The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an intricately planned affair with several years of films plotted out at any given moment. That fine tuning obviously got thrown off track in 2020, since Black Widow meant to officially launch the MCU’s Phase Four (post-Infinity Saga) era, and instead, that honor’s going to the first Disney+ series, WandaVision. How everything will all shake out and affect the overall timeline of movies still remains to be seen, but for now, this new TV spot — and it’s really, really nice to see Marvel TV spots again, isn’t it? — officially signals the “new era,” by literally titling itself as “Signal.”
The new era is Phase Four, and prepare for things to get funky and weird and outside the normal confines of superhero-framed reality. This is alright, yes? Series director Matt Shakman told SFX Magazine that launching the phase is “an honour” and “terrifying” and “surreal, like everything else.” Yep, the world’s incredibly surreal (and terrifying) now.
Of course, we will eventually see Black Widow (and The Eternals and Shang-Chi and so on), but for now, the Disney+ series is keeping the MCU train going. As we’ve already seen, this limited series will give viewers 1950s-set sitcom vibes that feel like an homage to The Dick Van Dyke Show, but within the larger story, the superhero lovers are attempting to conjure up a picture-perfect home life. From the looks of footage and trailers so far, it sure looks like reality will start to collapse, and we’ve seen hints about not only Vision’s anatomy but also the couple’s baby twins, which may or may not exist and may lead to realizations that aren’t as pretty as the sitcom setup would have people believe. From the show’s synopsis:
The series is a blend of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision — two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives — begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
WandaVision will premiere on January 15.