What is the scariest scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
It’s the debut of Red Skull, shrouded in shadows during his portrait in Captain America: the first avenger? Maybe it’s the Vulture’s threats to the boy Peter Parker while taking his crush / daughter of the Vulture to a school dance in Spider-Man: Homecoming? Or maybe it’s the disappearance of literally half the universe at the end of Avengers: Infinity War?
No matter how terrifying these scenes were and still are, they are categorically not terrifying. The billion dollar franchise has explored many genres, from spy thrillers to science fiction, but the only realm the MCU has not yet dared to go to is terror. (And rom-coms.)
Until WandaVision.
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Despite the existence of other horror film franchises, including the Conjuring with its own MCU approach to world building, Marvel Studios was allergic to a horror movie with a capital H.
You can’t blame Disney. While it’s impossible to imagine the mega studio doing something like, say, Hereditary, the studio produced horror films under its old label Dimension Films, and even some with the real Disney brand. One of these films is the 1980 film The Watcher in the Woods, presented by producer Tom Leetch to Disney executive Ron Miller, “This could be our Exorcist.“(Sadly, Observer in the Forest not on Disney +.)
The fact that Marvel avoids terror is strange when you consider the comic book publisher’s many horror comics between the 1960s and 1980s. During widespread satanic panic, when many suburban mothers threw their children out Dungeons and Dragons together, Marvel unleashed dark characters on its pages such as Dracula, Werewolf at night, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, Morbius and more. Although Marvel is deeply associated with superheroes, it also scares.
But a surprisingly scary scene in this week’s episode of WandaVision, the seventh episode entitled “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” is changing everything for the MCU. Although the scene in question is still contained until the climax, without any fright that would induce a heart attack, it is a harbinger that predicts exactly what type of film the audience will see in 2022 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And what’s better: Marvel told us that from the beginning.
Wonder and “terror”
At the WandaVision, after a fight with Monica (Teyonah Parris), Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) spends time at the home of her nosy neighbor, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn, #GiveKathrynAnEmmy). But things start to go wrong when a scary children’s show, a rabbit chewing and an insect on a curtain generate uncomfortable feelings in Wanda. (With the fly, my Catholic senses began to tingle towards Beelzebub, and I wondered if Mephisto’s theorists were right.) Entering the basement, Wanda finds a dungeon shrouded in tree roots, where a sinister spellbook – known as Fortress of Darkness – Is waiting.
Fortunately, there is no “Boo!” moment for WandaVision. (I’m not sure I’ll be able to jump scares at 7:30 am) Instead, it’s just Agnes herself, walking into the room with the rabbit in her hand and unmasking herself as Agatha Harkness, who has secretly spent the last six episodes being the cause of trouble in the box sand from the Wanda sitcom.
“You didn’t think you were the only magical girl in town, did you?” Agatha tells Wanda. “My name is Agatha Harkness. Charming to finally meet you, dear. “In the comics, Agatha is Wanda’s greatest nemesis as the Scarlet Witch, although she eventually becomes an ally and even Wanda’s mentor in the mystical arts. (But that is much later.)
What’s beyond WandaVision?
The revelation of Agatha Harkness is significant for much longer WandaVision stopped going. But the tone Agatha’s arrival has far-reaching cascading effects for Marvel’s future. WandaVision has long been confirmed to have direct links to the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so much that WandaVision it is considered the necessary visualization to understand Benedict Cumberbatch’s solo sequence. (And yes, Elizabeth Olsen will return as Wanda in the film.)
The important thing is how Feige and then director Scott Derrickson introduced Multiverse of madness to the public. “We are entering the territory that attracted me to Doctor Strange comics in the first place, which is how they immersed themselves in the gothic and the horrible,” said Derrickson to a crowded crowd in Hall H at Comic-Con 2019. “We are going to do the first scary MCU movie. ”
Although Derrickson left Doctor Strange and Feige’s remarkable setback that it will not be a horror movie, but “a great MCU movie with scary sequences”, is still apparent Multiverse of madness will go where no MCU film has gone before. The director who replaced Derrickson is Sam Raimi, who has an unparalleled experience in superheroes and horror, is more than capable of transforming a horror film into a highly successful universe. And no wonder, but Raimi is well versed in genre stories around demon-owned textbooks.
(And we can’t even begin to find out what the plans are for Morbius and Blade, as these characters adjacent to the terror also enter the MCU for the first time.)
With just a few more episodes to go, certainly WandaVision will inevitably resolve the current conflict as Wanda accepts – or perhaps no accept – the reality that your beloved Vision is gone. But even when the credits for the final episode roll WandaVision, fans know better than to think that things are over. They are just getting started and will be much stranger – and scarier too.
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