WandaVision is a series that lends itself to fan theories, and its audience seems particularly captivated with the mid-episode commercials and what they mean. The first episode of the series included a commercial for a fancy Stark Industries toaster with a drawn-out timer, seemingly reflecting Wanda and Pietro’s traumatic experience trapped beneath an unexploded Stark Industries mortar shell for two days. The second episode featured a commercial for a Strucker watch, Wolfgang Von Strucker being the former head of Hydra. Strucker experimented on the twins to turn them into the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The most recent episode included a commercial for Hydra Soak, which may be a reference to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD as well as a symbol of Wanda coming into her considerable power.
However fans interpret these commercials, they’re in the show for a reason. WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer tells The Hollywood Reporter‘s TV’s Top 5 podcast that the commercials are important WandaVision‘s plot.
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“The commercials were part of our storytelling extremely early on, and have been such [fun], so incredibly fun to do those,” Schaeffer says. “[For] the casual Marvel fan, I feel like the commercials are very accessible in that way, but because they’re so true to the era, they also — for anyone who doesn’t know a single thing about Marvel — they just can exist as more color to the story. But yeah, they’re important. You’ll see where they go.”
Schaeffer’s comments echo those of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. During a press event earlier this month, Feige spoke about the commercials and their connections to the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Commercials was an early idea for that,” Feige said. “If this is the very first Marvel, MCU thing you’re watching, it’s just a strange version of a 50s commercial or 60s commercial. If you have been watching all those movies, you might be able to start connecting what all those things mean from the past.”
The commercials play into the show’s pastiches of television sitcoms from different eras. The homages tap into Feige’s love of classic television. “I feel like I’ve justified all the time I spent playing with action figures in my backyard,” Feige told The New York Times. “All the time I spent watching Nick at Nite and old TV shows, I haven’t justified yet. This show is helping me do that.”
What’s your theory about WandaVision‘s television commercials? Let us hear them in the comments section. Disney+ debuts new episodes of WandaVision on Fridays. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.
More WandaVision:
- Bringing Back Randall Park and Kat Dennings Was Marvel Studios’ Idea
- Creator Considered Filming All Episodes in Front of a Live Studio Audience
- What Viggo Mortensen Could Look Like As Magneto
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