By Dante Spado
Initially, I was a little skeptical of WandaVision. I’m a huge Marvel fan, dating back to when I had a huge bin of superhero action figures as a kid. I’d use my imagination and make up all sorts of scenarios that my action figures were in. I’d have them team up to fight bad guys, fight each other or even do my own crossovers, like having the Green Goblin fight Wolverine.
Never did I have them pretend to be in a sitcom.
While the first two episodes brought new life to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), they just didn’t FEEL like Marvel. They felt more like a (well-done) fan-made spinoff. By the end of the third episode, I came around to the sitcom idea and became invested in and intrigued by what was going on in Westview. Then the bombshell fourth episode had me singing the show’s praises.
The fourth episode finally took us outside of Westview and helped shed some light on what was going on in Wanda and Vision’s new home. The way they did it was so incredibly effective, and it reminded me, after a year-long hiatus, why Marvel is so good at what they do.
Enter Jimmy Woo, Darcy Lewis and Monica Rambeau. Three minor characters who have only appeared in the MCU in small ways. Heck, Darcy hasn’t been in anything since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. That was almost eight years ago. Eight! Yet when she came in, it was like I was seeing an old friend.
By giving these minor characters the front stage, Marvel helped me feel more comfortable with what was going on. If they were three new, random characters, I know for certain I would not have felt this way. But, by playing off previously established connections and bringing in characters who the audience is familiar with, no matter how small their role was before, the show became much more grounded in the MCU. Suddenly, I felt like I was right alongside Jimmy, Darcy and Monica in figuring the mystery of Westville out.
Even though Captain Marvel came out in 2019, seeing Monica all grown up brought on a sense of sweet nostalgia. Seeing Darcy after she and Jane seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth in the third Thor movie was also a great surprise, and strengthened WandaVision’s place in the MCU by going back to a character who was introduced in Phase 1. Lastly, Jimmy Woo’s connection fit perfectly, entering the story from the angle of working a missing person’s case for the FBI. In addition to his previous entanglements with Scott Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp, it’d almost be weird if he WASN’T there, yet I never expected him to be.
By bringing in characters from other parts of the MCU, Marvel gave the audience something to feel comfortable in order to combat all the weirdness going on, a sort of security blanket to fall back onto. I now know it’s okay that I don’t know what’s going on because THEY don’t know what’s going on either. By seeing them have some of the same questions I have, such as, “is Vision dead?” makes me feel like I’m part of the team. That’s exactly what Marvel wanted, and they did it masterfully by giving the side characters the center stage.