With its opening episodes, Marvel’s «WandaVision» has turned out to be a pretty good symbol of the crossroads at which Disney’s pop-culture titan finds itself: Trying to move forward without letting go of the past.
Perhaps that’s why the Marvel rumor mill has been spinning faster than usual of late. A Deadline story about Chris Evans possibly reprising the role of Captain America here, speculation about Michael B. Jordan returning to the «Black Panther» sequel there. Death isn’t always the impediment for comic-book characters that it represents for ordinary mortals, and the concept of alternate timelines surely helps. «WandaVision» distills that into a show that’s all about being somehow imprisoned in the past, as the title characters reside in the black-and-white glow of old sitcoms. The fact that familiar names keep being floated for additional appearances that will require serious explanation offers further evidence that Marvel faces some tough choices as it forges ahead after the operatic high of «Avengers: Endgame.» Marvel was supposed to begin turning the page from «Avengers» to the next phase of its grand plans in 2020. There was the «Black Widow» prequel, and another one of those bold new offshoots with «The Eternals,» a lesser-known title that the company hoped would become an unlikely hit a la «Guardians of the Galaxy.
