At this weekend’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, the Disney+ presentation unveiled an absurd volume of fan-pleasing revelations, including new Marvel shows, The Mandalorian trailer, and crazy details about the What If…? TV show that will turn the MCU upside down. In addition, we also heard a lot more about a series called WandaVision that simply seemed puzzling in early spring. The show revolves around those galaxy-crossed lovers, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), and we’d already heard that the show would be set in the 1950s, so folks assumed that this would be a time-traveling affair because (I guess) that’s what the MCU does now.
However, the teaser that actually surfaced at D23 was definitely weird but also downright bizarre, and a little bit like a sitcom with The Outer Limits vibes. Yes, the show is set in the 1950s, and while it won’t shoot until 2020, Disney and Marvel Studios spliced together a teaser to communicate the vibe of the series (which is planned for a 6-hour first season). There’s plenty of preexisting shots of Wanda and Vision in different states of coupledom and conflict in various MCU flicks, and those get stapled together with weird TV effects and a not-at-all-subtle homage to The Dick Van Dyke Show. This isn’t anything that we’ve ever seen or expected from the MCU, and to mix things up even more, the series introduced some old friends who will co-star in WandaVision:
(1) Kat Dennings, reprising the role of scientist Darcy Lewis that she played in multiple Thor Movies;
(2) Randall Park, returning as FBI agent Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man And The Wasp; and
(3) Teyonah Parris, who’s new in acting for the MCU but will play the grown version of Captain Marvel‘s Monica Rambeau, who might become Captain Marvel one day.
In addition, Kathryn Hahn will be appearing as a character who resembles a “nosey neighbour from a sitcom.” The Disney+ presentation managed to not only score Olsen and Bettany but Dennings, Park, and Hahn, and it’s not clear how on earth Monica Rambeau will be all grown up in the 1950s when she was a child in the 1990s, but it just really seems like Disney+ wants this series to be as confusing as possible. Mission accomplished.
