Why we deserve to see some old fashioned romance in WandaVision

While we don’t really know what to expect from the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision, here’s hoping the genre-bending series makes some time for romance.

To be fair, we don’t know much about the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision, and though the series’ trailer promises a series that mixes many different genres it doesn’t tell us much about its plot.

We’re all basically assuming that this show will involve lots of angst and probably heartbreak, given that one of its central characters is dead in the current MCU timeline and the other was forced to watch him die. Which makes sense, given Wanda’s current dark mental state and the fact that this series is meant to lead into the reality bending sequel Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

But here’s the thing: WandaVision also needs to give us some old-fashioned romance.

After all, the premise of the series not only revolves around the relationship between Vision and the Scarlet Witch, it is centered on the idea of them as a married, endgame, forever-type couple. Yet, outside of a few flirtatious scenes in Captain America: Civil War and the sudden revelation that the two had run off together in Avengers Infinity War, we’ve barely seen this love story onscreen.

As viewers, we have no idea how these two got together, what they like about each other, or how their love became so important. In order for WandaVision to really work, we need to know more about this duo’s love story, and the kind of future they envisioned for themselves some day.

The MCU has, thus far, relied on a lot of fan affection and nostalgia when it comes to the Scarlet Witch and Vision relationship – they’re a legacy couple that a lot of people love with a long history, and the film universe has really relied on the fanbase’s affection to fill in the blanks of their story on their own. That fan love isn’t going to be enough to carry an entire show, and at some point, WandaVision will need to show us – instead of telling us for the fifth time – that the romance between these two was both real and epic.

So, give us some flashbacks. Show us how these two fell in love in the first place. Or let them make new memories in these (most likely false) new realities. Let Vision and the Scarlet Witch be the couple everyone already wants to root for.

Because, to be honest, the MCU has never done that great with romances. For all that many fans love the Steve/Peggy and Tony/Pepper relationships, both pairs were generally given short shrift in the films, and Steve’s return to the past (and Peggy) in Endgame is clearly about writing his version of Captain America out of the film universe for good. Wanda and Vision’s romance only really exists in the Avengers films so that Wanda can be emotionally tortured by his death, and we’re all better off if we never mention whatever went on between Nat and Bruce in Avengers Age of Ultron.

It’s time for this universe to prove that it can actually give us fully developed romances to care about that fans have been clamoring for since the beginning. And what better place to start than with WandaVision, and a legacy pairing fans already love?

Fingers crossed.

WandaVision is slated to arrive on Disney+ at some point in late 2020.