“WandaVision”, the very first original Marvel series produced for Disney +, has been airing since January 15 on the streaming platform.
It features two unsung heroes from the "House of Ideas": Vision, an android with a conscience, and Wanda Maximoff, a mutant with witch powers.
Two heroes who have the distinction of being married.
A little over a year after the launch of Disney +, Marvel superheroes are coming to series.
The "House of Ideas", owned by Disney, has planned a dozen original creations for the streaming platform in the coming years and it is
WandaVision
that opens the ball.
An astonishing choice since the series features two unsung heroes: the Vision and Wanda Maximoff, alias the Scarlet Witch.
Created in the 1960s in comics, they have already appeared in cinema in the
Avengers
saga
.
Small peculiarity: they form one of the rare couples of superheroes.
Before launching the series, a little review session.
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A mutant witch and a conscious android
Honor to the eldest: the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff in civilian life.
She first appeared in 1964, presented as a mutant, and not just any one: Magneto's daughter, the big bad guy the X-Men face.
Its history in the Marvel universe is made of back and forth between the camp of good and that of evil.
Indoctrinated by her father, she first seeks to establish the domination of the mutants with the help of her brother Pietro, alias Quicksilver.
But, very quickly, the Scarlet Witch joined the Avengers and was among the most popular heroes.
Very powerful, Wanda uses her psychic powers to twist reality and project waves of red energy.
During her adventures, the Scarlet Witch meets and falls in love with the Vision.
This character, created in 1968, is an android in human form, with red skin and a green costume.
It was made by Ultron, a robot who seeks to destroy the Avengers.
But the Vision turns on its creator and joins the superheroes and makes itself very useful.
He can fly, make his body as hard as diamond or dematerialize it to pass through walls and, thanks to a gem encrusted on his forehead, send rays of energy.
Beyond his powers, the android is endowed with a form of consciousness and he feels emotions and feelings, especially therefore, for Wanda Maximoff.
A chaotic but touching love story
In the early 1970s, the Scarlet Witch and the Vision began a romantic relationship culminating in their marriage.
They thus form one of the rare couples of memorable superheroes, besides that formed by Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
First imagined to sell comics, the romantic relationship between the two heroes has gained in depth, especially when it accentuated the marginality of the characters.
They are two different heroes, a machine and a witch, but two beings deprived of love, one because she is a robot, the other because she is growing up in a foster family and has caused a lot of destruction around her. 'she.
Together, Wanda and the Vision therefore learn to love by groping.
But if the love story between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch marked the history of comics, it was neither long nor very happy.
Indeed, the android is dismantled by his enemies during a mission and thus loses his emotions, which leads to the separation of the couple.
Previously, the couple had had two children, thanks to Wanda's powers.
But when she realizes that they are actually demons, she sinks into depression and madness, to the point of turning against the superheroes, killing several in the process, including her ex-husband the Vision. , before coming to your senses.
For further…
If you want to immerse yourself in the adventures of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision, Panini Comics has released, to accompany the series, four books dedicated to the couple.
For a first contact, the little book
Wanda & the Vision
brings together four stories to familiarize yourself with the two heroes.
If Wanda Maximoff is of particular interest, you can read
The Witch's Route
, a story originally published in 2016;
in which the Scarlet Witch sets out in search of her past.
It's very well written and it's a good entry point into the character.
To learn more about her android husband, turn to
The Vision: A Little Less Than a Man
, a multi-award winning series in which the superhero tries to start a family.
Finally, there is
La Vision & La Sorcière Rouge: Le mariage
, a comic book which chronicles the couple's wedding, with the obligatory passages in the families of one and the other.
It's quite funny, very close to the universe of the
WandaVision
series
and therefore perfect for reviewing.
Two heroes who made their hole in the cinema
In the movies, only the cheerful part of the Scarlet Witch's relationship with the Vision was shown.
Both were introduced in
Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015), played by Elisabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany respectively, then appeared in
Captain America: Civil War
(2016) and the final diptych of the
Avengers
:
Infinity
saga
.
War
and
Endgame
.
Confined to the status of secondary characters, they still managed to attract the favor of fans thanks to their touching and authentic relationship.
And it is therefore to them that falls the honor of opening the ball of the series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney +.
The format of
WandaVision
is surprising since the series takes up the codes of sitcoms and places Wanda and Vision, always interpreted by the same actors, in a typical American suburb of the 1950s-1960s, a little too cliché to be true.
The two heroes will thus have to discover what is behind this alternate reality.
This atypical approach to superhero stories, associated with the undeniable charm of the two performers, freshly renews a genre already well developed by the big screen.