So far the first six episodes of WandaVision have aired on Disney+, and the series has really been getting phenomenal over the last three-episodes. In particular we’ve learned more about S.W.O.R.D. since episode four, and director Tyler Hayward is rather interesting, but I’ll get to him later on. Wanda’s twins Billy and Tommy can not only age rapidly, but their powers have begun to manifest. Then of course Wanda’s deceased brother Pietro has somehow come back to life, and with a new face.
To end episode five Evan Peters made an appearance as Pietro. Peters played the character in Fox’s X-Men franchise before the film rights reverted back to Disney in the Disney-Fox merger of 2019. Marvel Studios was granted permission to use Pietro/Quicksilver for 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, but that ended rather quickly as Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s portrayal of the speedster met a quick death at the hands of Ultron.
In WandaVision I’m not sure if Pietro is who he says he is. The long-running plot theory is the obvious, that Wanda indeed created this reality within Westview, NJ, but I believe that Marvel is throwing us for a loop, especially since we haven’t seen a villain yet. Elizabeth Olsen said a few weeks ago in an interview with ScreenRant that we’d, “see who the villain is towards the end of season.” With three-episodes left, we could see the villain at any moment now.
That brings me to Mephisto, who is basically the Devil within the world of Marvel Comics. Characters in the comics, most notably Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider, have made deals with him to obtain powers, or safety for loved ones, and Wanda is no stranger to that either.
In the comics Wanda unknowingly essentially used her power, which had been heightened by Mephisto, to create her twin sons Tommy and Billy. Mephisto had planned all along to reabsorb the power, and to kill Tommy and Billy in the process. He succeeded, and in doing so shattered Wanda’s heart. Wanda’s friend/mentor Agatha Harkness attempted to erase the memory of her children from Wanda’s mind to spare her from the grief. This proved to be catastrophic, as the resulting stress would lead to the events of the classic ‘House of M’ storyline and the subsequent decimation of mutant powers on Earth. Yeah… Wanda temporarily went insane and caused a lot of evil.
In the show Pietro definitely has a liking for the two boys and always seems to be with them. His personality is also nothing like the Pietro we knew from Age of Ultron. Pietro saying that he, “heard his sister’s call” and came to her, definitely hints at the multiverse that the show will be setting up for the MCU. But Pietro just seems a little off to me as my “spidey sense” has been off the charts since we first met him. How can he, a speedster, hear a version of his sister reach out to him? Let along travel from worlds away? Can speedsters in the comics travel the multiverse due to their enhanced speed: yes. But Mephisto posing as Pietro seems like a good bet to me.
Every episode of WandaVision so far has seen some rather bizarre commercials that all involve some sort of “pain” from Wanda’s life. One commercial advertised Stark Industries, which was the driving force in Age of Ultron as Wanda’s parents were killed by a Stark missile. We later saw one about Strucker, who was the Hydra scientist who performed tests on the Maximoff twins. The latest eerie commercial seems to suggest that Wanda has made a deal with Mephisto. The ‘Yo-Magic’ claymation advertisement saw a young boy trapped on a desert island who makes a bargain with a shark to get something to eat. However, the boy can’t open the yoghurt tub and withers away and dies.
Dark stuff. But what does it have to do with Mephisto and Wanda? It plants the idea of a devilish agreement from a figure who swoops in just at the right moment, giving someone exactly what they want, but not exactly as they intended. Sure, this might be a bit of a reach, but the shark in the commercial does tell the boy he’s being kept alive by ‘your magic’. Coincidence? The implication here is that Wanda, in her grief, desperately wanted to resurrect Vision as well as giving the pair a ‘normal’ life, and someone in the Marvel universe granted her that wish, but not in an ideal way. Deals with the Devil never quite play out with a happy ending after all.
The next villain might be a huge stretch, but Marvel tends to have a flare for the dramatic, so it wouldn’t shock me if Ultron were to be the villain after all. In the third season of the animated series Avengers Assemble, we saw a strong emphasis on the 'Ultron Revolution.' In that season, an official by the name of Truman Marsh serves as the government liaison for the Avengers.
Marsh certifies himself as a less than cooperative ally with his orders of business. He replaces Hulk with Red Hulk, issues all Inhumans to be hunted down and registered, and even creates a rogue team called the Mighty Avengers to work for him after Earth's Mightiest Heroes give Marsh the pink slip. The Avengers were arrested, but they were eventually freed when the Mighty Avengers understood what Marsh was up to.
Low and behold, Marsh was never who he said he was, and turned out to be Ultron in disguise. While Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has emphasized that the MCU is not interested in complete adaptations of comic or animated storylines, he clearly takes inspiration from Marvel's vast library of legacy work.
By comparison, S.W.O.R.D. director Tyler Hayward and Truman Marsh are very similar in nature. Both have undisclosed motives that they keep secret from their colleagues. Both consider certain powerful Avengers to be dangerous threats. And both have been placed in positions of power that allow them to control the greater narrative.
When we first meet Hayward in WandaVision, he immediately relegates Monica Rambeau to handle a “missing persons case.” Once that case becomes much bigger than initially anticipated, Hayward becomes involved. When S.W.O.R.D. comes in around the Hex, Hayward gives the low down on the Westview anomaly situation. He explains that Wanda is the victimizer and should be treated as the threat. When his colleagues disagree with that notion, he reveals nine-day-old footage of Wanda breaking into a S.W.O.R.D. facility and stealing Vision's body. Monica looked really offended that Hayward kept this crucial piece of information from her.
Hayward continues his shady behavior when he sends an old Stark Industries drone into Westview and authorizes an agent to pull the trigger on Wanda and even her children. Again, this comes as a surprise to Monica, who was previously operating the drone and had her controls disabled once a kill shot was available. Not only that, but she wasn’t even aware that the drone was armed.
Episode six indicates that Hayward's business is with Vision though, not Wanda. He has a tracking device following Tony Stark's super intelligent android all around Westview, and looks particularly fascinated by Vision when he attempts to break through the Hex's wall.
Fans have been clamoring for Ultron to return to the MCU for years, after Joss Whedon’s lackluster end to the James Spader villain. Feige has made it clear that Marvel Studios is not in the business of fan service. The MCU is stacked with satisfying callbacks, but they only come when they make sense. Like General Ross appearing in Captain America: Civil War, and Abomination making his return to the MCU in the upcoming She-Hulk series on Disney+. That being said, an Ultron return would make a lot of sense in this instance.
Wanda's origin is directly tied to Ultron not only in the movies, but all throughout the comics. After escaping Baron Von Strucker and Hydra experimentation, the Maximoff twins enlist in Ultron's army when the homicidal robot pitches them an “Avengers extinction” plan. Beyond that, Ultron ordered the creation of Wanda's future husband, as Vision's body was originally intended to host Ultron in his final form. Does that make Ultron Wanda's father-in-law? Sign me up for that Thanksgiving dinner table.
Hayward seems hellbent on bringing Vision's body back to S.W.O.R.D. headquarters. As he sees it, Wanda stole his property, and he wants it back. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time an MCU organization turned out to be secretly run by bad guys. Ultron's plans ultimately fell through because he was unable to operate with his intended final form. If he is actually Ultron in human form, Hayward's obsession and experimentation on Vision could come with the grand goal of possessing his Vibranium-woven body, completing the plan he never got to finish in Age of Ultron.
In the fight for Sokovia, Ultron took the pilot seat on a Quinjet, gunning down a defenseless Pietro. Peppered with bullet holes, Quicksilver uttered his famous words to Hawkeye one last time: “You didn't see that coming.” In Episode five, Wanda confronts the S.W.O.R.D. agents on the other side of the Hex and might’ve returned the line to Ultron. Glaring angrily, Wanda issues one final warning for them to stay out of her home. Monica approaches her former friend, asking her what she wants. After noting that she has all she wants, Wanda redirects her focus to Hayward for the second half of her sinister sentence: “And no one will ever take it from me again.” Hayward reacts with a confused look that quickly turns into “oh man, she got me.”
Many interpreted that line to be in reference to Hayward taking Vision from her, but in reality, Hayward is not responsible for Vision's death. What if Wanda knows Hayward's true identity, and is referencing how he once took her brother's life?
Knowing that she has her “perfect life” inside the Hex, attacking Hayward/Ultron does her no favors. The best thing to do in that situation is to communicate her authority to Hayward. Lashing out would only prove his point that she is a threat, but subtly hinting that she knows his true motivations gives Hayward a sense of powerlessness.
Out of all the tremendous theories circulating around Marvel's first Disney+ series, this is one of the strangest out there, yet, the most fascinating. I still believe it’ll end up being Mephisto, and maybe Hayward’s actually Mephisto and just messing with Wanda for his own sadistic pleasure? But however you cut it, Hayward AND Pietro don’t seem right to me.
Do you think Hayward’s actually Ultron in disguise as well, or do you think I’m crazy? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts!