Just like last time, I was originally gonna write about a different topic today, but once again, something has happened that has encouraged me to write this instead. And once again, I’m not working from any outline. This might become the norm for me from now on…
Now, as I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog already, I really dig WandaVision! That being said, it’s not perfect. Like most Marvel properties these days, it has a bit of a “trojan horse” problem, in that it often concerns itself with setting up future stories, rather than focusing on the story at hand. That being said, this is one of the few times where I actually don’t mind. Why? The answer is simple: I really like all the characters in this show. Whether they’re playing dress-up and pretending to be living in another decade, or actually being themselves in present-day, this show does enough to make me enjoy seeing these people, even if they aren’t really doing much of anything. There’s plenty of other aspects about the show that I enjoy too, particularly the “meta” factor of it being a love-letter to TV history, which is especially fitting since this is Marvel Studios’ first ongoing show and the beginning of a new post-Thanos era for them and whatnot.
So why am I writing this then? Because something occurred in last week’s episode that got me thinking…
NOTE: Spoilers from here on out! Read on at your own risk…
As most of you reading this probably recall, last week’s episode (the penultimate of the series, as a matter of fact) was structured as a “trauma tour” of sorts, in which we got to go through flashbacks of Wanda’s entire life, leading up to this point. Through these “recaps,” we got to see an aspect of Wanda that was never shown to us in any of the films before, which is that she loves to watch TV, and always has. In fact, we learn that not only does she associate TV (specifically sitcoms) with the happiest moments she ever had with her loving family, but that ever since their death, she has used TV (again, specifically sitcoms) as a means of combating her own trauma.
This works on multiple levels. For one, it explains the rather unique (and enjoyable) premise of this whole show. Furthermore, it allows us to sympathize with Wanda more as a person. Watching shows (funny shows, at that) is a very common practice for getting oneself through stressful times. It especially makes sense that a foreign kid would do this, as I happen to know for a fact that plenty of foreigners learn english by watching American and British television. This whole ordeal also plays into the show’s theme of nostalgia, and how it can be both a good and bad thing. Nostalgia makes us feel good in the moment, but often distracts us from the hard challenges in life we all really have to face. Another thing we learn about Wanda through these sequences is that she has actually always had her powers (just like in the comics). All the infinity stone did was “amplify” those powers. Regardless, it’s implied that the more trauma she endures, the more powerful she becomes. Still not clear if it’s the same case for Pietro, though I would assume so.
Before I go any further, let me make something clear: I actually like both of these revelations. They made me like Wanda’s character much more than I ever did during any of the movies beforehand. Here’s the thing, though… Both of these things are retcons.
For those who don’t know: “Retcon” is shorthand for “retroactive continuity.” In other words, it’s when a storyteller decides to revisit something from an older story and basically say “Never mind! This is actually what happened!” If you’ve already read older posts of mine, you would know that I usually hate rectons. As a matter of fact, I’m one of the few people who often wishes that the famous “I am your father” moment from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was never a thing… And yet, I like both of these retcons here in WandaVision. Also, just to be clear: The Empire retcon is not a real “twist,” in my opinion, as it clearly wasn’t intended from the very beginning (despite whatever Lucas says).
So for the last few days, since the latest episode aired, I’ve been asking myself “Why am I not okay with the beloved Empire retcon, but I am okay with this stuff?” As a matter of fact, as I’m writing this sentence right now, I still don’t know the answer! But we’re gonna explore this question together here in real time and see if we can come to an epiphany. Cool?
Now, before comparing the two aforementioned examples, I think we need to analyze them individually first. Let’s start with the WandaVision stuff. Before this show, we didn’t really know much about Wanda in any of the films. Part of that is because those movies are usually so overstuffed that there isn’t really enough room to explore most of the characters in-depth. But I think an even bigger factor, in the case of Wanda and Pietro at least, is that Marvel themselves weren’t allowed to even touch any of the “good stuff” that existed in the source material for both of these characters.
For the uninitiated: In the 1990’s, Marvel was a failing company, so it started selling off the movie rights to many of it’s characters to other studios. Sony got Spider-Man, the Punisher and Ghost Rider. Fox got the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil & Elektra. Universal got the Hulk and Namor the Submariner (poor guy). Then in the mid 2000’s, Marvel said “Fuck it! We’re gonna make our own movies now! We’re not gonna sell characters to other people anymore!!” And so, with financial support from Paramount (until the Disney buyout in 2009), Marvel Studios was born. And using the characters they had left, they decided to make some Avengers movies. Sure enough, things turned out way better than expected for them, while all of the other studios started to struggle with keeping their own franchises afloat.
Little by little, Marvel slowly started to collect all of their lost characters back. All, that is, except for the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, as Fox was still able to keep a tight grip on those two properties in particular. Here’s the problem, though. Due to a contractual technicality, the characters of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (aka Wanda and Pietro/Peter) counted as both X-Men and Avengers, meaning they could be used by both studios. The only caveat was that Disney/Marvel weren’t allowed to use their superhero names, nor were they allowed to refer to them as “mutants” and/or imply that they were born with their powers.
And so, when both characters were introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron, their backstory was left mostly vague, and it was implied that they got their powers from an infinity stone. Then came 2019, the year when Disney bought Fox for $71 billion (jesus), thus finally giving Marvel the rights back to the Fantastic Four and, perhaps more importantly, the X-Men. And that brings us to WandaVision, where we get the retcon of the MCU versions of Wanda and Pietro actually being mutants all along. And just to add a little something extra there, we learn that “the Scarlet Witch” is a long-standing myth amongst secret witches (who I assume are either mutants themselves and/or people who trained in magic like Doctor Strange).
Now, I think there are two reasons why I am forgiving of this retcon (and I figured both of those things out literally as I typed this sentence, go figure!). For one, it allows Marvel Studios to finally present these characters in a way that’s likely much closer to what they had always intended, but just couldn’t do before now due to all of the contract bullshit. But more importantly than that, however, it opens up the ability for Marvel to expand their movie universe in ways that they were never able to before. Having natural-born mutants exist in the same universe as heroes who get their powers through other means creates some interesting possibilities that we haven’t seen in any of these movies before. Furthermore, a character like Scarlet Witch in particular opens up a whole new layer of lore with witchcraft and “witch myths” and what have you. Just hearing how the name “Scarlet Witch” actually came from some in-universe mythology of some kind really fascinated me.
I suppose there isn’t really much to say regarding that other retcon, which showed Wanda having a close sentimental attachment to sitcoms her whole life (in more ways than one). All of those scenes of her watching TV with loved ones were pretty warm and sweet. Also, now that I think about it (damn, I should type these posts as I think of them more often!) while there’s nothing to suggest in any of the prior movies that she loved TV, there’s also nothing in any of them to suggest that she didn’t! Her origin was left as an almost-blank-slate on purpose, after all. So there’s nothing in any of the old films to contradict this revelation of Wanda being obsessed with TV, and using it as a coping mechanism.
I think that’s the biggest difference between the WandaVision retcons and the famous “I am your father” retcon in Empire. The WandaVision stuff either expands it’s own universe and/or shows us something new about a character that doesn’t contradict what we already knew about them, whereas the Empire stuff does the exact opposite, really. Turning Vader into Luke’s dad (after we were clearly told in the original film that he wasn’t, “a certain point of view” be damned) tells us that only one family matters now, and establishing the Emperor as also being the dark force-wielder who corrupted Vader in the first place tells us that all of the galaxy-wide conflicts could be resolved by simply killing one person.
For those who haven’t read my older posts; the official novelization of Star Wars that came out in 1976 described the Emperor as a doofus with no force powers. All of that shit came later. In the case of Star Wars, this is especially sad, as now people think that these things are the foundation, when they really aren’t. Subconsciously, this is why the fandom has been so divided since the prequels (and arguably even since Return of the Jedi). Just today, as a matter of fact, I stumbled upon a Reddit post saying “Star Wars is supposed to be about the Skywalker bloodline. That was always Lucas’s plan! And then Disney ruined it!!” That was always his plan? Yeah, sure buddy! Believe what that delusional old man says, instead of all the evidence that’s in all of the rough drafts and other documents that have leaked over the years…
The “I am your father” moment in particular though really seems burned into everyone’s brains as being the generally-accepted “core” of Star Wars. You don’t need to look any further than this video to see that. The problem is that it isn’t the core! Star Wars was already a global pop culture phenomenon before Lucas decided to retroactively make the whole thing about just one family and just one “final boss,” among other things (like the force suddenly being a physical superpower now and whatnot).
That all being said, I can admit two things. Firstly; I recognize that a lot of people only got into Star Wars because of the shit introduced in Empire like the darker tone, the family twist, Palpatine being the puppet-master, etc. I can’t take anything away from these people, and I acknowledge the fact that their reasons for falling in love with the franchise (and staying in love with it) are just as relevant as mine. Secondly; I hate to say it, but I have a hard time imagining in my head what a different sequel to the original Star Wars would even be like. I have issues with Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (the Star Wars sequel you didn't see), despite it being more tonally and thematically consistent with the original. I suppose you could just take Empire and tweak it a little bit. Maybe make it more like the original rough draft?
…No, you know what? Maybe Star Wars should’ve never had another movie as it’s sequel. Maybe the “sequel” should’ve been a TV show! Hell, maybe an animated show! I know many people see animation as a lesser artform, but I personally don’t. If anything, cartoons allow for more imagination to be realized. That’s probably why all of the Star Wars cartoons have grown to be my favorite aspect of the whole franchise, actually. Or maybe the best solution is all of the above. A movie sequel that is basically still Empire, just with some tweaks, and a cartoon show in between to fill in some blanks.
But anyway, to summarize the conclusions I’ve come to here: I used to entirely hate retcons, but now I realize that they can actually sometimes be a good thing, but only when they expand the universe of the story and/or show us something new about a character that doesn’t outright contradict what we were told before.
So yeah, one more reason for me to like WandaVision, I guess! I can go on and on about other things in the show that I like. The acting all around (talk about range, man!), the accuracy to all of the different eras, the way the show slowly pulls the curtain back to reveal what’s really going on… Hell, even the name of the show itself has multiple meanings! Vision as in the character himself, vision as in television, vision as in Wanda’s imagination, and vision as in her literal point-of-view (since we see a lot of the show through her eyes). Perhaps the biggest meaning, though, is the fact that the most recent episode showed on the property deed that Vision’s legal first name is The and his legal last name is Vision, which means that, had they gotten the chance to get married before his death, Wanda’s new legal name would actually be Wanda Vision.
The most beautiful moment in the whole show though is easily the scene in the most recent episode where we see the flashback of Wanda showing Malcolm in the Middle to Vision, specifically the moment when she explains that nobody in that show gets injured because “It’s not that kinda show.” That one line alone says it all. And then the fact that Vision follows it up with “What is grief, if not love persevering?” is pretty much perfect. That one scene alone makes me happy that Marvel retconned Wanda into a TV junkie. Also, I know the other two TV shows Wanda watched in these flashbacks related to her personality as well, though neither of those were quite as impactful as the Malcolm one, for me. Though both were still clever.
Needless to say, if there’s any new Marvel project to kick off this new era for them (post-Thanos and post-Fox buyout and whatnot), I’m certainly glad it was this one! As I’ve said before, I’m still a little nervous about a lot of the stuff that it seems to be leading to (multiverse stories, Vision’s actual resurrection, etc.). But regardless of what happens after the show is over, I’m still glad that it at least gave me enough to enjoy the show itself, with or without all of the standard MCU “setup” stuff.
Once again, I apologize for getting off track! Writing without an outline is becoming a lot funner for me, though the trade-off is that I tend to go on a lot more tangents than usual. Hopefully none of you mind!
Peace!
UPDATE 1: I just watched Age of Ultron again, and I noticed that Pietro says the family was eating dinner when they got bombed. But if you look closely at the penultimate episode of WandaVision, you’ll notice that there are trays with TV dinners beside the family when the bomb hits. Clever, Marvel… Clever…
UPDATE 2: I have now seen the WandaVision finale. My only complaint about it is that it felt a little too rushed. Apparently the pandemic had something to do with that. Oh, well… Oh yeah, and why wasn’t Wanda arrested anytime between Endgame and this show? Isn’t she still a fugitive? What about all of the other people who sided with Cap during Civil War? Are they all still on the run? Is Marvel gonna address that? Come to think of it, this whole show (and phase) hasn’t aged welt, for the most part.
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