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Today's episode will contain spoilers
for "Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness."
Hey, brother!
Man oh man, aka, M-O-M,
aka, the "Multiverse of Madness", am I right?
This movie was straight up bonkers
and it brought so many new questions
right up to the surface.
We are introduced to the concept of dream walking,
met America Chavez and the idea of universe hopping powers.
We also got to visit different dimensions,
some of which were paint.
We also got a glimpse at the Illuminati
which might be some idea of what to expect
from the MCU moving down the line.
But as ever, new information also usually introduces
new questions.
For example, when Wanda is dream walking
into the different version of herself
in a different dimension,
is that Wanda still currently living inside of the Hex?
And for that matter, where was Vision in all of this?
I really kept expecting him to show up somewhere.
Then we also had the Illuminati,
which were ridiculously cool,
but then also promptly and aggressively killed.
Does that just go down in history
as a little bit of fan service,
or is this what we might be able to expect
going forth in the MCU?
And then finally we get to see just how powerful Wanda is,
but then end the movie with her supposedly dying.
Is she gone for good?
There is so much to unpack so let's not waste any time
and dive on in.
(upbeat music)
- [Wanda] Previously on "WandaVision."
(logo scratching) (logo whooshing)
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Okay, so one of the biggest questions
that we had walking out of the movie theater
had to do with when Wanda is dream walking
into a different dimension.
With the curiosity being here, like does there just exist
another dimension somewhere
where Wanda actually does in fact have this dream life,
or is the Wanda that she's tapping into
just also still living inside of the Hex at Westview?
Because inside of this world
we get to see exactly what Wanda has always wanted,
the thing that she is willing to give anything for
and what really drives the entire plot of the movie forward.
Everything that she is doing
is so that she gets to live this life,
a life where she has ready access to her two sons,
Billy and Tommy.
The first tip-off that this could just be a Hex
inside of a different dimension
is the fact that the layout of the house
is the exact same layout as the one we saw
in the "Modern Family" episode of "WandaVision."
It's the same staircase, the same bedroom, the same house.
It is notable that Vision doesn't seem to be present
in this world but we'll circle back to that in just a minute
and start with the twins.
Immediately one of the things that stood out to me
was just how sickly sweet Billy and Tommy were as children,
so much so that this was actually something
that I felt like I would've criticized the movie for doing.
Like, they don't need to be over-the-top idealistic
in order for us to understand why Wanda would want this life
with her children.
We don't need to see two kids arguing over
who gets to sing "The Ice Cream Song."
The point is maybe the reason that it feels unrealistic
is because they're not real.
This is what first led me down the path
that almost certainly what we are witnessing
is Wanda's life inside of another Hex
because not only is everything like hunky-dory
in this world, it's almost excessively so.
Basically it becomes an overly idealized life
which I can actually sort of understand
why they might illustrate it this particular way.
This is probably how many of us
envision our hopes and dreams in the future
if they were to come true.
We see these perfect ideas of what it might look like.
But the thing is that most of us out here in the real world
are not capable of creating
an entire torture chamber of a town for people to live in
in order to enact this vision.
Because when it really does come down to it,
what is the Hex if not exactly that?
A fully realized version of her hopes and dreams.
But the other thing that kind of trips me up
even outside of this particular line of thinking
is why the characters of Billy and Tommy
would exist in this dimension at all.
Doctor Strange even says it himself,
"These two characters don't even exist
except for inside of the Hex at Westview."
And even if Wanda was doing things naturally,
they still couldn't exist.
The Billy and Tommy that we've seen before
are not like biological beings.
Even if we wanna touch on missing Vision for a second,
the fact that he's not there
doesn't actually disrupt anything in the equation at all
to begin with because, not to get too technical here,
but Wanda and Vision can't have kids together.
He may have been there last time
but he didn't really play a role in anything
and yet we are seeing them exist inside of another universe.
How is that even possible?
I mean, to be fair, the vast calculus of the multiverse,
I suppose, anything is possible
but if all things are possible
then the thing that I think is more likely
is that other Hexes exist.
Especially when you consider
that one of the things that we saw inside of the movie
is that certain tropes with particular characters
are almost inevitable.
For example, no matter what universe they go to,
Doctor Strange is always in love with Christine
and their relationship always fails.
She even always says the line,
"You had to be the one holding the knife."
A line that I almost even feel like the movie
went out of its way to include
when Strange goes to Christine's wedding in our universe.
Beyond that, in each universe Thanos's attack seems,
what's the word again?
- Inevitable.
- The Steve Rogers catchphrase, "I can do this all day,"
is picked up by Captain Carter who is playing that role
in her universe.
These consistencies all suggest to me
that the thing that is so very consistent with Wanda,
in particular, is the Hex.
Meaning Wanda will follow the same series of steps
no matter what universe she's in.
One question we did run into though, is then,
how come that Wanda from that universe
was no match for our Wanda?
And I actually think there's a great explanation
for that as well
and it has to do with one of these multiverse buzzwords
that has been floating around, which is a Nexus Being.
A Nexus Being is a unique being within the multiverse.
America Chavez is a Nexus Being, there is only one of her.
With the distinction here being the idea that our Wanda
is the one who assumes the identity of Scarlet Witch.
Scarlet Witch is a Nexus Being, Wanda is not.
Meaning our Wanda is the most powerful Wanda
because she is the only Scarlet Witch.
With that, the idea here is that,
there are plenty of different versions of Wanda,
the Scarlet Witch persona is specific to our Wanda.
There's only one.
The other big question that we have though
with this other version of Wanda
is why isn't Vision there to help her?
Where is he?
And I actually think we have a really good explanation
built right into the movie.
When Doctor Strange arrives at the Illuminati
he is escorted to the interrogation room
or whatever that place was, specifically by Ultron bots.
This is a particularly important detail
when we consider how Vision came to exist in our universe
in the first place.
If you will recall, Ultron was a failed experiment
that ultimately became an Avengers level threat,
basically determined to wipe out
the entire human population.
Vision is then created as the answer to that threat.
However, in this universe, if Ultron was just done correctly
from the start then maybe there was no need
to create a Vision.
The point is my belief here is that
Vision doesn't exist inside of this universe at all,
which you might be thinking,
"Well, then doesn't that kind of hurt the Hex argument
considering the fact that Wanda makes it
in the wake of mourning vision's death?"
But also bear in mind the rest of Wanda's life prior to that
has not exactly been sunshine and rainbows either.
She still does have the powers
meaning she was still probably tested on by Hydra,
she still lost her brother, and her parents,
and Thanos still attacks, so, on the Hex goes.
There's even a moment towards the end where it looks like
other Wanda kind of understands what happened to our Wanda
and says the phrase, "They will be taken care of."
That moment reminds me a lot of the moment when our Wanda
exits the Hex and drops the act for a second.
In that moment, she is completely aware
of everything going on around her.
But, okay, so what, what difference does it make
if the Hex was in effect inside of a different universe?
Well, the difference is that it means that other Wanda
is also probably aware of the fact that outside of her Hex
are campers who are not particularly pleased
with the fact that she has taken over an entire town.
On top of that, other Wanda is now probably very much wanted
for the crime of, you know,
single-handedly destroying the Illuminati.
I mean, she literally like cuts Reed Richards to ribbons
and his head explodes.
Which, by the way, let's just talk about the Illuminati
for just a second and what their appearance seems to mean.
My personal knee-jerk reaction here
is that I could see this going one of two ways.
Either we got a just sheer bucket load of fan service
in the form of, "Hey, you know all those characters
"you've been asking for forever and ever and ever?
"Here they are! And then we promptly killed them."
Now please stop asking for John Krasinski, thank you.
But here's the thing, if that's the case,
it's not fan service at all, it's just kinda mean.
Fans have literally been calling for
and begging for John Krasinski to play the character
of Reed Richards for years.
And it was like, "Oh my gosh, they did it."
If he's not going to resume the role
then basically what they did
was just a huge slap in the face
to everybody who was asking for this very thing.
"Here's how much we care about your opinion."
Because, here's the thing, they didn't even have to cast him
for this role.
Every single other member of the Illuminati
is a character who has either played that role
or appeared in a different version of either the MCU
or Fox Marvel Universe.
And when it comes to Reed Richards,
there are two other versions of this character
that they could have cast.
But you know what, they didn't.
On top of that, every other likeness of every character
is played by the same actor.
Every Wanda is played by Elizabeth Olsen.
Every Doctor Strange is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Even Christine is always Rachel McAdams.
Although, I suppose, to be fair, not one Marvel movie ago
there was a Peter Parker played by three different people.
Spoilers for "Spider Man" for you, sorry.
That being said, the actual reports
that have come out since the movie
is that there's not a real clear answer here
as to whether or not John Krasinski
will have a future in the MCU.
We do know that the writer of "Multiverse Madness"
worked very closely with John Krasinski
in order to bring the role of Reed Richards to life.
So, on the whole this information just isn't currently known
but I'll tell you what, if it's not my boy, Jim,
I'm gonna be upset unless they go with Rainn Wilson
because I will be the first to admit
that that would be straight up hilarious.
- Identity theft is not a joke, Jim.
- Michael!
- Anyway, though, back to other Wanda
who is now probably wanted for the murder
of the entire Illuminati and the mental imprisonment
of an entire town.
What exactly is she to do in this circumstance?
Because if the Hex goes then so does her boys
and if I know anything about Wandas,
it's that they will do literally anything
for their children.
Like, I don't know, maybe send them to another universe
where she knows there's a Wanda that already loves them,
which then brings about a very important question,
if the Hex disappears in other Wanda's universe
and the boys aren't in that universe, do they disappear?
Because as a reminder, again,
Billy and Tommy were never real.
But make no mistake, they are real characters in the comics
known as Speed and Wiccan.
And not for nothing, but at this point in time,
it feels like the MCU
has spent quite a bit of time setting them up.
As well as what also feels like just a legion
of other like young version Avengers.
So here is what I think is happening.
I believe that the Billy and Tommy that we saw
in the "Multiverse of Madness" are the creations of Wanda
inside of her Hex inside of her universe.
And that those boys will go away
the moment that that Hex is undone.
But if they find a way to have them
exit that universe entirely, I think that there's a chance
that they would be able to survive outside of it.
This would mean that the boys are creations of Wanda
who are now capable of existing somewhere else
inside of the MCU such as our 616 universe.
If that ends up being the case,
then if we dive deep into the lore
of the children of Nexus Beings, here's what we find.
"Nexus Beings also have the potential
"to produce unbelievably powerful offspring,
"as it was mentioned that any born of the Scarlet Witch,
"Nexus Being of reality 616,
"would be powerful enough to stand among the Great Forces
"of their universe and rock the cosmos itself."
With that information in mind
and where it seems like the MCU might be going,
A la "Eternals",
it might be handy to have someone
of this magnitude of power around.
This of course also then brings us to the last question
which is at the end of "Multiverse of Madness",
we literally see Wanda basically pick up an entire castle
and then drop it on herself.
It's hard to imagine anything powerful enough
to destroy Wanda, but the Castle of the Darkhold
does feel like it would be in the top three options
capable of doing so.
And yet it's the MCU, and if Billy and Tommy
are going to be existing out there somewhere,
something tells me we haven't seen the end of Wanda.
There you go guys, there is still plenty to unpack
from this movie.
For my question of the day,
"What are your other unanswered questions
from "Multiverse of Madness"?
Be sure to let us know in the towel section down below.
Also guys, I wanted to let you know
that there is an opportunity to see us live
if you would like to next week on Thursday, May 19th.
We are going to be in Orlando, Florida
doing a live version in-person of J and I's trivia show.
We are going to be there with a very normal podcast tour
brought to you by Rooster Teeth
and performing alongside of the podcast Annual Pass.
The event is going to be Thursday, May 19th,
at the Vanguard in Orlando, Florida.
If you would like to check out tickets
they're in the description down below.
Otherwise, if you haven't already be sure to like this video
and subscribe to the channel, if you haven't already.
If you'd like to see our complete spoiler review
of "Multiverse of Madness" you can do so right over here.
Otherwise, until next time, bye.