WandaVision Creator Reveals Why Avengers: Endgame Event Was Used For Recent Episode

This article contains spoilers for Episode 4 of WandaVision.

Before Phase 4 began, there was an air mystery regarding how deeply Marvel Studios' new venture into Disney+ would interconnect to MCU movies of the Infinity Saga. While it may have taken a couple of weeks, it's now undeniable that Marvel CCO Kevin Feige and his team stayed true to their word with the first new MCU project in 18 months.

The first three episodes of WandaVision included a handful of references to the MCU's past, but last week's entry set the story firmly as a sequel to everything that had come before it. Right from the get-go, dialogue from 2019's Captain Marvel can be heard as Monica Rambeau comes back to life from The Blip, learning of her mother's untimely passing in the process.

In a recent chat with one of the show's leading personalities behind the scenes described how this scene helped set the stage for Monica's journey.

SCHAEFFER DETAILS THE DEATH OF MARIA RAMBEAU

Speaking with ComicBook.com, WandaVision creator/head writer Jac Schaeffer detailed how killing off Maria Rambeau in Episode 4 was "a tough decision." Despite this hard choice, Schaeffer felt it was necessary to set Monica up with "a rough road really.":

"That was a tough decision. I feel very strongly about Maria and her relationship with Monica. It's so much of a part of her character. But we really wanted to set Monica up, with a rough road really. And we wanted to dig into her character as best we can and be sort of concise with dropping the audience into like where we are in the MCU timeline and letting them know what the tone of this episode is gonna be, that we're not messing around."

Schaeffer expanded on the choice to depict Avengers: Endgame's Blip in a hospital, describing the setting as a great way to "present the scariness... and the confusion" for those returning from The Blip:

"As far as setting it, we had a lot of conversations about what returning from The Blip must've been like. And pretty quickly the idea of a hospital seemed like a real... just a very interesting way to present that and to present the scariness of it and the confusion of it and to get into Monica's like very visceral, but POV of that moment."

PUTTING THE BLIP INTO REAL PERSPECTIVE

While Avengers: Endgame's Blip was likely one of the most life-changing events ever shown in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (second to The Snap), the effects of losing half the universe haven't been explored in much detail yet. Spider-Man: Far From Home took a comedic approach to set the stage for a post-Endgame world in 2023, while WandaVision went the complete opposite direction as Phase 4 debuted.

Maria Rambeau played an important role in Captain Marvel, helping Carol Danvers remember her life as a pilot on Earth. She and Monica, who was only 11 years old at the time, sent Carol off on her way as the film ended before Monica went on her own journey, keeping Captain Marvel as her inspiration.

Monica and Maria's bond was as solid with each other as their friendship with Carol, and Carol's journey served as the spark for Maria to build SWORD from the ground up. Maria's death was a devastating blow to Monica after five years were taken from her life, but it clearly gave her every motivation to make her mom proud when she returned to her position of SWORD captain.

Monica's story will continue when Episode 5 of WandaVision premieres on Disney+ on Friday, Feburary 5.