The excellent WandaVision was a gift for Wanda Maximoff fans like me, as well as introducing a wider viewing audience to the character. The wildly original series was well-received and kicked off the Disney+ Marvel TV era with style. Our best witch girl finally had the time to grieve and explore her own pain and trauma from losing her brother all the way up to the agony of watching her beloved Vision die twice in the span of seconds before being snapped away by Thanos. Prior to this, Wanda had less time on-screen and fewer big moments than many Avengers. WandaVision gave her that and so much more. And part of her grieving process was her twins: Billy and Tommy Maximoff, which on the show she magically manifested. Fans of the Young Avengers know Wanda’s boys quite well, and have been hoping to see more of them.
A new teaser for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness centered around “dreams” gives us a glimpse at the young versions of the twins we met in WandaVision, showing how much Wanda is still thinking about the family she had in Westview. Played by Julian Hillard and Jett Klyne, the two boys were an important part of Wanda’s journey and the pain of losing them is clearly still weighing heavily on her (something comic fans know is rarely a good thing). So to see them displayed in the trailer does make me think we might be seeing some Wanda and the X-Men content coming our way in this movie.
We get a quick glimpse into the two standing in what looks like the same living room from Westview with a dark-haired Wanda coming to stand before them. What this all means is still a mystery to fans.
Strange and Wanda’s dreams
In the trailer, Stephen Strange starts by saying that every night he’s been dreaming and Wanda soon starts to repeat him, saying that every morning the dream becomes a nightmare. Knowing her pain in losing her family, we can assume that means that her life without Tommy and Billy and Vision is a nightmare to her, especially since she’s crying as she says this.
The trailer doesn’t give us any clues as to what Strange’s own dream or nightmare entails, but with Christine walking down the aisle to someone else, we can likely connect the dots there (this is speculation though since we don’t know from the footage we’ve had).
But coming back to Wanda, it’s fascinating to me that she is talking about this pain so freely now. In the past, we occasionally had moments of her talking about her grief to others, showing it in moments of strength against Thanos with “you took everything from me”—but this? It’s a new journey for her. WandaVision was at its heart about the lengths we can go to escape from having to face trauma and loss, and the fallout from repressing these feelings. So it’s good to see her discussing it here.
I know what Wanda’s desire to have her family back brings about in the comics. T Marvel Cinematic Universe Wanda has known so much pain and loss that I wonder how the version of Wanda we’re seeing in the trailer connects to the same Wanda we met in Westview.
It’s nice to have Billy and Tommy back, even if it is just in Wanda’s dreams, but maybe this will bring them into the world of the Young Avengers fully (we very much want this to happen). Either way, I just hope that it lets Wanda have at least one moment of happiness in this movie, and that this dream isn’t a nightmare.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
Published: Apr 6, 2022 05:17 pm