Warning! The following contains spoilers for the WandaVision episode "On A Very Special Episode." Read at your own risk!
WandaVision has been a bit of a mind trip so far, and while folks have their theories, no one really knows what's what in the Disney+ series for sure. The situation in Wanda's reality only got more complicated in the latest episode, when actor Evan Peters appeared as Pietro Maximoff.
Of course, the fandom went crazy because Evan Peters has played Quicksilver, but not in the MCU. Head writer for WandaVision Jac Schaeffer spoke to Marvel about the shocking reveal, the "mind scramble" it created, and the thrill behind it all.
We loved the idea of [bringing him back]. And then we were like, how in the world are we going to make this make logical sense? Like, how do we justify this? Because that's the thing, you can hatch a million great ideas, but to make them land, to make them be grounded, to make them feel organic to the larger story…This show is such a mind scramble, and because it's working on so many levels, and there's so many notions of what's real and what's not, and performance, and casting, and audience, and fandom, and all of that, we just thought it would be the biggest thrill to bring Evan over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Jac Schaeffer continued saying that while the process was complicated, Kevin Feige was on board as long as the reveal made sense. While that may have been a logical assumption for Marvel fans from the jump, hearing from Schaeffer that there is a logical explanation behind Evan Peters's appearance as Pietro Maximoff should embolden some to come up with theories as to how it makes sense.
As Marvel fans may remember, Wanda may be just as confused as fans about how her brother is alive. After all, he was killed by a gunship flown by Ultron during Avengers: Age of Ultron, and there's been no hint he survived that whole ordeal to this point. Wanda should be suspicious of her brother's arrival based on that alone, not to mention the fact he looks nothing like the MCU's last Pietro Maximoff actor, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Of course, if Marvel characters acknowledged recastings, then perhaps more eyebrows would've been raised when James Rhodes ended Iron Man looking like actor Terrence Howard and re-emerged in Iron Man 2 looking like actor Don Cheadle. With that said, if this situation was as simple as a character recasting, I think WandaVision decision-makers would've revealed that by now rather than let fans run wild with theories as to what's going on. It seems to me there's more to Evan Peters's casting that plays into the story of the show, and maybe even the MCU at large. Besides, Darcy already acknowledged this recasting, unlike the Howard/Cheadle Iron Man swap.
New episodes of WandaVision air Fridays on Disney+. What are your thoughts on Evan Peters playing Quicksilver in the MCU? Let us know in the comments all your theories or concerns, and read up more on WandaVision and what we know about the two Quicksilvers right here.
