TV

Your Weekly Guide To All The Worthy MCU References & ‘WandaVision’ Easter Eggs

Check each week for updated NOT spoiler-free easter eggs.

by Merryana Salem  31 January 2021

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Greetings, fellow WandaVision addicts! I’m Merryana Salem and each week I will be updating this article with each and every worthy easter egg tucked away in plain sight in Disney Plus’ new series, WandaVision.

A big warning ahead for spoilers. This easter egg explainer is not spoiler-free, got it? Great! Let’s go!

 

Episode One: ‘Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience’

Stark Industries Toaster

Each episode of WandaVision appears to have a phony era-appropriate commercial, but something isn’t quite right. Each of these commercials appears to have wider connections to the MCU.

n the series’ first episode, we’re treated to an advertisement for a toaster. A Stark Industries toaster. The very same Stark Industries created by Howard Stark, Tony’s father. If you listen carefully, the toaster actually makes the same sound as Iron Man’s suit when a new weapon prepares to fire.

Sokovian “Hello”

wandavasion-easter-egg

Before the rest of Wanda and Vision’s disastrous dinner hosting shenanigans get fully underway in episode 1, Wanda confuses the evening’s significance marked on the calendar for it being her and Vision’s anniversary. So, when Vision’s boss and his bosses’ wife, Mr and Mrs Hart, call on the house for dinner, Wanda believes it’s her husband and slinks up behind Mr Hart and flirtatiously puts her hands over his eyes.

Vision, trying to save the evening, explains off Wanda’s greeting as a traditional part of her Sokovian heritage. Sokovia is where Wanda and her brother Pietro are originally from, and is the city destroyed in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s a nice callback to Wanda’s MCU origins that also makes for a charming little giggle when Mrs Hart imitates the greeting.

Episode 2: ‘Don’t Touch That Dial’

Bova Milk

This one’s for all you comic-heads out there. In episode 2’s fabulous animated opening credits that call back to Bewitched, there’s an advertisement for Bova milk. In the comics, Bova is a sentient cow that delivered Wanda and her brother as babies.

 

The Strucker Commercial

Just like in episode 1, WandaVision‘s second episode has a commercial oozing with easter eggs. Episode 2’s commercial is for Strucker watches, and there’s a notable Hydra logo right there on the face. Strucker is the name of the Hydra operative experimenting on The Maximoff twins and holding them hostage in Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s mid-credits scene. It’s a sneaky reference to the first moment MCU fans laid eyes on Wanda.

 

The Toy Helicopter & SWORD Logo

The toy helicopter Wanda finds crashed into her rose garden is not only in jarring technicolour, but also bares the SWORD logo. We discussed SWORD’s origins and Geraldine’s possible connection to them before, but in short– In the comics, S.W.O.R.D is a sister agency of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the acronym stood for Sentient World Observation and Response Department.

SWORD deals with aliens, and alternate worlds and timelines. However, in WandaVision, we see they’re known as Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division. We also see SWORD’s logo on the beekeeper-like figure that rises from a manhole in the road, and on a screen monitor showing the credits at the episode’s end.

Episode 3: ‘Now in Color’

Hydra Soak

Yet another mention of Hydra in one of WandaVision‘s strange commercial breaks, but ‘Hydra Soak’ soap, however, holds a little more significance for Agents of Shield fans. In Agents of Shield, Coulson (more affectionately known by Thor as “son of Coul”), references a blue soap sold by Hydra that keeps the public docile with false memories. It would appear we have another allusion to Wanda’s reality being false.

 

Geraldine’s Necklace

Cracks begin to show in Wanda’s domestic goddess demeanour when she notices a pendant around Geraldine’s neck. The silver necklace is the same sword symbol as the one we saw on the beekeeper, the helicopter and the monitor.

wandavision-easter-eggs

Pietro, Ultron & Geraldine’s Exit From West View

This one is not so much an easter egg as it is a direct reference to Wanda’s life. After giving birth to a set of twins, Wanda tells Geraldine that she is a twin, and mentions her brother Pietro. This is the first time Pietro has been mentioned in the MCU since he died in Age of Ultron. After she mentions him, she begins singing in Sokovian to the twins.

But when Geraldine mentions that Pietro was killed by Ultron, something in Wanda very clearly snaps, and she literally throws Geraldine out of her reality bubble. Geraldine lands flat on her back and is quickly surrounded by cars printed with SWORD’s logo as ‘Daydream Believer’ plays out to the credits.

There’s a lot to unpack here; from the confirmation that Wanda’s sitcom-inspired reality is a physical space one can be thrown from to the confirmation of SWORD’s involvement in maintaining that reality to SWORD’s confirmed connection to Geraldine.

 

Billy, Tommy & the Young Avengers

It’s unclear whether the twins’ names are pleasant easter eggs for Marvel comics fans or a genuine introduction of Wanda and Vision’s children into the MCU, but while I am here geeking out we may as well discuss. In episode 3, Wanda miraculously gives birth to twins her and Vision name, Billy and Tommy.

Billy and Tommy are Wanda and Vision’s children in the comics. They grow up to become Wiccan and Speed (technically their souls are reincarnated but we don’t have the time to unpack that version of events). Wiccan and Speed are prominent members of the Young Avengers.

A number of Young Avengers teammates are set to be introduced on Disney+ over the next few years. Most notably Kate Bishop, who will be played by Hailee Steinfeld, will be introduced in the Hawkeye series coming next year.

Episode 4: We Interrupt This Transmission

Childhood Memories & Revisiting The Snap 

In a break from our usual programming, episode 4 opens with Monica Rambeau returning from Thanos’ snap. In a reversed version of what we saw at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Monica’s molecules are coming back together. As this is happening, we hear audio from Captain Marvel, specifically the scene where Carol (Brie Larson) calls Monica, “Lieutenant Trouble.” We also hear Monica’s mum, Maria’s voice talking about protecting Monica.

The scene that follows sees a further revisiting of the snap. Monica wanders through a medical facility with people snapping back all around her. Much like we did in Spiderman: Far From Home, WandaVision is giving us a glimpse of what Thanos’ snap and its reversal felt like for everyone.

Maria Rambeau & SWORD

This episode sees us finally getting some answers about SWORD, the organisation behind the mysterious symbol seen on the helicopter and beekeeper in previous episodes. We learn they are indeed the Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division, and that they were founded by Monica’s another, Maria.

As Monica walks into SWORD’s headquarters, there is a plaque of her mum, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), commemorating her as SWORD’s founder. The plaque also has her nickname “photon” that we heard in Captain Marvel. Sadly, it also confirms Maria is dead. Fans have already been drawing parallels between Maria and Peggy Carter, who founded SHIELD.

Agent Jimmy Woo & the Card Trick

Adding to the list of familiar faces reintroduced in this episode, we have FBI Agent Jimmy Woo. Agent Woo was last seen in Ant-Man and The Wasp, in which he was Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) parole officer, keeping Scott house-bound as federal punishment for Scott’s involvement in the events of Captain America: Civil War.

In a nice nod to the last time we saw him, Agent Woo introduces himself to Monica with a card trick. It’s the same card trick he was trying (and failing) to learn throughout Ant-Man and the Wasp.

The Westview Confirmation

Episode four laid a lot of much needed contextual groundwork, letting us know where and when WandaVision is set. The series takes place 3 weeks after the “blip” of people returning from Thanos’ snap.

More importantly, we learn that Wanda and Vision are living in Westview, New Jersey. As Monica learns when she travels there, Westview did not exist 3 weeks ago and seems to be at the centre of multiple missing person cases. This is an interesting nod to the comics, as in the comics, Scarlet Witch and Vision headed to New Jersey to start a family.

Doctor Darcy Lewis

It’s been a long time since we saw Kat Dennings’ sassy Darcy in the MCU, which makes her appearance in WandaVision all the more utterly delightful. First appearing in Thor as Jane’s (Natalie Portman) intern, Darcy Lewis is now a Doctor in Astrophysics. SWORD summons her as part of a multi-field response to the Westview anomaly.

Doctor Lewis is teamed with Agent Woo for most of the episode. We learn that not only was it Agent Woo’s voice trying to contact Wanda through the radio but, Doctor Lewis was the one behind the idea. Darcy is also the one who discovers the TV broadcast frequency that we’ve been watching and was the person watching the monitor at the end of episode one.

A LOT of early episodes’ questions answered…

We now have explanations for the mysterious beekeeper figure, the helicopter, ‘Geraldine,’ and who the rest of the residents are in WandaVision. To start off with, we learn that the technicolour helicopter Wanda found in her garden in the second episode is one of the many drones SWORD sent into the force field surrounding Westview.

The beekeeper figure was also a manifestation of SWORD’s attempts to enter Westview via the sewers. It was not a beekeeper suit, but a hazmat suit. Meanwhile, ‘Geraldine’ (aka Monica) like most of the residents of Westview were people who were unlucky enough to get sucked into Wanda’s reality.

Which leads us to the biggest confirmation, that Westview is a closed reality created and maintained by Wanda, populated with missing people who have been sucked into her domestic fantasy with Vision. When the episode finally catches up to where the previous one left off, we see Wanda quite literally throw ‘Geraldine’ out of Westview. Lying on the ground outside the force field, Monica simply says, “it’s all Wanda.”

Vision’s Remains

Finally, the most disturbing imagery in the series so far is seen after we see Wanda cast Monica out of Westview. Clearly losing her grip on the reality she has created, Wanda looks at Vision and instead of seeing his normal face, sees the rotting flesh of his dead body. His discolouration, along with the gouge in his head matches with that of his dead body, after Wanda was forced to kill him in Avengers: Infinity War.

It’s nothing short of heartbreaking to have the confirmation that Wanda has created this whole reality to give her and Vision the life they were robbed of. If her reaction to Monica is anything to go by, hell will hath no fury greater than Wanda Maximoff when her bubble is eventually burst.

Episode 5: On A Very Special Episode…

On a very special episode indeed WandaVision was thrown headlong into the world of ’80s sitcoms. Episode 5, On A Very Special Episode… saw the series weave together the knowledge and characters we gained from episode 4 with Wanda’s sitcom fantasies. Wanda even strode out of her dream bubble to offer SWORD their first and final interference warning, before the episode ended with an epic character re-introduction with major ramifications for the MCU. 

Re-affirmation of Wanda’s Origins

On A Very Special Episode… re-affirmed Wanda’s MCU origins in a SWORD intelligence meeting. It’s confirmed that Wanda’s origins are still that she and her twin Pietro were orphaned and then radicalised and experimented on by Hydra, before joining the Avengers.

While this may not seem important, there were rumours that WandaVision would retcon her origins to a popular comic version in which she is the daughter of Magneto. However, this restating of her origins by SWORD shows her MCU origins remain intact…for now. In another nod to her roots, when Wanda steps outside the hex to return the missile SWORD fired at her, she’s speaking with her original Sokovian accent. 

Foreshadowing Monica’s Powers

Captain Monica Rambeau is in quarantine getting a full health workup when we catch up with her this episode, and it would seem her time in Westview has indeed changed her. Her X-rays show up blank, with the radiation appearing unable to penetrate Monica’s skin. 

In the comics, Monica has the incredible ability to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum, which even earned her the mantle of Captain Marvel at one point. WandaVision is clearly delivering on its promises in terms of setting up the MCU’s next phase.

A Hint At Wanda’s Comic Name

In the comics, Wanda is known as the Scarlet Witch for various reasons, depending on which comic you’re reading. The simplest is the colour and intensity of her reality-bending powers.

Her title has not been mentioned in the MCU yet. However, episode 5’s pointed conversation about her not having a superhero name could be foreshadowing the use of her comic name in the MCU for the very first time is coming. 

Vision’s Body & Endgame’s Deleted Scene

In a recent interview, Paul Bettany revealed there was a deleted scene in which Wanda personally saw Vision’s body in a “body drawer.” In this episode, viewers saw a version of that scene.

SWORD reveals Wanda stole Vision’s body from a secret SWORD facility and plays footage of the robbery. This disturbingly confirms, as does Monica Rambeau, that Wanda is not creating reality, but altering it, which is why she still needed Vision’s body to animate him in her fantasy. Big yikes energy. 

The Twin Boys & Sparky

As I mentioned in the last episode’s easter egg round-up, Wanda’s sons Billy and Tommy are superpowered characters in their own right. Their powers may explain a few oddities in the episode too, like Wanda’s powers not working properly on them. Not to mention their power to just age themselves up when they feel like it could also be entirely their abilities and not Wanda’s. 

In a fun little nod, the boys also dress in their comic counterpart’s colours, which also match up with their mum and uncle’s colours too. Talk about twins running (very fast too) in the family.

It’s also a nice nod that the boys find Sparky the dog. In Tom King’s iconic Vision run from the comics, Sparky was Vision’s synthesised pet dog. 

The Lagos Commercial 

The retro-referential commercials return this episode, with Lagos. Lagos is a cleaning product of some kind, clearly referring to Wanda’s Lagos mission at the beginning of Captain America: Civil War. 

The mission was one in which Wanda was unable to stop a suicide bomber. The failure led Wanda to be blamed for the Sokovian Accords, which were put into motion as a result of that incident. No doubt Wanda translating this into a cleaning product alludes to how she still blames herself for the whole mess. 

A Quicksilver Returns…

In a moment many fans (myself included) prayed and prayed for, Wanda’s twin brother, Pietro returned to her…sort of…yes. The MCU’s version of Pietro (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson) was famously killed in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and since Wanda also confirmed this episode that she can’t wake the dead, the Quicksilver that knocks on Wanda’s door in WandaVision is none other than Evan Peters’ version of the character from the X-Men Cinematic Universe.

Putting aside the ‘which Quicksilver is better’ debate, his appearence has multiple massive ramifications for the MCU. Firstly, it marks the first time a character from the XCU  has appeared in the MCU. The crossover is something many fans have been speculating about since Disney acquired Fox, the studio that owns the X-Men, in 2019.

Secondly, XCU-Pietro’s sudden appearance could confirm the existence of the Multiverse. The Multiverse is a long-standing device from the comics that allows for a collection of parallel universes and alternate versions of characters to interact with one another.

It’s likely XCU-Pietro is setting up the Multiverse, considering the next MCU film we’re due to see Wanda have a significant role is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The latest rumours regarding Tom Holland’s next spider-man film also speak to the Multiverse playing a huge role in phase four.

Mephisto

There is one more possibility behind XCU-Pietro’s appearance in WandaVision, but it’s quite cynical and even more devastating. Mephisto is essentially a version of Satan in MCU comics. They take a lot of different forms and love offering tempting deals with people that ultimately trap their souls in Hell.

A reigning theory circulating Twitter is that XCU-Pietro is actually Mephisto in disguise, attempting to keep Wanda trapped as Pietro appeared just as Wanda and Vision were having it out over whether Westview was real. Wanda also mentions before she answers Pietro’s knock that she did not summon a guest, indicating another power possibly at play.

Mephisto and Wanda have a significant relationship in the comics too. In the comics when Wanda used her magic to create twin sons, she learned they were actually formed from Mephisto’s own essence, and he subsequently claimed their souls. Considering both Wanda and Vision seem surprised when Wanda fell pregnant in episode 2, it’s not unreasonable to fill in the mystery with Mephisto.

There’s one final link between Mephisto and what we’ve seen so far in WandaVision in Wanda’s neighbour, Agnes. Many people speculate that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch who helps Wanda learn about her powers AND helps Wanda defeat Mephisto in the comics.

These theories may all be a far stretch from the easter eggs they hatch from, but just a few weeks ago the return of Pietro was just a theory too.

Episode 6: All-New Halloween Spooktacular!

This week Wanda plunged us all into her wildest Malcolm In The Middle-esque family sitcom fantasy, while tempers rose and secrets began to unravel over at SWORD’s base. The plot is indeed thickening with MCU easter eggs and meta-jokes coming at us from all angles, from the Maximoff family’s Halloween costumes (both past and present) to a glimpse at the twin’s powers. 

Everyone is dressed as themselves…

We’ve had glimpses of Wanda and Vision’s meta Halloween costumes in previous trailers and now we finally get to see them in full form. Wanda, Vision, Pietro, Billy and Tommy are all dressed as their comic counterparts.

Wanda’s outfit is how Scarlett Witch is typically depicted in most comics, complete with her red cape and headpiece. Pietro’s pointy-haired get-up is the spitting image of Quicksilver’s comic book look.

Meanwhile, Tommy and Billy’s costumes mirror their comic fits as Speed and Wiccan. As for their dad, Vision’s “Mexican wrestler” costume is actually Vision’s stereotypical hero outfit. The costuming is a lovely visual nod to their comic counterparts that also perfectly fits Wanda’s goal of creating a fantasy. Everyone’s costume being themselves speaks to the theme of pretending throughout the series, and that these characters are ultimately pretending to be themselves for Wanda. 

On a final note, a flashback to Wanda and Pietro’s childhood Halloween times. In the flashback we see an all dressed up and disappointed Pietro and Wanda receiving a raw fish for a Trick or Treat.  Many Twitter users have pointed out that baby Wanda and Pietro seemed to be dressed as Black Widow and Nick Fury

Agnes’ Witchy Look

Another possible costume easter egg in WandaVision lies with Agnes’ witch attire. This is more a theory than an egg so to speak, but remember last week when we talked about Agnes potentially being Agatha Harkness?

Agatha Harkness was a witch in the comics who worked for the satanic figure, Mephisto as well as teaching Wanda magic. Could her witch costume be yet another hint at Agnes’ true identity? We’ll have to wait and see.

“Unleash hell, demon spawn!”

While chaperoning his nephew’s trick or treating, Pietro shouts, “unleash hell, demon spawn!” Now, this could very well be me overthinking an amusing quip, but if you remember from last week’s egg update, Billy and Tommy are the partial offspring of Mephisto.

Mephisto is essentially Marvel comics version of the devil. Thus, Wanda’s boys are actually… demon spawn. Specifically, they’re the spawn of Wanda and Mephisto. Now, I don’t know if WandaVision will go down the road of that particularly traumatic comic story-line. Either way, it’s a perfect easter egg for fans in the know about the twins’ comic origins. 

“Kickass?”

Speaking of perfect easter egg-ish lines, Wanda’s confused repetition of the word, “kickass” after it’s shouted by Billy is possibly a sneaky little meta-reference too.  The dialogue is said just after Wanda tries to test if Pietro is the Pietro she remembers. Billy shouts, “kickass” while Wanda is still considering whether the Pietro with her is her real brother. 

Kickass was a Marvel film (now not considered part of the canon) that starred current Pietro actor, Evan Peters and none other than Aaron Taylor Johnson. Johnson, of course, portrayed Wanda’s brother in Age of Ultron until the character was shot and killed. While it could just be another coincidently funny line in combination with a load of overthinking, it’s still fun to think WandaVision is so self-aware of it’s casting choices. 

Monica’s Mysterious Aerospace Engineer

Over the last two episodes, Monica has been talking to an engineer that could get her back into Wanda’s Hex without effecting her cells. In episode 5, Monica specifically makes the point of saying she knows an engineer who’d be up to the challenge of building something cosmic-radiation proof. She and Agent Woo were on their way to meet this person when Wanda expanded the perimeter of the Hex. 

In my mind, there are three distinct theories accounting for who Monica is going to meet. The first is Edna Mode from The Incredibles. If anyone could build a suit to withstand Wanda’s powers, as well as all that radiation, it would be her. But that would be weird, even for WandaVision. 

The second theory is that it’s Princess Shuri from Wakanda. Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity war established Shuri as a brilliant inventor and intellect beyond the likes of anyone currently known in the MCU. We already know she would jump at the challenge of creating something that could withstand such power, after all. 

The third theory is that this mysterious aerospace engineer is none other than Reid Richards, aka Mr Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. Disney acquired the rights to the Fantastic Four when they bought 20th Century Fox and plans to reboot them (again) were announced a while ago. Reid Richards certainly fits the type of engineer Monica describes. Reid’s Fantastic Four suits he designs in both the comics and films are built not only for space but to protect the wearer from multiple kinds of harmful radiation.

The X-Men and Fantastic Four films in the early ’00s were what got me into Marvel comics as a kid. If WandaVision finally bridges the longstanding gap between the MCU and the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties, I may pass out.  

Wiccan, Speed & the beginning of Young Avengers

As mentioned previously Wanda’s sons are characters in their own right. Both are most closely associated with the Young Avengers in the comics where they are also known as Wiccan and Speed.

In episode 6, WandaVision confirmed Billy and Tommy have their corresponding powers from the comics. Billy takes after his mum with powerful telekinesis and telepathy that he uses to locate Vision in the episode’s final sequence. Meanwhile, Tommy has inherited his Uncle Pietro’s speedy abilities. 

If the kids are real and make it out of the series alive, it’s very possible they may eventually team up with Kate Bishop. Kate is due to be introduced in the Hawkeye series that will premiere later this year. Together the three of them make up a significant portion of the Young Avengers. 

Hayward’s secret project could be resurrecting Ultron

This episode, we saw Darcy hack SWORD head-dickhead, Hayward’s server. There, she discovers that Hayward has specifically been tracking Vision’s whereabouts in the Hex, not Wanda’s.

We also know that Wanda stole Vision’s corpse from a top-secret SWORD facility where they were quite literally pulling Vision apart. Another thing we know about Hayward is he has some pretty serious PTSD from the being alive in the 5 years post-snap.

One big theory that connects all these facts is taking shape and that is that SWORD wants to rebuild Ultron, or is at least connected to Ultron in some way. Ultron was originally created by Tony Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron to protect Earth from future space threats. Stark created Ultron to be “a suit of amour around the world,” but as we know, Ultron went full genocide instead.

I can see Hayward’s logic. As he said in episode 4, “space is full of enemies,” and reviving tech that was originally designed to protect Earth from space threats might seem logical. The problem is, what remains of what Stark used to create Ultron was used to create Vision, which may explain why SWORD was taking him apart for scraps.

This theory could also explain why Avengers: Age of Ultron is usually the film Disney+ recommends after each episode of WandaVision. It would be an interesting development in the series, considering the battle with Ultron was where Pietro was killed. WandaVision is all about Wanda’s repressed trauma and Ultron has been brought up indirectly a LOT throughout the series.

The ‘Yo-Magic’ Ad & Mephisto

You know, we have to talk about WandaVision‘s strange commercials, especially when they’re as unsettling as this week’s. This week’s commercial was a claymation style advertisement (very popular during the ’90s/’00s so A+ era-appropriate advertising here) for a yogurt.

In the commercial, a boy is trapped on an island, starving, when a shark jumps out of the water and offers him a Yo-Magic yogurt. The trick? The boy can’t actually open the packaging and dies anyway.

It’s pretty dark and like all the ads throughout the series, is likely a reference to some unprocessed trauma of Wanda’s. Since it’s the “snack for survivors” that you never really get to eat, some have speculated the commercial is a nod to Wanda’s days as Hydra experiment. Her and Pietro were literally the only “survivors” of those experiments and they never really got the revenge they were promised when they signed up either. The way the boy in the commercial is promised something he never gets only to die trying to retrieve it could be a nod to how Wanda feels about what Pietro endured before his untimely death in Age of Ultron.

The other big easter egg here is, again, our least favourite satanic demon, Mephisto. A disturbing parallel many Twitter users realised was the way that the shark in the commercial spoke, and the way Pietro spoke, were very similar. Many believe that the commercial was foreshadowing how Quicksilver (Evan Peters) is Mephisto in disguise and, much like the shark, is offering Wanda everything she wants, only to drain her soul as she attempts to take it.

Quicksilver’s demon spawn jokes, along with his altered memories that don’t match up with Wanda’s also feed into the idea that he is not who he says he is. I personally also find it quite suspicious that “Pietro” consistently palms Wanda off whenever she questions his inconsistencies.

His comments about how proud he is of what she’s doing are also odd, as is his awareness of the false reality from the get-go which none of the other characters have. At least, not without help.

In the comics, Mephisto secretly assists Wanda in creating her false reality to feed off her energy and appears in various forms throughout the comic so she never suspects. Wanda’s own comments about not knowing how she did all this are also telling that her control over this world may not be entirely her’s.

Even Pietro’s credit in the opening credits feels off. He gets an “as himself” credit, unlike the other credits for the characters who are also playing themselves. While this could be just a play on how special guests are often credited in sitcoms, I can’t help but ask why it’s necessary to labour the point Pietro is… himself. Unless he isn’t. The corpse flashback was convincing, but I am not so sure.

Monica’s Powers

Finally, this week we got another hint that Monica is going to become superpowered. This time from Darcy, while she is hacking Hayward’s files.In the files, Monica’s bloodwork shows that her cells have been rewritten at a molecular level. Twice. Specifically, because she passed through the Hex barrier twice, which is why she needs an aerospace engineer to build her something to protect her upon re-entry.

Personally, I think we are going to see a superpowered Monica in the next 3 episodes. Before the finale, I hope she takes up the mantle of her mum’s as ‘Photon.’

Episode 7: ‘Breaking The Fourth Wall’

Breaking The Fourth Wall threw us into Wanda’s take on ‘00s mockumentary sitcoms like Modern Family and The Office. Wanda is at her most memeable and vulnerable, addressing an invisible camera crew as she overshares about her case of the Mondays. Also, “uncle Pietro” and Vision are seemingly nowhere to be found. Overwhelmed, she palms the twins off to Agnes for some alone time that doesn’t end up being so alone — after Monica forces her way into the Hex with her new abilities. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of Westview,a newly awoken Darcy catches Vision up on everything he can’t remember from various events in the MCU while they desperately try to reach Wanda — all before the episode ends with a MASSIVE reveal. Let’s get these Easter Eggs, shall we?

Stan Lee’s Birthday

During the Happy Endings-esque opening credits, Wanda’s customised license plate is made up of “122822.” It actually stands for Dec. 28, 1922, aka Marvel comic co-creator, Stan Lee’s birthday. May he rest in peace.

The Twins Are Still In Uniform

The colour pattern of Tommy and Billy’s outfits match their characters’ iconic hero fits in the comics. For Billy, this means a truly delightful shade of green matching his comic-counterpart, Speed. As for Billy? All red just like his mum. 

A Circusy Callback To Original Avengers Comics

It may be pure coincidence or even just a comedic reference to Darcy referring to SWORD as a “clown car” in episode 4, but the circus Vision finds himself in could also be an ancient Marvel callback. 

In the very first Avengers comic, Iron Man joins the circus where people assume he’s a giant robot owing to his suit-powered superstrength. In a reverse of this, a SWORD member, now turned clown in Wanda’s Hex, assumes Vision is a fellow clown act, rather than a superpowered robot. How the turntables.

Hayward’s Cataract

Thanks to the combined work of Darcy, Monica and Agent Woo we now have confirmation Hayward was trying to reactivate the sentient weapon element of Vision, minus his personality. Essentially. recreating Ultron’s sentinels from Age of Ultron, the remnants of which are a part of Vision’s structure and coding. The name, Cataract, is clearly a pun on impairing Vision. 

No Richard Reid… Yet

This episode finally sees Monica meet with the person she was contacting throughout the series to help her build something that would allow her to re-enter the Hex unscathed. Her mysterious aerospace engineer is seemingly a woman by the name of Major Goodner, a loyal friend of Monica and her mother’s. 

I have a feeling this may be a bit of a red herring. Monica doesn’t introduce Major Goodneer as the aerospace engineer. Moreover, the people she meets seem to be the deliverers of her Hex-proof means of transport, not their creators. I’m still holding out hope for a Richard Reid cameo down the line. But to paraphrase, Dan Casey over at Nerdist, perhaps the real aerospace engineers are the crazy theories we friends we make along the way

Nexus 

As a long time fan of Wanda Maximoff-related comics, I have been waiting to see if they’d work in this little beauty of a reference into the series and here it is — in a painfully relatable ad for ‘Nexus Antidepressants.’ Nexus has two strong associations in the Marvel comics.

The first is that Wanda is what’s known as a Nexus being. Nexus beings are beings that are fundamental in all versions of reality. In other words, Wanda is a focal point for all of reality and is one of the few beings whose powers can fundamentally alter all realities, all of time and all of space. It’s why Wanda is so powerful. 

The Nexus itself refers to the Nexus of All Realities, a portal from which all possible realities can be accessed. Hence, the hilarious quip in the ad about choosing a reality of your own. As one of the few Nexus beings, Wanda is one of the few who can access the Nexus. In the comics, anyone born of her can too, which is why her boys are so powerful as well. 

Lastly, the line in the commercial, “you should not take Nexus unless a doctor has cleared you to move on with your life,” feels like an allusion to Doctor Strange. We know Wanda will co-lead the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The ‘multiverse’ in the sequel’s title, plus the specific implication of a doctor helping Wanda move on in life via ‘Nexus’ could possibly imply a Doctor Strange appearance in ‘WandaVision’ soon.

The Loki Set Up

As if the Doctor Strange references weren’t enough, the Nexus reference also trojans in an element of the upcoming Loki series. In the Loki trailer, Loki is working with an organisation known as the Time Variance Authority, as atonement for the havoc caused by him stealing the tesseract out of the timeline in Avengers: Endgame. 

The TVA governs the timelines of all realities, ensuring events and peoples do not alter the fundamental trajectory of existence. Thus, one of their primary concerns is watching over people who have access to the Nexus and are Nexus beings. Just like Wanda. If we don’t see the Nexus in WandaVision, I’m willing to bet money we’ll see it in Loki.  

Goodbye, Monica! Hello, Spectrum! 

This episode of WandaVision saw the official birth of Spectrum, otherwise known as Monica Rambeau’s super alias. After Monica pushes back through the barrier into WestView, hearing the voices of her mother and Captain Marvel, as she does. 

When she arrives at the other side, her eyes glow and her vision has been altered. It’s likely what she can now see are all the different kinds of radiation, as Spectrum’s powers are based on her ability to control all types of radiation in the comics. 

But just in case you weren’t convinced of her rebirth as a hero in her own right, Monica even did a classic three-point superhero landing after a conflict with Wanda. WandaVision has officially given us Monica’s hero origin story. 

A Fly In The Wall

After a run-in with a newly superpowered Monica, Wanda seeks refuge in Agnes’ house. Catching Wanda’s and thus our’s eye, is a large disconcerting fly on Agnes’ curtain. In the comics, the satanic figure Mephisto (who I still believe is the series’ Big Bad) took the form of a large fly when he faced the Avengers. 

Doctor Strange’s Missing Book

Wanda ventures down into Agnes’ basement, looking for the boys who are nowhere to be found. It’s generally a creepy, dark and dingy place that flips WandaVision from sitcom to horror film in a blink.

There are many odd things that catch Wanda’s attention, but the most significant is a glowing purple book. Before you ask, there are many tomes of chaos magic in the comics and it is breathtakingly unclear which one this one is. However, fans on Twitter have pointed out that it seems a perfect match for one of the missing books in Doctor Strange. 

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but if this book is the Darkhold, as many fans believe it is, then you could be looking at the origins of vampires in the Marvel universe. Thus, this book could be an easter egg for the upcoming Blade film as well as yet another huge implication that Doctor Strange could be turning up in WandaVision very soon. 

We were right! It was Agatha all along!

As I and many others who have been theorising for the past 6 weeks, it was finally confirmed that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness. In the comics, Agatha is a mentor and friend to Wanda, teaching her how to control her powers. But WandaVision’s’take on Agatha appears, for the moment, to be entirely malicious. 

In yet another catchy music number, ‘WandaVision’ reveals that it was Agatha all along. It was Agatha who brought back Pietro, wreaked havoc with their magic act and even killed Sparky. However, I do still think its possible that Agnes is under the influence of Mephisto. 

Ralph Is Mephisto

With Agatha’s true identity revealed, there are many questions to be asked. Most notably, I find myself asking: Who is Ralph? Agnes/Agatha’s husband who she’s always referring to yet we never see? Unsurprising to any of you who have made it this far down this episodic list of theories and easter eggs, I now wholeheartedly believe that “Ralph” is actually Mephisto. 

Episode 8: ‘Previously On…’

The penultimate episode of WandaVision arrived and left a tonne of tears and easter eggs in its introspective wake. ‘Previously On…’ as it’s title foreshadowed took viewers on a trauma-centric tour of Wanda’s darkest moments, hosted by Agatha, as she attempts to learn the source of Wanda’s incredible power. We see glimpses of Wanda’s war torn childhood, her time as a Hydra experiment, the aftermath of her dear twin’s death, and finally, the horrendous moment of grief that spurred Wanda to create her sitcom-fantasy in the first place.

Agatha’s Origins

In the comics, Agatha’s origins are a little different to her origins in WandaVison. WandaVision proposes Agatha’s not inconsiderate powers manifested from murdering her entire coven when THEY intended to execute her during the Salem Witch Trials. In the comics, she is simply described as the only witch of her coven to survive witch prosecution. It’s a minor change that remains faithful to her comic counterpart’s story overall, but it makes her a far more malignant and malicious figure.

In the sequence, we also see the origin story of her iconic broach, learning that Agatha stole it from her mother after killing her. Her murderous purple magic is very reminiscent of Thanos’ purple magic and seems to be the colour of Villanous Magic.

Maybe She’s Born With It, Maybe It’s The Mindstone

The first stop on Wanda’s Trauma Tour is her childhood in wartorn Sakovia where we see the heartwrenching scene the twins described back in Age of Ultron, in which a stark industries’ explosive device destroyed their home and family. The scene plays out as the twins described it, except we catch pre-teen Wanda gesturing towards the explosive as if trying to move it with her abilities. Agatha confirms that baby Wanda used a probability hex that stopped the explosive from detonating.

The term probability hex is a reference to how Wanda’s powers are described in the comics i.e. she is a being with the ability to control the probability of anything in time and space. Meanwhile, the scene’s clear indication that Wanda was born with her powers has massive implications for the MCU. Prior to Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the MCU couldn’t mention mutants, aka those born with their abilities because Fox owned the X-Men. In the comics, Wanda is a mutant and the daughter of none other than Magneto himself.

Bringing her into the MCU meant her origins had to be altered to avoid copyright. So, the powers that be in the MCU made it that she got her powers from experiments by Hydra on Wanda with the mind stone, but here we’re seeing a sneaky retcon that both harks back Wanda’s correct origins AND introduces mutants for the first time in the MCU. While also keeping her MCU origins relatively intact. Talk about Disney having their cake and eating it too.

Speaking Of The Mind Stone

The second stop on Wanda’s trauma tour stops at the memories of her time as a Hydra experiment. In the scene, we see Loki’s sceptre from way back in The Avengers and Wanda is being told to touch it. Before she even gets close, the mind stone busts out of the sceptre’s casting and bestows a vision on Wanda.

No, not THAT Vision, but a vision of a silhouette that looks surreptitiously like the outline of Wanda’s Sakovian fortune teller get-up from the Halloween episode. As we’ve discussed, that outfit is actually a version of Wanda’s iconic look from the comics where she is also known as the Scarlet Witch. This figure is the first appearance of the Scarlet Witch as she looks in the comics. However. in the memory, Wanda faints before she can make sense of this vision and presumedly wakes up with an earlier version of the incredible power we know her to have now.

If You’re Vision, Why Are You White? 

After a tender scene in which WandaVision goes a long way to filling the gaps in the development of Wanda and Vision’s romance by showing them just chilling in the Avengers Compound, the final stop on Wanda’s trauma tour arrives. It’s the moment we’ve all been sobbing over, the moment where we learn Wanda built Westview and essentially birthed a version of the Vision to cope with the loss of not just Vision, but being denied the right to bury him.

In a supremely dick move, we get yet another confirmation that Hayward is indeed a dick when he refuses Wanda access to Vision’s body to give him a funeral. In a scene that, visually, is ripped straight from the comic, West Coast Avengers #43, Wanda inspects Vision’s dismantled corpse and says, “I can’t feel you,” a line calling back to the last words Vision said to her in Endgame (“I just feel you”) that’s sort of like their Thing as a couple to say in lieu of “I love you.”

Wanda leaves the SWORD lab. Notably, without destroying it, which is a reveal absolutely no one is surprised at, and is yet another one of Hayward’s lies. It is then revealed that Wanda created the Vision in the Hex from the power of her own grief and that the original Vision’s body is still with SWORD.

In a post-credits scene, we see what has become of the dismantled Vision. Now entirely drained of his signature purple, he is an off-white colour with fogged eyes aka Hayward’s aptly named project Cataract. Here, WandaVision, at least visually also makes another comic reference. In the Vision Quest storyline from the comics, White Vision was how Vision looked as a result of his memories and personality matrix being wiped. Props to the WandaVision team here, they did their research.

Wanda Is The Scarlet Witch

As I previously theorised but never believed would happen, WandaVision has indeed blessed us with the first utterance of Wanda’s comic alias. In the episode’s final sequence, Agatha claims that she knows who and what Wanda really is and finally calls her by the name, the Scarlet Witch.

Words cannot accurately describe the excited noise that spilled from my mouth when Agatha said these words. Once I calmed, I now think it’s an interesting choice the WandaVision team has gone with by bestowing her name on her via Agatha like a title. In the comics, Wanda’s name is traditionally an extension of her signature red powers and looks. Only in recent comics in the past 5 years has it been implied the name is a title passed down among powerful Roma witches like Wanda, her mother and their coven.

The whitewashing of Wanda’s Romani heritage in the MCU has been written about by Roma critics. If WandaVision intends to go down the route of inferring that ‘Scarlet Witch’ is a title passed down or bestowed on Wanda, it would be yet another example of the whitewashed appropriation of Wanda’s specifically Romani-driven comic characterisation. It’s not a plotline I’d want to see at this point when Wanda has been so whitewashed that I doubt many viewers even realise. To introduce this particular arch for her iconic name would be tantamount to pouring salt on the wound for Romani viewers.

A Last Stitch At Mephisto

Before I give up entirely on my Mephisto theories and hobble off to lick my wounded ego, I offer ONE final Mephisto-related theory. That is… maybe… Hayward IS Mephisto. Nah, just kidding. I do still think it’s possible, seeing Agatha’s origins, that some darkly powerful being like Mephisto may have granted her the powers that killed her coven and drives her lust for power. Witches traditionally serve demons and her bunny IS suspicious, after all. At this point, however, I am preparing a graveyard for all my WandaVision Mephisto-related theories unless next week brings sweet vindication.

Episode 9: ‘The Series Finale’

Well, we’ve come to the end, or at least one kind of end to Wanda’s journey on WandaVision. Our time in Westview is over and it’s time for us (mostly me) to lick our easter egg-related wounds. So, for one last hurrah, let’s break down the easter eggs in the final episode of WandaVision.

Ralph Was Ralph All Along

A reveal to kill all Quicksilver related easter eggs, the WandaVision finale revealed fake Pietro’s true identity. He is neither a multiverse Quicksilver, nor the Quicksilver from the X-Men franchise, but Ralph Bohner.

Presumedly, the same Ralph Agatha refers to as her husband, but in reality, he was just the washed-up actor whose house she stole. Still, a genius stroke in terms of meta-casting though.

Jimmy’s Magic Skills Pay Off

In a different kind of magical badass moment, Agent Jimmy Woo uses some tricky sleight of hand to break free from the handcuffs Hayward put him in. Jimmy has definitely come a long way from his clumsy card tricks in Ant-Man and the Wasp.

The Darkhold

As theorised back in episode 7, WandaVision‘s finale confirms that the creepy book in Agatha’s basement is indeed the Darkhold. It’s a particularly malicious ancient tome that is mentioned as one of the ‘forbidden’ books in Doctor Strange.

It’s also responsible for the creation of vampires in the Marvel universe. So you can reasonably expect this baby to appear in the upcoming Blade film.

The Sourcerer Supreme

As Agatha explains to Wanda how the Darkhold prophesies the Scarlet Witch, she mentions that the Scarlet Witch is more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme. Many fans have reasonably assumed this is a dig at Doctor Strange who is currently the only sorcerer aside from Wanda in the MCU with a major role.

However, it’s worth noting that Doctor Strange isn’t officially the sorcerer supreme yet. This moment, then, not only foreshadows Wanda’s rise to great power but Doctor Strange’s as well.

House Of M Cover Homage

When Wanda opens the Hex, Vision and their children start to weaken and fade because the Hex maintains their life-force. The way both the twins and Vision fade, in square parts coming apart, is a visual homage to an iconic cover of one of the comics WandaVision is based on.

The House of M comic is one of the biggest influences on the series, and one of its most iconic covers was very clearly homaged. See for yourself.

Double Vision Quest

We saw some red hot Vision on Vision action in the finale when White Vision met with Wanda’s Hex Vision. The pair lock into a struggle of power, strength, will, and… philosophy. The encounter ends with Hex Vision awakening the original Vision’s memories buried in White Vision’s programming, and White Vision stating, “I am Vision” before skipping out entirely.

While this interaction clearly hints that we will see Vision again in the future, it also pays homage to another comic WandaVision draws inspiration from. The West Coast Avengers comic storyline known as Vision Quest also sees a white personality-drained Vision seek to rebuild his memories after an encounter with Wanda. Just another sign the WandaVision writers did their research.

Wanda’s Love For Her Boys

Another of the many visual references to the comics in this episode of WandaVision is in the loving squeezy hug Wanda shares with Billy and Tommy once the battle is over. It’s very reminiscent of this panel from Young Avengers. They’re even on the same sides as the panel from the comics. It made my heart ache.

Sadly, like in House of M, Billy and Tommy are revealed to not exist outside of Wanda’s power. But perhaps, just as in the comics, we’ll see them again in another time. Another… Universe.

Vision’s Past Lives And A Single Tear

During Wanda and Vision’s final farewell, Vision asks Wanda what he really is. She replies that he is the part of the mind stone that lives in her hope, her sadness and her love. Vision says to this, “I have been a voice with no body. A body, but not human. And now a memory made real.”

Each part of the statement refers to one of Vision’s past lives. The first, a voice with no body, refers to how he was once JARVIS. The second, a body but not human, refers to the creation of the original Vision in Age of Ultron. Finally, a memory made real, of course, refers to this time with Wanda in the Hex as a manifestation of her heart and grief. Who knows what he’ll be next indeed.

Monica’s Future In The MCU

In one of two end-credits scenes, we’re treated to a tiny taste of Monica’s future in the MCU. In the scene, Monica Rambeau is summoned by a Skrull in disguise into Westview’s cinema where she is told that an old friend of her mothers wants to meet with her.

He, the Skrull says, wants to meet Monica somewhere in space, perfectly teasing Monica’s future meeting with Nick Fury who we last saw on a space station at the end of Spider-man: Homecoming. This could be teasing either Secret Invasion, or Captain Marvel 2. Either way, I am very much here for more Monica in the future.

To Be Continued

WandaVision’s final scene in the aftermath of the credits sees Wanda cozied up in a cottage beside a mountain lake. At least, that’s what her physical form is doing. While Wanda’s body sips tea and enjoys the fresh air, her astral projection form is studying the Darkhold. Astral projection multi-tasking is a skill we’ve previously seen adapted by Doctor Strange.

Here, our last vision of Wanda is her Astral projection form in her (very hot) Scarlet Witch outfit studying the Sarkhold with the distant cries of Billy and Tommy being heard over a snippet of Doctor Strange. It’s a clear set-up for Wanda’s story to be continued with Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

A final theory for old times sake I shall leave you with is that its possible Doctor Strange 2 will see Wanda hunting the multiverse with Doctor Strange for a universe where Billy and Tommy are real. Maybe even one where her brother is alive too.

Whatever happens, it has been a pleasure theorising with you all. Pour one out for all my Mephisto, Richard Reed cameos and multiverse Quicksilver theories. WandaVision has been very fun even when, and especially because, it was not what I expected, and I hope Marvel invests in strange singular stories like this in future.

All of WandaVision is now streaming on Disney+

Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBT rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.