WARNING: The following contains spoilers for WandaVision Episodes 1 & 2, now streaming on Disney+.
In the years since Disney brought Marvel Entertainment in 2009, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a major part of the Mouse House's multimedia empire. Of course, in order to fit the company's family-friendly brand, the MCU has been relatively sexless under Disney's watch, aside from the occasional innuendo in Iron Man 3 or the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Surprisingly, however, for a Disney-era MCU property, Disney+'s WandaVision is not only randy, it's pretty unabashedly horny in general.
The first two episodes of WandaVision include multiple nods to Wanda Maximoff and Vision's sex life, despite being done in the style of 1950s and '60s sitcoms, like Bewitched, which often had to censor themselves. In Episode 1, Wanda spends a decent amount of time studying up on how to seduce Vision with the help of her neighbor, Agnes, during which the two share a handful of innuendos. Later, Vision is unapologetically into Wanda's '50s lingerie, despite the presence of his boss and boss' wife, who've come over for dinner, something Wanda wasn't aware of.
Episode 2 of WandaVision takes things further by opening with Vision and Wanda in separate beds, only for Wanda to use her powers to bring them together so they can have sex. While the scene cuts away as soon as they go under their blanket, it's clear what they're doing. It's the most overt acknowledgement of a couple having a healthy sex life in the MCU under Disney's watch. This turn of events later comes back into play in the episode's final moments, when Wanda suddenly discovers she's pregnant and the world around them literally changes, going from black and white to multi-colored.
WandaVision is clever in the way it incorporates these jokes and implications without being too explicit for Disney+, much like '50s and '60s sitcoms worked around the broadcasting standards of their time to include more suggestive humor. Indeed, Disney's streaming service has been criticized for being too restrictive when it comes to subject matter, resulting in shows like Love, Victor moving to Hulu and the Lizzie McGuire revival being canceled before it premiered. For that reason, it will be interesting to see if WandaVision begins a trend where Disney+ exclusives have a little more room to explore topics like sex.
To be fair, WandaVision is way less explicit than some of the shows released by the now-defunct Marvel Television over the last decade. ABC's Agents of SHIELD featured multiple nods to its heroes' sex lives throughout its run, whereas Netflix series like Jessica Jones flat out showed characters like Jessica and Luke Cage having sex. It's safe to assume WandaVision won't be going that far, even once its setting changes to evoke more recent sitcoms like Modern Family. Still, it's refreshing to see a post-Disney MCU property push the envelope when it comes to portraying its superheroes having sexual appetites.
Moreover, as the first MCU title under Disney's watch to focus specifically on a romantic couple, it's only right WandaVision explores all aspects of a relationship between consenting adults. So far, the show seems to have a sex-positive outlook, with Wanda and Vision's attraction to one another portrayed as something that's healthy and to be encouraged. True, the series is examining this topic in the context of a straight married couple who're interested in having kids, but it's also worth remembering: merely showing a husband and wife in bed together was once considered too radical for mainstream sitcoms.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.
0 Comments