Before the launch of ‘WandaVision,’ refresh your memory on the MCU’s most endearing odd couple. WandaVision, a highly unique Marvel television show, will finally air on Disney+ on January 15. While many of the show’s greatest twists remain unknown, we do know that Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) will return after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. These former Avengers are now a happily married couple who reside in Westview, a beautiful suburban neighbourhood. But, as time passes, Wanda and Vision will realize that something about their existence in Westview is a little off. They’ll have to work together to discover out what’s going on and how to combat it.
But, before we get into WandaVision, it’s probably a good idea to review the history of these two Marvel characters, both in the comics and in the MCU. On the page and onscreen, Wanda and Vision have gone through a lot. While this walk down memory lane won’t get into the nitty-gritty of the couple’s relationship, it will take you back to the most memorable moments.
Marvel Comics’ Wanda and Vision
Wanda and Vision have been in the Marvel Comics universe for considerably longer than they have in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She’s a sorceress! He’s a high-tech android! They’re a very powerful, very attractive couple, and their love story is one of Marvel’s most enduring. As a result, over the course of Marvel Comics’ existence, these two superheroes have built up quite a narrative arc – one that would take up far too much room here. That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t discuss Wanda and Vision’s Marvel Comics romance. Instead, let’s go over the major plot elements in this couple’s comic book history so that we can prepare for their appearance in the MCU.
Scarlet Witch, a.k.a. Wanda Maximoff, debuted in the comics four years and seven months before her husband. Wanda and her twin brother Pietro (a.k.a. Quicksilver) were introduced as Magneto’s malevolent assistants in March 1964. The twins were introduced as the progeny of a superhero named Whizzer around the 1970s. That plot point was later retconned, and Wanda and Pietro were revealed to be Magneto’s children. Wanda and Pietro have spent the majority of their time in Marvel Comics with one foot in the X-Men universe and the other in the Avengers universe. Wanda is a powerful character who has been trained in both true witchcraft and mutant-like witchcraft skills. The list goes on and on: chaos magic, force fields, reality bending, illusion fabrication, elemental manipulation, telekinesis, telepathy, and so on. In general, it’s best to think Wanda is capable of doing something magical until she proves otherwise.
Vision’s origin tale will be familiar to MCU fans, as he was first introduced in October 1968. Ultron’s robot Vision was built with the intention of attacking Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. (Yes, Ant-Man, not Tony Stark, is the creator of Ultron in the comics.) When the Avengers persuade Vision to see reason, he incorporates the consciousness of another superhero into his own and is freed from Ultron’s control. Vision becomes a member of the Avengers, is briefly possessed by Ultron again, regains control of his body, and meets Wanda. Vision appears to be a human in every aspect except for his synthetic body parts in the comics. He isn’t powered by an Infinity Stone, either; the yellow stone in his forehead is a Solar Jewel, which absorbs and focuses the sun so Vision can blast it like a laser. Flight, superhuman reflexes and stamina, superhuman regeneration powers, and durability are among Vision’s other superpowers.
Wanda and Vision are a famous pair in Marvel Comics since they are the first human-android coupling. Naturally, this causes issues when the couple tries to live a normal life. The pair — who also marry — have twin boys thanks to Wanda’s hex powers. It’s eventually revealed that Wanda and Vision’s sons, Thomas and William, are actually fragments of a demon named Mephisto who are reabsorbed into their real father’s existence (it’s a comic book, after all). The couple is shattered by this tragedy, and despite their best efforts to stay together, they are unable to do so.
Wanda and Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Wanda and Vision’s vast and intricate Marvel Comics history has been condensed into just a few sequences spread across four MCU films (a fact made abundantly obvious in Wanda and Vision’s respective episodes of the new Disney+ series Marvel Studios Legends) and one Marvel Disney+ TV program. There are some sequences in the MCU version of Wanda and Vision’s romance that fans of the duo in their comic book form will recognize. However, the MCU has made some significant modifications that have had a significant impact on the couple’s screen time.
The events surrounding Wanda and Vision’s meeting in Avengers: Age of Ultron are what the MCU has kept from the comics. Vision is still Ultron’s invention in Age of Ultron, but he’s built with Stark technology, including the JARVIS operating system. The Mind Stone, which Ultron extracts from Loki’s scepter and places in Vision’s head, also makes Vision sentient. Additionally, the climactic confrontation between the megalomaniacal robot and the Avengers in Age of Ultron allows Vision and Wanda to rekindle their relationship. For the majority of the film, Wanda and her brother Pietro are hesitant Ultron’s aides before turning against him when Wanda discovers Ultron’s desire to kill humanity. The Avengers take Wanda and Pietro in and make them members of the team. When Vision demonstrates that he can wield Thor’s hammer and leads the charge against Ultron, he is hailed a worthy Avenger. As Sokovia plummets down to Earth in the last stages of the Avengers’ battle against Ultron, Vision saves Wanda, his fellow Avenger, who had stayed behind on the floating metropolis to fight. Wanda and Vision join Cap’s new Avengers, which also includes Black Widow, Falcon, and War Machine, at the end of Age of Ultron.
Wanda and Vision only get a few scenes together in Captain America: Civil War, as they are once again pitted against one other in this MCU film. Despite spending more time together at the newly constructed Avengers base and getting closer as a result, Wanda and Vision find themselves on opposite sides of a major ideological battle. The Sokovia Accords, which would increase government oversight of superheroes, threatens to split the team. Tony Stark is in favor of the Accords, but Steve Rogers is against them. Vision exposes himself to be allied with Tony while Wanda is more aligned with Steve in one scene when the team disputes this, causing strain in their embryonic friendship. As the film proceeds, the couple splits up and helps their respective squad leaders — Tony and Steve — before the two teams clash. Despite unleashing the entire force of their abilities on each other and other Avengers, Wanda and Vision kiss and reconcile by the end of the game-changing battle.
Wanda and Vision are discovered to be spending time together in hiding in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the opening of Avengers: Infinity War. Following the Civil War, we find that a couple has been snatching time together to attempt to sort out their relationship. As a result, Edinburgh is the secret couple’s most recent meeting location. (When they aren’t together, Wanda has been forced to stay on the run when Steve broke her and his entire Civil War crew out of jail and forced them to hide.)
Thanos’ thugs arrive in Edinburgh to try to assassinate Vision and steal the Mind Stone before the couple can make any solid plans for their future. After fighting off Thanos’ goons, Wanda, Steve, Falcon, and Black Widow head to Wakanda to see whether Shuri can safely extract the Mind Stone while keeping Vision alive. Instead, Vision is compelled to ask Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone, a request that is both lethal and terrible. Wanda succeeds, but Thanos takes the Time Stone to turn back the clocks and steal the Mind Stone, killing Vision in the process. Wanda is likewise wiped off by Thanos’ snap of the Infinity Gauntlet. Wanda reappears in Avengers: Endgame’s climactic showdown and has a brief time to vent her rage and pain on Thanos as she beats the living daylights out of him.
In ‘WandaVision’ (and Beyond), What Happens to the Couple?
We still don’t know what WandaVision has in store for Wanda and Vision as a couple, thus we don’t know how their relationship will end. The presence of Vision in WandaVision does not necessarily imply that he has risen from the dead as a result of the events of Avengers: Infinity War. However, we can’t rule out some brilliant MCU ruse as to why he’s suddenly back and sentient like before.
We might see Wanda and Vision’s relationship touch on some of the plot points from their comics past over the course of nine episodes. WandaVision trailers have recently included views of Wanda pregnant, the couple planning a nursery, and even a funny scene in which two distinct pacifiers pop out of two separate cribs. Similarly, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) recognizes Vision as an Avenger in one teaser clip. This suggests that Wanda and Vision’s experiences as Avengers may play a role in WandaVision and influence the fate of their respective adventures on the show.
Then there’s the probable allusion to Marvel’s House of M arc (read more on Fandom), which features X-Men and Avengers characters. The reference may be seen in one of the first WandaVision trailers, where a bottle of wine with the label “Maison de Mépris” (French for “House of Contempt”) is served during dinner. In the comics, Scarlet Witch and Professor Xavier use their abilities to create the “House of M,” a world where a person’s dreams become reality, and Scarlet Witch eventually becomes too powerful and destructive. This narrative might play out in WandaVision, as a mourning post-Endgame Wanda creates a world in which she can enjoy the life she’s always wanted with Vision, despite outside operatives attempting to reach her to urge her to wake up. The House of M arc finishes on a rather sad one (Wanda wipes out millions of mutants), so if WandaVision follows suit, it’s worth asking if it will end on a similarly emotional note or if it will have an impact on Vision’s fate.
We already know that Wanda’s MCU tale will continue in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, regardless of how WandaVision ends. It’s all speculation at this time, but it’s worth considering how the events of WandaVision might play into Doctor Strange 2 and Wanda’s story in particular.
