'WandaVision' web series review: A curious beginning to Marvel's future

(Note: This review encompasses only the first two episodes which were released on Hotstar this week)

It feels strange to see the Marvel Studios logo roll on a small screen. That title roll has dominated cinemas for a decade, bringing with it all sorts of things - action, comedy, genocide - and has become, fundamentally, a cornerstone of modern pop culture.

It's a little ironic that Marvel, which has come to be known for going bigger with new releases, is expanding its legs by squeezing its content to the small screen now. WandaVision, the first of this new wave of tailor-made content for the small screen, offers a glimpse and a promise of what's to come.

WandaVision, like its principal characters, is a very weird show. It takes Wanda Maximoff and Vision (who is technically supposed to be dead after Thanos ripped the Mind Stone out of his head in Infinity War), two of Marvel's most powerful characters, and throws them into a what appears to be a typical sitcom, filled with laugh tracks and odd characters. Yet this oddity, which might be perfectly in line with what Wanda's strange powers are capable of, is somehow a genuinely refreshing change of pace while we wait for Black Widow and The Eternals to open at the box office.

Wanda and Vision, for their part in this show, are a perfectly un-ordinary married couple. People might scoff at the idea of a human marrying an android but the MCU films have shown a clear direction in the relationship between these two out-there individuals. There really wasn't an opportunity to explore this in depth in the films and this is what the series allows.

Of course, with just two episodes available, it's not possible to assess where the show is headed and who is really behind all the shenanigans. There clearly is a sinister force at work behind this supposedly idyllic life of these two people but there is just enough tease for eagle-eyed fans to make informed speculations, at the very least.

The series has some interesting supporting characters, with one - Agnes, played by Kathryn Hahn - implied to be of particular importance. There is another character of importance in the mix but let's leave that one out for the fans to realise in due course.

The series and Marvel's more cosmic Phase 4 are still in their infancy but from this brief showing, there is a promise of a larger game in the offing. Maybe WandaVision plays directly into it, maybe not. Regardless, it's an interesting beginning to the future.