Thinking outside and inside the box makes this show a delight
As highly-anticipated Marvel series WandaVision arrives on Disney+, Danielle de Wolfe learns more about the conceptual sitcom
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is vast, attracting some of the most loyal fans of any film franchise in existence. Faithful fan bases aside, it also boasts some of cinema’s most intertwined storylines and complex character crossovers.
And new series WandaVision is no exception.
Marking the beginning of a new relationship with the Disney+ streaming service, the nine-part series is the first MCU television series to incorporate characters from previous Marvel film releases.
Starring Godzilla and Captain America: Civil War star Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, the new show also stars British actor Paul Bettany, who previously starred in Avengers: Infinity War, as a synthetic humanoid named Vision.
The new show finds Wanda and Vision living together in a world reminiscent of a quintessential American sitcom. A family complete with two children of their own, the pair inhabit different stylised sitcom eras as the superhuman series progresses.
“I think that Wanda and Vision are really as a couple a fan favourite because their love story has been so very tragic but also really kind of warm and intimate,” notes Black Widow writer and WandaVision showrunner, Jac Schaeffer, 43.
“And we’ve seen them in these really beautiful kind of stolen moments in the MCU.
“We get to see them doing dishes and in the kitchen and being cute and just all the sort of homebody stuff that you would never get to see a superhero participate in.”
One of the most anticipated projects of 2021, WandaVision forms part of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In a simplified sense, this means tying the sitcom series into MCU films such as Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, alongside fan favourites including Captain Marvel.
With both characters previously appearing in MCU films – Wanda in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Vision in Avengers: Age Of Ultron – Wanda and Vision’s storylines continue to unravel, albeit in a more domestic setting.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is – feels so different’,” notes Bettany, 49, of the WandaVision concept.
“How do I keep [Vision] the same? And then I realised he’s always been becoming something else, you know.” Combining the sitcom format with cleverly interjected commercials featuring familiar MCU concepts, the WandaVision writers were able to subtly drop hints to wider storylines. “How [are] other truths of the show beginning to leak out? And commercials was an early idea for that,” notes WandaVision producer and president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, 47.
“If this is the very first Marvel, MCU thing you’re watching, it’s just a strange version of a ’50s commercial or ’60s commercial that you’ll have to keep watching the series to understand.
“If you have been watching all the movies, you might be able to start connecting what those things mean to the past.”
Audiences can also expect to see the return of Monica Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris, who reveals that her character is set to reappear outside the confines of WandaVision after the series airs.
“We met Monica in Captain Marvel as a little girl and basically in WandaVision we pick up with who she is now as a grown woman,” says Parris, 33. “We will get to see Monica join Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel and Miss Marvel in Captain Marvel 2.”
When it came to Wanda’s influences, Olsen, 31, notes that she “was like an amalgamation of Mary Tyler Moore and Elizabeth Montgomery.
“I think I accidentally threw in some I Love Lucy in the ’70s just because there was so much physical comedy.”
In a similar vein, given his character’s background, Bettany opted for a wide-ranging, eclectic mix of character influences when crafting Vision.
“He’s Jarvis, he’s part Ultron, he’s part Tony Stark, and he’s omnipotent but he’s also this sort of naïve ingenue,” asserts the actor.
“I’ll just throw a little bit of Dick Van Dyke in there and a little bit of Hugh Laurie … little smidges, you know.”
“I think what Vision is is just decent and honourable and exists for Wanda.”
“I think there is a lot more slapstick and physical comedy early on,” notes Bettany of the series.
“Luckily, by the time we get to the ’90s, they’ve all made me look so
ridiculous that I didn’t really have to work that hard for the laughs.” Featuring stylised highlights from the golden age of television, alongside nods to sitcoms from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, WandaVision embodies classic television through the ages.
Given the vital role of idiosyncrasies when it comes to defining the decades within WandaVision, the characters’ physicality naturally became a key element within the series.
“I mean, the way women move throughout the decades changes so much when it comes to what society wants from them,” notes Olsen. “And so we do – Jac did write in quite a few nods to how those were evolving through the decades. In the ’60s she gets to wear some pants and that would adjust how someone moves through space.
“Manners were a huge part of every decade and so we would get this book of manners for the time as well. But we also have to remember that we’re not depicting an honest reality of the ’60s or the ’70s.”
Despite WandaVision’s characters being firm favourites among fans, the idea of a sitcom-based domestic superhero series took some selling. “There were a lot of meetings before people actually sort of understood what we were trying to go for,” notes Feige.
“But certainly with the Disney+ opportunities, it has allowed us to expand creatively what we do. We have things that you will only be able to see initially in theatres. We have things that could end and are made for that, and this is very much made to be seen week after week on television, which is very different for us and was very fun and it is as bold as it comes. The unexpected has often served Marvel Studios well. And it has served us well in this case.”
I think I accidentally threw in some I Love Lucy in the ’70s just because there was so much physical comedy
ELIZABETH OLSEN
I’ll just throw a little bit of Dick Van Dyke in there and a little bit of Hugh Laurie … little smidges, you know
PAUL BETTANY
WandaVision is streaming now on Disney + with episodes on Fridays