'WandaVision' Episode 1 Spoilers: How did Wanda Maximoff's powers change so much from 'Avengers: Endgame'?
From the trailer, even from the very first poster reveal for the show, it's clear that reality has gone awry. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and the Vision (Paul Bettany) are stuck inside some kind of sitcom nightmare, and given the Scarlet Witch's comic book history with disrupting reality, the series seems to be implying that this was somehow caused by her. The thing is Wanda has never displayed these kinds of powers before. So what's changed and how will it affect the series and her future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
When she was first introduced, Wanda and her brother Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) were given their powers from Hydra experiments that came from drawing power from Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) Staff, which was powered by the Mind Stone. Thus, when Wanda was first introduced, her main powerset involved mental manipulation, showing the Avengers their greatest fears and bringing them to life. Later on in the movie, she was also able to manifest a scarlet energy that gave her a sort of telekinetic control over things, a power that only grew over time, until it got to the point where she was able to hold her own against Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 'Avengers: Endgame' but even so, all she could control was that powerful scarlet energy.
One of the earlier reveals of 'Avengers: Endgame' is that the Infinity Stones were destroyed, which would include the Mind Stone, the gem that brought the Vision to life and gave Wanda her powers. We still don't know how the Vision has returned to life in 'WandaVision', but given that he was fueled by the same energies that gave Wanda her powers, and the couple's strong romantic connection, it's not a stretch to imagine that Wanda tried to funnel her own prodigious energies into bringing the Vision back to life. It's possible that the reality we see being warped isn't reality at all, but an extension of Wanda's mental manipulation powers she was first introduced with, bringing her, the Vision, and everyone in proximity to them into an idealized world of the American sitcom suburb.
You can watch a trailer for the series below:
'WandaVision' Season 1 Episode 1 releases on January 15 on Disney+.