Evans Peters showed up on WandaVision last week. What does it mean?
The biggest surprise of WandaVision thus far has been the arrival of Evans Peters as… Pietro Maximoff? As Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will know, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played the character in the post-credit scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier and in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The character was prematurely killed off by the titular villain of AoU.
What’s more is that Pietro hasn’t been mentioned since he was killed off in Age of Ultron. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago during the third episode of WandaVision that he was mentioned for the first time since his death. Though, there was a photo of him in Wanda’s room in Captain America: Civil War in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment.
However, when it comes to Evan Peters, we knew he was in the show but just didn’t know who he was playing. The second the door opened to reveal a head of silver hair we knew exactly who he was portraying. Though, one thing remains. Why is the Fox version of Quicksilver showing up? Is it really him or is there something bigger going on here? That’s what we’re about to talk about here.
Before we continue, please bear in mind that we will be diving into potential spoilers. Continue at your own risk.
The Larger Picture
Now, we have literally no idea as to what Evan Peters being in WandaVision means. Though, there is a larger picture we need to address. This could mean that the Fox X-Men films have finally leaked over into the MCU. Before we go on, we won’t be getting Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine.
Anyway, there is a load of things that could be going on that would serve as the bigger picture of Peters’ appearance. As we highlighted above, it could be the Fox X-Men be merging over. Though, this would be too easy. It could be a multiverse thing where whoever is controlling the Quicksilver narrative had to pull a version of him from somewhere considering the Taylor-Johnson Pietro is dead.
While the moment was very brief, Peters’ ‘cameo’ made an impact on not just the audience, but Wanda as well. We know from the beginning of the episode in which he makes his appearance that the soon-to-be titular Scarlet Witch had been talking to her sons, Tommy and Billy about the uncle they’ll never get to know. Could this have been a hint that one of them could’ve conjured someone to be that ‘long-lost’ relative?
Though, it’s obvious that outside of the much larger, unknown picture we’re still waiting to be shown, that Evan’s appearance tapped into a common sitcom trope. If you’re familiar with soap operas or sitcoms from across the decades, some characters are recast with different actors without so much as an explanation. Darcy even picked up on the ‘recast’ which we’re going to discuss in a moment.
The Proximity Alarm
Now, this point didn’t occur to us until we watched a video by New Rockstars which explained the Easter eggs in the episode. Just prior to ‘Pietro’ showing up at Wanda and Vision’s door, an alarm is heard blearing as Darcy walks into the room and sits down to see the ‘recast’.
This alarm means one of two things. Someone has entered the anomaly or a person has left. Our bet is an individual has gone in to try and reason with Wanda and to diffuse the situation between her and Vision. As we stated earlier, this is also a play on the long-lost relative trope showing up out of nowhere.
‘Pietro’ would’ve had to be this one person. Wanda already threatened S.W.O.R.D. if they tried to interfere with her new ‘life’. However, the one thing we cannot work out is how this would work. We know Maximoff will be in the second Doctor Strange film which will probably deal with the fall out from WandaVision.
Could it be possible that Doctor Strange learned what was going on and thought he would indirectly help out? He would’ve known about Wanda and her powers since he’s a Master of the Mystic Arts and can see a lot of things. Also, they were both involved in the Battle of Earth during Avengers Endgame. Perhaps he went into the multiverse and pulled a version of Pietro out despite knowing that it’s not the true one. That way, Maximoff would’ve been content, at least for a short while.
Behind The Scenes Tidbit
When WandaVision was in the early stages of production, a casting video was leaked for either Tommy or Billy or both of them where it’s mentioned that their uncle was asleep on the couch. The footage has since been deleted.
Now, their only other relative outside of their parents would be their uncle who would be Pietro. Vision is an android so he has no siblings unless you count Ultron who was his evil predecessor if you will. However, at the time we didn’t know about Evans Peters even being involved. Whether this scene was intended to be in the show, is unclear. But it seems like it. Normally, audition scenes have what are called sides.
Auditions often have scenes written specifically for that purpose. Though, we could be wrong. The next episode is just over a just over a day away and hopefully clarify what the Evan Peters Quicksilver is doing in Westview. Will Tommy and Billy get to know their ‘uncle’? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Pietro And Vision’s ‘First’ Meeting
There were a couple of giveaways that the Evan Peters Quicksilver is not just the typical ‘recast’ we see in sitcoms and soap operas. This means that he not the being portrayed as the Aaron Taylor-Johnson version of th same character.
When Vision first sees the Peters Pietro he asks Wanda who the guy is. Then, ‘Pietro’ asks who Vision is by saying, “Who’s the Popsicle?” which ends the episode.
Now, if Evan were playing Quicksilver as a recast of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, this interaction wouldn’t have happened this way. Yes, the show is a play on sitcoms, but look at it from an MCU narrative perspective. In order from the anomaly to continue, it would have to push forward not just what Wanda wants to happen but also what the overall narrative is; her deteriorating mental state over losing Vision.
We know the MCU Pietro was there with Wanda when Vision was ‘born’. If Peters were this version of Quicksilver, he would remember and not question it. Yeah, he might have his memories if this were the case, but he would possibly have a faint recollection.
Not Wanda’s Doing And What She Can Control
During their argument over what is going on with Westview, Wanda and Vision are interrupted by the doorbell. The android accuses his wife of causing the distraction. She tells him it wasn’t her and goes to the door to reveal the Evan Peters Quicksilver.
There could be any number of explanations behind how this is possible. As we mentioned earlier, it might’ve been one of the boys as in the comics, Billy would become known as Wiccan who had similar powers to his mother.
There may even be darker forces are play which revolve around
Mephisto or even Nightmare as he is rumored to be the villain in the next Doctor Strange adventure. Or it might even be Agnes who is rumoured to be a version of Agatha Harkness.
As stated earlier, it might even have something to do with Doctor Strange.
It’s evident that Wanda is in primary control of her fake life. However, there are things she is not. The arrival of her ‘long-lost brother’ is something she didn’t bring on herself. There are also other aspects too.
One of these is how Arthur Hart kept questioning her and Vision in the first episode and they were unable to answer him. Another noticeable aspect is the drone that Monica sends into The Hex. She couldn’t have predicted its arrival or the fact that it was in colour and not monochrome.
Why Didn’t Wanda Say Something Regarding The ‘New Pietro’?
Did it escape anyone’s notice that Wanda didn’t think to question this new ‘Pietro’? She just called him by his ‘name’ and then hugged him like no time had past.
This leaves us wondering whether Wanda is just going to accept this or begin to question it. Now, we know that she grew with her actual brother so she knows what he looks like. It also looks like that she may end up embracing this guy as her ‘Pietro’ as she may pass it off as the ‘recast’ Darcy mentions.
We also need to question where Vision sits in this as he too would remember what the real Pietro looks like. He would seen his brother-in-law in action and known about the photo Wanda kept of him in her room at Avengers HQ.
Other Possibilities
To wrap up this post, we thought we’d drop down some other possibilities:
- ‘Pietro’ is a resident of Westview and always has been
- S.W.O.R.D. sent someone in to be the ‘recast’ Pietro
- A Skrull is impersonating another version of ‘Pietro’
- Wanda actually did conjure up ‘Pietro’ but isn’t willing to admit it
