There was plenty of screen time offered up to both Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro (Evan Peters) in the sixth episode of WandaVision on Disney+, and whilst Wanda has some questions of her own regarding her brother’s return, it was the superhero known as Quicksilver who was prying to get as much information from his sister as possible.
What he seemed to be most interested in is exactly how Wanda has created such a world, where she’s able to infect the minds of all those who originally lived in Westview and control their every move. In doing so, she’s been able to bring Vision (Paul Bettany) back from the dead, but as we saw in Episode 6, if he ever leaves the illusionary world, he will die once more.
With Wanda’s focus seemingly completely on trying to keep Vision from discovering the truth, she’s beginning to slip when it comes to revealing too much information. Pietro is her brother of course so, if she’s going to tell anybody about her plans, it’s him. Still, she should recognise that he’s not the same Pietro we saw die in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and allow those suspicions to keep herself guarded.
Audiences are being left to come to their own conclusions when it comes to casting the villain of this story. Wanda is undoubtedly putting countless lives in danger through her meddling, but we can empathise with the character due to her mental state, grief and confusion following the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Acting director of SWORD Taylor Hayward (Josh Stamberg) may also be viewed as the series’ Big Bad, as he’s looking to take down Wanda and her fantasy world by any means necessary; including killing her to bring the illusion to a close.
Curious fans are now wondering if there’s more to the story than meets the eye, however. Though the majority of us certainly hope the real Quicksilver has made their return to the MCU, a chunk of the audience also believe that the character could be an imposter, with nefarious intent.
Though his new appearance may be further proof of the multiverse, there’s also the chance that he’s somebody - or something - else entirely. It’s clear that Wanda isn’t controlling Pietro, so exactly what is his goal is making his return to the MCU?
When we last saw Wanda and Pietro, she attacked her brother after he made comments in regards to Vision’s death. It seemed to be more of a warning shot than anything else, not to cross the line when making comments about her family, but we know that she is capable of much more. She nearly beat Thanos on her own; that sort of power is something any Marvel villain would want to get their hands on.
The frontrunners for Peters’ character’s true identity if this theory turns out to be true are Nightmare, Chthon and perhaps most convincingly, Mephisto. The latter is a powerful demon from Hell who has been connected to the origin story of young Billy and Tommy - who are growing older at an alarmingly-rapid rate!
Often pulling the strings behind-the-scenes, could we be about to see Mephisto on the small screen, entering the MCU for the first time?
If so, it could be that he turns out to be the major villain for the next Phase of the MCU altogether, with WandaVision serving as the introduction for the character.
One thing’s for sure; we can’t wait to see how this all shakes out.
WandaVision continues Fridays, exclusive to the Disney+ streaming platform.