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.
Homework:
WandaVision (Available only on Disney+ Streaming Service) Episodes 1-9
