WandaVision Creator Reveals Touching Backstory of Aerospace Engineer Origin

Although WandaVision's first season saw a great deal of critical and commercial success, some fans were left disappointed with certain teases that they felt fell flat. Creatives behind the show have briefly addressed some of these concerns, with series creator Jac Schaeffer revealing that any references to Mephisto were unintentional, as she'd never even heard of the character.

Other elements of the show, like the appearance of Evan Peters of the Fox X-Men films as a "fake" Pietro, also created excitement among fans, only for the character to be revealed as a lowly actor by the name of Ralph Boehner. As for any future role for Peters in the MCU, the series creator is keeping quiet.

In general, the show focused more on Wanda's internal state and her relationship with Vision. Schaeffer even noted in an interview that their goodbye scene functioned as the "heart of the show," demonstrating a clear interest in the more intimate aspects of these characters.

Schaeffer has also recently confirmed that one other substantial tease in the show was actually a reference to something more personal...

THE REAL MAJOR GOODNER

Speaking with The Daily Princetonian, the student paper of Princeton (Schaeffer's alma mater), the showrunner talked about the real-life origins of the aerospace engineer, revealing that the character was actually a reference to one friend out of a group of "extraordinary women who live all over the country, who do all kinds of things":

"You know, the character that Monica [Rambeau] met on the show that everybody thought was going to be Reed Richards, the engineer? That character is Major Goodner, and she’s named after one of my friends, Aly Goodner [’00], that I went to Princeton with, who’s part of this group. I made that choice because that character represents every time one of these women has come through for me and every time they’ve been good at their job."

Scaeffer continued on about how no popular fan theory thought that the aerospace engineer would be "just a lady who's awesome at what she does and who will be there for her friends:"

"It became this hilarious thing for me that everybody was like, 'It’s going to be Reed Richards, it’s going to be some important man,' and I’m like, 'No, it’s just a lady who’s awesome at what she does and who will be there for her friends.'"

Talking to Screen Rant about all things WandaVision, Schaeffer delved into the fan reaction to the character, explaining that the excitement around the character was "one of the fan theorizing snowballs that got a little bit away from us."

A REFERENCE TO REALITY

Schaeffer's comments about the character explain quite a bit. What fans saw as a reference to some major appearance was actually a heartfelt tribute to a dear friend, with the prominence given to the character actually reflecting the personal importance of the name.

Considering the show's massive amount of references to the MCU and the wider world of comics, it makes sense that fans started to look for little teases like this everywhere. Even so, many ultimately only distracted from the core of the show. 

Perhaps this touching tidbit will push fans still upset about the underwhelming engineer reveal to see past their disappointment and possibly temper expectations going into the next chapter of the MCU, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.