WandaVision has finally concluded and the credits have rolled on the first MCU television series. What started as a peculiar story accented by the trappings of television series of ages past ended up being a launching point for multiple future projects within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Starting with the birth of a new hero in the form of Monica Rambeau’s Photon, Marvel has also stated that the events of this series will directly lead into the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. While we didn’t receive a Benedict Cumberbatch cameo as the Sorcerer Supreme himself, the finale of WandaVision did introduce this film in ways that are more subtle.
To those who were not carefully watching, the episode may have seemed like a more straightforward Marvel finale. The good guys punched the bad guys, there was lots of flying around, plenty of collateral destruction, stellar special effects, and ultimately a pretty clean-cut conclusion for the protagonist, Wanda. However, Marvel was more cunning than the events of the episode would leave the world to believe, making the final a bit more fitting to a series built around such tantalizing mysteries. Though it wasn’t a huge superhero reveal, this is a closer look at Marvel’s final, unspoken introduction to a key player in the future of the MCU, director Sam Raimi.
Sam Raimi is practically superhero royalty. Sure, other superhero films had existed before Sam Raimi worked to put out the original Spider-Man, but that film ultimately set the groundwork for the MCU to dominate the public consciousness. Raimi is set to direct the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, marking his return to the genre after the release of Spider-Man 3. However, Spider-Man is not the reason that Raimi is so well-qualified to helm the sequel to the most trippy Marvel movie to date. His background in campy, horrific films is more likely the reason that he has been selected.
Movies like Drag Me to Hell perfectly illustrate his ability to balance horror, action, and comedy. This movie centered around a young woman who is cursed by a gypsy woman. She tries to shake the curse in a number of ways, even going so far as to seek the help of a practitioner of Santeria. Santeria, notably, is a form of witchcraft. The movie continues to have many terrifying sequences that are accented by moments of absurd humor that allow the audience to breathe, much like how Marvel will sprinkle moments of comedic relief in the form of clever quips in their more intense scenes. Keeping these influences in mind, the ways in which the finale of WandaVision paves the way for Raimi are incredibly clever in their execution.
Starting with the inclusion of witches and the highly creepy sequence in which Wanda attempts to trap Agatha Harkness in a nightmare of when she turned on her old coven, we see nods to Raimi’s horror film, The Evil Dead. This was a film about a group of teenagers that find a book of incantations that ultimately led to a set of horrors being unleashed upon them, one of which involves being bound by the forestry surrounding their cabin. Not only do we have Agatha introducing a book of dark magic, but we also see her tied to a tree while a group of zombie-esque witches surrounds her.
Next, there’s a technical nod to the way in which Raimi films his movies, with the inclusion of kinetic, swooping camera movements. In the WandaVision finale, there are moments that mimic this technique. As WandaVision enters into its climax we see epic battles ensue between both versions of Vision as well as a showdown of witches. There is a moment in which Agatha gets the upper hand over Wanda by allowing the residents of Westview to openly express their terror and unhappiness at being subject to Wanda’s spell and grief, noting that they have to share in her nightmares every night. As a result of this Wanda later realizes she must take down the hex entirely, even at the cost of her magically created family. As the hex recedes, Marvel employs the use of Raimi-esque camera swoops. This would totally be missed by viewers that are unfamiliar with the director’s past work, but is still a very cool nod to what lies ahead.
Finally, one of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it references to Raimi’s past work is with the movie theater shown in the background of many scenes of the finale. The sign on the marquee clearly shows that the theater is currently showing Oz the Great and Powerful, which is a Raimi film. This is also a nod to Raimi’s experience handling more whimsical properties as well as straight-up adventure fantasy, rounding him out as the ideal director to bring on in the next phase of the MCU. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is going to include magic, mind-bending, and certainly a heaping helping of adventure. Sam Raimi is just the man to help bring this vision to life.
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