*MAJOR WANDAVISION SPOILERS!!!*
So let’s assume that not everybody is a Marvel wonk, even when it comes to the box office-shattering movies. I’ve received enough questions from folks confused about Fox’s Marvel stuff and Marvel Studios to know that’s true. And if that’s the case, there are probably a bunch of people who don’t get what the big fucking deal was with this week’s episode of WandaVision, which dropped a Sokovia-sized bomb on all of us.
I watched this week’s episode with my roommate, who must’ve thought I was insane for screaming and pounding the couch at the mind-blowing finale.
Here’s the deal: episode five of WandaVision did something fans of Fox’s X-Men universe, now defunct since the acquisition by Disney, have been waiting for. They’ve brought someone from that universe over into the MCU. That person is Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver, played in the Fox movies by Evan Peters. He was rumored for it some time ago and I think we all wrote it off as unlikely.
But wait! Hold up! How’s that possible? The last time we saw Quicksilver in the MCU it was in Avengers: Age of Ultron, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The speedy brother of Wanda Maximoff, he was killed by Ultron at the end of that movie. In episode three of WandaVision, Pietro’s name got dropped pretty significantly, and I think all of us expected that we would see Taylor-Johnson pop in for a cameo, or somehow be brought back into the fold permanently. If Wanda can return Vision to the land of the living, why not the brother she’s loved so much? This is her perfect little sitcom world, isn’t it?
As Wanda’s control over the people of Westview continues to slip, and hints are dropped that she may not be the one truly running things there, someone knocks on the door. She and Vision have been arguing, with him showing his first real signs of distrust. Wanda goes to answer, and we see the back of someone’s silver-haired head.
“She recast Pietro!”, Darcy (Kat Dennings) says from a SWORD facility outside of Wanda’s influence.
What does having Evan Peters enter the MCU as the character he played in Fox mean? This is the same Quicksilver who was such a stand-out character in Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, and less-so in Dark Phoenix. His arrival teases the potential arrival of the entire cast of X-Men characters, and fans are undoubtedly seeing visions of Michael Fassbender’s Magneto dancing in their heads. When will Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine pop his claws in Star-Lord’s face?
Chill out, True Believers! That’s probably not going to happen. Not yet, anyway, and almost certainly not in WandaVision.
Look, I want to see that giant X-men vs. Avengers crossover as much as anybody, but remember that Kevin Feige loves to mess with the fans. Bringing Evan Peters in to play a version of Quicksilver is his way to get people talking about the possibilities, and to have that moment that shatters the entire fucking Internet. I think he’s gone and accomplished that. Elizabeth Olsen recently promised us a Skywalker Moment similar to his amazing cameo in The Mandalorian, and this totally lives up.
However, we don’t know if Peters is actually playing Pietro. Here me out, but I think he’s just a guy. Just some dude from Westview who is being manipulated, like all of the other residents of Westview, into playing a role that fits Wanda’s narrative. If that is the case, when this whole thing comes crashing down, Pietro, or whoever he is, goes back to being a nobody.
The reason I say this is because it’s highly unlikely for Marvel to follow through on the promise of Peters’ version of Quicksilver coming to the MCU. Other than Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, we’re not going to see James Marsen’s Cyclops, or Patrick Stewart’s Xavier, or any of the cast of Fox’s movies. I still hold out hope for Jackman, but even that is unlikely.
It’s a dangerous game Feige is playing, though. This kind of tease is incredible, and trust me I’ll watch this episode a hundred times between now and next Friday. But if it isn’t followed up on in a way that some fans hope, there could be a backlash.
WandaVision remains one of the great surprises Marvel has ever produced. The first few episodes were a bit too cautious for my liking, but dammit if they haven’t put their pedal to the metal in a big way. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
