one of the most powerful magic users in the world, Agatha Harkness. 

 

Wanda and her brother joined their Father, Magneto, for a period of time with the brotherhood of mutants, before eventually joining the Avengers, and being long standing members of it.  At some point, she met and fell in love with Vision, with the two being married for a period of time.  Though initially unable to have children, through the use of Magic, Wanda gave birth to two sons, Tommy and Billy, but due to shenanigans from the Marvel Devil, Mephisto, the two taken away and their existence nullified. 

 

Wanda’s big story primarily revolves around ‘House of M’.  At one point, Wanda’s powers became too powerful for her to control, which caused her to lash out uncontrollably in a fit of rage over the mention of her former children.  This uncontrolled power eventually warped Vision, who later attacked the Avengers, before being killed by She-Hulk.  In the aftermath, Wanda was taken by her Father Magneto to Professor X to get help.  The concern however was whether to Kill Wanda or not, as her powers were out of control, which eventually led to the reality bending ‘House of M’, where mutants replaced humans as the dominate species on earth.

 

‘House of M’ saw many mutants and humans leading happy and ideal lives for themselves, with Magneto ruling over the world, but some individuals still remembered.  Eventually, it was discovered that Quicksilver had convinced Wanda to warp reality, and upon Magneto and other heroes regaining their memory, they confronted Quicksilver over what happened, culminated in Quicksilver’s death.  Wanda would bring him back to life, but shocked that her Father and Professor X would be willing to kill her, she changed reality back, but said three words, “No More Mutants.”

 

As a result of ‘House of M’, reality was changed back to normal, but 90% of the mutants were depowered and the mutant gene was now dormant and was not suppose to exist in any new children being born.  This made mutants more an endangered species on the planet, and moved hundreds of mutant heroes from activity.  Eventually, the mutant x gene began reappearing in children, and with some mutants getting their powers back.

 

In later rewrites to the character, Wanda is revealed to just be an Orphan, not a mutant and not the daughter of Magneto, but having lived near a mountain that radiates energy and improved her already dormant magical abilities.  This is the version of Wanda we know from the MCU.

 

Powers

Wanda’s powers were originally thought to be telekinesis as a mutant, but have since been reconned as being magic.  Her original stem from her ability to warp reality, originally it was at the disfavor of those she attacked, causing them to have bad results for actions they took.  Later this was evolved in to full reality manipulation, allowing her to warp the very nature and reality around her, not unlike the Reality Stone.  She is capable of various other magical schools associates with Magical Crafts performed by Dr Strange and the like.  Her main claim to fame relates her ‘Chaos Magic’, which allows her to shape reality as a whole.

 

In the MCU, her powers stem from the Mind Stone, imbuing her with telekinesis and telepathy abilities.  For all extensive purposes, they have not been fully explored in the MCU.

 

 

Vision

A ‘Synthezoid’, a special type of Android that contains all living tissues and body parts of a human, plus the ‘Horton Cells’, which provides strength, durability, and resistance.  He was built by Ultron, using parts from another state of the art android call the ‘Human Torch’(Not the same character), and with a special gem called the ‘Solar Gem’, which operates much like a human, but hundreds of times faster.  This gem is similar placed as the Mind Stone for the MCU version of Vision.

 

Originally, Vision was created by Ultron with the intent of being a double agent.  But realizing that he didn’t want to fight human, he changed sides and has been a leading member of the Avengers since.  Vision would take part in multiple stories, even having a relationship with Wanda for a while.  At one point, Vision was kidnapped and dismantled by a bad guy.  He was eventually rebuilt by Tony Stark, but minus the synthetic red skin he previously had, revealing a white, neutral exterior, and also minus his emotions. This second Vision continued his relationship with Wanda, but after due the events prior to ‘House of M’ he was ripped apart by the She-Hulk after Vision spawned a bunch of mini-Ultrons from him.  A third Vision was built some time later, using the parts from the last, and it was this version that eventually built his own family of Visions, attempting to learn more about the human condition and emotions, he started his own family as a result.

 

Powers:

As a Synthezoid made from the android Human Torch and using the Solar Gem, Vision’s body allows him to project solar rays as beams of energy at his targets.  As well, due to the ‘Horton Cells’ in his body, he can modulate his density, allowing him to pass through walls and people, but also to strength himself and make him super strong and super durable. 

 

 

What to Expect?

Speculation about the series presumes that the series will likely have something to do with reality manipulation.  The series may also launch new super heroes and provide knowledge on what happened to vision. 

 

There is a concern that the events will be a mixture of House of M and Visions, the former as far an ideal life for Wanda and the later in the sense that Vision started a family in the suburbs.