WandaVision Finale Has a Clever Blade Runner Easter Egg

Marvel’s WandaVision is officially in the books, and it undeniably introduced a surprising new chapter into the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. The series, which took a genre-bending and sitcom-inspired approach to the lives of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and The Vision (Paul Bettany), wrapped up its storylines in some pretty compelling ways, while also leaving the door open for some new storylines or plot twists. Along the way, viewers were treated to an impressive amount of Easter eggs — including one from the hit 1982 film Blade Runner. Spoilers for the ninth and final episode of WandaVision, “The Series Finale”, below! Only look if you want to know!

Much of the episode’s third act — as well as its subsequent mid-credits scene — took place in the town square of Westview, which had been changed back into the present day. On the marquee of the town’s movie theater, which changed drastically depending on which sitcom era Wanda had placed the town in, was the phrase “Tannhauser Gate,” as well as the tagline “Put the Fun in Dysfunction.”

While the marquee is trying to allude to some nonexistent film, “Tannhauser Gate” actually has an incredibly profound significance within the world of Blade Runner. The location is included in the now-iconic (and partially improvised) “tears in rain” speech from Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), which he recites before meeting his death. Roy begins to list everything he experienced as a replicant — the Blade Runner universe’s equivalent of a humanoid robot — including watching “beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate,” before admitting that “all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

In addition to just being a cool Blade Runner homage, the inclusion of Tannhauser Gate is a sort of commentary on the fate of Vision, whose personhood and autonomy was debated about in the final episode. The conversation between Vision and the SWORD-created White Vision, which included a debate about the Ship of Theseus, ultimately argued that what makes an individual unique is a combination of their physical body and their experiences. Both Visions essentially lacked that sense of wholeness until Vision activated the data of memories within White Vision, and the series ended with the Westview construct of Vision being erased when Wanda removed her hex, while White Vision was still at large. As both the Ship of Theseus and the “tears in rain” speech suggest, a lifeform (whether human or android) can be irreplaceably shaped and defined by the experiences it goes through.

All episodes of WandaVision are available to stream exclusively on Disney+. If you haven’t signed up for the service yet, you can try it out here.

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