Warning: Spoilers for WandaVision through Episode 8 follow.
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Slackin’ Off! is back with another crazy cannonball plunge into WandaVision, as IGN editors try to sift and sort through the awesomeness we all just witnessed in Episode 8, “Previously On.”
Yes, the office chat channels are absolutely flooded with theories, queries, speculation, and postulation about WandaVision’s penultimate episode and what it all might mean for both next week’s finale and the future of the MCU.
In Episode 7, we learned that Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness, who’d been hiding in plain sight as neighbor Agnes, was working some evil witchcraft behind-the-scenes of Wanda’s sitcom world. This week, however, Wanda’s control and creation of the Hex was reconfirmed as we discovered Agatha was merely an interloper, drawn to Wanda’s power and secretly working to find out how and why Wanda’s spell-casting skills were so powerful, and unlike anything she’d ever seen.
Agatha, a witch who was shunned and shamed hundreds of years ago by her coven (led by her own mother) for seeking forbidden knowledge, apparently feeds off the life force of other magical beings. But is that what her plan is for Wanda? Or Wanda’s Hex spawn, Billy and Tommy? Right now she seems more interested in the origins of Wanda’s witch powers (which were homegrown and actually amplified by the Mind Stone) and how Wanda might be the mythical “Scarlet Witch” from the supernatural lore of Agatha’s Salem-centric world.
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“Previously On” was both a reflection on grief — and how it truly was Wanda’s overwhelming pain that caused her to retreat into a sitcom realm and create a Vision modeled after Dick Van Dyke’s Rob Petrie — and a rewarding “This is Your Life” flashback to scenes that only previously existed off-screen (as the MCU films were a bit too crowded to fully do justice to Wanda and Vision’s story). Next week’s finale, which may run even longer than this chapter, will wrap up Wanda’s story for now while also, hopefully, providing closure on Agatha, Vision, Hayward’s new “Cataract” Vision, Monica’s powers, and the Hex. It’s a lot to address, for sure. Will we get a happy ending or a tragic one? “It’s not that kind of show,” Wanda told Vision, post-Age of Ultron, when Vision worried about the fate of Bryan Cranston’s dad on Malcom in the Middle.
What “kind of show” will WandaVision turn out to be?
Read on further for a few of the behind-the-scenes theories that have been bounced around at IGN this week. These are just some samples of friendly spitballing from the WandaVision Slack channel.
Be sure to drop your own take on WandaVision in the comments and don’t forget to vote in our poll at the bottom of the page!
Theory: The Hexes on the Spider-Man: No Way Home White Board…Mean Something?
Theories were flung about fervently a few days ago, actually, when Marvel officially announced the title of Spider-Man 3 – which is “No Way Home.” On the busy, jokey idea board fans were shown there were a few hexagons, which can hardly feel random these days given how much attention WandaVision has given to that shape.
With Wanda Maximoff appearing in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, while Strange himself will appear before that movie in No Way Home, it stands to reason that the hexagons are connected to Wanda’s magic, and then Wanda’s magic will somehow directly connect to the cracking open of the multiverse.
Theory: Agatha’s Mom Is/Was Zhered-Na
As we look around for thick magical books in the Marvel Universe that are not the Darkhold (since that book was a major story element on Agents of SHIELD and looks different from the one in Agatha’s basement), some fans have wondered if WandaVisions spellbook is the Tome of Zhered-Na, which is another magically powerful collection of pages.
And if it is, maybe that means that Agatha’s mom, who Agatha killed when she was being punished for attempting to learn magic that was beyond her station, could have been ancient Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na. Overall, probably not a crucial plot point, but a lot of WandaVision good-natured speculation involves looking for hidden Marvel lore and characters.
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Theory: Agatha Pushed for Wanda to Have Kids
Are Billy and Tommy Agatha’s own personal endgame here or is she just holding them hostage right now because that’s the only way she can hold an advantage over the more-powerful Wanda?
From the Salem flashback scene we know that Agatha can feed off the energy of other magic users, but is she too wary to do that with Wanda? Or does she want to turn Wanda over to her side and become allies with her? It would partially make sense for Agatha to have wanted Wanda to have kids, so that maybe she could swoop in and steal them and use them in her own designs, but are the beings Wanda creates with Chaos Magic actually real?
It would seem so. Like really real. For real.
While Agatha’s behind-the-scenes schemes involved trying to ruffle Wanda’s feathers so that she’d break character and snap out of the sitcom-a-thon, her on-screen antics involved a lot of encouraging of child-bearing – everything from asking Wanda if she had kids to helping Wanda learn to “seduce” Vision before a special date night. We’ll have to wait until next week to see how the twin lads factor into everything.
Recurring Theory: Somehow This Will All Help Retcon Mutants into the MCU
Even though the X-Men won’t arrive in the MCU for a little while longer, there are some theories out there about how the Hex might be a catalyst for the “M” word Marvel couldn’t previously use: Mutants. Especially when we found out that Monica’s DNA got scrambled and changed when she traveled through the Hex energy.
This week however, we learned that Wanda was born with powers. Straight up. And that witches exist, who were also born with these abilities. Magic that, up until this point, you cold only go to secret magic school to learn (and was open to everyone, not just those genetically predisposed to witchery). Now we know there are natural born witches. And, man, if you pair one up with the Mind Stone, you get an almighty welder of Chaos Magic, capable of rewriting reality as we know it.
Back when Marvel Television was in full swing, and not shut down and folded into Marvel Studios, it created its own version of mutants using Inhumans. And the idea that certain individuals had powers that could be awakened. In Agents of SHIELD’s case – Terrigen Mist.
Here though, it would seem that latent powers, that would have “died on the vine,” according to Agatha, were brought about by Infinity Stone energy. Does this mean that all of Earth now has people with powers after the Blip? Considering the amount of Infinity sauce in the air post-Thanos? Are they what will be known as mutants?
And was Pietro a mutant too, with speedster powers that were brought to the surface by the Mind Stone?
Theory: White ‘Cataract’ Vision Will Help Bring O.G. Vision Back To Life
Tyler Hayward’s version of Vision, which, if following this storyline from the comics, is more of an emotionless being than original recipe Vision was, may be the ticket to bringing Vision back to life in the MCU. Not that sitcom world Vision isn’t real, but he can’t pass through that pesky Hex barrier. Project Cataract Vision most definitely can so this might be how Wanda’s love makes it out of Westview in one piece.
Of course, it’s also possible that Vision will make the ultimate sacrifice, once again, as that’s kind of in his nature. We barrel into this finale not knowing if we’re headed toward triumph or tragedy. Hopefully…it’s a nice mix of both?
Question: Will We Find out More About Monica’s “Engineer” or Agatha’s “Husband Ralph”?
WandaVision feels so stuffed now that it seems unfair for the single episode that’s left to have to introduce someone new, be it a secret big evil watching over everything (Mephisto, Dormammu, Chthon, etc) or Monica’s unseen “aerospace engineer” (Reed Richards, Amadeus Cho, etc).
Of course, if this does happen, it doesn’t have to take up too much space. That’s what mid-credit scenes are for, right?
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Question: Will We Find Out Anything about Jimmy’s Secret Witness?
S.W.O.R.D. was originally called in to help the FBI because Jimmy Woo went to Westview looking for a missing witness from the Witness Protection Program. This is when Jimmy discovered Westview had been, basically, taken off the game board by Wanda. Will this witness ever come back into play or was that just sort of a throwaway bit used to get us into the story? Jimmy never mentioned his witness when the townsfolk’s real identities were being pulled and posted.
Question: Is Wanda Creating the Commercials Too?
The easiest answer to this is “yes,” right?
But the commercials-within-the-show always stood out because they represent Wanda’s secret pain squeaking through. Why would she create a hexed dream world, based on her love of sitcoms, but then make ad breaks that subtweet her so damn hard?
Plus, some of them, like the Nexus one, hint at things that Wanda doesn’t even actively know about. Yet. Unless within her psyche, trapped, is the knowledge of everything (because of the Mind Stone). Remember how it gave her a glimpse of Scarlet Witch’s costume back when she was a HYDRA experiment?
Either way, the ads have always felt like nefarious bullet points in Wanda’s giant presentation of paradise.
Did you have any lingering questions or theories? Share them below, and vote in this week’s poll too!
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