Wandavision Characters Guide

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When Disney+ was launched, many people were excited about the prospect of original series based on Disney-owned properties. Although there are now several new MCU titles, WandaVision was the first, and its success was a driving point for many Marvel fans to purchase streaming subscriptions. I must admit, I was one of those fans, and having access to such an incredible show easily made the subscription fee worth it.

I remember watching the trailer for WandaVision and being thoroughly confused. I remember thinking it must be a joke as it seemed so out of place with the rest of the MCU. However, it’s anything but a joke, and all is revealed as you watch the show. It’s such an ingenious idea for a story and was a great way to develop characters we’d grown to love from the movies.

But who are those characters? With so much happening with the plot, it can be easy to lose track of the individual storylines, so this guide looks at all the main characters who make an appearance in WandaVision. I didn’t deem it necessary to include side characters, so I’ve only written about the characters who were integral to the plot. And yes, alas, that does mean no Sparky, although you can find out more about him here. Read on for a comprehensive WandaVision characters guide!

Bottom Line Up-Front

  • Wanda Maximoff. Played by Elizabeth Olson.
  • Vision/ White Vision. Played by Paul Bettany.
  • Agatha Harkness. Played by Kathryn Hahn.
  • Billy/ Tommy Maximoff. Played by Julian Hillaird/ Jett Klyne.
  • Pietro Maximoff. Played by Evan Peters.
  • Monica Rambeau. Played by Teyonah Parris.
  • Director Hayward. Played by Josh Stamberg.

The Story So Far

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WandaVision is set just after the events of Avengers: Endgame. However, as Wanda Maximoff was vanished by Thanos during The Blip and reappeared only at the very end of the movie, for her, almost no time had passed since Avengers: Infinity War. As such, she was still reeling from the grief of losing Vision, who she’d had to kill with her own hands, only to watch Thanos reverse time and kill him again, taking the Mind Stone in the process.

In Avengers: Endgame, Wanda had teamed up with the other Avengers to take down Thanos after Dr. Strange opened portals to bring everyone together in a fight that ended with Iron Man sacrificing his life to save everyone. After that, it seems they all go their separate ways.

Naturally, you’d expect Wanda to feel devastated and lonely, and yet WandaVision opens with her happy as can be with Vision by her side. The story becomes a lot darker as the episodes progress, and we learn the truth about what Wanda got up to between leaving the other Avengers and arriving in Westview. The pacing is excellent, and it was thrilling watching the plot unravel episode by episode.

See also: Captain America vs Thanos

All WandaVision Characters

Wanda Maximoff

One of the two titular characters, Wanda, is the one who started it all. Elizabeth Olsen does a wonderful job of bringing her to life in the main MCU movies, as well as in WandaVision. But before we get onto her life in Westview, let’s take a look at her story so far.

Origins

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Born in the fictional country of Sokovia, Wanda had a twin brother named Pietro. After her parents were tragically killed in a bombing, Wanda and Pietro spent days trapped under the rubble, staring at the unexploded bomb that could’ve killed them at any moment. Written across that bomb? The words ‘Stark Industries.’ Naturally, Wanda and Pietro developed a hatred of Tony Stark, who they blamed for the death of their parents, and so when HYDRA offered them the chance to take part in an experimental process to give them superpowers, they signed up willingly.

They were introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Wanda developed a whole host of impressive powers, including mind manipulation, telekinesis, and the ability to alter reality itself. But upon seeing Ultron’s destructive rampage, Wanda switches sides and decides to help the Avengers alongside her brother. However, Pietro ends up dying to save Hawkeye’s life, and so Wanda loses the last living member of her family. To make matters worse, her home country of Sokovia gets destroyed in the battle.

Throughout Captain America: Civil War, Wanda becomes very close with the synthetic being Vision. In Avengers: Infinity War, it’s revealed that they’re in love, and they’ve been seeing each other for a couple of years. However, Thanos is after all the Infinity Stones, including the one in Vision’s head. To save the world, Wanda is forced to use her powers to destroy the Mind Stone, killing Vision in the process. But then she watches in horror as Thanos uses the Time Stone to reverse time, bringing Vision back to life, only to rip the stone out of his head, killing him again. Shortly after this, Wanda is Snapped out of reality.

In Westview

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After the Blip, when everyone returns, Wanda is once again confronted with her deep grief. She finds out that Vision’s body has been taken by S.W.O.R.D, who are trying to use him as a weapon. She asks to see him, desperate to bring him back to life but realizes that she’s unable to do so.

The pain of her loneliness explodes out of her, and she creates a hex on a massive scale, creating a new town called Westview which encompasses all the residents of the town which previously existed there. Wanda’s powers give them all new identities, whilst their real selves exist underneath the fake personality, screaming out in agony. It’s implied that Wanda is wholly unaware of the pain that she’s causing people. As well as creating the town, Wanda’s hex creates an entirely new Vision.

As the episodes go on, Wanda learns more about her powers, most specifically, her innate Chaos Magic. Even before Loki’s Sceptre gave her new abilities, she already had access to magic. In episode 8, it’s revealed that Wanda was the one who used magic to stop the bomb from exploding and killing her and Pietro as children. Even more excitingly, Wanda is finally revealed to be the mythical figure called Scarlet Witch.

In the final episode, Wanda harnesses her powers to fight Agatha Harkness, another witch who has been living inside the hex. Wanda uses Agatha’s own tricks against her to inhibit Agatha’s ability to perform magic, and she emerges victorious. After this, she recognizes that it’s not right for her to keep the hex going, and so she releases her grip on the people of Westview, returning things to how they used to be, and losing Vision and her children in the process. The post-credit scene shows her desperately scanning the Darkhold, an evil magical book, looking for a way to bring her family back.

Vision

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I’m going to forego talking about Vision’s appearances prior to WandaVision as the Vision in the show was newly created by Wanda and therefore had not had his past experiences. He just came into existence one day as a fully-fledged man (well, technically a synthezoid), with a personality similar to how Wanda remembered him from their time together. Incredibly wise and insightful, Vision is very different from regular humans in the way he perceives the world. He’s played by the actor Paul Bettany.

Throughout WandaVision, he was dedicated to being the best husband possible to Wanda. His love for her was apparent, but that makes sense as she created him to be her husband. At first, he is completely oblivious to everything going on. As he did not make the hex, he’s unaware of its existence, and although he seems confused by the way their world changes around them and his lack of memories, he just goes with it.

He integrates himself with the community and eventually discovers the truth on the outskirts of town on Halloween night. He is horrified and tries to leave Westview, but as the hex is the only thing sustaining his existence, his body starts to crumble away. Wanda can’t bear the thought of losing him, so she expands the borders of Westview, capturing new residents in the process.

Vision is still supportive of Wanda but tells her that what she’s doing is wrong. He tries to convince her to let the people go, but she’s hesitant as she doesn’t want to lose her family. Meanwhile, White Vision has entered the scene, intent on following his orders to murder Wanda and her created version of Vision. Vision and White Vision engage in a battle, but they quickly pause the fighting to have an intellectual conversation. Vision questions White Vision on his identity, discussing the philosophical idea of the Ship of Theseus. Vision is able to return White Vision’s memories of everything that happened prior to his death, and so White Vision departs.

Eventually, Wanda decides to end the hex, meaning that Vision has to go. He’s content with the concept of passing away and trusts Wanda that she’ll find a way to bring back their family that doesn’t involve hurting anyone. Wanda’s final promise to him is, “we’ll say hello again.”

See also: Where Was Wandavision Filmed: Magical Travel Through Time

Agnes/ Agatha Harkness

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Played by Kathryn Hahn, probably the best thing to come out of WandaVision is Agnes/ Agatha Harkness. Fans absolutely adored her, and she elevated every scene that she was in. A compelling character with a fantastic backstory, she was a favorite for many people, including myself. She even got her own theme tune in episode 7 entitled ‘Agatha All Along,’ which inspired many memes, and the official video garnered nearly 10 million views on Youtube.

Agnes is first introduced as Wanda’s neighbour, and the two quickly become friends after Agnes helps Wanda prepare a dinner for Vision’s boss. After that, Agnes starts integrating herself into their life, appearing more and more frequently, often at odd moments. She has a very different air and attitude to most of the Westview residents, appearing more like a stereotypical sitcom character and taking all the weird happenings in her stride. But it’s not until episode 7 that her true nature is revealed. She’s not really happy-go-lucky neighbor Agnes but is instead the villain Agatha Harkness.

You see, unlike everyone else, Agatha was not under Wanda’s hex and had instead deliberately involved herself in Westview. She was intrigued by Wanda’s powers, specifically her innate Chaos Magic, and she wanted it for herself. So throughout the early episodes, Agatha had secretly been working behind the scenes to make things go wrong, or as her theme tune puts it, she’d been ‘messing up everything all along.’

Agatha reveals the truth to Wanda, trying to get Wanda to embrace the dark side of her powers. She even goes to the extent of kidnapping Billy and Tommy Maximoff to get Wanda’s full attention. It turns out that Agatha has been around as a witch for thousands of years after becoming involved with an evil book known as the Darkhold. In the final episode, Wanda and Agatha face-off, with Wanda defeating Agatha using her own tricks against her. As punishment for all the evil actions, Wanda traps Agatha under her hexed persona as Agnes.

However, fans have not seen the last of Agatha. Marvel has commissioned a new show known as Agatha: House of Harkness, which is due to start filming in October 2022. The genre for the show is comedy, which means we’ll get to see more of Hahn’s glorious, comedic acting that made her so popular in WandaVision.

Billy and Tommy

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One of the most fascinating moments in WandaVision was when Wanda got pregnant. Being a synthezoid, Vision would have been unable to physically father a child, and so it was the first time the audience saw Wanda using her powers to literally create life (at first, it had been unexplained how Vision was able to be present in Westview, and after a while, it was heavily implied that Vision was the reanimated corpse of the Vision she’d known beforehand).

Wanda had twins, Billy and Tommy Maximoff, played by Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne, respectively. The pregnancy was incredibly short, and she gave birth in the space of almost no time at all. Similarly, the children did not follow the typical stages of growth. They aged up rapidly, becoming five years old in the blink of an eye as a response to Wanda and Vision arguing about how to stop them crying as babies. After they find a puppy (Sparky) and try to keep him, Wanda says that they’re not mature enough to look after a dog yet, and that they have to wait until they’re at least 10. In unison, they age up to 10.

The ramifications of this were huge, as it demonstrates that the boys have powers outside of Wanda’s control. They’re not merely her puppets; they are independent people who she has created with free will. This is the first indication of the true extent of Wanda’s powers. Even with Westview, she hadn’t created a new life, simply altered what was already existing. But Billy and Tommy were autonomous beings outside of Wanda’s control.

After the grief of losing Sparky, Billy and Tommy nearly age themselves up again, but Wanda is able to talk them into staying young. She explains how death is a part of life. Billy and Tommy remain ten years old for the rest of the show, acting and playing like children.

In the comics, Billy and Tommy go by the superhero names of Wiccan and Speed, and although those names aren’t used in WandaVision, they are still shown to have powers. Obviously, the first thing we see is their age manipulation, but there’s more to it. Billy seems to take after Wanda in that he’s able to manipulate the energy around him, including using telekinesis. We also see him demonstrate precognition. Tommy, on the other hand, takes after his uncle in that he possesses the ability of super speed.

After Wanda’s battle with Agatha, she realizes that it’s inhumane for her to keep Westview going. However, Billy and Tommy are only able to exist within the bubble of the hex. This leads to a tragically heart-breaking scene where Wanda has to tuck Billy and Tommy into bed, knowing that she may never see them again.

Pietro Maximoff/ Ralph Bohner

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Now, this was one of the coolest reveals in the entire show. As Marvel fans would have known, Pietro Maximoff was Wanda’s twin brother who tragically died during Avengers: Age of Ultron. In episode 5, Pietro is introduced into WandaVision, but with a twist, nobody could’ve seen coming. She opens the door, and we see the familiar silver hair of her brother, viewed from the back. But then the camera changes angle, and we see that he’s actually being played by Evan Peters! If you don’t know why that’s relevant, the original Pietro from the MCU was played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Evan played the version of Quicksilver from the X-Men movies, and his appearance in WandaVision was considered to be the first indication of the Multiverse.

However, that storyline never came to fruition, much to the chagrin of hardcore fans, and no hint was ever given that this Pietro Maximoff was indeed the same character as Quicksilver from X-Men. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t learn more about him in the future, and it could still be revealed that his presence in Westview was indeed Multiverse related.

Pietro moves into the Maximoff household, and the boys love him, especially Tommy. In the Halloween episode, Tommy goes as far as dressing up like Quicksilver in the classic comic costume. However, Wanda is hesitant to bond with him, as if she knows that he’s not really her brother, but she wants so desperately to believe it. Wanda called Pietro a bad influence on the kids. In the end, Wanda decided not to trust him after a dismissive comment he made about Vision being dead, and he was banished from their house.

Unfortunately, it turns out that this ‘Pietro’ is really a pawn being manipulated by Agatha Harkness. Pietro’s real name (although some have theorized that this is simply his hexed identity) is Ralph Bohner. Agatha used him to try and weaken Wanda by making her over-exert herself with her powers due to the complex emotions that Pietro might bring about. Despite his identity as Pietro not being real, he does seem to have memories of the real Pietro. For example, he relayed a memory of being killed by Ultron. What his future involvement in the MCU will be is as yet unknown.

Monica Rambeau

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Played by Teyonah Parris, Monica was one of my favorite inclusions in the series, as she was actually a character who we’d been introduced to before. She first appeared as a child in Captain Marvel, and she was instantly lovable. Optimistic and tenacious, Monica had a can-do attitude as a child that stuck with her after she grew up.

Like Wanda, she’d been snapped by Thanos and was also suffering from grief. Monica’s mother, Maria (also seen in Captain Marvel), had died during the Blip. Prior to the Blip, Maria had been suffering from cancer and had succumbed to it in the intervening time between Thanos eradicating half the population and The Hulk bringing them back. Monica had been brought back to her bed in the hospital and so initially didn’t realize that she had been dead for five years, thinking that she’d just been asleep. Thus it was a massive shock to the system when she discovered that her mother had passed.

Monica had been working at S.W.O.R.D beforehand and was offered to continue working there, albeit in a different position. Due to her involvement with S.W.O.R.D, Monica becomes alerted to the Westview situation. Initially, it was deemed to be a missing persons case before the full extent of the hex was understood. Monica touched the boundary of the hex and was sucked inside. Upon entering, she became part of Wanda’s mind control and assumed the identity of Geraldine.

Geraldine became friends with Wanda after the talent show and helped her to deliver her babies upon discovering the pregnancy. However, it seems that Geraldine had retained some of Monica’s memories, as, after Wanda remarks about being a twin herself, Geraldine points out that he had been killed by Ultron. Furious at the reminder, Wanda uses her powers to throw Geraldine outside of the boundaries of Westview, where she regains her identity as Monica.

Monica later re-enters Westview with the intention of helping Wanda. Forcing herself through the barrier alters her DNA, and she gains powers of her own. We don’t see all the specifics of her powers, but if it’s anything like her power set in the comics, Monica will be one to watch in the future of the MCU. She tries to warn Wanda about Hayward’s plan to destroy Westview, but Agnes steps in and escorts Wanda away. Monica decides to poke around Agnes’s house, but is discovered by the fake Pietro Maximoff, who captures her.

Monica is able to escape by removing an enchanted necklace from around ‘Pietro’s’ neck, freeing him from Agnes’s clutches, and restoring his identity as Ralph Bohner. Once outside, Hayward tries to shoot Billy and Tommy, but Monica steps in front of the bullets, surviving due to her powers. After Wanda’s battle with Agatha, the two of them speak, and Wanda apologizes. Monica is understanding and supportive and allows Wanda to leave.

Director Hayward

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Ugh, this guy. Words cannot express how much I loathe him. He’s easily my least favorite character in WandaVision, and he’s even one of my least favorites in the entire MCU. He may not be that dramatic a villain compared to super-powered beings like Thanos, but his complete lack of morals riles me deeply. Played by Josh Stamberg, he’s promoted to the rank of Director of S.W.O.R.D after Maria Rambeau’s death.

He’s initially framed as a good guy, but I saw right through him from the get go. There was just something about him that I didn’t trust, and I was right. Despite trying to convince his employees that Wanda stole and reanimated Vision, it was actually he himself who had turned Vision’s corpse into a weapon – White Vision. In a flashback, we saw Wanda go to him prior to creating Westview, asking to have Vision’s body for a funeral, only for him to deny her. She sees them dissecting Vision’s corpse, and smashes the glass wall out of rage. This is what Hayward shows to the employees, however, the full scene shows that Wanda only said goodbye to Vision before leaving without his body.

Hayward tricks Monica by allowing her to believe that a drone they fly into Westview is strictly to establish contact, before launching a missile from it with the intent of killing Wanda. Naturally, it doesn’t work, and Monica is furious at being betrayed, so Hayward fires her.

Hayward is finally able to reanimate Vision’s corpse using energy from the Westview hex, and creates White Vision. He tasks White Vision with destroying the Maximoff family, but this plan is thwarted. Hayward’s story in WandaVision ends with him being arrested by the FBI.

White Vision

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The ultimate example of the importance of identity, White Vision is technically the ‘real’ Vision in the sense that he has the same physical body as he did in the rest of the MCU. Just like the other version of Vision, he’s portrayed by Paul Bettany. White Vision lost his original pigmentation as a result of the dismantling and experimentation performed on his corpse prior to S.W.O.R.D finally being able to reanimate him using Wanda’s Westview hex as a power source.

White Vision is instructed by Director Hayward to enter Westview and destroy the Maximoff family. He tracks down Wanda and attempts to crush her head, but he is confronted by Vision. After flying off and battling in mid-air, the two enter into a philosophical debate about which of them is the real Vision, and what identity really means. Vision was able to restore the memories of White Vision by pressing the control on his forehead. White Vision thus concluded that he was the real Vision, and flew away, leaving the Maximoffs unharmed.

FAQs

Question: Where can I buy WandaVision merch?

Answer: There’s a lot of fantastic merch out there for WandaVision, both official and unofficial. Thankfully, instead of having to trawl the internet yourself, you can check out this handy dandy guide to the best WandaVision merch!

Question: Does Darcy appear in WandaVision?

 
Answer: Indeed she does! Many fans will have already recognized Darcy from her appearance in Thor and Thor: The Dark World. She was Erik Selvig’s student alongside Jane, and drew a mixed reaction from fans. However, even those who didn’t like her in the Thor movies would have to concede that she did an excellent job in WandaVision. Despite being a relatively minor character, she had some wonderful scenes, and her unique personality added some much-needed levity to some of the more serious scenes with S.W.O.R.D agents.

Question: How many episodes of WandaVision are there?

Answer: When it comes to episode length, the MCU doesn’t seem to be completely consistent. Most of its shows (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms Marvel) have just 6 episodes, but WandaVision is tied with What If…? for the top spot with 9 episodes each. The episode length varies too, with each episode falling somewhere between 30 and 50 minutes long.

Conclusion

As you can see, WandaVision comprised an eclectic and varied cast of characters. It was these wonderful characters that helped make the show the success that it was, and paved the way for Marvel to make many more shows for Disney+. Some of the characters were old favorites from the MCU, others were created especially for WandaVision. Hopefully this guide has taught you everything you need to know about them, and you now have a much better understanding!

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