Is ‘WandaVision’ Teasing the Fantastic Four’s Marvel Studios Debut?

If we didn’t already know that Marvel Studios was re-rebooting the Fantastic Four by introducing them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all these Easter eggs wouldn’t matter as much. But we do know that Marvel/Disney are officially bringing the FF into the MCU after three less-than-successful feature films made by Fox, so that justifies all this speculation. The movie is still years and years away from happening, but Marvel loves dropping clues along the way (remember the six years of buildup to Thanos?). We don’t know much about the movie yet, other than it has a director in Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Jon Watts. Hey—he successfully incorporated another oft-rebooted Marvel hero into the MCU canon. Surely he can do it again!

True, if you put a sword in a circle, it’s most likely always going to look kinda like a 4. This alone isn’t enough to tease the FF, but in conjunction with the rest of the stuff on this list?

This one’s so ridiculous but so obvious when you see a side-by-side. While hanging out in Wanda’s 1970s sitcom, S.W.O.R.D. agent Monica Rambeau sports threads that are what comic fans would call “subtle cosplay.” The scoop neck, the white and blue—she’s even wearing a necklace with a S.W.O.R.D. pendant that acts as a tiny 4 on her chest. Of all the funky patterns and looks and colors the costume department could’ve given Geraldine, this is what they chose.

Speaking of blue and white—those are the FF’s colors. Coincidentally (?) they’re also S.W.O.R.D.’s color scheme. This is kind of a departure from the comics, where S.W.O.R.D. agents were generally dressed in generic S.H.I.E.L.D. black and gray. And in the comics, S.W.O.R.D. director Abigail Brand wore head-to-toe green. But WandaVision clearly establishes that blue and white are S.W.O.R.D.’s vibe.

During Monica’s first walk-and-talk after returning to S.W.O.R.D., she asks Director Hayward about the agency’s astronaut training program. He remarks that they lost half the trainees in the Blip and half of the remaining astronauts have lost their nerve. This is important because in the comics, the FF got their powers during a manned space flight. And considering what Hayward says, it sounds like S.W.O.R.D. may be desperate enough to let a ragtag group like the FF go into outer space (if they don’t steal a spaceship, that is).

Director Hayward also reveals that S.W.O.R.D. is branching out from just observing and responding to sentient weapons. They’re also building them, expanding their scope towards creation. Hayward even directs his comments outward to outer space, noting that there’s a lot going on out there. Not only could this be a tease that S.W.O.R.D. may change its acronym from Sentient Weapon to Sentient World like in the comics, but it also looks like they’re building a big something (a spacecraft?).

Upon arrival in Westview, astrophysicist Darcy Lewis notices that there’s a whole lot of Cosmic Microwave Background radiation around the perimeter of the anomaly, radiation theorized to be leftover from the creation of the universe (seriously, that’s real science). In the comics, the FF got their powers after being exposed to cosmic radiation. Could this be the same radiation?

Tasked with re-entering Wanda’s hexagonal TV land, Monica theorizes that they’ll need a vehicle that can withstand just a ton of radiation. They’ll essentially need a mobile fallout shelter. Fortunately for all involved, she knows an aerospace engineer who’d be up for this challenge. Who could that be? Who in the MCU could know how to build a ship that stands up to radiation? Considering Monica probably knows this person through her work with S.W.O.R.D., and knowing that Reed Richards is a super genius, it seems incredibly likely that Monica texted Mr. Fantastic. But would Marvel really use a Disney+ series to introduce a lead character like Mr. Fantastic?

Uh, yeah, yeah it’s incredibly likely that Marvel would use a Disney+ series to not only reveal that Reed Richards exists in the MCU, but they may even reveal who’s playing him. Just look at how Episode 5 ended: Evan Peters, an actor that played Quicksilver in three other movies for a completely different movie studio in a rival cinematic universe, is on this show, possibly playing a recast version of Marvel’s own Quicksilver. Remember, Marvel’s Quicksilver (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) was killed in Avengers: Age of Ultron. So yeah, this reveal was fully wild and proves that WandaVision is bold enough to do… literally anything. All bets are off—but it looks increasingly safe to bet on this show laying the groundwork for the Fantastic Four’s big Marvel debut.

Stream WandaVision on Disney+