Whoops, we missed this Marvel Studios intro. Even when acting opposite minor MCU movies, in a past life it usually indicated that he was about to see some ridiculously expensive superhero on the big screen, which we haven't been to. able to do since July 2019. at the start of WandaVision, the first canon TV show produced by Marvel Studios, is strangely evocative, even if you're just a casual Marvel fan. However, the series that awaits you behind this logo is unlike anything you've seen before in the MCU. WandaVision is an odd choice for the first MCU show to launch on Disney Plus, but it was never intended that way. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a more conventional-looking show, resembling a six-episode Captain America movie, was supposed to start, and it makes sense. It is a more subversive and experimental show. It's not incredibly weird, but it's an MCU show ostensibly billed as an American sitcom, or rather a sitcom series, as it gradually weaves its way through riffs on old-time hits like me. Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched (which, we admit, we know only moderately).
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(Image credit: © Marvel Studios 2020. All rights reserved.) In WandaVision, Avengers Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) lead idyllic lives in the suburban town of Westview. The stakes in their daily lives are beautiful and low: they try to keep Vision under wraps by being a synthetic pink, while Wanda tries to throw the perfect dinner party for Vision's new boss. Each of the three episodes we've seen uses a family comedy plot like this as a starting point. Clearly though, as the WandaVision trailers have widely suggested, something stranger and darker is at work below the surface. Vision, as we know, is dead: Thanos destroyed him at the end of Avengers: Infinity War when the Mind Stone was removed from his forehead. We never really saw Wanda cry for him. Here he seems alive and the couple seems to be living happily together. We have theories about what's going on, based on those first three episodes, but that mystery is basically at the heart of the series. What's surprising is how firmly WandaVision is committed to being a sitcom. It's not that funny, but Olsen and Bettany have strong chemistry, and clearly a lot of money has been spent to nail the look of the shows it pays homage to. If you're expecting a lot of superhero battles, this really isn't that kind of show, at least not yet. Much of each episode is actually dedicated to some wacky sitcom plot, unwanted appearances by neighbors (including Kathryn Hahn, who you'll feel like you've seen on a million great sitcoms), and goofy snapshots. of life in the suburbs. Side note: It's really cool that actress Emma Caulfield, who played Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is part of the cast of this series.
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(Image credit: © Marvel Studios 2020. All rights reserved.) WandaVision's idea of using an old comedy aesthetic to hide darker secrets isn't new — everything from the Pleasantville movie to the Fallout 3 game to an episode of Scrubs has already tapped into that idea. Still, the way it's placed here as the basis for a mystery drama is genuinely inventive, and when the show decides to take a dramatic turn, it's truly surprising and effective. For the MCU, which often feels like it's on repeat when it comes to the way movies are shot or ideas set up, WandaVision's stylistic choices result in something that truly feels against type. The show also gets bonus points for having period-specific fake ads that attract good references from the larger MCU. Fortunately, these are some of the only references to the rest of the canon in these opening episodes of WandaVision: the series is much more concerned with drawing attention to its main characters and spending time on their characterization than you are. could never appreciate. the movies. It's a huge force that we hope to see replicated in other MCU shows. While we're sure content-starved MCU fans will embrace WandaVision, it's fair to say that it's still a bit unusual for Marvel's first stint on TV. It doesn't sound like a ``flagship'' show like The Mandalorian was for the Star Wars universe. In fact, if this was the first big-budget show Disney Plus launched with in 2019, it would have seemed a bit odd as a way to get subscribers excited. However, as part of the larger MCU, this experimental series feels refreshingly different from the 23 movies you've seen over and over again. We're curious to see how the mystery unfolds over the next few weeks. Today's best Disney Plus deals