WandaVision director explains the deal with Wanda’s powers

WandaVision is the first Disney+ series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has done a wonderful job taking two characters who weren’t in the spotlight much before and fleshing them out. We’re learning a lot more about Wanda in particular, including her childhood, her connection with Vision, and the true nature of her powers.

CinemaBlend talked to WandaVision director Matt Shakman about Wanda’s powers. When we first meet Wanda and her brother Pietro in the post-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we see that Hydra is experimenting on them using the Mind Stone. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, it’s easy to assume that this Infinity Stone is what gave them their powers. But in the penultimate episode of WandaVision, “Previously On,” we learn that Wanda always had her powers. The experiments merely awakened them and made them stronger.

Shakman says this particular idea came about for the series, rather than being planned since the very beginning. “Yes, I mean, this was crafted as part of the show, for sure,” he said. “But it was a very early idea to go back and to be able to explore these moments of loss, and to give them the weight they deserve.”

What happens to Wanda after WandaVision is over?

As we close in on the last episode of WandaVision, Wanda’s powers are stronger than ever. And we may gotten a clue to where she’s going next. In “Previously On,” she has a brief vision of a figure garbed much like the character of the Scarlett Witch — a name Agatha tags her with at the end of the episode — is dressed in the comics. Is that a vision of things to come?

Matt Shakman was coy: “This is a show about looking at the past, but also a show about looking at the future,” he said. “And Wanda has been on a course where she’s encountered many events that have altered her future, but there is a destiny that awaits her.”

After WandaVision is over, Wanda’s story will continue in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so we’ll likely see her powers explored in even greater detail down the line.

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