Spoiler Alert! The following article contains spoilers for the fifth episode of WandaVision.
WandaVision ended with a bang last Friday, as the ninth and final episode of Marvel’s hit show dropped. The show, which stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as Vision, marks the beginning of Marvel’s foray into miniseries that will prominently feature Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) characters. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and Hawkeye will all follow WandaVision this year, filling the void in what has been the longest gap in MCU movies since the franchise’s inception.
While WandaVision began an exciting trend for the MCU, a small cameo in the series’ fifth episode may have even larger ramifications moving forward. The episode’s final scene portrays Wanda answering her front door and gawking in disbelief at an unseen visitor. Vision approaches and concerningly asks, “Wanda, who is this?” before the camera pans to the back of a white-haired man. The camera returns to Wanda’s shocked face briefly before revealing none other than her brother Pietro Maximoff, the speedster known as Quicksilver.
However, the Pietro at the door is not the same Pietro played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the 2013 film Age of Ultron. Instead, the audience is introduced to the Quicksilver from the X-Men franchise, an Americanized version of Pietro Maximoff known as Peter Maximoff, portrayed by Evan Peters.
This reveal marks the first introduction of an X-Men character into the MCU since Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019. Prior to the deal, Fox owned the film rights to iconic Marvel characters like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. Fox made some hits featuring these characters, including Logan and Deadpool, but also made some bombs like Fantastic Four and its reboot film ten year later.
This inconsistency, along with a muddled timeline in the X-Men franchise, has created much excited among Marvel fans to see if Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios can work their magic with these new characters. While no movies or shows have been officially announced featuring the Fox characters, Peters’ appearance in WandaVision shows that Marvel has a plan up their sleeve. It seems to be only a matter of time before we see Wolverine battling the Hulk and Deadpool mocking the Avengers on the big screen.
Did you know?
Wanda, Pietro, and the X-Men were co-created by writer Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) and artist Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), both of whom were Jewish. In fact, Wanda and Pietro themselves are Jewish characters! And they are not alone. Click here for a partial list of Jewish superheroes.