WARNING: The following contains spoilers for WandaVision Episode 4, "We Interrupt This Program," now streaming on Disney+.
The latest episode of WandaVision, "We Interrupt This Program," takes fans outside of Wanda Maximoff's strange, sitcom-inspired reality to show Monica Rambeau come back to life following the Blip. The character, who was first introduced as a young girl in 2019's Captain Marvel, is confirmed to be an agent of Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division, aka S.W.O.R.D., which deals with all manner of extra-terrestrial threats.
After coming back to life, Monica returns to the organization, hoping to pick up where she left off, and it's here that the Disney+ series drops a potential tease of the Fantastic Four's debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After decades without the rights to the characters, Marvel Studios announced that it was developing a Fantastic Four movie in December 2020, which means Kevin Feige and Co. will likely start laying the ground for the characters in the near future. Some have already theorized that one of these hints can be found in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and that the repurposed Stark Tower, which was sold to an unknown buyer and entirely remodeled, will be rebranded as the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four's home and base of operations. Now, to add fuel to the fire, WandaVision may have just teased the team's origin.
In "We Interrupt This Program," Monica Rambeau returns to S.W.O.R.D. and is quickly brought into a meeting with her boss, Acting Director Tyler Hayward. During their talk, Tyler brings Monica up to speed on everything that's happened in the last five years, and he details the ongoing effects of the Snap. Hayward then begins discussing the organization's agents and mentions that "Half our astronauts are dusted and still missing."
Sure, the line is brief, but it's loaded with potential. In the comics, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Susan and Johnny Storm start out as astronauts, cosmic explorers who blasted off into space without authorization to test a new rocket. During their voyage, the quartet was hit by cosmic radiation that gave them superpowers.
While mention of astronauts in WandaVision's latest episode may just refer to agents of S.W.O.R.D., it could point at the origin of the Fantastic Four, as many fans have been quick to point out on social media. If all four were on a mission when the Snap happened, perhaps their return after the Blip, in space, will be what gives them their superpowers. It's also possible that they simply went missing when the Snap happened, much like what happened to Scott Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Either way, WandaVision may have just offered the MCU's first tangible Fantastic Four hint, just months after the official announcement of the film.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.