Spoilers WandaVision discussion thread

Spoiler: This can't possibly be the same thing...

The "Darkhold" in this finale can't be the same book as the one in Season Four of Agents of SHIELD.

 

It's alive, and might appear quite different to everyone.

 

Wow. That was a fantastic conclusion to a truly powerful season that focused on how someone with superpowers would deal with grief and trauma. Coming into this series, I worried how the show would handle Wanda's pain and feared that it would create a stigma about mentally ill people doing terrible things. Instead, it was a thoughtful take on how Wanda coped with not just the lost of Vision, but also her past traumas of death of her parents during the war in Sokovia and brother's death at the hands of Ultron. On top of all of that, Wanda began to understand her own magic and how to learn from her past mistakes.

I was greatly impressed by the dueling between Wanda and Agatha and how it wasn't just colored sparks of energy shooting at each other. Sure, there was plenty of that, but there was more to the dueling than just that energy. We saw Agatha's manipulations of Wanda's Westview reality and the type of decay Agatha left upon her coven also effecting Wanda. I was especially happy to see Wanda using her nightmare magic again, including the rapid movement and sound effects we saw in the Sokovian castle, which was an aspect of her magic that I had been greatly missing since Age of Ultron.

I also loved the dueling between the illusionary colored Vision and the physical White Vision and how it moved from the tradition fighting of lasers, phasing, and general Westview destruction to a philosophical discussion about existence. Because of course the ultimate battleground between two sentient synthezoids would be about higher thinking instead of slugging it out. Even though it was expected, I loved that it appears that the illusionary Vision (now revealed to be an extension of Wanda's aspect of the Mind Stone) imparted a part of the Mind Stone upon the White Vision. So now the White Vision is a restoration of the previous Vision's body with the memories and core programing but now also with a bit of the personality and existence of the original Vision that came from the Mind Stone. When we see White Vision again, he won't be a simple reviving of the old Vision, nor will he be the automaton created by SWORD. I cannot wait to see how his nature develops in future appearances.

While we didn't get much from her since it's not her show in the end, it was great to see Monica use her powers in a meaningful way and that she recognized what that means for her. The mid-credits scene isn't what I expected but I loved seeing a Skrull pop up nonetheless with an invitation to reunite with Carol! The joyful smile on Monica's face confirms what I suspected before: Her reaction to Jimmy's mentioning of Carol wasn't about some strife between the two of them, but was instead a small pang that she wasn't able to mourn her mother's death with Carol. I cannot wait to see the two of them team-up in the next Captain Marvel film!

My only real disappointment in the finale is that Darcy didn't get much to do, but at least she went out with a banger! Capturing the coward Hayward fleeing the scene by smashing her vehicle into his with her classic snark was a great concluding scene for her. I can only hope we don't have to wait another eight years for her to return. It seems unlikely at this point that she's in Love and Thunder but I can still hope.

I stand corrected: I'm also disappointed that not only was Evan Peters not XMU Pietro in any shape or form, but he was also the unseen Ralph. I guess technically the show didn't break the unseen character trope considering we never saw Peters as Ralph during the sitcom episodes. It does make sense that he was Wanda's neighbor and that's why Agatha kept referring to him in a dismissive manner. Another red herring, ah well.

Speaking of red herrings, I was wrong about Dr. Strange. It really made sense to me that he would show up, even if only for one scene, considering the serious amount of magic that happened essentially in his backyard! Instead, we got nothing of him aside from Agatha namechecking the sorcerer supreme when she revealed the Darkhold book. Even its use should have gotten Strange's attention considering I'm still certain it was originally in the library of Kamar-Taj. Hopefully we'll get some kind of explanation about his absence in The Multiverse of Madness.

 

It's interesting that you saw the Skrull invitation being for her to reunite with Carol. I thought it was a invitation to reunite with Nick Fury, who I assume is still up in space.

Jason

 

2 or 3 (depends how you interpret last seconds of the end-credit scene) out of 4 ain't bad

-So I knew they couldn't keep Vision dead forever. The White Vision now has all of OG Vision's memories (or important ones anyway) it seems, some of the Mind Stone powers transferred over to him, so he definitely will be back
-Tommy and Billy will be back, somehow, somewhere
-Agatha/Agnes is around (in Westview) with permanent memory block from Wanda. So she'll be back
-Monika and that Krull are probably a setup for Captain Marvel 2.. Meh, the least important of future setups..
-Agnes mentioning that Scarlett Witch is more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme, lol. I almost was waiting for Dr. Strange to show up at last second to say he had some thoughts about that... Definitely a name drop like that is the setup for Dr. Strange 2 next year.
-No Mephisto, that's good
-No XMU in MCU (yet). Fake Pietro, is really a fake Pietro (so how da hell did he actually move so fast then, Agnes magic?)
-Small role for Darcy, that's ok. I guess
-Agent Woo, magic tricks and bluffing! Nice. He better be back in next Ant-Man and Wasp movie.
-Who is going to be new Director of SWORD? Don't know if it's important to track that or not.

Overall, very nice episode. Perhaps not as epic as all the built-up led everyone to believe. But it served very nicely as setup for future of MCU

 

Speaking of Agatha. Is she going to be in jail acting like a sitcom neighbor or still live in a house in town but how will that stuff work when dealing with real people as opposed to fictional tv versions of people Wanda turned everyone into.


Jason

 

I made a point of watching Episode 9 before leaving for work this morning and I'm glad I did. An epic episode that sets up things so nicely going forward whilst still telling a very personal story around Wanda and her grief.

 

Could be both. No reason why Carol wouldn't also be there since she's an ally to both those Skrulls and Nick. Monica was a lot closer to Carol than Nick in Captain Marvel but I suppose she would've gotten to know him in the intervening years, especially since Maria built SWORD. That said, Carol was the one who was namechecked earlier in the season and not Nick.

Yes, as indicated by glowing necklace that Monica pulled off his neck.

 

White Vision showing up as part of the final confrontation makes sense from a smoking gun point of view. There was so much speculation of what crazy twist might come but everything that was here had been built up and established over the course of the series.

I get the poetic justice and all that but I didn't really care for Agatha's final fate and what you mentioned passed through my mind as well. Not that she didn't deserve some form of justice but I didn't find that as satisfying as I'd like.

And ultimately, Agatha did a good thing, if not for completely altruistic reasons, getting Wanda to release the citizens of Westview from their tortured forced participation in her fantasy/delusion.

 

Where the hell was Luke Skywalker? I was waiting for him to show up the whole episode.

Beautiful episode. Perfect ending for this series, didn't need anyone else showing up.
I was so impressed by the show. It wasn't the marvel series I was most interested in seeing but I think it will end up as my favorite.

It's like trying to enter the Wandavision world. Need some kind of space tank to get in.

 

In season 2 of Wandavision they can now explore witch movies. Wizard of Oz, Hocus Pocus and Blair Witch Project.


Jason

 

They're ignoring the TV shows, so yes.

 

Why not?

The change in appearance doesn't matter. Bruce Banner, James Rhodes and Fandral all look different than when we first saw them too. The thing is magic, after all. Agents of Shield Season 4 isn't even the last time we saw the thing. It showed up in Runaways season 3 as well.

 

Ok, I know marvel has always played fast and loose with the moral implications of their characters actions, with the Sokovia Accords and Civil War being the closest to an actual examination of them, but Wanda was a straight up supervillain in this.

She kidnapped and tortured an entire town of people for weeks and recieved no comeuppance for it! All because she's the "good guy".

Agatha was the real hero here, even if her motives were selfish - which I'm not entirely convinced they are. She genuinely believes Wanda will destroy the world.

Wanda's a monster.

 

I don't think anyone could have stopped her if they tried. I got to say I was expecting her to turn herself in though and surprised she didn't. Seeing as how the government created White Vision though and her own past being held locked up by HYDRA I can see why she would make the choice to basically self-exile herself. Which happens to be the David Banner approach also when it comes to avoiding the governments.

Jason

 

That was the way I interpreted that scene too, since Nick was the one who was established as working with the Skrulls in the end of Far From Home.
For some reason it keeps stopping before the last scene at the very end of the credits, so I haven't seen that one yet. I started on my PS4 and when that wouldn't play it, I also tried on my tablet and my computer, it kept stopping before the end with them too. So this is all based off everything before that scene.
This was a great finale, we didn't get any of the cameos anyone was expecting, but honestly I think that was for the best since anybody else showing up would have been to distracting.
We got some great action, both with the Wanda vs Agatha fight, and the Vision vs Vision fight.
I was expecting White Vision to end up getting his memories restored, so that wasn't a surprise, but I was shocked he didn't show back up at the end.
Agatha's fate was not at all what I expected, but I liked it.
I was surprised they actually did erase the twins, but that also happened in the comics, and they brought them back, so there's always a chance the MCU will do the same thing.
I was surprised we actually saw the Darkhold, although I'm not sure how well what we got here lines up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

Maybe the Darkhold came from another universe. We think we didn't get any multi-verse stuff but we did with the book and won't know it until the next Doctor Strange movie.

Jason

 

There's no "might" about it. We repeatedly the pages of the Darkhold were different depending on who was reading it, though I misremembered seeing a different cover before, too (that might've been an inference I drew from the fact that the book would predate the english language, so the outside must've also been a kind of illusion). Sure, I would've been even more delighted if they shipped over the old prop... no, wait, the old prop was auctioned off, so they had to make a new one. So, yeah, I'm exactly as delighted as I could've been as someone who's always hoping for an AoS name drop.

 

In Hancock, Will Smith also turned himself in. It just doesn't mean the same when no prison can actually hold you. Self-exile is probably the best citizens of Westview could have hoped for as punishment for Wanda

 

Honestly, I think it's a little premature to say one way or the other. The smile could just be about getting to go back into space, or because the "old friend" isn't Carol or Nick, but Talos's daughter.

I think it's a safe bet that Strange is a little busy right now. I mean remember what The Ancient One told Bruce about a world without the time stone to help defend it? The transdimensional nasties much be swarming out of the woodwork. Indeed, that may be how Wanda gets involved; they flat out said the Scarlett Witch surpasses the Sorcerer Supreme, so who better to recruit?