A Brief But Necessary Primer For WandaVision (Because It’s Getting Weird)

The first series in the Disney+ highly anticipated superhero rollout is WandaVision, a trippy adventure starring Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). WandaVision, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe release in almost two years, gives fans a front row seat to the literal chaos of Wanda's mind.

As one of the early projects of MCU's Phase Four lineup, the events of WandaVision will no doubt impact the trajectory of all of the remaining films and shows down the pipeline for this next period. However, early trailers of the new limited series are... confusing, to say the least. Wanda isn't quite herself, and something is noticeably off about the world around her. And Vision is somehow still present despite being brutally murdered by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War. Suffice to say, things are getting weird in the MCU.

Before you get lost in the sauce of Wanda's alternate realities, read this helpful primer that will shed light on how the Scarlet Witch might have found herself in this TV-inspired world — and what it might mean for the rest of the universe.

WandaVision is set shortly after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which explains a lot for the series plot-wise. In the Disney+ original, Wanda and Vision have happily settled in an idyllic suburban community called Westview as husband and wife. They're your typical neighborhood couple — except with powers — and they're finally living the lives they've always dreamed of. No Thanos. No Avengers. No saving the day.

Well...yes, he is. When Thanos and his Black Order goons first came to Earth, they killed Vision by removing the Mind Stone that powered him. Even after Thanos was defeated for good, Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) final sacrificial act led to the destruction of all of the Stones, meaning that Vision can't actually be brought back to life.

But that doesn't mean that he's gone forever, at least not in Wanda's mind.

Wanda's abilities are extremely powerful; through her chaos magic, the superhero can create energy to move things through telekinesis, create force fields, and even fly. Most importantly, her power allows her to essentially alter reality as we know it, which is probably happening throughout WandaVision.

Think about it: peace has been restored to the universe after the Thanos' decimation, and almost everyone survived the battle except for Tony and Vision. Wanda was initially willing to put the fate of the world at risk just so she wouldn't have to lose her robot lover — she's definitely taking Vision's death hard. What we're seeing now is probably the combination of her grief and her powers creating a fractured reality in which she and Vision can live a "normal" life together.

If you've been watching Marvel movies long enough, you know that everything is connected to a bigger storyline, and WandaVision is no exception. Olsen has been confirmed to appear in the horror-leaning Doctor Strange sequel (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), and the Disney+ series' reality-altering storyline definitely plays into the idea of a multiverse. Elizabeth Olsen hinted on an recent appearance of Good Morning America that the stories are far more intertwined than one might think.

"There's never much we can talk about in Marvel," Olsen teased on the morning show, "But I do think that WandaVision is a natural progression into what happens in Doctor Strange 2."