A vision of TV’s past

WandaVision expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it hurtles through sitcom history, writes Brian Truitt.

AS a group the Avengers dealt with cosmic supervillain Thanos, so how bad could a live studio audience be? Heroic witch Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her android love Vision (Paul Bettany) hurtle through decades of TV sitcom history in WandaVision, the first of several Disney+ streaming series that expand the bigscreen Marvel Cinematic Universe. Olsen and Bettany were at ground zero for this new evolution, taping the first, Dick Van Dyke Showinspired episode of WandaVision in front of a crowd.

Olsen confesses to being ‘‘terrified’’ beforehand. ‘‘I was really thinking back in my head, ‘Yeah, but if we really mess up, we'll get to do it again.' ’’

Bettany says he was also ‘‘really resistant. I tried to get out of it’’.

But by the time the audience was laughing, ‘‘we all felt fearless after having made that tonal decision and leap into the unknown’’.

WandaVision drops its main characters into seemingly idyllic, blackandwhite 1950s suburban Westview. Vision goes to work — though he doesn't exactly know what he does — while Wanda is a magical housewife, and they have a kooky nosy neighbour named Agnes (Kathryn Hahn). Each episode finds Wanda and Vision in a wacky setup, like doing a magic act at the town talent show, mimicking TV comedy eras, with nods to series from Bewitched and The Brady Bunch to Family Ties and Malcolm in the

Middle, complete with faux commercials. ‘‘We aren't trying to satirise or parody the sitcoms. We're trying to authentically recreate them, even as absurd as The

Brady Bunch is,’’ Olsen says.

‘‘They decide to just take it on the chin and go along with it,’’ Bettany adds of the main couple.

‘‘As they start through the American century at breakneck speed through different sitcoms, Vision is the first to go, ‘Wait a second. There's something wrong about this town. This can't be

right.' So he starts to investigate and the audience comes along with him.’’

It wouldn't be a Marvel project if everything was normal. Both Wanda and Vision notice strange things in their retro life, hinting at the slowburn mystery that's ‘‘completely connected to Wanda and Vision and how we know them’’, Olsen teases.

The show also finally puts the spotlight on these two characters, who spent years playing supporting roles to more highprofile personas like Chris Evans' Captain America and Robert Downey jun's Tony Stark in blockbuster Marvel movies.

Bettany has been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the beginning, first as the voice of Stark's helpful AI J.A.R.V.I.S. in 2008's Iron Man and then, under a whole lot of makeup, as the powerful Vision in 2015's Avengers: Age of

Ultron.

That film also featured Olsen's first appearance as Wanda, initially as a vengeful antagonist and later a reluctant hero. There's even a moment where a flying Vision swoops in to save Wanda, with a look between them that acts as an Easter egg to their romance in the comic books and a tease of their relationship to come in the movies.

‘‘We did that because we knew if we got the chance, we'd love to keep building on that,’’ says WandaVision producer and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige.

After being introduced as ‘‘this omnipotent but totally naive being,’’ Vision ironically became one of the Avengers' most human characters, Bettany says.

‘‘And now we just throw in a little Dick Van Dyke and Bryan Cranston. That was the special sauce.’’

The British actor grew up watching American sitcoms, so he appreciates throwback

WandaVision storylines, as when Wanda cooks a lastminute dinner for Vision's boss, or her outofnowhere pregnancy being quickly followed by a 3weekold baby.

‘‘It feels so accurate. And also, I look like I went back in time in a DeLorean and wrestled Robert Redford to the ground, shaved his head and stuck it on mine.’’

Olsen, who showcases many different sides of Wanda, was inspired by the likes of classic sitcom actresses Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched), and Mary Tyler Moore, as well as the more modern

Modern Family star Julie Bowen.

She's ‘‘this straight, serious character, and the husband is the one freaking out all the time’’, she says.

‘‘There's lot of that dynamic consistent as a trope through our sitcoms.’’

WandaVision kicks off a sizeable slate of Disney+ shows that will tie into the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first salvo is centred on recognisable faces:

Falcon and the Winter Soldier (premiering March) features Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan's title superheroes, and Loki

(due in May) returns Tom Hiddleston's trickster god.

They ‘‘all had amazing moments and storylines in the movies, but we weren't able to focus as much time as we thought those characters deserved’’, Feige says.

WandaVision might be seen as a risk, but Bettany reminds us that, in retrospect, Marvel's casting of Downey as Iron Man was ‘‘a maverick decision that paid off. They have usually been rewarded by taking big swings.’’

By design, the show also happens to be essential fan viewing: It ties directly into the upcoming Marvel sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (due in theatres March 2022).

‘‘It would be foolish to pretend that the barrier between film and television isn't getting less and less tangible with every year,’’ Bettany says.

‘‘We're going to have a Marvel Cinematic Universe that moves through [both] with ease and a multimedia platform now for telling these stories. And that is really cutting edge of them.’’

µ WandaVision is available to stream on

Disney+.