*Contains spoilers for WandaVision
Depending on how you might look at it, we’ve basically arrived at the halfway point of Marvel’s WandaVision. Through the first three episodes, we saw Wanda Maximoff and a very much alive Vision adjusting to suburban life in a town called Westview. Each episode featured a different decade starting with the 1950s and mirroring the appearance of old American sitcoms. The end of the third episode saw Wanda giving birth to twins, Billy and Tommy, and then yeeting poor Monica Rambeau out of the seemingly enchanted town. Up until this point, fans might’ve been a little bit confused as to how we got to where we’re at, and as if right on cue, the fourth episode fills in those gaps.
How We Got Here
So, let’s examine the series of events in chronological order. The beginning of the fourth episode reveals that Monica Rambeau was among the people blipped away from existence by Thanos in Infinity War. She rematerializes in a hospital and, naturally, everyone is in a frenzy. A doctor recognizes her and Monica asks where her mother, Maria Rambeau, is (Maria was Carol Danver’s best friend in Captain Marvel). The doctor tells her that her mother died three years ago, two years after The Blip.
We learn that not only is Monica Rambeau part of S.W.O.R.D (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), but her mother was the founder. Speaking with the new acting head of the division, Tyler Hayward, Monica finds out that her mother installed a safety precaution in the event that the vanished returned. For the time being, all missions are to be grounded for an extended period. The acting director instructs Monica to head out to New Jersey in response to a missing person’s case.
Upon arriving in New Jersey, Monica is met by F.B.I. agent Jimmy Woo, last seen in Ant-Man and The Wasp. Woo and the local officers brief Monica on the situation, saying that Westview is not a real town in New Jersey, but rather, Eastview. Woo explains that he gets a sort of “don’t enter” vibe from the town. They try sending drones to survey the area, but the drones vanish right at the edge of town. Monica goes to investigate and says that she feels an energy forcefield and gets sucked inside.
So, that pretty much fills in the missing gaps of time from the end of Endgame to the start of WandaVision. There’s more filling in after Monica gets sucked into Westview, but I won’t go into much detail on that. What I will be theorizing is: Who exactly is hiding in the shadows pulling the strings?
The Devil of Marvel
No, I’m not referring to the blind man of Hell’s Kitchen. I’m talking about the Satan of the Marvel Universe, Mephisto. In the comics, Wanda’s twin boys were created by her powers plus slivers of the life essence of Mephisto to give them souls. Seeing that the MCU hasn’t introduced Mephisto yet, it’s doubtful they’ll directly follow how exactly Billy and Tommy were born in the comics. In episode two before Wanda and Vision’s magic act, the audience says the phrase “for the children” multiple times. It’s strange because other than Wanda giving birth an episode later, there are no children to be seen in Westview. Could this be a form of ritual orchestrated by Mephisto to manipulate Wanda? In exchange for her children and half dead half alive Vision, Mephisto gets some of Wanda’s powers?
Mephisto is all about manipulation. While his powers range from superhuman strength, speed, shapeshifting, immortality even, Mephisto’s true power lies in controlling people. The demon typically would try to puppeteer others into doing his bidding, and that could be happening with Wanda. In the second episode, after Wanda picks the fallen S.W.O.R.D. helicopter from her bush, Agnes takes her to meet “Queen Cul de Sac” herself, Dottie. Agnes explains to Wanda that Dottie is the key to everything in the town. During the rotary club meeting, Dottie says “the devil’s in the details” to one of the ladies and Agnes jokes to Wanda, “that’s not the only place he is.” Agnes seems to have quite a bit of influence in Westview, at the very least knows nearly everyone in town.
Shortly after the little club meeting, Wanda speaks with Dottie alone. This is when Agent Woo tries to communicate with Wanda through the radio and the glass shatters in Dottie’s hand. Why doesn’t Dottie react in pain? All she does is tell Wanda a joke about how house wives get blood out of white linen.
Up until now, I’ve thought Agnes was actually Agatha Harkness in disguise, a witch and somewhat of a mentor of Wanda’s. In the comics, Harkness helped Wanda in learning her powers and telling her that Wanda’s mutant ability was to use “chaos magic”. Wanda later kills Harkness for wiping her memory of her children that were absorbed by Mephisto. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the other Avengers find Harkness’s body in House of M. Could Agnes and Dottie be in cahoots together? If Agnes is in fact Agatha Harkness, that would support the idea of Mephisto being the main culprit, and possibly, Dottie. Interestingly enough, while Agent Woo and astrophysicist Darcy Lewis (from Thor) are identifying the people in Westview through the TVs, the only people not identified are Agnes and Dottie.
It’s worth noting that since Phase 4 was announced, head honcho Kevin Feige said they’d explore more of the cosmic, otherworldly arena of the MCU. What better way to really dive into such things than the Devil himself? Mephisto has a long history in the Marvel universe, affecting lives such as Peter Parker and Mary Jane, Thor, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, and others. It’s only a matter of time until Mephisto enters the stage, and with WandaVision heading straight into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Mephisto could transition as a notable villain in that sequel.
Fear Lord
Speaking about transitioning into the next Doctor Strange film brings us to our other mystery villain, Nightmare. Dubbed one of the Fear Lords, Nightmare is the ruler of a Dream Dimension, where he feasts on the dreams of tormented humans in their sleep. Nightmare is a common foe of Doctor Strange, so the manipulation of Wanda would prove quite useful in his attempt to defeat the Sorcerer Supreme.
Wanda Maximoff is the definition of a tormented human. From seeing her brother, Pietro, gunned down by Ultron to being snapped from existence just seconds after witnessing your love get his head caved in, then immediately fighting for the sake of the universe after rematerializing back into existence five years later, that’s a lot. So who’s to say that one night, while having another bad dream about Vision dying, she’s paid a visit by Nightmare. The Fear Lord has the ability to capture a sleeping person’s astral form and torment them, while also drawing power from their subconscious minds and even possessing them.
It’s pretty obvious why Nightmare would want to possess Wanda, and quite frankly it would be pretty simple. With all the trauma she’s gone through in her life, simply filling in whatever void possible (in this case a re-animated Vision and baby twins) would do the trick. Now being preoccupied with this “newfound life”, Nightmare is free to do what the Fear Lord pleases, which probably includes taking over our dimension so to speak. Because WandaVision goes directly into Doctor Strange 2, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sorcercer Supreme makes an appearance in the Disney+ show. If it’s indeed Nightmare pulling the strings, it would be the perfect place to have the first encounter between Strange and one of his more notable enemies.
Someone else?
Let’s say it’s not Mephisto or Nightmare. Where does that leave us? Well, in episode four we see the full scene when Wanda literally threw Monica out of Westview. After Wanda repairs the gaping hole in her house, Vision enters the room asking where Monica went. When Wanda turns to him, Vision is grey and has the giant hole in his head where Thanos pulled the Mind Stone out. Wanda looks away and then back to a normal-looking Vision. He tells her they can go wherever she wants, but she tells him “this is our home” and that she has “everything under control”.
Could this all be Wanda’s doing under her own freewill? It’s certainly possible, especially given the extreme trauma throughout her life. So it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibilities to suggest that all of this is simply the grieving process for Wanda. A grieving process that could eventually cause ripple effect outside of Westview. Wanda has already shown the ability to completely relocate a small town, and WandaVision could be the start of a soft adaptation of the House of M comic story throughout Phase 4.
In the House of M, Wanda begins to lose control of her powers, and of reality, which eventually concludes with her decimating the mutant population. What if there’s a reverse effect in the MCU? Wanda created two (seemingly) living babies, who’s to say what type of limitations she possesses, or lack thereof. Wanda’s reality-altering abilities could be the key into bringing mutant-kind into the MCU. But what if Wanda lost so much control that it put the entire multiverse at risk?
Again, looking at the fact that WandaVision ties directly into Doctor Strange 2, we could be looking at a multiverse dilemma. What if Wanda’s reality-altering powers really got out of control and began destroying the multiverse? Or she could possibly take the King Pin route in Into the Spider-Verse when he tries to bring back his dead family. What if Wanda cracks the code to inter-dimensional travel and seeks another Vision from a different universe, causing Doctor Strange to intervene. Strange played a major role in House of M trying to reach out and help Wanda, so his involvement in her aid wouldn’t be a surprise.
So, there we have it. About halfway through the first Marvel Disney+ show and we have some questions answered, but others not so much. What were Agnes and Herb talking about outside? Why did Herb keep saying “because we’re all…” and not finishing the sentence? When the S.W.O.R.D. agent crawled through the sewer system, he changed into a beekeeper after crossing over into Wanda’s reality. Maybe that’s the case with all the Westview residents? We know Vision’s not alive, but the police identification board showed many residents as real-life people, other than Agnes and Dottie. But more importantly, why was Herb sawing through the side wall? Whatever Herb was doing, there’s plenty that still needs explaining in the second half of WandaVision. We’re just getting started.
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