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Rexx Life Raj Dodges A ‘Bounty’ On His Head In His New Illmind-Produced Song

Berkeley rapper/singer Rexx Life Raj seems like a really nice guy, so why anyone would want to put a bounty on his head is beyond me, but that’s exactly what he insists is happening in his new, Illmind-produced single, “Bounty.” Musically, the new song is right in Rexx’s wheelhouse, with a tight, spacious beat for him to express his innermost thoughts with a combination of lilting crooning and rapier-like rap cadences.

Raj recently posted a photo to his Instagram teasing the new track, with his cowboy-inspired look forming the basis for the song’s cover art and suggesting that there might be a Western-style video for “Bounty” on the way as well. It wouldn’t be the first time the Bay Area indie stalwart went all-in on a video concept.

In the video for Raj’s most recent single, “Bad Bad Bad” from his California Poppy 2 EP, he cheekily adopted some extreme-looking pandemic safety measures for a day of picnics, sightseeing, and sports. Meanwhile, the video for his 2020 single “Tesla In A Pandemic” was more-or-less self-explanatory, as he showed off his new purchase and exhorted the benefits of remaining independent and keeping creative control.

“Bounty” appears to be a standalone single for now, but knowing Raj, it’s likely only a matter of time before he announces a new full-length to follow-up 2019’s Father Figure 3. Stay tuned.

Listen to Rexx Life Raj’s “Bounty” above.

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‘WandaVision’ Released What Sure Looks Like A Spoiler-Heavy ‘Sneak Peek’ Of The Show’s Dark Direction

(Spoilers from Marvel Studios and Disney+’s WandaVision will be found below.)

It’s only been a few hours since WandaVision Episode 4 “We Interrupt This Program” started streaming Disney+ and the generally spoiler-averse Marvel Studios has dropped a very revealing sneak peak at the show’s direction. Not only does the new preview give away huge plot elements from the just-released Episode 4, but it seems to showcase some pretty significant events that will unfold in the weeks ahead.

After opening on Monica Rambeau reuniting with her SWORD colleagues and preparing to offer her insider perspective on what’s happening in the Westside bubble, namely that Wanda is the villainous force altering the town’s reality, the sneak peak starts flashing through clips of scenes to come with a heavy emphasis on a showdown between Wanda and Vision coming down the line. As glitches start to appear in the town, Vision becomes even more keenly aware of the strange events that keep unfolding, which builds towards a confrontation with Wanda over “What’s outside Westview?” In a surprisingly revealing moment, the clip actually shows Vision forcing his way through the energy field around the town, and then collapsing to his knees. Either because of his shock from escaping an alternate reality, or because he just entered a world where’s he supposed to be dead, and may have just reverted back to that state.

The clip also includes a very brief, but clearly deliberate moment that shows Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes seemingly manipulating Wanda. During one of the show’s reality-breaking moments where the artifice of the sitcom world starts to crack, Agnes can be seen telling Wanda, “Shouldn’t we just take it from the top?” We’ve already seen hints before that Agnes knows more than she’s letting on, and the show has revealed that unlike the other residents of Westview, she doesn’t have a real world identity. But this new clip is the first to suggest that Agnes is behind the events in Westview.

Adding to the mystery of Agnes’ involvement, the sneak peak also includes the phrase, “Life could be perfect when it’s made just for you,” which can be read as Wanda is creating a new reality where Vision is still alive, or that someone else created it for her.

(Via Marvel)

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Gabby Williams Is Giving Women Everywhere The Space To Tell Their Stories

If we’re thinking about what the WNBA will look like in the future, look no further than Gabby Williams. As a point forward on the wing for the Chicago Sky, Williams has helped usher Chicago into a new era of championship contention. And as a long outspoken advocate for social justice across the board, she is a bright voice in a league that is increasingly looked to as a leader in social engagement in sport.

A new partnership with Ford as one of the faces of the auto company’s #ShowSomeMuscle campaign only furthers Williams’ place at the intersection of all of this. Williams is the face of Ford’s plan to reimagine the “muscle car” with the Mustang Mach-E, a new all-electric concept pushing the boundaries of what brawn and power are in our society.

Williams is also leading Ford’s social media challenge to encourage women to share their personal stories of perseverance and resiliency online, which she started on Thursday and nominated her former Sky teammate Cheyenne Parker among others.

During a break from her Hungarian team, Sopron Basket, Williams spoke with Dime about the Ford partnership, her work in the Chicago community, and what’s next for the Sky following an extension for head coach James Wade, and the reported signing of the legendary Candace Parker.

As an athlete you have a lot of opportunities come up, so what stood out about this Ford partnership and why did you choose to be part of it?

I felt really honored that they thought of me, but for me, I’m just really excited that it’s giving an opportunity for women everywhere to share their strengths, because I think that we can empower one another, and I do think there are so many stories out there that can inspire others. I couldn’t say no to an opportunity like that and it’s just so exciting to be part of this.

It seems like there are a lot of companies that are trying to be genuine about the way that they open themselves up to women and to female customers or female partners. What does that mean to you, do you think it’s trending in the right direction, and how do you hope this fits into that?

I do. It is going in the right direction. Ford being Ford, such a huge company — and especially as the campaign talks about with muscle cars — always seem to be very masculine and for men, but the campaign is promoting that no, this can be feminine, too, and this can be for women as well.

It’s huge, because as an athlete, that’s what I am. I’m a (female) athlete in a man’s world, in the industry of sports, so I can relate to that a lot, and I think many people have some kind of experience with that as well.

I know you’re involved with Chicago’s “Sky Takes Action” campaign, and there were a lot of WNBA teams that tried to put things together last season that would continue past 2020. What inspired you about the campaign and how will “Sky Takes Action” continue into 2021?

We knew when we started this that it was going to be not just 2020. We wanted to do something big this year especially because we all just had so many emotions and things we were passionate about, but we were setting the foundation for what we hope can happen with the Sky, where every year can be something new and we can add onto what we’re doing.

We’ve all become close to the initiatives that are dear to our hearts, and this summer was about learning how we can make change, so now we feel better-equipped to tackle these things in the future and in the years to come.

It’s a wide variety of groups you partnered with. Was there any interaction or conversation in choosing those that sticks out to you a few months later?

I just felt really inspired by the feedback I was getting from these organizations. Like, of course we wanted to help and make them as happy as possible, but (the response we got) just felt really good from the leaders. They were just so excited to be part of it, and every time I get to reach out to one of the heads or whoever I’m working with, they’re always just so excited, and it keeps me going.

We see a lot of these partnerships with teams where a lot of it is organized by some corporate person within the team, but it sticks out to me that you and your teammates were on the ground communicating directly with the leaders, so I wonder what the response was like from them to see that you guys really did care on a detailed level about what was going on?

That was the really cool thing about it, is we knew exactly what we felt passionate about, like the school system. Diamond DeShields and (Bears linebacker) Sam Acho are really connected with By The Hand. It was our baby and we wanted to protect it, and I think that’s why we did it on such a hands-on level. We didn’t want to put it in the hands of other people, because we knew what we cared about, we knew who we wanted to help and what we stood for. And so it was an opportunity for us to speak out about the issues we were most passionate about and we wanted it to be our voice, not anyone else’s.

Let’s talk about the 2021 season. There was a recent Clubhouse event in which I believe Sue Bird mentioned that the Justice in Policing Act might be a focus for the players this season. What form do you expect the league’s organizing to take when you come together in May for the season?

I expect it to be a bit similar to this past season. We may be a bit more organized because hopefully we have more time. But I expect something similar where teams have their own initiatives that they work on within their communities, but I know we’ll do some things at a league-wide level as well.

Is that something that’s still being crafted among you guys?

Yeah, we have no idea what the season is even going to look like, so it’s hard to plan. We don’t know if it’s a Bubble, we don’t know if we’re traveling. You can only organize so much when you don’t even have the season organized yet. It’s a bit difficult.

On that note, (head coach and GM) James Wade just got an extension from the Sky. You guys have had a lot of success under him and he seems to have connected with you guys, so what stands out to you most after these past couple seasons with Coach Wade and what was your reaction to the extension?

I was really happy for him just personally. I think that’s a great opportunity for him and he earned it. And I also know what the organization means to James, and I think he really does take pride in us, he really does care for us as people and as players, and he wants to see the organization as a whole do better. I see that he genuinely wants to make a difference in Chicago, so it’s great.

It’s not official yet, so I understand if you don’t want to say anything, but reporting indicates that Candace Parker is headed to your team, which is home for her. It sounds like you guys were part of getting her to commit. What can you say about that situation?

I can’t say too much, but overall it’s an amazing addition. I’m excited to see what kind of team we’ll have for the summer, and I’m just looking forward to it and I know she’s going to bring so much that we don’t have and so much that we need. It will be huge for us.

I wanted to ask you to close what your goal for the season is, but it’s probably the same as it has been, which is to win a championship, right?

Yeah, of course. Especially with James, he makes sure to instill that mentality, that we’re not playing for anything less and this has to be the motivation, because James doesn’t want to see us settle. James genuinely has that confidence in us and wants to see us have that in ourselves, so we’re going to go into every season contending for a championship.

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Fontaines DC Take To A Pub To Perform ‘A Hero’s Death’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

Bars are a lot quieter now than they were this time last year. Thanks to the pandemic, Friday night drinks at a favorite local spot are out of the question, as is getting to enjoy a band playing at that boozy venue. Last night on The Tonight Show, Fontaines DC brought a bit of that back to our lives with a remote performance of “A Hero’s Death,” which they filmed from a pub in London.

Announcing the performance last week, the band wrote on Instagram, “Good man Fallon for having us back on. We filmed a live performance in one of our favourite pubs in London — The Auld Shilleladh.”

2020 was a wild year for Fontaines DC. While their latest album, A Hero’s Death, earned them plenty of acclaim stateside, it was an ever bigger release over in the UK. At one point, it was in a fiercely competitive chart battle with Taylor Swift, which it ended up losing, giving the album a UK chart peak at No. 2. It was also revealed today that A Hero’s Death was the third best-selling album in independent UK record shops in 2020, behind Idles’ Ultra Mono and Yungblud’s Weird!.

Watch Fontaines DC perform “A Hero’s Death” on Fallon above.

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Jimmy Kimmel Wonders How Ted Cruz Would React To QAnon Supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene If She Was A Democrat

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a QAnon conspiracy theorist, a “total whack-job” who, to choose a random example of something abhorrent she’s done, harasses survivors of school shootings. She’s also a congresswoman, so… that’s great. “If you don’t know who this person is, I wish I didn’t, too,” host Jimmy Kimmel said about the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district during Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! “She is the lady who, among other things, called for Nancy Pelosi’s execution; called for Joe Biden’s impeachment on his first day in office; and she believes our former governor here in California, Jerry Brown, used space lasers to set the wildfires here. She saw the Austin Powers movie and thought it was a documentary.”

Kimmel also brought up the resurfaced video of Taylor Greene stalking David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting that left 17 people dead, and calling him a “coward.” He wondered “how it would go over with the Fox News and Ted Cruz crew if Nancy Pelosi called for Marjorie Taylor Greene to be executed and called a teenage kid ‘Hitler’? You think they’d have anything to say? Well, it was the other way around, and guess what? Most of them have nothing to say. Instead, they assigned her to the education committee. Hoping, I guess, she would get one? I don’t know.”

You can watch the clip above.

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Westside Boogie Keeps His Skills Sharp With The Cocky ‘Joe Exotic Freestyle’

Despite changing his name, Westside Boogie is still the same rapper we all know and love. During the lead-up to his debut album, Everything’s For Sale, Boog was known to drop a freestyle video or two to keep the fans tuned-in to his moves, and today, we’re happy to report that he returns to the habit with his cocky “Joe Exotic Freestyle” video.

Vets of Boogie’s output should already know the drill: The Compton rapper posts up in a single location, lets the camera run, raps his butt off, and the lyrics scroll down the right side of the screen. It’s a simple, straightforward, and incredibly effective tactic and Boogie has mastered its use to keep his buzz going between projects without having to blow the budget on music videos.

As usual, he tackles familiar subjects like disloyal women, phony gangsters, and the stressful thoughts that keep him penning therapeutic, revelatory verses. He also shouts out Campanella Park in Compton, keeping his hometown near and dear.

Prior to releasing “Joe Exotic,” Boogie teased his forthcoming new music with a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek sketch involving a hostage situation, then shared his new single “Outside” with Joey Badass. He also guest-featured on Reason’s extended mix of the MF DOOM-sampling “Extinct,” which coincidentally dropped the day we all found out about the masked rapper’s death.

Watch Westside Boogie’s “Joe Exotic Freestyle” video above.

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The Best New Hip-Hop This Week

As the music biz ramps back up to feed the ravenous demand of housebound fans still deprived of live entertainment, this week’s offerings in hip-hop lean indie, and international. In terms of albums, British rap/grime makes a double showing, while two of hip-hop’s most prominent underground producers deliver projects full of soulful samples and nostalgic loops.

Meanwhile, on the singles side of things, there are plenty of newcomers and quirky, left-of-center expressionists dropping, along with some fast-rising regional talents. The highlights here are Bay Area upstart Caleborate, who’s been working the indie circuit for some time, and T.I. protege Tokyo Jetz, who finally looks set to take advantage of hip-hop’s “girl power” wave in earnest.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending January 29, 2021

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

Chip — Snakes And Ladders

Chip

British rapper Chip has been around long enough that his relative youth might be surprising, but that’s what happens when you get your start as a teenager. He’s been feuding with Stormzy for the last several months, but with this release, he returns the focus back to where it rightfully belongs: On his impressive, long-lasting legacy, and continued good standing in the grime world due to his impressive pen game.

Fendi P -– The Art Of Finessin 2

Fendi P

A long-tenured rapper who has put out a dozen projects on Curren$y’s Jet Life Recordings imprint, the artist formerly known as Corner Boy P has been one of hip-hop’s most consistent sound providers since the early 2010s. On his latest, he sticks to the script, delivering laid back lifestyle raps over smooth, simple beats alongside fellow Jet Lifer Fiend and longtime associate Wiz Khalifa.

Fredo — Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Fredo

Since getting his start relatively recently, Fredo has made a name for himself as one of the UK’s most exciting young rappers alongside Dave and Young Adz. On his emotive sophomore project, he pays homage to the Fugees’ Delfonics cover “Ready Or Not” with Summer Walker and delves into the drill movement with Adz and the late Pop Smoke.

Haiti Babii -– Trap Art

Haiti Babii

Repping the Bay Area by way of Stockton, CA, Haiti Babii gained notoriety with his ad-lib-ridden freestyle on LA’s 92.3 The Real, but he’s since proven there’s way more to him than a bunch of sound effects. His latest is a street-rooted, with wobbly, post-hyphy bangers backing a slippery, malleable flow and bold, self-confident lyrics celebrating the street life.

Lil Durk — The Voice (Deluxe)

Lil Durk

Following up the success of his latest release, the Windy City vet doubles down on the inevitable re-issue, adding 11 new tracks featuring a big name in Lil Baby and a bubbling star, Pooh Shiesty.

Madlib — Sound Ancestors

Madlib

Elusive Los Angeles beatmaker Madlib shares 16 tracks of audio callbacks that stretch across decades, genres, and outcomes, from cosmic funk to boom-bap bangers.

The Alchemist — Carry The Fire (EP)

Alchemist

Not to be outdone, ‘Lib’s fellow Angeleno Alan the Chemist carves out his own space with eight spacey, retro-accented loops to groove to.

Thutmose — Best Of Both Worlds: Side B (EP)

Thutmose

A four-song blend of Afro-fusion and hip-hop, Brooklyn-based Thutmose’s latest is his first since 2018’s Man On Fire and his star-making turn on the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse soundtrack.

Singles/Videos

Babyface Ray — “If You Know You Know” Feat. Moneybagg Yo

Detroit newcomer is hilariously out-of-pocket and disrespectful on this sparse, throwback ode to… well, ratchet sh*t. There’s something about his zoned-out flow that makes him surprisingly engaging, even when his punchlines are grimy enough to make an elder blush.

Caleborate — “What U Want”

Berkeley rapper Caleborate has been a personal favorite since his appearance last year on COLORS, and if this emotive love letter doesn’t make you a fan as well, you’ve got to at least appreciate the deftly-plotted video that accompanies it.

Dark Time Sunshine — “The Rite Kids” Feat. Homeboy Sandman & R.A.P. Ferreira

Consisting of Seattle emcee Onry Ozzborn and Chicago producer Zavala, this single from the duo’s upcoming LP LORE sums up their avant-garde approach alongside two of underground rap’s most polished technicians.

Heno — “Blackstarrr”

Co-signed by Jpegmafia, this Maryland-bred MC’s MC shows off the heady precision of his flow as he leads up to his forthcoming album Death Ain’t THAT Bad.

Homeboy Sandman x Quelle Chris — “Hello Dancer”

Homeboy Sandman’s mastery of wordplay, breath control, and rhythm should be the subject of books. If you’ve recently discovered or rediscovered MF DOOM’s eccentric but dextrous style and are looking for more artists like him… well, here you go.

Jaah SLT — “2021 Banger”

There’s this vein of punk-rock inspired rap that’s just very infectious, including such names as Snot, Jasiah, and Rico Nasty. Throw Jaah SLT on the list and keep your eyes peeled for more yell-rap from this burgeoning, rough-around-the-edges talent.

LBS Kee’vin — “Hood Dreams” Feat. FCG Heem

I hit play on this one not knowing quite what to expect from this Florida native. I’ll tell you what; I wasn’t disappointed. With a sing-song flow, trap-friendly beat, and one heck of a catchy hook, LBS Kee’vin proves he’s one to watch and he won’t be staying local for very much longer.

Slimelife Shawty — “Homicide”

Plain and simple, a “black Air Force activity” banger. Slimelife Shawty can flat-out rap — if you know what to listen for. In contrast to the wordy delivery of some of this list’s entries, he just paints an impressionistic portrait of life on the streets of Atlanta.

Tokyo Jetz — “Know The Rules” Feat. T.I.

The witty-ass video is the draw, but this Jacksonville rapper brings a straight-up electric magnetism to her rapid-fire flow, hijacking Big Freedia and Tupac samples to drag no-good, trifling men through the mud and back. Grand Hustle bossman T.I. drops by to offer his seal of approval, but Tokyo doesn’t need it.

TruCarr — “Lose My Mind” Feat. Rich The Kid

TruCarr and his slurry flow have been drawing increased attention in the past few months as this underground favorite accumulates co-signs and establishes himself as one of the stickier songwriters coming up from Watts, California today.

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Hayley Williams ‘Leaked’ A New Song By Sneakily Hand-Delivering A CD To A Fan At Night

With so many people finding so many ways to put out new music, it’s harder and harder to be original these days when it comes to release strategies. Hayley Williams managed to do something different last night, though: By cover of night, she stealthily hand-delivered a CD to a fan and gave them her consent to leak the song on it.

Williams chronicled the stunt in a video, in which she drove up to the home of superfan Carly Butler, dropped a CD containing the song “My Limb” into her mailbox (along with a candle), and honking as she drove off.

Butler later tweeted, “did hayley williams drive to your house and drop off a candle and a cd with her new song on it or are you having a normal night.” Since Butler had permission to leak the track, she did just that, and as of this post, the song is only available online as a YouTube video.

It’s possible the song is a taste of a new album, and if Williams were to drop a new effort this year, it would be a quick turnaround for her: Her latest album, Petals For Armor, was just released in May 2020.

Listen to “My Limb” above.

Hayley Williams is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Jpegmafia Shares The Mellow ‘Fix Urself!’ Video To Tease His ‘EP2!’

Jpegmafia has announced the forthcoming release of EP2!, the follow-up to his 2020 EP, the fittingly-titled EP!. To accompany the announcement, the avant-garde Baltimore rapper has shared the video for one of the seven songs from the tracklist he posted, “Fix Urself!” As an artist who never sticks with one style, Jpeg once again uses the track to morph into a reasonable approximation of Drake’s concerned lover boy schtick over a downtempo beat with digitally manipulated vocals.

The accompanying video is another self-shot affair, featuring Peggy and his girlfriend on a road trip and a nighttime walk through a city. It’s low-fi and very similar to his videos for “Living Single” and “Last Dance!” although it’s a bit grainier and he’s less aggressive in the video thanks to the softspoken nature of the song itself.

Jpeg spent much of 2020 releasing the gritty, self-contained videos, culminating with the release of EP! in November. Fans who wondered why “Last Dance!” wasn’t included on its tracklist received their answer today as Peggy shared the tracklist for EP2! which includes both “Fix Urself!” and “Last Dance!” According to Stereogum, the tracklist is below.

01. “Intro!”
02. “Last Dance!”
03. “Fix Urself!”
04. “Keltec!”
05. “This Ones For Us!”
06. “Panic Room!”
07. “Feed Her!”

Watch Jpegmafia’s “Fix Urself!” video above.

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‘WandaVision’ Finally Tosses Us Some Answers With One Heck Of A (Villainous?) Curveball

(Spoilers from Marvel Studios and Disney+’s WandaVision will be found below.)

WandaVision spent three episodes stirring up easter eggs that propped up HYDRA and Age Of Ultron references to remind everyone that Wanda Maximoff can’t escape her traumatic past. She can’t even do so while hiding in suburbia and, potentially, concocting an entire sitcom-y world to avoid reality. This week, we’re finally getting some answers, many of which were more than suggested in an advance clip, but let’s do this:

(1) Geraldine is, as suspected, actually the grown-up version of Captain Marvel‘s Monica Rambeau (who might become Captain Marvel one day), and she’s definitely an agent of SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), which is essentially a cosmic version of SHIELD that similarly deals with threats to humanity that would include HYDRA. She’s there in an attempt to “snap” Wanda out of whatever nefarious business SWORD has detected in Westview (and we also see how Monica went through her own trauma when she re-materialized from Thanos “snap” from Infinity War).

(2) Agent Jimmy Woo (from Ant-Man And The Wasp) is also a SWORD guy, and he’s the voice who was attempting to contact Wanda over the radio. At one point, he asks, “The universe created a sitcom starring two Avengers?” Oh sweet Jimmy Woo, there is so much more to that story coming your way.

(3) Darcy Lewis (from multiple Thor movies) is also assisting with the SWORD investigation on what’s going on with Marvel. She’s that figure who we saw peering into a monitor while the Westview events began to unfold earlier in the season. She’s essentially the audience POV but so much cooler than all of us.

So, that’s the setup. The episode is essentially an infodump that takes a break from the sitcom mold that it crafted for itself. Actually, there’s more to that because we’ve been wondering all along if Wanda created this world to enjoy one last, lingering hurrah with Vision after he died in Avengers: Endgame. He didn’t even just die, he had a damn hole burned into his head when Thanos extracted the Mind Stone. And after we’ve heard some “indestructible head” jokes from Wanda (who appeared to truly believe what she was saying), we got one hell of a reality check at the end of the episode.

Here’s how that went down. Wanda got nasty with Monica/Geraldine and ignited her powers, thereby hurling the SWORD agent through several walls and out of Westview.

Disney+

This instantly clues Monica into exclaiming that this is “all Wanda.” From that, it sure as heck looks like Monica believes that no one else is pulling the strings in Westview. (This may not be the case, given that Darcy was shown to have uncovered everyone’s identities in Westview other than Agnes, meaning that Agnes is also up to no good.)

Disney+

And, well, here’s the money shot of the week. Vision’s looking pretty damn dead here, which answers the whole “how on earth is he alive?” question.

Disney+

So yes, he’s obviously dead now. No question about it. Even though he’s dead, Vision still seems freaked out by Wanda’s behavior, but since we don’t know if she reanimated his corpse or is simply imagining that he’s there (and can’t escape the “dead” thing), I have to wonder if Wanda’s thoughts from her subconscious or conscience are coming out of Vision’s mouth. Whatever the answer to that question might be, Disney+ gave us one heck of a jump scare, and worked on people.

All of this, really and truly, makes me scratch my head at the swirling rumors (that have not been discouraged by the show or cast interviews) about who the villain of WandaVision might turn out to be. It’s generally understood that this will be the greatest MCU villain of all, one who would rival Thanos in badness, but might we receive two major villains from this show? Clearly, Wanda’s losing her tenuous grip on sanity after a lifetime of trauma (she was a HYDRA test subject, lost her parents to a Stark Industries bombing, and witnessed Pietro/Quicksilver being killed by Ultron). While I’m thinking about Ultron, I do need to say that he was easily the worst MCU villain that we’ve ever seen, so that adds further insult to Pietro’s death. And I wonder if everything here might be building toward a major MCU villain actually being… Wanda/Scarlet Witch?

Wanda was introduced as the most powerful Avenger before being sidelined. She can bend reality and get inside of her enemies’ minds, and she nearly took out Thanos. Recall how she vengefully faced off against Thanos during the Avengers: Endgame final battle while snarling that he’d taken everything away from her. Kevin Feige recently confirmed that the moment does matter (a lot) in his mind. “I think it’s interesting, if you look at Endgame, Wanda Maximoff was going to kill Thanos,” Feige pointed out. “That’s as scared as I’ve ever seen Thanos, and if he hadn’t said, ‘Decimate my entire team to get her off of me,’ I think she would have done it.”

Wanda Maximoff as not merely an antagonist but a supervillain is definitely possible!

It’s worth theorizing about at the very least. A lot of the fandom still believes that, at some point, Agnes will be confirmed as Agatha Harkness, a sorceress from the comics who helped Wanda come into her powers while training with HYDRA. Her husband, Ralph, is suspected of being Mephisto, who fans are presuming will be the next big baddie. Hey, why can’t there be two big baddies? We know that Wanda will play a pivotal role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so let the speculation begin on that note.

‘WandaVision’ will stream new episodes each Friday.