By Ethan Clark

With a snap of his fingers, it was all over. The war was over, the villain defeated, the end. However, Marvel fans desired more. We needed more. The story couldn’t be over. I remember asking myself as the credits rolled on Avengers Endgame, “What now?” To which I had no answer. 

On January 15, 2021, the sleeping giant that is Marvel Studios released its next big hit (not including Spider-Man: Far From Home which came out on July 2, 2019). Eager to hop on the Disney+ hype train, Marvel released the first episode of a series that is considered a masterpiece by some and a dumpster fire by others. Let’s look back on the television history time capsule that is WandaVision.

What is WandaVision? WandaVision follows the exploits of two of Marvel’s lesser-known heroes—Wanda Maximoff and Vision—and their new “perfect life” in a television suburban utopia. However, as the decades change through each passing episode, the curtain of reality is slowly pulled back to begin to reveal what’s truly going on. So the theme of the show really becomes “is a perfect life truly possible?” I of course won’t be spoiling the ending, so it is up to you my dear reader to watch the show and find out.

WandaVision promotional poster. Image credit: Disney.

I’d like to start by making it very clear that I enjoyed watching the show while it was premiering every Friday on Disney+, and, if given the chance, would rewatch the show for the first time all over again. With that out of the way, I wish to regale you with the story of a show whose message is muddled by what I like to call “Marvel syndrome.” Marvel syndrome is the term I coined for a singular entity of Marvel, being a singular movie or television series, that attempts to set up a greater story across future installments. That, dear reader, is WandaVision’s fatal flaw. 

The show was set up as a precursor to Marvel’s “Phase Four” of movies, taking place after the events of Avengers Endgame, instead of as a stand-alone storyline. For Marvel’s debut show on Disney+, fans like myself expected the never-before-seen heroes, terrifying supervillains, and intense action sequences that Marvel Studios is known for. Fans like myself, however, were instead met with a parody of The Dick Van Dyke Show with a strange fourth wall-breaking ending, all of which was in the first episode alone. As each episode progressed, I found myself on the edge of my seat waiting for something, anything, to happen and yet the show slowed to a crawl, becoming too focused on referencing the era-specific sitcom the episode was focused around. I will say, however, the episode referencing Full House was a nice touch, since Elizabeth Olsen, who played the lead character Wanda Maximoff, is sisters with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who shared the role of Michelle Tanner on the show. I remember getting to the final episode of WandaVision and saying to myself, “This is it, the final battle, let’s see some action!” and, to an extent, I was correct. There was action, but not what I had expected. 

The fight between the show’s “twist villain” and our protagonist came off as more of a giant game of racquetball, exchanging blows back and forth without any true injury to either side in the process. Meanwhile, our other protagonist, Vision, is fighting a villain revealed during an end credit cutscene that, unless you are fully aware of how Marvel hides end credit sequences in their properties, you might miss in its entirety, leaving you to wonder “Who is this?” and “Where did they come from?” Worse still, when Vision manages to get the upper hand after confusing his opponent with an unanswered question, his enemy disappears without a trace for the rest of the episode for no reason. This is also never explained later on, and the episode just leaves off with more questions than answers. Additionally, a minor side character in the show miraculously gains superpowers which are never explained in the series, except for being hinted at in yet another end credit scene that they would be returning sometime in the future. At the end, however, is where the true problem comes into play. The show is left off on a cliffhanger ending that is made to set up events in the future Marvel Studios project Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in which Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff is confirmed to appear. 

Film critic Andrew Eastep (‘21) provided some insight into the mind-boggling hex that is this show. “It wasn’t action with a purpose to explore character development or move the story along, which I think weakened it,” states Eastep in regards to the show’s finale. “[The final battle] doesn’t really have changing set pieces and results mostly in a struggle for the upper hand that’s bland to watch. Honestly, I don’t remember most of it, which is a bad takeaway for the climax of your show.” 

It is here, dear reader, where I must allow you to decide for yourself. “Is WandaVision a bad show?” I’d say no. “Did it attempt to do something different from the normal Marvel formula?” Indeed, it did. However, if it succeeded in that goal is the true question to be asked. While the show gave us back stories for some of the most overlooked Marvel characters, the show truly served as a love letter to the classic sitcoms that have touched the lives and hearts of so many people, from the groundbreaking I Love Lucy to the ever-popular The Office. Maybe it’s time Marvel rewinds back to what they’re good at: making stories, not introductions.