Wanda is ready to magically punch Agatha.
Marvel StudiosWandaVision arrived at its reality-warping end Friday with episode 9 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe show hitting Disney Plus. We've come to the season finale, in the wake of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) realizing Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is the Chaos magic-wielding Scarlet Witch, and it sure looks like they're gonna fight on the streets of Westview.
Wanda's husband, Vision (Paul Bettany), is also on his way home, having been filled in on his past by astrophysicist Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings). However, we've learned this Vision is a magical construct created by Wanda -- shifty SWORD director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) brought his original synthezoid body back online outside the town, but it appears to be a soulless husk.
Also in play is the newly superpowered SWORD agent Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), whom we last saw being confronted by Pietro Maximoff (Evan Peters) -- Agatha's mysterious minion and an apparent refugee from the X-Men universe.
There, you're caught up. Let's do the incantation of SPOILERS.
Meeting their destinies
The series ends with Wanda releasing Westview and letting her family go -- Vision, Tommy and Billy all vanish with the hex that Wanda created around the town.
"You know, a family is forever," Wanda says as she and Vision put the boys to bed, seemingly for the last time. "We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried."
Wanda and Vision say goodnight to their boys.
Marvel StudiosExcuse me, I need a moment to clear the lump in my throat. She also thanks them for "choosing" her to be their mom, which leaves the question of exactly what they are. Before Vision disappears, we learn he was a representation of the Mind Stone that lives in her, so the twins are probably an extension of that.
An old friend of your mother's
In a mid-credits scene, after Wanda leaves and the FBI starts cleaning up the town, Monica meets an agent in the theater. She reveals herself to be a Skrull sent by a buddy of Monica's late mom -- almost certainly referring to post-credits superstar Nick Fury.
"He heard you'd been grounded. He'd like to meet with you," the agent says, before pointing and looking up furtively.
Fury is either on the roof or somewhere much higher up.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNETThe Skrull "unmasking" mirrors one of the post-credits scenes in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which also revealed that Fury was in space and the version in the movie had been Talos in disguise. Monica's smile hints that she's absolutely up for a space adventure, yes please, giving us our setup for Captain Marvel 2.
Monica displayed even more power in this episode when she stopped Hayward from shooting Billy and Tommy (erasing any kind of ambiguity about the sort of guy he is). She jumps in front of the bullets and they pass through her. She's not hurt, but seemingly absorbs the bullets' kinetic energy and they fall harmlessly to the ground.
In the comics, Monica gained the ability to transform herself into any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum after getting bombarded by extra-dimensional energies -- pretty much what happened to MCU Monica.
Scarlet Witch in the wilderness
The post-credits scene jumps to Wanda living in an isolated cabin, with her physical self boiling a kettle for tea and her separate, magical self reading from the Darkhold, an ancient book of power spells previously seen in Agents of SHIELD and Agatha's mad-creepy basement.
Agatha mentioned there's a whole chapter on the Scarlet Witch, so Wanda is reading it to get a better handle on her powers. But we also hear her vanished sons Billy and Tommy.
The Scarlet Witch rises, and looks absolutely badass.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET"Help! Mom, please!" they cry out from somewhere.
It seems they still exist in some form (possibly elsewhere in the multiverse) so Wanda will obviously be wanting them back.
Does Wanda make two cups of tea -- one for her physical self and one for her magical self? Is that too much tea?
The witch's plan
Agatha reveals she intended to steal Wanda's magic, which would leave Wanda as a shriveled-up prune lady like Agatha's mom, and gives us a taste of the Darkhold's Scarlet Witch chapter.
"The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, no need for incantation," she reads.
Her power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme -- currently Doctor Strange -- and it's her destiny to destroy the world. Feels like one of those prophecies that could be interpreted pretty liberally for maximum drama, somewhere down the line.
Agatha is determined to get Wanda's power.
Marvel StudiosAgatha seemingly tempts Wanda into handing over her power -- cue a glorious cackle from Agatha -- in exchange for fixing Westview and letting Wanda's family live in bliss. Since Wanda isn't an idiot and knows it's a lie, she sneakily mirrors the power-nullifying hex move Agatha used in her basement.
Wanda goes full Scarlet Witch and gets an awesome comic-style costume before sentencing Agatha to live out her existence as nosy neighbor Agnes. I guess she'll just slot in with the normal Westview residents.
"Okey dokey, artichoke," Agnes says, with a fixed grin. Okey dokey … forever.
At least Agatha is still on the board if the plot requires her, which means we'll get more glorious Kathryn Hahn down the line (probably in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness).
Vision prepares to battle himself.
Marvel StudiosVision decision
White Vision, which Hayward created by infusing Vision's original body with Wanda's Chaos magic, has a small but fascinating role in this episode.
He initially appears to Wanda and does that horrible movie serial killer thing by initially appearing affectionate and then starting to crush her head aaaah make him stop. Luckily, Westview Vision (whom Wanda created with her powers as she brought the town under her spell) does just that. It turns out that Hayward has ordered White Vision to "neutralize" Wanda and destroy his Westview counterpart.
However, Westview Vision manages to logic his chalky adversary into chilling out using the Ship of Theseus thought experiment, whether an object that's had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object -- a question that could be asked of both Visions.
Vision restores his original body's memories.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNETWith a touch from his Westview counterpart, White Vision manages to access all the memories up to the point of his death at Thanos' hands. Given the physical contact and revelation that Westview Vision is a representation of Mind Stone in Wanda, it's possible he infused himself into White Vision to some degree.
"I am Vision," the white guy says, before flying off to an unknown destination.
It'll probably be a gradual return as he sorts through his memories, but it seems like the original Vision is coming back. It feels a bit like how Gamora and Loki were brought back in Avengers: Endgame -- the character has been reset to an earlier point in the timeline.
Ralph Bohner, the man with the same face as X-Men universe Pietro Maximoff.
Marvel StudiosMultiverse, maybe not
The apparent Pietro Maximoff from the Fox X-Men universe (Evan Peters) is holding Monica captive in his "man-cave," but she quickly realizes that he's actually Ralph Bohner -- the Westview resident playing the "role" of Agnes/Agatha's previously unseen husband. Monica also comes across a professional headshot, suggesting that Ralph is an actor.
So it seems all the X-Men universe possibilities that I (and maybe you?) have been obsessing over have come to nothin'. To be fair, Ralph Pietro didn't actually make reference to anything that happened in the X-Men movies -- he just had the face, powers and some of the attitude of that version of the character.
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Agatha mentioned that she was possessing him, and he had some recollection of MCU Pietro's death in Avengers: Age of Ultron -- likely a result of Agatha's knowledge of his demise.
It's still possible that there's a multiversal element to this -- Ralph Pietro could be an echo of the X-Men universe. It could also be a test of fans' openness to this possibility, so let's all social media positively and calmly about this. But we probably shouldn't take it as proof that Hugh Jackman Wolverine or Patrick Stewart Xavier will be marching into the MCU anytime soon.
Observations and WTF questions
- Wanda is going to be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which comes out March 25, 2022, so the Scarlet Witch arc will probably continue there. Feels like a long time to wait!
- We still don't know who the people in the commercials were.
- After Wanda slams Agatha in the house with a car, she finds a pair of empty boots in the rubble. This feels like an indirect visual reference to The Wizard of Oz.
- When Wanda opens the Hex to let the Westview residents escape (around 12:56), 2013's Wizard of Oz prequel Oz the Great and Powerful is one of the movies on the sign outside the movie theater. It was directed by Sam Raimi, who helmed the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies and will direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And yes, it's on Disney Plus.
- Also playing are Big Red, a 1962 movie about a show dog who wants to run free, and Kidnapped, a 1960 adaptation of an 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson novel. These are Disney movies, but they aren't on Disney Plus right now.
- Why doesn't White Vision get dirty?
- "Flourish." Jimmy Woo's own career in magic is hitting the next level, since he uses some sleight of hand to steal a phone and get out of handcuffs. He's come a long way from that first trick he learned from Scott Lang and the Online Close-Up Magic University in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
- After Agatha releases Dottie from Wanda's control, she begs Wanda to let her daughter out of her room. It seems like this is where Wanda was keeping the kids of Westview (aside from the Halloween episode) and it's unsettling as heck.
- As Wanda leaves town, the released people of Westview sure do have a "Burn the witch" collective energy going on.
- We get another hint of how dangerous Wanda's powers are when she nearly magically garrotes a bunch of Westview residents after getting stressed.
- After Westview goes back to normal, "Tannhäuser Gate" is playing in the movie theater. This isn't an actual movie, it's a reference to Roy Batty's iconic "Tears in the Rain" speech in Blade Runner, a movie about synthetic humans being hunted while they try to blend in with real people. A bit like Vision.
- "I read somewhere that it's bad luck to say goodbye in the dark." I'll definitely use Vision's faux-superstition in real life soon.
That's it for the show, but Disney isn't about to let the Marvel hype train grind to halt. There's a WandaVision making-of documentary coming to Disney Plus next Friday, March 12, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier begins Friday, March 19 -- we hope you'll join us for more re-Cap-ping fun.
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