#monica rambeau

I love WandaVision. One of the best things about it, of course, is that it is about my favorite couple in the MCU. Wanda and Vision both are severely underused characters in the movies and I’m like many others was thrilled for them to get their own show.

And what I also dearly love about this show is that it introduced or re-introduced some amazing characters: I didn’t care much about Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man - he was a great comic relief, but that was it - in this show though I’ve learned to really appreciate his character and looking forward to seeing him again; then there is Kat Dennings’ Darcy Lewis who was for me one of the (very) few enjoyable elements about the first two Thor movies. I also fell in love with Wanda’s kids - with just a couple episodes these two dudes managed to win us all over. 

But the true revelation in this show for me was Monica.

I have to confess, I didn’t much like the idea of Monica’s character from the moment I learned that the little daughter of Captain Marvel’s best friend Maria is going to become a superhero, much like her idealised aunt Carol. 

I was underwhelmed because I imagined Monica to become just another generic supergirl, much like Captain Marvel herself, who is going to fly around glowing pretty lights, kicking ass while shouting “wooo!” I imagined her to be a characterless fangirl, whose sole purpose in life will be acquiring superpowers just so she could join her boring aunt Carol, so that they could fly and glow together. 

Well, I was wrong in my assumptions. And not just because this grown up Monica we are introduced to in the show doesn’t seem to be all that thrilled about Captain Marvel, but because Monica is a wholesome, independent character with her own story, motivation and agency. And because she is deeply human - something, I felt, Captain Marvel was lacking. 

Monica as a character is first of all established as a human being, not a superhero. 

I quickly saw that and Monica became more likeable with each scene she was in. It was clear she was going to get her superpowers at some point in the show, but it was fine, because there was already a human connection between a character and a viewer, which made waiting for Monica getting her powers and abilities thrilling instead of: “right, here we go again”.

But the moment I think I fell in love with Monica (and loved the story of WandaVision even more) was this scene in episode 6, where Monica tells Jimmy and Darcy that she is going to do whatever it is in her power to help Wanda, because she (Monica) knew exactly how Wanda felt. 

“I know what Wanda is feeling. And I won’t stop until I help her”.

This scene rings even more clear and true after episode 8, where we finally could clearly see for ourselves how alone and desperate Wanda truly felt.

Monica felt that too. And what I absolutely love is that her motivation for going back to the Hex wasn’t to just play the hero and kick a bad guy’s ass, but to save another human being with whom she truly sympathised with. 

More than anything Wanda needed her family, a friend - she felt so completely alone and desperate. And because Monica’s own feelings following the loss of her mother, mirrored Wanda’s own, she decides to go against all odds and help Wanda, because Monica needs that help as well.  

In this light Monica getting her powers feels completely deserved, so instead of exasperation you actually feel justified that such an amazing character is going to be a new superhero in your favorite franchise. Because you first of all love and admire Monica as a human being, her superpowers is just a cool bonus. 

I sincerely hope that following WandaVision Monica and Wanda are going to become great friends and might even share adventures together.

Also, I may be unfair to Captain Marvel, but I can’t help contrasting her with Monica. I couldn’t care less if there was another CM movie, because her character just left me so cold. 

Wanda’s and Monica’s stories in the WV clearly show that connecting with the heroes on a human level is so much more important than them having cool-looking superpowers.

Okay, so here is a theory I came up with - what if fake-Pietro in VW is actually a real Pietro/Peter from another universe (the x-men one, I guess) and Agatha pulled him from his own world into the universe of MCU to confuse Wanda, mess with her mind, maybe get some sort of information from her. 

As we could see from the “Agatha All Along”, Peter was glowing purple with Agatha’s magic when he came up to Wanda’s door, which make me think he was acting against his own will and under Agatha’s persuasion. Therefore all his shadiness was the product of Agatha controlling him.

After Wanda blasted him with her magic, Agatha knew that Wanda was no longer going to see him as her brother and released Peter from her spell.

And when he sneaked up to Monica at Agatha’s house with “Snoopers gonna snoop” it wasn’t to stop her - he was actually trying to do a little snooping of his own, not stop Monica.

What if this Pietro is actual real Peter from another universe, who’s going to help Monica to free Wanda and then fight Agatha and Hayward together?

I just think it would actually be so great if Wanda got to actually have her brother (even if it’s not really “her” Pietro) back and keep Vision with her. Wanda deserves happiness and I hope that this is how it’s going to go.