As the new Disney+ WandaVision series launches, the channel provides a quick recap for each of the lead characters’ journeys so far in the MCU

‘As the universe expands, explore the stories of those destined to become Legends’ so the opening text goes, but as grand as that may sound, what we really have here is a couple of clip reels, showing various scenes mostly taken from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Of course, given the way these two characters are so intertwined in the MCU, both by dint of appearing first in the same movie and then by way of becoming romantically linked, that means that a few of the clips are slightly different cuts from the same scenes.

I will award points for the judicious use of different voice soundbites over various bits of visual for Paul Bettany’s Vision and a particularly neat trick that wasn’t needed in the Endgame final cut of Wanda recalling all the miseries she has had to endure by way of black and white flashback clips intercut with the scene of her literally starting to peel Thanos’ armour from his body after that amazing ‘I don’t even know who you are / You will’ exchange.

However, there’s nothing here that anyone who’s been keeping up with the movies won’t already easily be able to recall, no ‘hidden gem’ scenes where you’ll go ‘Oh, I forgot that.’ It’s basically just a pair of sizzle reels – no additional content, no insight from the actors or voiceover delivering facts, no onscreen captions, just a cut of various clips throughout the MCU that serve as a whistle stop recap of the basic beats of each character’s story.

One would have to assume that anyone paying out for a Disney+ subscription and settling down to watch WandaVision would have to have at least a fair amount of investment in at least these two characters and likely the wider MCU as a whole. So whereas these are nicely edited together and each only runs to about seven minutes, it’s hard to see really who they’re aimed at. Some additional titbits – behind the scenes footage, interviews with the actors, maybe even an introduction from them in character might have added something here, but as it stands, it’s difficult to recommend to any but the most die hard completionist viewer of Disney+ content.

Verdict: Short, sweet but ultimately feeling a little pointless. 

Greg D. Smith