Ahead of WandaVision’s premiere, all you need to know about the first MCU Phase IV series – Entertainment News , Firstpost

Slated to stream from 15 January on Disney+ Hotstar Premium, WandaVision is the first project from Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to come out since the record-breaking success of Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Captain Marvel and Black Widow writer Jac Schaeffer has penned the show.

Ahead of its premiere on 15 January, here’s all you need to know about the upcoming show, described by the makers as a “mash-up, marrying epic superhero action with small-town sitcom silliness.”

Premise

WandaVision follows Scarlett Witch and the android living in the idyllic town of Westview, while trying to keep their powers under wraps. Not much else is known about the show.

Cast

WandaVision marks the return of Elisabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch aka Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany’s super-powered android Vision. Kat Dennings will reprise her role of Darcy Lewis, tech-savvy assistant to scientist Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) from the Thor movies and Randall Park will return as Jimmy Woo, the FBI agent in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Kathryn Hahn is the new addition to the cast and plays Agnes, Wanda and Vision’s “nosy neighbour.”

Episodes

The show will run for nine episodes, making it one of the longer shows to be rolled out by Disney. The only other show that is longer (10 episodes) is What If…?, an alt-history take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On the other hand, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki are six-episodes-long each.

What to expect

According to Indiewire, WandaVision has been regarded as an amalgamation of both classic sitcoms as well as a conventional Marvel Cinematic Universe project. Speaking to EW, Schaeffer described it as a “love letter to the golden age of television.”

Where and when to watch

The first two episodes will release on Friday, 15 January on Disney+ Hotstar Premium in India. The subsequent episodes will debut weekly, every Friday. According to NDTV Gadgets, all of the episodes will drop at around 1:30 pm IST.

WandaVision and Marvel Phase IV 

Avengers: Endgame marked an epochal moment in the history of MCU. It was the final send-off to the Avengers franchise, the culmination of 21 films spanning over a decade. In a post-Avengers: Endgame world, Phase IV will witness some of the characters who are ‘supposedly dead’ making their comeback on the small screen. The first show from Phase IV will be WandaVision. However, the series was never intended to kick off this new era of the MCU. Both Black Widow and Eternals were supposed to hit the big screens in 2020, and Disney was supposed to debut The Falcon and the Winter Soldier before WandaVision. But because of the pandemic, and the consequent shuttering of theatres and shutting down of production, WandaVision, which was closest to completion, was tasked with inaugurating Phase IV, reports EW.

Wanda and Vision — comics versus on-screen versions

In the comics, Wanda Maximoff is a mutant and the daughter of Magneto. Wanda made her film debut during the mid-credit sequence in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before making an appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film showed Wanda gaining her powers through Hydra’s experiments. No mention of mutants or Magneto or her connection to him is made in the movie(s).

On the other hand, Vision was created by Ultron using Wonder Man’s brain patterns as a mass-controlling synthezoid that could infiltrate the Avengers. Vision’s on-screen counterpart is a combination of Tony Stark’s J.A.R.V.I.S., the Mind Stone and a vibranium body that Ultron intended to use for himself.

In the film versions, Wanda and Vision would meet secretly and date until Thanos ripped the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead, killing him. While Wanda returned in Endgame to avenge Vision’s death, Vision did not return even after Thanos’ snap was reversed.

According to Fandom, since Shuri was already working on Vision before he went to Wakanda to take Thanos down, there’s a possibility that she may have backed up Vision’s consciousness and brought him back later.