When Evan Peters made his first appearance as the so-called Pietro on WandaVision at the end of Episode 5, it blew a lot of fans' brains wide open, since it hinted strongly at the first steps being taken toward the MCU embracing the Marvel multiverse. That has seemingly proven to be not exactly true, with Peters' character now revealed to have arrived thanks to Kathryn Hahn's true identity, Agatha Harkness, but fans still have many questions. Such as: was there ever a chance Aaron Taylor-Johnson could have reprised his Pietro from Avengers: Age of Ultron?
Thankfully, Kevin Feige was on hand to answer just such a question during Disney+'s special MCU panel during the Television Critics Association's 2021 winter press tour. When asked if there were behind-the-scenes conversations about bringing in Aaron Taylor-Johnson instead of Evan Peters, here's how Feige answered:
Well, there are discussions on everything at one point or another. That's one of the fun things about developing these things; blue-skying it in a room. My favorite part of the process is always the very, very beginning, when we're figuring out what something could be and at the very, very end when we're finally refining it and then putting it out into the world. So there were all sorts of discussions, but I believe we ended up going with what you saw relatively early on in the development process. Just another way that certain people were messing around with Wanda.
I can definitely imagine that the early days of the creative process have to be extremely rewarding for Kevin Feige and the roving band of Marvel creators. To that point, the series What If...? is essentially based on the kinds of conversations had during that brainstorming period. That's definitely the time when wild ideas about the multiverse and crazy guest stars can be bandied about between writers and producers. Not that all of those ideas eventually come to fruition, of course, which is the case with the possibility of Aaron Taylor-Johnson returning for WandaVision. At least, returning to play the Quicksilver-ish role that Evan Peters took on.
After all, it could be theorized that Evan Peters came into the picture because WandaVision's creative team figured out a way to actually bring Aaron Taylor-Johnson back for a new scene (or more) as the MCU's O.G. Pietro Maximoff. (Probably with less Wolverine hair.) It would likely be through a flashback or a dream sequence, since Vision will likely be Wanda's only loved one to get raised from the dead, as it were. Now, that probably won't happen, but it could, and making that kind of shocking reveal happen is part of the refinement fun that Kevin Feige was talking about.
And while we're in speculation mode, isn't it interesting that Kevin Feige referred to Pietro's arrival by saying that "certain people were messing around with Wanda?" After all, Episode 7 revealed that Agnes is actually the comic witch Agatha Harkness, who might not actually be a "person," so to speak, depending on how Marvel decides to handle her backstory. Okay so yeah, he was probably just being vague as not to be spoilery for anyone who hadn't seen it yet, but the point is that even when Marvel shows us one thing, it's not to say that there isn't a wholly different angle also at play.
Will Aaron Taylor-Johnson show up again in the MCU in the future? Your guess is as good as mine, and there is still lots of guessing to do for WandaVision, which will end its awesome Disney+ run on Friday, March 5. And keep an eye out for Aaron Taylor-Johnson alongside Brad Pitt and more all-stars in John Wick and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch's Bullet Train.
