Although it wasn’t the original plan (Black Widow, Eternals, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier were all supposed to arrive first), Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally been launched with the release of WandaVision on Disney+. WandaVision is the first of several series set in the MCU that are due to drop on the Mouse House’s streaming service in the coming months.
If WandaVision is anything to go by, Marvel fans have a lot to look forward to with these shows. There are a few lessons that the MCU’s other series can learn from the originality and freshness of WandaVision.
Think Outside The Box
The most refreshing thing about WandaVision is its outside-the-box approach. Marvel’s movies had settled into a familiar formula by the end of Phase Three, and while the franchise didn’t feel stale yet, it was getting there.
Thanks to WandaVision, MCU fatigue has yet to set in, because the show has left that formula behind and told an entirely new kind of story in Marvel’s universe.
Embrace The Small Screen
Rather than try to recreate big-screen thrills in the streaming format, WandaVision embraces the fact that it’s a TV show with its sitcom style, 4:3 aspect ratio, and small-scale storytelling.
In the wake of Avengers: Endgame’s release, it didn’t seem like Marvel’s next phase would open with a married couple trying to throw a dinner party, but WandaVision makes it work because it embraces the small screen.
Flesh Out Underdeveloped Characters From The Movies
Wanda Maximoff and Vision were both introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron back in 2015 and have been a huge part of the MCU ever since, but the movies never fully developed them. WandaVision has finally rounded out Wanda and Vision into more compelling characters.
And it’s not just Wanda and Vision themselves that have been given more screen time and development than in the movies; there’s also Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo, Darcy Lewis, and whoever else is set to show up before the series’ end.
Take The Time To Build Up To Big Reveals
It might be tempting for a show like WandaVision — which has its audience asking questions left and right — to reveal everything early on to avoid alienating the audience, but the reveals are more effective if the writers take the time to build to them.
The mysteries of WandaVision’s warped reality didn’t even begin to get solid explanations until the fourth episode. The MCU’s other streaming shows can learn from this.
Genre-Bending Experimentation
The MCU has always used different genre constructs for its movies — Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a spy thriller, Ant-Man is a heist movie, Captain Marvel is a ‘90s-style actioner, etc. — but they’re all ultimately superhero movies with three-act stories and plenty of spectacle.
With WandaVision, Marvel has been able to take genre-bending experimentation to the next level, with Wanda fabricating a reality inspired by familiar TV shows, and director Matt Shakman has been running with it brilliantly.
Use Cliffhangers Effectively
What sets TV apart from movies is the episodic format. Marvel’s solo franchises are told in multiple parts, but each installment is essentially a standalone piece. TV shows are split up into chapters, allowing for cliffhanger endings that hark back to old serials.
In WandaVision, those cliffhangers are used effectively, like Wanda revamping the world into a colorized ‘70s style and suddenly being nine months pregnant or Monica being flung out of Westview into a widescreen outside world.
Memorable Music
One of the common criticisms of the MCU is that its movies have bland, forgettable blockbuster scores. WandaVision doesn’t suffer from unmemorable music, because its theme songs by Frozen’s Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez have been delightful.
A goofy theme song won’t fit every Marvel show, but each one needs a theme as memorable as WandaVision’s that captures the spirit of each individual show as well as WandaVision’s theme suits the show’s whimsical tone.
Explore The Aftermath Of Avengers: Endgame
At the beginning of WandaVision's fourth episode, audiences got a glimpse of a post-Thanos world. It opened with the other side of the Hulk’s reverse finger-snap as everyone who disappeared — including an adult Monica Rambeau at her now-deceased mother’s bedside — suddenly rematerializes.
The ramifications of the events of Infinity War and Endgame have worldwide implications and Spider-Man: Far From Home and WandaVision have only just scratched the surface. Marvel’s other shows can further explore the aftermath of Endgame.
Surprisingly Dark Moments
While the tone of WandaVision isn’t wholly dark, it does have some surprisingly dark moments. Being a streaming series means the show doesn’t have to play it safe to appeal to a worldwide all-ages audience like a theatrically released movie.
Like Grogu Force-choking Cara Dune in The Mandalorian, Wanda slamming Monica through several walls and fences on her way out of Westview was pretty unsettling.
Don’t Overstuff The Pilot
The pilot episode of WandaVision doesn’t try to race through a bunch of plot points to hook in viewers. It simply reintroduces Wanda and Vision in their new reality and ends with a teaser for the future as the sitcom-verse is being observed by an unseen figure.
This set the stage beautifully for the rest of the series, giving audiences enough to come back for more, but not so much that they already knew everything going forward.