Warning — This article contains spoilers for WandaVision .
WandaVision is back on its commercial streak once again, slotting an all-new promotional video into its sixth episode of the season.
Initial commercials referenced key MCU figures who have affected Wanda's life, whereas the third advertisement in the series may have actually referenced the red-headed stepchild of the MCU that is Agents of SHIELD . "Episode 5"'s advert directly referenced a seminal moment from Captain America: Civil War, whilst hinting at some interesting subtext relating to the show as a whole.
The weekly commercial from "All-New Halloween Spooktacular!" is perhaps the most obtuse yet, providing a lot of food for thought.
It appears that a healthy helping of analysis is required to dig into this advert's hidden meanings, so here are a few theories to chew over regarding WandaVision' s latest in-universe commercial...
YO-MAGIC! THE SNACK FOR SURVIVORS!
The style of the commercial from "Episode 6" deviates heavily from the live-action setting of previous ads, instead going full claymation to harken back to the promos of the late '90s and early '00s.
The advertisement opens on a deserted island, where a lone child remarks that he is "so hungry [he'd] eat anything." Odd, considering he's got a crab right next to him. The crustacean isn't the only bit of sea life around the island though, as a totally tubular shark visits the boy as jamming beach tunes start playing.
After landing on the island sands with sunglasses and surfboard in tow, the shark explains to the child:
"Hungry? I remember hungry. I used to be like that all the time."
After the starved youngster asks what the shark did to combat this, the apex predator exclaims that he "snacked on Yo-Magic, bro!" The shark gives the "little dude" a cup of yogurt to tide him over, before diving back into the ocean depths.
Shivering and struggling, the child is unable to open the plastic packaging. Try as he might for nine long days and nights, the boy slowly weakens and decays away. A skeleton is left in his place, an unsettling and grim end to the young boy's life.
The tone is quickly shifted back to the radical attitude being pushed previously, ending with the snappy slogan:
"Yo-Magic! The snack for survivors!"
YO-MAGIC COULDN'T SAVE YOUR HUSBAND, DUDE
Let's get the least likely theory out of the way first. So far, it seems as though these in-canon adverts have been progressing in the chronological order of events in Wanda Maximoff's history.
The next logical event to be covered would be Avengers: Infinity War , Wanda's subsequent appearance after her and the Avengers' airport shenanigans. So what exactly could the ad be referring to?
The most significant event to affect the Scarlet Witch in the third Avengers flick was Vision's deaths, one at the hand of Wanda herself and another caused by everyone's favorite Mad Titan. Wanda's magic led to the death of the synthezoid the first time around, so perhaps the ad could be referring to 'Yo-Magic' leading to Vision's demise and being unable to save him. This could tie into "Episode 5," where the inability to bring something or someone back from the dead was a central theme.
The child being physically incapable of opening the magic-containing carton throws this theory up in the air though, as Vision was killed by Wanda's magic, not prevented access to it.
For this reason, this theory is a lot less likely than the others, due to the play-by-play of Vision's death not exactly lining up with the events of the advert. This seems to suggest that WandaVision has dropped its chronological format, opening up the floodgates for plenty of other possibilities.
WIPEOUT FOR WANDA'S FELLOW TEST SUBJECTS
If WandaVision is ditching its sequential advertisements, perhaps it is instead returning to another source of guilt from Wanda's past.
Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were two of many test subjects that took part in Hydra's experiments with the Mind Stone, as revealed by the post-credits scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier . The events of the commercial could be an allegory for the failed Sokovian lab rats, the shark representing Baron von Strucker offering the nation's citizens a chance at security and sustenance in exchange for their participation.
With no other choice in the war-torn state of their country, the starving Sokovians reluctantly partook in Hydra's tests at the promise of a better life. When they were unable to tap into the powers that would have kept them alive, the failed test subjects met a much worse fate than the Maximoff twins.
Strucker's Lego minifig from Avengers: Age of Ultron even wears a suit with the same light-blue hue as the Yo-Magic shark. Coincidence?
Therefore, the advertisement may be playing on Wanda's survivor's guilt, feeling shame for being one of the few to live through the arduous experiments that she was put through. This is further reinforced by Yo-Magic's slogan being "the snack for survivors," an indication that Scarlet Witch was able to gain access to her powers through her survival.
Her 'brother's' return in "Episode 6" may have drummed up these memories again, causing her to reminisce on the fact that she was the sole survivor of Hydra's sinister plans for a time and now has to live with the trauma that still remains.
FOR THE CHILDREN, BRO
The use of a child in the advert may hold more significance than initially expected.
Children have been an ongoing motif in WandaVision thus far. Aside from Tommy and Billy Maximoff, commercials were the only places where kids could be seen in the hex. "Episode 2" had the disquieting chant of "For the children" from the townsfolk of Westview and Vision brings up the lack of kids present in the neighborhood. In direct response, 'something' conjured up hordes of young trick-or-treaters for "All-New Halloween Spooktacular!," bringing attention to the youngsters of Westview once again.
One character that many fans have theorized on relentlessly is Mephisto, who has a direct connection to Wanda's twin sons in the comics. On the graphic page, Tommy and Billy were unknowingly created using parts of Mephisto's soul. Upon his return, the twins cease to exist.
It is still unclear how Westview began, but its connection to children (and Mephisto's connection to Wanda's children) could be an indicator that Westview is a means to summon the devilish villain himself. For whatever reason, children, including Wanda's own, may be a resource that enables Mephisto to make a grand return.
The advert could therefore depict Mephisto using Wanda's powers as a means to sap the life force of Westview's children. Morbid, I know.
Adding to this, the deserted island may symbolize Westview, keeping the children isolated from the rest of the world. The ocean setting may add to this, with the waves being a representation of -- stay with me now -- the television airwaves that line the walls of the hex.
The sudden appearance of kids in WandaVision 's spooky special could thus be attributed to two possible things. The children have been forming in the background as Wanda's sitcoms have progressed, being primed for their eventual sacrifice. Alternatively, Mephisto may have been the one to conveniently bring the youngsters out himself, dissuading Vision's growing suspicions.
Although there has been imagery of the Beast that may hint towards Mephisto's presence, there has been little hard evidence for his involvement in the show itself. The advertisement may hold the clue to all of this, and we're using the same dodgy color symbolism from that Lego joke from before.
The bodacious shark's color scheme is white and light-blue, suspiciously matching Pietro Maximoff's Quicksilver outfit. Adding to the evidence that the shark is Pietro, the maneater shares the abrasive and cocky attitude of the speedster.
Many have speculated that Wanda's brother is not who he says he is, having odd characteristics that don't necessarily match the Quicksilver fans all know and love. Pietro was quick to deflect questions about the twins' shared past and pose his own queries about the origins of Wanda's perfect little paradise.
Perhaps Quicksilver could be acting as an interrogative pawn of the devil-looking villain, or turn out to be a disguised Mephisto himself.
GNARLY FOR PIETRO BUT BUMMER FOR VISION
Running again with the idea that the great-white is a stand-in for Pietro, perhaps the malnourished boy could be a substitute for another Marvel character. Returning to where we began with our theories, perhaps the child represents the Vision in another context that could be a hint to the future of the MCU.
Both Vision and Pietro were dead, but have been mysteriously resurrected following the formation of Wanda's reality-altering bubble. "Episode 6" showed the impermanence of Vision's life outside Westview, being incapable of existing outside the confines of the hex. Without access to Yo-Magic, the boy was unable to survive. Without Wanda's magic, Scarlet Witch's husband withers away.
Insight into how this affects Pietro could be derived from the shark's line "Hungry? I remember hungry. I used to be like that all the time." This could convey Quicksilver's dance with death and 'hunger' for life, before being revived by the healing powers of Wanda's magic. This could imply that Pietro, or a masquerading Mephisto, was able to fully access Wanda's magic and be allowed to permanently exist without further aid, unlike Vision.
The child notably lasts nine days on the island, matching the length of episodes of WandaVision 's limited run. Perhaps this is acting as a countdown before the Vision meets a bitter end by the finale of the Disney+ series.
RADICAL CHANGES FOR WANDAVISION 'S COMMERCIALS
Let's face it, the Yo-Magic commercial is weird. "Episode 6"'s ad defied all conventions set up in the past promos, seeming to do its own thing this time around. This could be an indication that there is some missing MCU link between Yo-Magic and the previous commercials, or that we were wrong this whole time.
Wanda's prolonged trauma was the primary focus of WandaVision 's initial commercials, and, while some connect to this theme, not all the theories here fit the bill. The Disney+ series has taken a lot of twists and turns over the course of its run thus far, so it should've been expected that the commercials would follow suit.
Maybe once the last few advertisements are out in the wild, WandaVision 's grand in-universe marketing plan will be revealed in full.
