Elizabeth Olsen Addresses The WandaVision Cameo That Disappointed Some Fans
Contains spoilers for WandaVision
For every WandaVision fan theory that turned out to be right, there were many more times WandaVision's story zigged when people thought it would zag. Many of us confidently identified early on that Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) was actually Agatha Harkness, who would go on to be the show's big bad by season's end, but that proved to be the exception and not the rule.
When Evan Peters turned up claiming to be Wanda's (Elizabeth Olsen) dead brother Pietro Maximoff, for example, people immediately leapt to the conclusion that this was proof of a full-on X-Men-MCU crossover. After all, Aaron Taylor-Johnson played Pietro in the MCU's Age of Ultron, whereas Peters was a part of the former Fox X-Men lineup. With the next Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) movie entitled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there was every reason to suspect more of Fox's mutants were on the way.
Another major question arose thanks to a cheeky comment Paul Bettany made in an interview with Esquire indicating the show had one more major cameo coming before season's end. "It's an actor I've longed to work with all my life, and we have some amazing scenes together and the chemistry between us is, I think, extraordinary and it was just fireworks on set," Bettany said. Who could it be? Chris Hemsworth as Thor? Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto? The guesses were all over the place.
In the end, both of these big questions were answered in ways that punked fans a little. Peters was playing a nobody actor named Ralph Bohner controlled by Agatha, and the actor Bettany had great chemistry with was himself as White Vision. Naturally, fans had pretty strong reactions to the twin deceptions, and now Elizabeth Olsen herself has stepped in to respond.
What Elizabeth Olsen didn't know while WandaVision was filming
In an interview with Variety, Olsen spoke about fan theories, picking on both the true identity of Pietro Maximoff and Bettany's promise of a final "cameo."
"I knew that there are theories that had to do with people wanting more surprises in cameos, but I'm not really that aware of what these fan theories were, so I'm kind of learning about it as we go," she said. "Paul said something about this crazy cameo when he was really just talking about doing a scene with himself, and I know Paul thought that was a really funny joke, and I thought it was funny. But I was like, I think people are actually going to suspect that there is more to come." Spoilers, fans most certainly did think there was more to come.
As for Evan Peters playing Pietro, Olsen pointed out that the possibility of a Fox-Disney crossover wasn't even on her radar yet. "I didn't know about the multiverse when we were filming this," she said. "So I wouldn't assume that that's what was happening. I thought it was just a clever way to have a Pietro. I didn't understand the larger plan of the multiverse until I started working on 'Multiverse,' or whatever our movie's called — the Doctor Strange sequel!"
It's worth noting that this is the second occasion where a multiverse has been hinted at but not delivered. The first time took place in Spider-Man: Far From Home when Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) tricked people into thinking he was from an alternate universe, when he's actually just a very elaborate illusionist and thief.
Proof that the fake-outs could still be unfaked someday
According to Screen Rant, Paul Bettany also weighed in on the topic during an appearance on Good Morning America. "You know when you think something's gonna be funny and then you say it and you actually panic about it?" he asked of the hosts. "Which is what I did because fans started guessing who it might be, and they were guessing, like, Benedict Cumberbatch or Patrick Stewart. I was thinking 'God that's a good idea,' and they're gonna be so disappointed when they find out it's me."
While some fans may be annoyed at the subterfuge, White Vision is an important part of the ongoing Wanda and Vision love story. After all, with Westview's version of Vision gone, the only hope Wanda currently has for another chance with her husband is through the M.I.A. White Vision.
As for the Pietro fake-out, this isn't the first time Marvel pulled something like this. In Iron Man 3, Sir Ben Kingsley was supposedly cast to play The Mandarin, but turned out, just like with Peters, to be an actor named Trevor Slattery. He returned to reprise this deceptive performance in a Marvel One Shot called "All Hail the King."
All of which is to say that Evan Peters could still play Pietro in the MCU someday — and Sir Patrick Stewart or Sir Ian McKellen could turn up as mutants someday, too!