With each episode, WandaVision keeps revealing new and more interesting
layers to this strange new reality. To find out what's hidden in the basement,
keep watching for Easter eggs you missed in WandaVision.
WandaVision's seventh episode — "Breaking the Fourth Wall" — brings us to the late '00s/early
2010's in terms of sitcom references. Wanda, Vision, Agnes, and even Darcy participate in
talking heads segments in which they speak directly to the audience, mirroring the
mockumentary stylings of sitcoms like Modern Family, The Office, and Parks & Recreation.
While the style used in episode 7 feels most like Modern Family, that isn't where the intro comes
from. With its flashes of things you'd expect to find in a workplace like computer screens,
calendars, and the I Love Wanda coffee mug — plus
the derivative theme music — it feels a lot more like the intro to The Office.
Speaking of office comedies — just before the theme starts, Wanda tries to laugh off
the bizarre things happening in her home with "It's probably just a case of the Mondays."
That's not a reference to The Office, but rather a reference to the 1999 comedy Office Space:
"Uh oh. Seems like someone's got a case of the Mondays."
The opening few minutes of episode 7 also hide one more easter egg.
As Wanda-themed objects appear one-by-one, a license plate with Wanda has the numbers
12,28,22. Those numbers are a reference to Stan Lee's birthdate of December 28,
1922. Although the late comic book icon won't be making any more cameos in future MCU projects,
the subtle shout-out makes it clear that Lee is gone, but definitely not forgotten.
In episode 6, we got to see Billy in a more comic book-accurate costume
while Pietro gives Tommy an outfit that looks like a smaller version of his own,
along with an embarrassing hair makeover. In the following episode,
both twins get to looking more like their counterparts in the source material.
"Breaking the Fourth Wall" doesn't show the brothers in their costumes,
but the color scheme of their clothing does reflect those of their comic book costumes. The
green and white of Tommy's outfit look a lot more like what he wears as the young superhero Speed.
Who knows? Maybe before WandaVision closes its curtains we'll finally see both brothers
in full-blown superhero costumes as Wiccan and Speed. And if that happens,
could a Young Avengers movie or TV series be far behind?
When Wanda gets her breakfast, she's understandably freaked out about her milk's
container transforming a few times. At one point it becomes a carton with the picture of a missing
child on the back, though we can't make out the child's face. Putting the pictures of missing
children on milk cartons became customary in the mid-'80s, so it's interesting to remember that
the WandaVision episode dealing with the '80s, episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode…" also
happens to be the same episode in which Vision points out that Westview's children are missing.
Wanda's cereal is interesting as well. First, the brand's mascot is a cartoon clown,
and at the end of the previous episode Wanda's expanding hex radius changes
the S.W.O.R.D. agents into circus clowns. Second, there's the name "Sugar Snaps." It's
impossible to see or hear the word "snap" in an MCU production without thinking of
the most infamous snap of all — the one Thanos makes to kill half the universe.
As a result of Wanda's swiftly expanding hex radius at the end of episode 6,
unlike most of the S.W.O.R.D. agents who are turned into clowns, Agent Monti is changed
into the circus strongman. It's unlikely that Monti has been made into any kind of superhero,
but at the same time, when we see a guy in a comic book TV show in a colorful,
tight outfit with a big S on his belt, there's a good chance that means something.
When you combine the S with the blue and yellow color scheme,
there are a couple of different superheroes this could be referencing,
and both of them are super strong. One possibility is the mutant hero Strong Guy. When he first joins
the new version of X-Factor, Strong Guy, like the rest of the team, wears a blue and yellow uniform.
Another possibility, and a more fitting one, is the Sentry. Like Monti's getup,
Sentry's original outfit is yellow and blue and it includes an S on the belt.
Also, while he isn't introduced until 2000's The Sentry #1, it's revealed the hero's been
around since the early days of Marvel but the entire world has forgotten about him,
including the Sentry himself — just as Monti has forgotten who he is.
Understandably, because of reports that Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff will be
an important part of the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans
have been theorizing that WandaVision would have something to do with Marvel's vast multiverse.
One of the most overt signs we receive in the story itself is the commercial in episode 7.
While the same man and woman who regularly appear in WandaVision's faux commercials
weren't around in episode 6, they return in "Breaking the Fourth Wall" for an ad
that mimics antidepressant commercials. The brand name of the medication is Nexus — a word
that has two meanings in Marvel Comics, both of which relate to the multiverse.
There's Marvel's Nexus of All Realities, which in the prime universe of the comics
exists in the Florida Everglades and is guarded by the monstrous Man-Thing.
As the name implies, the Nexus is a gateway to Marvel's other realities.
And then there's Wanda herself. In the comics, Wanda is the Nexus Being of the
prime Marvel reality. As a Nexus Being, Wanda reflects her reality's defining characteristics
and can alter the flow of the future. In the 1998-'99 miniseries Avengers Forever, we learn
the powerful Immortus knows Wanda is a Nexus Being and fears the possibility of her having children
even more powerful than herself. He manipulates events to pair Vision and Wanda off as a couple,
in the futile hope that Wanda's coupling with an android could never produce offspring.
In episode 4 of WandaVision, we hear echoes from 2019's Captain Marvel as Monica is resurrected
during the Blip. We hear those voices and more again in episode 7 as Monica forces
her way through the hex barrier. And this time, it seems clear Monica is hearing them as well.
We hear the young Monica talking with her late mother about helping Carol Danvers.
We hear Nick Fury tell her that she can only follow the adult heroes if
she can learn to glow like her Aunt Carol. And we know in the comics she
does glow. We also hear different people like Dr. Harley and Jimmy Woo
speaking about the death of Monica's mother. And of course, we hear a refrain of this line:
"Your mom's lucky. When they were handing out kids, they gave her the toughest one.
Lieutenant Trouble." "You remembered!"
It's these words that give Monica the strength to push the rest of the way through the barrier.
Piercing the hex barrier gives Monica superpowers, though it isn't clear
exactly what those powers mean. We see her eyes glow blue several times, and she recovers
so quickly from Wanda's assault toward the end of episode 7 that even Wanda is shocked.
In the comics, Monica is quietly one of the most powerful heroes in Marvel. She's had a number of
aliases, the most recent being Spectrum, and after she's bombarded with energy from another
dimension, she gains the ability to transform into any form of energy at will. She's also had another
alias that's been hinted onscreen before: Photon, just like Monica's mother's call sign in the MCU.
By the end of "Breaking the Fourth Wall," a lot of fans' suspicions that Agnes might be
more than a friendly neighbor seem to have been confirmed. Wanda's own suspicions are
sparked when Agnes leads her into her home and Wanda notices the twins are nowhere to be seen.
She then sees a large, loud insect on the window shade. She asks Agnes where the boys are,
and Agnes answers that they're "probably just playing in the basement." Wanda goes
down to the basement to look for them, and we get the episode's biggest reveal.
This all unfolds like a tribute to The Silence of the Lambs. Toward the end of that film the hero,
Clarice Starling, believes she's just doing a routine interview about the first victim of
notorious serial killer Buffalo Bill. She's speaking to a man who now lives where the
person she wants to interview used to live. She's already suspicious of his manner and
some of the things she sees in his house. But when she notices a large exotic moth,
something the killer leaves behind in his victims' throats, that seals the deal.
She pulls her gun on him and he runs to the basement, where they have their final showdown.
When Wanda and Agnes confront each other in Agnes' basement,
we learn Agnes isn't Agnes. She's the witch Agatha Harkness.
We then get a montage of moments throughout the series when it's revealed Agatha was
manipulating events. It isn't clear, however, exactly what Agatha is after.
Harkness isn't a villain in the comics. In fact, at different times, Harkness has been
Wanda's ally and even a mentor. While not really a superhero in the traditional sense,
she has surfaced every now and then to aid superheroes during different mystical crises.
So while it's finally confirmed that Agnes is Agatha, we still don't know why she's there.
It also isn't clear just what she means when she says it was her "all along."
Did she manipulate Wanda into creating Westview,
or did Wanda do it on her own and Agnes is taking advantage of the situation?
Just before Agatha reveals herself in the basement, Wanda notices what
appears to be a very serious looking tome shimmering with crimson energy.
We're not sure exactly what this is, though it could be the Darkhold.
The Darkhold is probably the most infamous magic tome in the history of Marvel Comics,
sought after by the likes of Doctor Strange and even the vampire king Count Dracula himself.
The thing is, we've already seen the Darkhold in the MCU — in both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
and Runaways — and it didn't look like this. But on the other hand, it isn't completely
clear exactly what canonical weight a lot of the Marvel TV series have in the MCU.
Whatever it is, when we see Agatha use magic, it's accompanied by purple energy.
The energy coming out of the book, on the other hand, is more red like Wanda's.
Also, the design on the book's cover features two sets of adjoined rings,
kind of like... twins? And Wanda's boys are nowhere to be seen. Whatever the book is,
whether it's the Darkhold or something else, it could be acting as the twins' prison.
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