As Marvel Studios shifts into gear on its 2022 slate of streaming content, many are taking a look back at what came before. WandaVision marked the first MCU project to hit Disney+, marking a shift in direction for the studio. No longer was Hollywood's biggest franchise locked to the movie theater, it now had legs at home with serialized content.
The Wanda Maximoff-centered series offered a glimpse at the hero's life post-Avengers: Endgame while also taking viewers on a trip through the annals of sitcom history. It was a creative take on Marvel storytelling, that had fans glued to their TVs with each ensuing episode.
Now as the award-winning series is solidly in the rearview, the people behind it have gotten the chance to bask in their hard work. This victory lap of sorts has revealed a myriad of Easter eggs and hidden secrets that would have been left unfound had they not been pointed out.
And the prop masters behind WandaVision have put the spotlight on one more of these juicy little tidbits.
The World Tree in WandaVision
In the new book Marvel's WandaVision: The Art of the Series, the series' prop master Russell Bobbitt revealed that the Darkhold seen in the show features a reference to the Yggdrasil (aka World Tree) seen in the Thor movies.
Bobbitt and the props team went "way, way back in the early ages of book design" incorporating ancient elements including a "bit of Yggdrasil" from the Thor movies:
“We started way, way back in the early ages of book design using betal and stones and whatever elements that they might be able to find in the early, early days of bookmaking. We started there. We added a little bit of Yggdrasil, which is the Marvel tree that encompasses all our worlds. We played with that. We played with mosaics. We played with stones. We played with all that kind of stuff. ”
Yggdrasil, which is an Asgardian concept that connects the MCU's Nine Realms together, has not been seen in its physical form since Thor: The Dark World, which was likely a casualty in the carnage of Thor Ragnarok.
The prop master said the look of the book "went through many iterations of design," mentioning that they had help from the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness team as it "needed to play" into the upcoming sequel. He pointed out that it was important it looked like "a book from the library in the Kamar-Taj:”
“Their design is what we used, and actually London made the spell book for us. The binding has hieroglyphics on it, and the pages have this sort of Doctor Strange-esque feel to them as if it were a book from the library in the Kamar-Taj.”
From the Branches of the World Tree
It is cool little touches like this that make the MCU what it is. What would be considered insignificant set dressing in other franchises can be intensely thought out Easter eggs here.
It is also cool to see two different Marvel Studios names coming together in one prop while being featured in another hero's series. Obviously, the Darkhold is going to play a big part in Multiverse of Madness, but this was a small prop from WandaVision, sporting a reference to Thor and Thor: The Dark World, being fashioned to look the part for Doctor Strange.
It is a small touch, but for the MCU faithful who noticed, it surely went a long way.
WandaVision is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+.
