WandaVision



WandaVision is a nine-episode miniseries streamed in early 2021 on Disney+ as part of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their Avengers roles as Wanda Maximoff and Vision. Set only a few weeks after the climax of Avengers: Endgame, viewers find themselves thrust into the ultimate in Mood Whiplash for the MCU: what appears to be a 1950s Sit Com featuring two of the Avengers. Even as Wanda and the Vision live out their lighthearted I Love Lucy lives, though, there are already hints that something darker is going on.

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Note that the appearances of many tropes within the sit com segments are deliberate invocations, often lampshading their use by other series while at the same time helping establish the atmosphere of the various homages in which they appear. And sometimes, these tropes (and the fact they are tropes) become plot-critical.

"Darcy: She recast Pietro?"
 * Adult Fear:  holding Billy and Tommy hostage against Wanda.
 * All Just a Dream: A recurring motif within episode eight, from a Dick Van Dyke Show episode to Wanda and Vision's own lives in Westview.
 * Anachronic Order/In Medias Res: We enter the series at a point that we don't discover is essentially the middle of the action until episode eight.  It turns out there are several weeks' worth of developments (which we don't see until episode eight) which lead directly to the first seconds of episode one.  Episode four hops backward to something near the start, only outside the Hex, and later episode eight bounces through several different time periods before showing us the point where the series starts.
 * Arc Geometry: Hexagons.  Hexagons everywhere.  From the opening sequences to the arrangement of certificates on Hayward's office wall to the shape of the Mind Stone to the Hex itself.
 * Arc Words: "For the children", at least in the earlier episodes.
 * And I Must Scream: The native residents of Westview, who are still aware to some degree under the "characters" imposed on them. They can even manage to express themselves through the characters, as demonstrated by Herb and the doctor.
 * Aspect Ratio: Is constantly changing and a clue to where the action takes place.  Anything inside the Hex is shown in the old-fashioned 4:3 ratio; anything outside the Hex is in 1.88:1 or even 2.35:1.  Crossing the boundary in either direction results in the screen expanding or contracting accordingly.
 * Back from the Dead: Vision, for no known reason at the start of the show.
 * Baleful Polymorph: In general, going through the barrier around Westview and into the town changes what goes through to fit the current setting of the town, from the molecules up.  (With a couple of notable exceptions.)  Objects native to the era within -- for instance, using a 1980s-vintage drone to enter the 1980s version of Westview -- don't get changed, or at least don't get changed noticeably.  Individuals are "rewritten" to fit the setting, with a new identity and personality imposed upon them.
 * When Wanda expands the Hex in episode six, it overtakes and absorbs most of the SWORD base on the outskirts of Westview, and turns it into a circus filled with far more clowns than is usual.
 * Book Ends: Episode eight begins and ends with an older witch telling a younger witch that she is too powerful and too dangerous to live.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall:
 * A Visual Pun when Wanda ejects Geraldine/Monica from Westview in episode three.
 * Billy and Tommy both address the audience in episode six, which is a device used by the episode's inspiration, Malcolm in the Middle.
 * The name of episode seven. That episode includes an inversion when Monica forces her way through the barrier around Westview and into the sitcom reality there.
 * In episode eight, Wanda goes from re-experiencing the creation of the sitcom version of Westview to finding herself on the set for the first episode as part of 's efforts to get her past her traumas.
 * Brief Accent Imitation:  briefly copies Wanda's Sokovian accent to mock her when it comes out for a moment early in episode eight.
 * Broken Bridge: All the road obstructions in episode seven that happen simply to prevent Darcy and Vision from driving back to Westview from the circus. Eventually Vision gets fed up and remembers he can phase and fly.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The "witness" Jimmy Woo was sent to check on in Westview -- who got mentioned once early on and then was all but forgotten...
 * Color-Coded for Your Convenience: All over the place, once you get out of the black and white era.
 * Agnes always wears something purple.
 * Wanda frequently wears red, the color of her magic. Even her car is red.
 * The Mind Stone's energy, and related powers, are yellow.
 * Billy always wears red and Tommy always wears blue and/or green -- which correspond to the colors of their comic book counterparts' costumes.
 * Monica's powers appear to be colored blue.
 * Continuity Nod:
 * Jimmy Woo from the Ant-Man movies is trying to reach a person of interest to the FBI in Westview, and produces his business card for Monica when they first meet using the sleight-of-hand trick he was trying to learn in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
 * Darcy Lewis from the Thor films appears and has progressed from intern to doctor of astrophysics since we saw her last. SWORD has brought her in as an expert to help deal with the "Westview Anomaly".
 * Monica seems to get a lot of these in the form of snippets of dialogue from other MCU productions.
 * Cool Car: The rover vehicle Monica tries to use to get back into the Hex in episode seven.
 * Creating Life: Possibly in play with Tommy and Billy; Agnes makes a couple cryptic comments that might mean they are independent free-willed beings and not magical constructs.
 * Cut and Paste Note: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in the opening credits of episode seven is a ransom-note style message reading "WANDA I KNOW WHAT U ARE DOING".
 * Delivery Guy: Geraldine/Monica serves this role for Wanda in episode three.
 * The Diaper Change: Although the boys don't stay babies long enough for this to actually play out on-screen, in episode three we do see Vision practicing diaper changes (using a doll which is a perfect copy of the Kitty Karry-All doll owned by The Brady Bunch' Cindy -- as seen on an episode Wanda watches in episode eight).
 * Delivery Stork: Wanda and Vision paint a stork on the wall of the new nursery in episode three, followed by the appearance of a real stork that Wanda cannot seem to make vanish with her powers.
 * Doing It for the Art: The production team went out of their way to recreate the proper look-and-feel for the various sitcom styles presented, even going so far as to use period cameras, lenses and lighting for the earlier episodes, and even filming the first episode with Three Cameras in front of a live Studio Audience (of friends and family of the cast and crew, who had all signed non-disclosure agreements).
 * Drop-In Character: Agnes.
 * Dungeon Bypass: When blocked by an endless series of obstructions that prevent him and Darcy from reaching Westview in episode seven, Vision eventually gets fed up and flies there.
 * Evolving Credits: In addition to the changing voice-over on the "Previously On..." segments (see below), episodes one through seven end with "please stand by" cards appropriate to each episode's "era" -- and there's no such notice at the end of episode eight.
 * Express Delivery: Wanda's pregnancy runs its full length in less than twenty-four hours.
 * Far Side Island: Setting for the "Yo-Magic" commercial in episode six.
 * Flashback: Episode eight is built of flashbacks, engineered by.
 * The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Very literally.  Wanda has no compunctions about coming out of Westview and threatening violence upon the SWORD troops and Hayward.
 * Freeze-Frame Bonus:
 * In the opening credits of episode seven there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it frame or two of a Cut and Paste Note-style message reading "WANDA I KNOW WHAT U ARE DOING".
 * Golem: In episode eight,  implies that  is something like this.
 * Halloween Episode: Episode six, "All New Halloween Spooktacular"
 * Hide Your Children: Despite charity events run "for the children", Westview is remarkably devoid of them except for the Halloween Episode and a line of schoolchildren used as a barrier to keep Darcy and Vision from getting back into town in episode seven.  Lampshaded by Vision at the end of episode five when he points out that he's never seen anyone using a nearby playground.
 * Hide Your Pregnancy: Wanda employs all the usual tricks in episode three to hide her unnaturally-sudden and -advanced pregnancy from "Geraldine", lampshading their use in series like Bewitched to hide the pregnancy from the viewer.
 * Homage: Where do we start?
 * Episode one: I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show
 * Episode two: The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie
 * Episode three: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, That '70s Show
 * Episode five: Family Ties, Full House, Growing Pains, Step By Step
 * Episode six: Malcolm in the Middle
 * Episode seven: Modern Family, The Office, Happy Endings, The Munsters
 * Episode eight: While this episode is formed almost entirely of flashbacks (mostly to Wanda's life) and thus doesn't exist within Wanda's sitcom fantasy, the moment when Wanda transforms Westview is visually reminiscent of a similar moment in "House Call", an episode from the fifth season of Charmed.
 * Episode nine:
 * Episode four has none; it is completely backstory for Monica, Jimmy Woo, and SWORD.
 * Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: Wanda and Vision, of course, to Tommy and Billy.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is named for a "standard", even cliched, line from the history of television, some of which are still used today:
 * 1) Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience
 * 2) Don't Touch That Dial
 * 3) Now in Color
 * 4) We Interrupt This Program
 * 5) On a Very Special Episode...
 * 6) All-New Halloween Spooktacular!
 * 7) Breaking the Fourth Wall
 * 8) Previously On...
 * 9) (( unknown yet ))
 * In the Style Of: All the various "theme songs" for the different Sit Coms through which Vision and Wanda's life together progresses -- along with the special separate theme song at the end of episode seven -- are deliberate pastiches of the themes of real Sit Coms.
 * Instant Birth, Just Add Water: As part of Wanda's Express Delivery, the process of her giving birth lasts all of five minutes.
 * Jump Scare: Two, in episodes three and six; both times Wanda looks at someone and suddenly sees them as they last were in the "real world" -- Vision drained of color and his forehead torn open, Pietro/Peter riddled with bullet holes, and both very dead.
 * Kill the Dog: At the end of her "theme song" in episode seven,  proudly admits to killing "Sparky".
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: Neither Wanda nor Vision can remember just how they came to be in Westview.
 * Laugh Track: Used in episodes two through five.
 * Line-of-Sight Name: Agnes suggests the name "Sparky" for the dog in episode five because of sparks that fly when he tugs on an electrical cord.
 * Manipulative Bastard:
 * Masquerade: Wanda and Vision initially maintain one when they arrive in Westview, but Wanda becomes less and less concerned about hiding their abilities until in episode seven she attacks Monica with her powers in the street in front of their house, in full view of their neighbors.
 * Meaningful Echo: The "traditional Sokovian greeting" from episode one makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reappearance in the flashback to Wanda's childhood in episode eight.
 * Mistaken for Subculture: When Vision comes upon the former SWORD base, now a circus, in episode seven, an obnoxious strong man who seems to be in charge mistakes him a clown who is supposed to assist their new escape artist act.
 * Mockumentary: Episode seven employs the style of early 21st Century series like The Office and Modern Family in which Reality Show-style "interview" segments are interspersed among the story segments, representing the characters' inner thought processes.  Vision suddenly realizing he doesn't have to wait at an eternally-blocked traffic light is represented by him yanking off his lapel mike and walking off the "set".
 * Monologuing:  almost continuously throughout episode eight.  The use of the redirect here instead of the actual trope, Evil Gloating, is deliberate because it's not exactly clear that her motives are, strictly speaking, evil.
 * Motif: As this YouTube video demonstrates, every "theme song" in the show -- including the unexpected one at the end of episode seven -- is built around or employs the same four-note motif.
 * Mythology Gag: According to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige,.
 * Necromancy: Mentioned by, who notes she couldn't use it to bring back.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Wanda's gradual loss of her Sokovian accent during the Avengers films is lampshaded six ways from Sunday and actually becomes something of a plot point.
 * The Other Darrin: Invoked and referenced when Pietro Maximoff shows up on Wanda and Vision's doorstep at the end of episode five, and he's not played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson as he was in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but by Evan Peters, who played him in the Fox X-Men movies.


 * Parody Commercial: Every episode that's presented as a sitcom has a commercial break with... disturbing implications and hints about the story.  In general the same people appear in them, although not all of them in every one.
 * Plot Twist: Early in episode eight, we discover that  has been trying to snap Wanda out of the "suburban sitcom" fantasy world she's created out of Westview -- contrary to what was all but stated outright in The Reveal at the end of episode seven.
 * Power At a Price: Seemingly averted by Wanda, who is monstrously powerful with almost no training or effort; this seems to deeply offend, who has worked and studied centuries for her power.
 * Power Glows: Well, yeah, it's an MCU work.  Everyone with some degree of inherent power manifests glowing, color-coded light when using it.
 * Power Incontinence: Wanda starts showing signs of this as early as episode three.  It gets much worse after she expands the Hex at the end of episode six.
 * "Previously On...": In an interesting variation on Evolving Credits, Elizabeth Olsen's Once Per Episode delivery of "Previously on WandaVision" changes with each episode, starting out perky and excited, and losing energy and growing "flatter" and more angry sounding with each episode.
 * It's also the name of episode eight, which is built mostly of flashbacks.
 * Remembered I Could Fly: Vision in episode seven: after one too many road obstructions appear to prevent him from returning to Westview with Darcy, he finally just phases through the roof of the food truck they're in and flies off.  Lampshaded in the Mockumentary segment that's supposed to represent his inner thoughts, Modern Family-style, when he suddenly declares, "Why am I just sitting around here?", pulls off his lapel mike, and walks off the "set".
 * Requisite Royal Regalia: At one point the leader of the witches during the flashback in episode eight appears to be wearing a crown made of blue magical energy.
 * Reset Button: Cited in-universe several times in episode eight, as Wanda explains in different contexts that it's one of the things she loves about sit coms -- that no matter what happenes everything will be all right at the end.  And at the same time it seems to be darkly foreshadowing that WandaVision is not that kind of show, and there'll be no reset button to fix things at the end.
 * The Reveal: In episode eight we discover that Wanda did not storm SWORD and steal Vision's body, as Hayward had claimed in an earlier episode --.
 * Scenery Censor: Wanda gives birth in the living room of her home, with the lower half of her body hidden from the camera's point of view by the couch.
 * Skyward Scream/Death Wail: Wanda amidst the abandoned foundations of the unbuilt house in Westview she and Vision were to live in, in episode eight.
 * Slow Clap:  in the empty audience of the TV studio version of Wanda and Vision's 1950s-era home, during a flashback in episode eight.
 * Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Invoked, lampshaded and maybe even mocked with Tommy and Billy going from infants to seven-year-olds in an instant in episode five -- and then aging themselves up to ten a few minutes later so they can keep a dog they found.  Later in the same episode Wanda convinces them not to age themselves up again to escape grieving for the dog after it dies.
 * Spell My Name with a "The": "The Vision" appears to be his legal and formal name -- in episode eight Hayward uses it, as does the deed in Wanda's possession.  Addressing him as "Vision" appears to be an affectionate diminutive (and "Vizh" even more so).
 * Standard Fifties Father: Vision's role in the first episode, despite there being no children in the family.
 * Stealth Insult: When the expanding Hex engulfs the SWORD base at the end of episode six, it turns into a circus filled with clowns.
 * Stealth Joke: When she, Monica and Jimmy are thrown off the SWORD base by Hayward (and escape their escort), Darcy is the only one to stay behind.  When she reveals herself at the end of episode six, she's handcuffed to a truck, and is unable to escape when Wanda expands the Hex.  She becomes the new escape artist -- wrapped in chains -- for the circus the SWORD base is turned into.  (In a moment of disgust with Vision she simply shrugs and the chains drop off her.)
 * Studio Audience: Used for the I Love Lucy Homage episode and made up of friends and family of the cast and crew who had all signed non-disclosure agreements.
 * Super-Hero Origin: Going through the boundary around Westview alters a person to a molecular level.  Monica Rambeau goes through it three times and ends up empowered like her comic book counterpart.
 * In episode eight, we learn.
 * Three Cameras: Used in filming the I Love Lucy Homage episode.
 * Three-Month-Old Newborn: Tommy and Billy, upon their birth at the end of episode three.
 * Three-Point Landing: Monica makes one when she breaks free of Wanda's attack in episode seven.
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore: The book surrounded by wisps of red light found in Agnes' basement at the end of episode seven.
 * Too Many Babies: Apparently, having a pair of twin infants for all of a couple days is enough to leave two superheroes utterly frazzled.
 * Translation Convention: Subverted in the flashback to Wanda's childhood in episode eight -- rather than Sokovian, the Maximoff family speaks in English because it is their practice to do so on the nights they watch American sit coms.
 * Trapped in TV Land: When we first learn that neither Wanda nor Vision actually remember how they ended up in Westview, a variation of this trope appears to be in play.
 * The Un-Reveal:
 * Monica's unknown engineer friend was given just enough build-up to generate rampant viewer speculation that he might be a major figure up to and including Reed Richards. Turns out she was no one familiar from the comics at all.
 * On the other hand, viewers familiar with Marvel Comics had sussed out that Agnes was actually several weeks before it was confirmed at the end of episode seven, so her unmasking was less a surprise and more "I knew it!" for most watchers.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Geraldine/Monica utterly fails to notice Wanda's sudden and advanced pregnancy in episode three until Wanda goes into labor right in front of her.
 * Very Special Episode: The actual title of episode five, which is a self-aware "very special episode".
 * Visual Pun: When Wanda ejects Geraldine/Monica from Westview at the end of episode three, she sends her hurling through four walls.
 * We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Episodes one through six all begin their end credits with a period-appropriate "Please Stand By" card.
 * We Interrupt This Program: The title of episode four, in which we see what's happening outside Westview for the first time.
 * Whole Costume Reference: In episode six, the "Halloween" episode, Vision and Wanda both wear cheap homemade versions of their iconic comic book costumes.  Wanda says hers is a "traditional Sokovian fortune teller", while Vision's is described as a luchadore.
 * Whole-Plot Reference: The plots of the Dick Van Dyke Show, Brady Bunch and Malcolm in the Middle episodes Wanda is shown watching in flashbacks in epsiode eight all have parallels to the overall plot of WandaVision.

--

TRIVIA PAGE


 * Hey, It's That Guy!:
 * Sharon Davis/"Mrs. Hart" is Kitty Forman.
 * Dottie is Anya.
 * Agnes is Jennifer Barkley and Lily Lebowski.
 * Pietro is Pietro.
 * Memetic Mutation: Memes based on the "Agnes Winking" image and covers, remixes and even choreography of "Agatha All Along" appeared on the Net only a couple days after the episodes from which they came.
 * The Vision's line about grief from episode eight itself inspired memes along with an unexpected dichotomy in reactions.
 * Shout-Out:
 * Wanda's wedding dress in episode one is a handmade homage to the dress Audrey Hepburn wore in the 1957 film Funny Face.
 * Monica's initial in-Westview identity, Geraldine, may be a reference to comedian Flip Wilson's "Geraldine" character.
 * Wanda and Vision's doctor is named Nielson.
 * The circus strong man with a prominent "S" on his costume in episode seven may be a sly reference to Superman.
 * Agnes' wedding anniversary is June 2 -- the date of.
 * In episode eight, refers to her "bewitched basement".  's house is the Stevens' house from Bewitched.
 * Wanda and Vision's house is at 2800 Sherwood Drive -- Sherwood Schwartz was the creator of a number of sit coms, including The Brady Bunch.
 * Timeshifted Actor: Wanda and Pietro have two each -- one set for the "Halloween" flashback in episode six (which is a part of the sitcom fantasy) and a different set entirely for the "real" flashback in episode eight.

--

NIGHTMARE FUEL


 * Monica's first minutes after being restored from "The Blip". Unlike the comical sequences we've seen in other MCU works, Monica comes back in a hospital that's suddenly a madhouse, wondering what happened to her mother, who had been in surgery for cancer.  In between running into people materializing out of thin air, she learns that her mother has been dead for years, victim of a reappearance of the cancer she had apparently beaten only a few minutes before from Monica's point of view.
 * The "Yo-Magic" commercial from episode six, watching the boy waste away to a skeleton because he can't open the package of yogurt. Not to mention the possible implications for the greater plot of WandaVision when the shark says, "I'm eating Yo-Magic!"

TEARJERKER

"I can't.... feel you."
 * Episode eight. Just... episode eight.  We see every significant wound on Wanda's psyche get inflicted.

HEARTWARMING

"Vision: But what is grief, if not love persevering?"
 * Vision's comment when comforting Wanda in one of the flashbacks in episode eight:

---

YMMV


 * Broken Base: Surprisingly, the Vision's episode eight line, "But what is grief, if not love persevering?" generated a wide gulf in opinions among viewers, split roughly between almost worshipful awe at its Heartwarming impact and disgust at the Narm.