What The Critics Are Saying About WandaVision
After a 2020 completely devoid of any fresh Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marvel Studios has its fingers crossed that 2021 will prove far more fruitful for their blockbuster franchise. While the release of films like Black Widow, Eternals, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to theaters remains a touchy subject, Disney+ is just as viable an avenue as ever for fans to get their Marvel fix. Kicking off this streaming initiative is the upcoming series WandaVision, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as Wanda Maximoff and Vision, respectively.
Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the program will follow the titular MCU mainstays through a host of alternate, surreal realities as they try to make sense of their new life together. Early teasers and promotional materials have depicted the show as unlike anything the Infinity Saga had to offer, but did this unorthodox approach work to WandaVision's advantage?
While the series isn't on Disney+, just yet, for the average consumer to experience, a handful of critics have checked out the first MCU Disney+ original in advance. They've subsequently made their way to the internet to voice whether or not WandaVision is a hit, a miss, or somewhere in the middle.
WandaVision isn't the show to sleep on
If first impressions are any indication, Marvel Studios has yet another hit on their hands with WandaVision.
On January 9, 2021, social media quickly became inundated with initial thoughts from critics about the Disney+ series, and the general consensus is that it's a solid MCU entry. For example, Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com called the show "a blast to watch. It is so committed to the sitcom structure of story telling that it feels like a bold risk – but it pays off and builds a mystery." Also, G.I. Joe: Retaliation's Ben Mekler took to Twitter an made the claim that it "feels like a brand new chapter in the Marvel saga," adding that it's a "courageously out-there entry that deserves the utmost praise."
After checking out the first three installments, Looper's own Tim Lammers remarked that WandaVision is "a wonderfully inventive way to kick off the MCU's TV era on Disney+," referring to the show as "funny, creative & intriguing, expertly laying the groundwork for a much bigger story!" Echoing a similar, optimistic sentiment, Hector Navarro of Nerdist said that "WandaVision is taking the Marvel Cinematic Universe places it has never gone before, and there's no going back." Dorian Parks, owner of Geeks of Color, went as far as to label the show as "weird as hell (in a good way)."
If these glowing endorsements have you even more amped-up to watch WandaVision, worry not, as the wait for it's back-to-back episode premiere is not far away. The show drops on Disney+ on Friday, January 15, 2021.