Why The Strucker Watch Commercial In WandaVision Episode 2 Is So Significant
Contains major spoilers for WandaVision episodes 1 and 2
From the moment it was announced, WandaVision has been touted as a strange addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When we first find them, the series' titular characters, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), are living in a square, black-and-white world full of sitcom tropes and apparently no knowledge of their recent efforts to save the world from Thanos (never mind the fact that Vision didn't make it out of his face-off against the purple Titan alive). Unexpectedly, the unique series is kicking off the MCU's Phase 4 due to pandemic-related delays. However, within its first two episodes, there's no indication of what happened to our heroes after Avengers: Endgame. In fact, the series seems to exist in a whole other universe, and strangely enough, it's WandaVision's commercials that ground it in the MCU.
The WandaVision creative team went out of their way to make the sitcom-inspired episodes convincingly era-appropriate, even going so far as to film the first episode in front of a live audience. Plus, a laugh track runs through the background as the characters go through familiar antics arising from silly misunderstandings created by their superpowers. The commercials in the midst of the episodes only serve to strengthen the commitment, but they have their own Easter eggs that hint at the wider universe WandaVision still takes place within.
In episode 2, there's a seemingly innocuous commercial for a watch brand called Strücker. One might brush it off as insignificant, but the in-series ad is actually incredibly meaningful.
The watch commercial is a callback to the very man who gave Wanda her powers
WandaVision's commercial for Strücker Watches features '60s-era wood paneling and underhanded misogyny as a voiceover says, "They say a man is never fully dressed without two important accessories: his special lady and his Strücker." Over a close up of the Strücker watch, the voice says, "Strücker — He'll make time for you." It ends with an ominous ticking sound speeding up as the camera zooms in on the watch face, which has printed on it the word "HYDRA" next to the organization's symbol.
HYDRA, the Nazi organization whose members have been a long-time enemy of Captain America, was certainly operating during the '60s in the MCU, but this Easter egg is likely in WandaVision because of its personal connection to the characters. If the name "Strucker" sounds familiar, that's because HYDRA agent Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (played by Thomas Kretschmann) appears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (in a post-credits scene) and in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He and his team experimented on Wanda and her twin brother Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) with the Mind Stone contained in Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) scepter, giving them their superpowers. In the middle of Age of Ultron, Strucker is killed by the robot villain Ultron, but Wanda certainly hasn't forgotten him. Or, at least, she probably hasn't. Now in her sitcom-world, she doesn't seem to remember much about her life before everything was smiles and hijinks, but it's slowly bleeding back through.
How exactly might the memory of Strucker fit into the WandaVision mix? We'll just have to wait and see.