For comic book fans, the show has obvious roots in stories such as 80s series Vision and the Scarlet Witch – where the couple marry and settle down – and Tom King’s 2016 tale The Visions, which follows Vision as he tries to live an ordinary life with an ordinary robot family in suburbia. Except, of course, within the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Vision was last seen being killed by Thanos in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. So how can he be alive here? And what even is ‘here’, anyway?
Those are the questions that are constantly ticking in the background, and which inform the show’s most intriguing and surreal moments. A flash of colour in a black-and-white rose bush, a mysterious message from the radio, a neighbour suddenly acting strangely – as the series progresses, so does your impression that this reality is beginning to crack.
This is especially true in the third episode, which drags the couple into the colourful and garish aesthetic of 70s sitcom The Brady Bunch. There is not much that can be said about the plot here – for fear of spoilers – but suffice to say that there are scenes in this episode that feel like they have been ripped straight from The Truman Show. Not to mention an ending that will leave you hungry for more – not only to see where the larger mystery goes, or which sitcom era they will recreate next, but to find out what other thrilling creative risks they might take.
WandaVision may not have been Marvel’s first choice to launch their new slate of Disney+ shows – but it’s certainly more than enough to raise excitement about the future.
★★★★☆
WandaVision is streaming on Disney+ from 15 January 2020.
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