In the fifth installment of Disney’s WandaVision, we are back to Westview where Wanda and Vision are busy raising their twins. But things are not looking good for the Westview anomaly. Vision’s suspicions about Westview’s reality are getting stronger while Wanda’s concentration seems to get weaker.
After the explosive revelations of the previous episode when we realized that “it’s all Wanda”, Episode 5 opens in the warped reality of Westview where it is now the ’80s. However, the episode closes with X-Men‘s Quicksilver knocking on Wanda’s door, introducing himself as Wanda’s brother.
But fans know the guy interrupting Vision’s interrogation of Wanda in Westview’s reality is definitely not Wanda’s twin, Pietro. At least not the one from Avengers: Age of Ultron, where we first met Wanda’s brother. It was also his last since Pietro was killed by Ultron in the film. So, who is the guy knocking on Wanda’s door? If he is Pietro, then how is he still alive?
1. Who is Pietro?
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were first introduced in the credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The twins were subjects of a HYDRA facility overseen by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, where they gained powers to become Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, respectively.
Pietro (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) was born in Sokovia, a fictional Eastern European nation bombarded by Stark Industries weapons during Quicksilver’s childhood—an event that killed his parents.
After gaining their powers, the siblings join Team Ultron to destroy Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, who they consider responsible for their parents’ death. Eventually, they realize Ultron’s intentions to kill everyone on the planet and decide to switch alliances. By the end of the film, Pietro Maximoff dies while trying to protect the citizens of Sokovia, and a grieving Wanda finds a new family in the Avengers.
On WandaVision, Wanda’s twin brother is first mentioned in Episode 3 when she gives birth to her own set of twins. She reminisces about her twin, Pietro, to Geraldine/Monica Rambeau when the latter reminds her of how Ultron killed Pietro. An incensed Wanda then throws Monica out of Westview/The Hex.
In Episode 5, Pietro appears again, except he is not Wanda’s twin brother from Age of Ultron. It is someone else. Vision is in the middle of interrogating Wanda about the peculiarities of Westview when a doorbell interrupts them. Vision asks her if she has summoned someone to escape the confrontation, but she refuses. Wanda is then genuinely surprised to see who is at the door.
2. Who Rang Wanda’s Doorbell in Ep. 5?
The silver-haired guy outside Wanda’s house in Episode 5 is Evan Peters, who played Quicksilver, aka Peter (not Pietro) Maximoff, in the X-Men movies. Confused? While Aaron Taylor-Johnson played Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, in Marvel’s Age of Ultron, Peters played a different version of the same character in Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Quicksilver got his super-speed powers in the X-Men universe by virtue of being a mutant and not artificially through HYDRA’s nefarious experiments. He most memorably uses his powers in some stylish slo-mo scenes set to music.
Remember this awesome scene?
Back in 2014, when Days of Future Past premiered, Marvel and X-Men were owned by competing movie studios. Disney and Marvel weren’t allowed to have X-Men characters in their stories. They were even prohibited from using the word mutants and had to replace them with “enhanced”.
Sad, but this little technicality couldn’t stop X-Men‘s Quicksilver from becoming a fan-favorite. Now that Disney owns all rights to X-Men, it has borrowed Quicksilver for WandaVision. But to what end remains to be seen.
3. Is Pietro Alive?
When Wanda sees X-Men‘s Quicksilver outside her door, she is genuinely confused. Until this point, Wanda has been more or less in control of all those entering and exiting Westview. When Peter introduces himself as Wanda’s brother, she immediately calls out “Pietro” and seems unable to tell the difference.
But Wanda may have lost all her memory before events of Westview (or simply faking it), we have not. That dude at the end of Episode 5 sure ain’t Pietro. So as far as we are concerned, there is no change in his status: Pietro is very much dead.
But as far as Peter is concerned, being X-Men‘s Quicksilver, he is very much alive. We are not sure since one of Professor X’s fatal seizures in Logan is likely to have killed him. But there is no confirmation so far.
4. Why is Pietro/Peter on WandaVision?
Wanda as a character does not exist in the X-Men universe, and that is why Peter’s presence in WandaVision seems to point to only one possibility—a multiverse. Marvel Cinematic Universe could be laying the ground for a multiverse in WandaVision, where different characters can be expected to do some universe-hopping.
What Peter’s presence means on WandaVision, remains to be seen. Did Wanda resurrect the X-Men Peter instead of her brother Pietro? Was Peter sent by someone else and not summoned by Wanda? If so, why was he sent, and why can’t Wanda recognize that he is not Pietro? Or does she recognize and pretends that she does not?
The most popular theory currently buzzing is that Peter’s return is somehow linked to the rise of the big bad guy, Mephisto. According to this theory, Wanda is being held captive by Mephisto to ensure she gives birth to mutant twins, Billy and Tommy.
We’ll know more only next week. Until then, have you watched the latest episode of WandaVision?
5. About WandaVision
WandaVision is a Disney+ MCU miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer featuring the Marvel Comics characters Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Vision. Cast members include Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, Evan Peters, Debra Jo Rupp and Fred Melamed.
The series takes place three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Wanda Maximoff and Vision are living an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey, trying to conceal their true natures. As their surroundings begin to move through different decades and they encounter various television tropes, the couple suspects that things are not as they seem.
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