An important character rose from the dead in ‘WandaVision’. And now?

“Has the long-lost brother managed to squeeze his smelly sister to death or what?”

After waiting long enough for the audience’s welcome cries to subside, a white-haired man wearing a Hawaiian shirt under a black leather jacket asks Wanda Maximoff this question. Soon after almost fighting in the living room, Wanda and Visão are stunned in silence.

“Pietro?” Wanda finally responds.

This scene ended last week’s fifth uploaded episode of WandaVision, burying some of the biggest moments of the season under a more flashy headline: Pietro Maximoff rose from the dead.

And yet, Wanda’s twin brother is alive after being killed in 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron somehow, it wasn’t the most surprising turnaround. Instead, it was the actor who was wearing that shiny Hawaiian shirt and leather jacket, and neither – instead of Aaron Taylor-Johnson reprising his role, it was Evan Peters, reprising his role as the mutant also known as Quicksilver of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies.

Along with Pietro’s return come many questions that extend far beyond the hexagonal boundary of Westview, and far beyond the plot of WandaVision in itself. While all the answers may not come in the final four episodes of the season, a small step from Pietro to Wanda’s home can be a giant leap for the mutants. Before the next episode of WandaVision, here’s what you need to know about the big reveal and what it could mean for the MCU in the coming years.

Pietro Maximoff (at MCU)

Disney

Before reaching Uncle Pietro de Peters, let’s revisit the original Mercury from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Blast off, Principle), Wanda’s twin brother made his first and only appearance in Ultron era (unless you count that quick cameo on Captain America: Winter Soldier credits). Although Pietro and Wanda are crucial to the plot, they both have limited roles and are linked to the hip for most of the film. (One of Wanda’s most memorable scenes without Pietro, for example, occurs when Hawkeye gives him a stimulating talk and tells her: “The city is flying, we are fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow ; none of this makes sense. “)

Pietro and Wanda are products of Wolfgang von Strucker’s experiments with the Scepter, the device that Loki used to wreak havoc on The Avengers that contained the Stone of the Mind. The twins turned to Strucker and HYDRA after Stark’s weaponry killed his parents in war-torn Sokovia. And so, like Wanda, Pietro is a character born out of mourning. Endowed with improved speed, Pietro, along with his sister, joins Ultron to take down Tony Stark and the Avengers.

When Pietro uses his powers, he moves like a blur across the screen and has an arrogant and explosive temperament to match his super speed. But in a confusing film that focuses more on world-building than on its own plot – featuring not only Wanda, Pietro and Visão, but also Ulysses Klaue and Wakanda while setting the stage for the events of Captain America Civil War and Infinite War—Pietro never has much time to shine before taking a few shots to save Hawkeye and a Sokovian child in the final battle against Ultron. Hawkeye later pays tribute to him by naming one of his sons Nathaniel Pietro Barton, but in addition, Pietro is largely ignored in the films that follow. Now, with Peters occupying the place, where Taylor-Johnson’s Pietro remains to be seen. Will the previous iteration simply be forgotten or even deleted?

Pietro Maximoff (in the X-Men Universe)

FOX

Until 2019, Fox also held the rights to the character, and Pietro’s X-Men version couldn’t be more different – he didn’t even have the same name. Appearing before Ultron era success in theaters of 2014 Days of past past features Peter Maximoff as a rebellious young American who helps Wolverine and Professor Xavier get Magneto out of prison in the 1970s. Living in his mother’s basement, Peter is a super-fast mutant who has become a bit of a kleptomaniac – which, I mean, you really can blame him?

With no tragic events anchoring its origin story, Quicksilver is less serious than its Russian-accented MCU counterpart, and its scenes are typically interpreted with a comic effect. He also didn’t play an important role in his first X-Men movie, but unlike Pietro in Ultron, Peter has one of the most memorable scenes of what was a far superior film. Instead of always moving too fast for our eyes to see on the screen, in Days of past past, we can see what super speed is from Quicksilver’s perspective as he deals with a bunch of guards at the Pentagon:

After Magneto is released, Peter’s purpose in the film is largely complete, although Evans repeats his roles in the subsequent X-Men films, Apocalypse and Dark phoenix.

Speaking of the mutant metal-folding villain, Magneto is actually Peter’s absent father in the X-Men universe. The parent-child connection is suggested in Days of past past, when Peter mentions that his mother once met a guy who could control metal, and he confirms that Magneto is his father in the next film, which takes place a decade later. (This is really all you need to know about the latest X-Men movies; it seems that even Oscar Isaac wished that Apocalypse had never happened.)

With Fox properties now under Disney’s umbrella, the two Pietros have merged into WandaVision. But with just a few seconds on the screen last week, we don’t know what it will be like yet. Will Pietro still be an “enhanced” product of an Infinity Stone or will he be the first mutant in the MCU? Will he – and Wanda – be converted to be Magneto’s children, or will they maintain their Sokovian lineage? If Pietro is really alive again and has come to stay after the events of WandaVision, I hope he brings at least some of his slow motion action sequences with him.

In the MCU

FOX

With an alternative Pietro entering the MCU in WandaVision, Marvel begins its Phase 4 by delving deeper into the multiverse. Marvel has plunged its feet into alternate universes since 2015 Ant Man and 2016 Doctor Strange, but whether it’s Scott Lang taking a subatomic trip to the quantum realm or Stephen Strange making bargains in the Dark Dimension, most visits to other dimensions were brief, always suggesting a bigger role for the multiverse at some point in the future. The latest MCU movie, 2019 Spider-Man: away from home, toyed with an introduction to other versions of Earth, but the mentions of the larger multiverse in that film were little more than a disappointment from the villain Mysterio.

The arrival of X-MenPietro’s version in WandaVision– assuming that part of its mutant backstory carries with it – it could signal the multiverse as a means of entry for some of the many characters whose film rights returned to Marvel after Disney bought Fox in 2019. Characters like Nightcrawler or Beast now they can finally meet Spider-Man or the Hulk. And yet, recently in 2019, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said “it will be too long” before the X-Men enter the MCU. Maybe he was just kidding himself, or maybe that feeling changed when lead editor Jac Schaeffer told him about bringing Pietro back. WandaVision.

In addition to Ryan Reynolds’ confirmed return as Deadpool, will the other actors in any series from Fox’s X-Men films reprise their MCU roles as well? We can expect Hugh Jackman to buy that 4,000 calorie Wolverine diet to reprise his iconic character for the 11th Time on the screen? Or is Peters’ return as Quicksilver simply a fun and unique business that will live and die again in the reality of Wanda’s reinvented sitcom, until the X-Men actually enter the MCU “for a long time” from now on?

Even after the return of the X-Men or the Fantastic Four, the MCU has already outlined clearer plans for the construction of the multiverse. The next Disney + series Loki will bring the rogue Asgardian back from the dead (again) after he managed to escape during one of the time travel events Endgame, and the show’s first glances provide a glimpse of Loki dealing with various worlds, universes and timelines as he literally faces a group of time cops. And despite what Tom Holland says to you, the next Spider man The film will feature Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield dusting off their red and blue pants to star alongside Holland. Finally, WandaVision going to lead directly to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a first sign that there is more news for Wanda after Westview.

If all of this is starting to look like a dizzying mess, well, it’s because it is – at least for now.

Back to Westview

Disney

For the purposes of WandaVision, and from now on, Pietro is playing a classic sitcom trope from a long-lost relative who comes to visit me out of nowhere. And it looks like Uncle Pietro stepped in just in time for Billy and Tommy to experience their first Halloween (a sad truth for two 10-year-old boys; that’s the kind of childhood experience you lose when you age quickly up).

And yet, Pietro’s insertion in WandaVision it may be a deliberate mistake to leave Marvel fans in a frenzy before revealing that some villain is messing with Wanda’s head behind the scenes. (With less than half the season remaining, there is still a lot to learn about Dottie and Agnes, for example.) Pietro may just be another manifestation of Wanda’s pain as she continues to lose control. Or maybe Westview really provided a perfect opportunity to reshape Pietro for later films or TV shows, taking advantage of the fact that – from Darrin Stephens onwards Bewitched for aunt Vivian in Fresh prince of Bel Air– sitcom actors can suddenly change at any time in a long-running series.

But if last week’s big reveal really is an attempt to bring in the X-Men, WandaVision it may also be sacrificing some of its premises for the sake of the big picture. Most of the tweets and recaps after last week’s episode focused on Pietro’s arrival before anything, despite the fact that “In a very special episode …” Vision finally discovers that Wanda was manipulating and terrorizing Westview residents , and the Scarlet Witch comes out of her reality sitcom for the first time to threaten the director of SWORD face to face.

WandaVision it had effectively balanced itself during its first five installments, while standing up on its own as a refreshing reboot for the MCU. Now, with the arrival of a mutant, the show can look so far into Marvel’s future that it loses sight of its present. But if WandaVisionthe great fourth episode – that perfectly linked the events of Endgame in Westview – is any indication, the big bet may be worth the confusing wait.