After three weeks of keeping us in the dark, WandaVision finally offered up some answers in its fourth episode, which hit Disney Plus this Friday. Taking a break from the POV of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany’s Vision, inside their strange sitcom reality, it revealed what the real deal is behind Westview, connecting to the wider MCU in some major ways at the same time.
Teyonah Parris has featured in previous episodes as neighbor Geraldine, but here we discover that she’s really Captain Monica Rambeau, a top ranking agent of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapons Observation and Response Division). Monica made her MCU debut in Captain Marvel, where she was played as a child by Akira Akbar. That movie established that her mother Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) was Carol Danvers’ best friend. Unfortunately, though, WV drops a tragic twist that will no doubt factor into Captain Marvel 2 in a big way.
The episode’s opening scene depicts Monica being reconstituted following The Blip. She soon learns that her mom passed away from cancer two years after the event and in her wake, family friend Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) has stepped up as acting director of S.W.O.R.D. Yes, it’s revealed in this episode that Maria is the one who founded the organization in the first place.
Parris has been confirmed to be reprising her role as Monica opposite Brie Larson in CM2, so we can likely expect a lot of emotion to come from Carol discovering her best friend has passed away in the years since she last visited Earth. This’ll actually establish a close similarity between Captain Marvel 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as both sequels will follow a hero who’s been MIA for decades returning to work with an organization founded by a loved one (Peggy Carter founded S.H.I.E.L.D.) which counts a relative of said loved one among its agents (e.g. Sharon Carter).
Captain Marvel 2 will also be preceded by Ms. Marvel, which lands on Disney Plus later this year. The movie itself is then expected to hit theaters in November 2022. In the meantime, WandaVision continues every Friday.
