WandaVision, eighth episode: all references and quotes
WandaVision, eighth episode
Our first step in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is heading towards a crackling conclusion. With Previous Episodes, WandaVision gets even closer to its conclusion, having brought us back to the MCU in a more complex moment of the Marvel cinematic context: the world after the Blip. The Disney + series, in fact, is set immediately after the end of Avengers: Endgame, as we can also see from some behaviors of the protagonists, still struggling with the consequences of the tragic experience lived at the hands of the Mad Titan, Thanos.In WandaVision we witness, albeit in a different narrative mode than usual, Wanda's personal struggle with her emotional loss. Over the course of the series, this inner elaboration has been presented in a subtle way, but with In the previous episodes finally every aspect of Wanda's past seems to find the right place, also through the presence of easter eggs and citations of the comic version of the characters. >
ATTENTION: The following contains a series of important spoilers about the eighth episode of WandaVision
Eye to the colors
Since its first appearance, the Marvel Studios logo has been a cornerstone of the MCU. Rarely has it been decided to make changes to the logo, such as remembering Stan Lee in Captain Marvel or Avengers: Endgame when he embellished it with a 'dust' effect in reference to the consequences of Thanos’s finger snap. Recently, when Chadwick Bozeman passed away, it was decided to remember the actor by redesigning the logo at the beginning of the film dedicated to Black Panther, but all these variants have had a very specific narrative or emotional value. So seeing at the beginning of this episode of WandaVision the familiar writing take on a purple hue surprised the spectators, but as often happens in the MCU, nothing happens by chance.The color used, in fact, is the same that can be noticed when Agatha's powers are manifested. Seeing this coloring at the beginning of In previous episodes immediately suggests that the control of Wanda's imaginary show is no longer in the hands of the Sokovian woman, but is taken over by the witch.
Agatha's past
After learning the true identity of the bubbly Agnes in Breaking the Fourth Wall, it's time to get to know Agatha Harkness better. Distant a lot from its paper counterpart, the MCU version of the witch is presented as not very positive, as we immediately discover from the flashback at the beginning of the episode.We are witnessing a particular trial of Agatha held in 1693 in the infamous Salem, a small town known for always being at the center of the stories starring witches and various monsters, so dear also to Stephen King. During the proceedings, Agatha is accused of having access to forbidden and lethal knowledge, as her mother also reminds her, who seems to be the leader of this coven of witches.
Precisely the enchantress could be another manifestation of the magic of the Marvel Universe within the MCU. In fact, when the woman fully releases her magical power, a crown appears that recalls that of Zhered-Na, a powerful Atlantean witch created in 1973 by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik, who appeared for the first time in Adventure into Fear with Man-Thing.
Zhered-Na, in ancient times, was also Supreme Witch, equivalent of the title of Doctor Strange, as well as writer of the Book of Zhered-Na, a forbidden volume in which her powerful spells were contained, beyond a prophecy about the end of Atlantis.
The path of memories
The title of the episode, In previous episodes, is a real stroke of genius. Maintaining the metanarrative approach typical of the series, thanks to this title, the eighth episode of WandaVision allows you to retrace the essential stages of Wanda's tragic life.In this journey into memories stemming from Agatha's powers, we witness the death of her parents, an event recounted in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Wanda explained that she was traumatized by taking refuge under the bed in front of a unexploded bomb of Stark Industries. Scene that we see in Previous episodes, which also links to the spot seen in the first episode of the Disney + series: the red flash of the unexploded bomb refers to the red flashing light of the advertised Stark toaster.
Note as according to Agatha , the bomb had remained unexploded not because it was defective, as hypothesized by Wanda, but because the little Sokovian had unconsciously cast a small spell of probability: a manifestation of power that in Marvel comics indicated the birth of Wanda's powers.
Always linked to the commercials is the second memory, or when Wanda comes into contact with the Mind Stone during the Hydra experiments, during which she develops her powers. In this case, however, not only are we enjoying an easter egg, but we are also facing the first official case of retcon within the MCU: the origins of Wanda are rewritten.
If up to today we thought that her powers were caused by the Hydra experiments, now we discover that the Mind Stone has only awakened latent abilities in Wanda, as Agatha surprise reveals:
"The Infinity Stone has amplified what otherwise would never have been born ”
With this passage, it is established that Wanda was already in possession of magical powers. The vision that the young woman has during her contact with the Infinity Stone, therefore, could be understood as the awakening of her powers, and the figure that appears, incredibly similar to the cartoon version of the character, could be a vision of her future. .
Pleased to meet you, Scarlet Witch
Throughout the duration of WandaVision we have seen references to the figure of Scarlet Witch, but only with this episode of the series we are finally authorized to use the nom de guerre by Wanda. Accomplice the retcon we were talking about, in In previous episodes Agatha is the first to intuit the true nature of the Sokoviana, identifying her as the Scarlet Witch, a powerful witch who draws on the power of one of the most powerful magical forces: that of chaos.In the comics, Wanda's mutant nature was intertwined with her magical powers. In particular, his ability to alter reality was an emanation of her own magic, a dynamic only relatively elucidated by Kurt Busiek, who defined Wanda's magic as stemming from the force of chaos, which in the Marvel Universe was dominated by Chthon demon. Could Chthon be one of the final surprises of WandaVision?
The return of Vision
In the previous episodes we also have the opportunity to find out what the true fate of Vision was after the events of Avenges: Infinity War. In previous episodes we had been convinced to think that Wanda had stolen the remains of the beloved syntezoid from the base of the SWORD, but today we find out how the facts really went, thanks to a flashback that reconstructs one of the most tragic scenes of the couple's comic life during militancy in the West Coast Avengers.Also in this parenthesis of their lives, the post credit scene draws, in which we witness the rebirth of Vision, in a particular neutral color. The reference is to the 1989 Vision Quest saga, in which after the syntezoid had been dissected by a government agency, a reconstruction was attempted, but when Hank Pym got to work he had to accept Simon 'Wonder Man' Williams' rejection. to re-supply his brain engrams, which were the basis for the creation of Vision. Without this basic component, the Vision recreated by Pym came back to life emotionless and with a white colouration.
What we saw in the post credit scene at the end of In previous episodes seems to be precisely this Vision, masterfully interpreted by Paul Bettany, who also gives us a different perspective on the intentions of SWORD director Hayward. Was the aforementioned Cataract project therefore an attempt to recreate a powerful weapon?
WandaVision: In previous episodes
Disney + must be acknowledged for having performed, with WandaVision, an almost perfect operation. After years of Marvel Cinematic Universe films marked by an engaging narrative, but still fixed on a system that is not very inclined to variations, apart from the experiments with Thor: Ragnarok and The Guardians of the Galaxy, the presence of a series like the one dedicated to the two Avengers is a nice variation. Not only were we guided into an adventure with different tones, but an experimentation in narrative terms was also attempted, choosing to intrigue the viewers with the presence of a convincing and exciting meta-narrative.In the previous episodes. it must not be considered only as an episode of WandaVision, but as a nodal point of the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A real origin story that starts a retcon process for a character, Wanda, who after having been essentially a secondary figure in the midst of a heroic context in which Captain America and Iron Man excelled, now, thanks to the disappearance of these two titans, can rise to a new role.
A decision that in each episode finds its small confirmations, also finding a formula to insert aspects of comics, designed to attract the old guard of the True Believers, and to the at the same time creating a new narrative universe in which even those not familiar with comics characters can feel at ease. WandaVision, net of the mysterious ending, today turns out to be a product that, with ups and downs, has nevertheless tried to give new life to the MCU, guiding the first steps of this saga beyond the watershed that was Avengers: Endgame.
