Marvel fans lost it when Quicksilver was name-dropped in the last episode of WandaVision. Believe it or not, Wanda’s brother Pietro Maximoff hadn’t even been referenced since he died in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but his sister being reminded of him when she gave birth to twin sons teased that Scarlet Witch still has a lot of trauma and baggage from her brother’s death that she needs to deal with.
And, by the sounds of it, it’s all going to unfold over the second half of the run. Showrunner Jac Schaeffer spoke to The Wrap recently and promised that there’ll be more exploration of Wanda and Pietro’s past to come on the hit Disney Plus series, saying:
“The show is about Wanda and Vision and it’s an opportunity to dig deeper into who they are. And that has to do with where they come from. We’re all a product of our experiences and our trauma and our relationships. And so we will be exploring all of those details of their pasts as we move forward.”
The Pietro name-check in episode 3 was the first explicit reference to Wanda’s past, but other traumatic events in her life have been obliquely alluded to through the commercials that are filtered in each week. For instance, the premiere advertised a Stark toaster – a nod to the Stark bomb that killed her parents – while the next outing showcased a Strucker wristwatch. As fans will know, Baron Strucker was the HYDRA leader who experimented on Wanda and Pietro and gave them their powers.
Speaking of that evil organization, episode 3 featured an ad for HYDRA soap, which may tell us that they’re back in business and are the ones behind Wanda’s current situation. It’s worth pointing out that this ad has also given rise to a theory that Scarlet Witch will be revealed to actually be a mutant, something that Schaeffer’s comments about her past being explored only tease further.
But will Quicksilver turn up in the flesh on WandaVision, be it the Aaron Taylor-Johnson version or the X-Men’s Evan Peters? Either way, we wouldn’t see it coming.