'WandaVision' Episode 8 post-credits scene sets up a brutal finale

Despite its sitcom structure, WandaVision harnesses the power of grief in ways the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe has never previously realized — and that's saying something, considering how the last two Avengers movies deal with a five-year universal catastrophe.

But even losing Iron Man and Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame feels like blips (phrasing) on the radar compared to all Wanda Maximoff has lost. (A sum total of "everything," in her words.) And in Episode 8 of WandaVision, "Previously On," the full scope of that "everything," all of Wanda's loss, comes into focus, thanks to an emotional flood of information.

Everything involving Wanda and her reasons for winding up in Westview ... well, it's a lot to take in, especially in this devastating year for humanity. But it's the episode's final twist involving Vision that takes us from grief into pure, unfiltered, sickening heartache.

This Vision twist is not just the most devastating turn in the entire Disney+ series, but quite possibly the entire MCU pantheon, full stop. Major spoilers ahead.

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In "Previously On," WandaVision lives up to the episode's title, delivering a history lesson in all things Wanda, ranging from how she and her brother Pietro were raised by television during the darkest hours of Sokovia, all the way through how she arrived in Westview and created the Hex.

The episode also finally reveals how Vision's alive and well inside the Hex, despite the memory loss: Vision isn't Vision. He was born here in the Hex. The exact how and why remains unclear; for now, all we know is what we see, which is Wanda all but birthing Vision from her own magical heart. Suddenly, it makes sense why Vision can't leave the Hex — there's a very real possibility that Vision is the Hex, at least in a manner of speaking.

So, Wanda didn't steal Vision's body from S.W.O.R.D. and bring his husk back to life, after all? That's good news, at least. But it's short-lived.

As it turns out, Wanda did visit the facility where Vision's corpse was being held. Both we and Wanda are helpless to watch as Director Hayward's team dismembers the lifeless Vision for parts. Wanda leaves, travels to Westview where she and Vision could have had a happy life together ... and apparently, she decides that life can still come to pass, as she builds the Hex.

But what of Vision's corpse? In a post-credits scene, we find out what happens next to Paul Bettany's beloved Avenger in one of the most disturbing visuals of the entire disturbing series, if not the MCU writ large.

Enter ... White Vision.

In the closing moments of "Previously On," Director Hayward and his team use the pure power of the Hex to activate Vision's corpse, which they have repurposed as some kind of dark weapon, alabaster white hue notwithstanding. The creature comes online, ice-cold eyes aglow. What it plans to do next ... well, it can't be good, but on the bright side, there's only one episode left for us to find out.

There's major history behind the Episode 8 post-credits scene, as this "evil" Vision comes straight to WandaVision from the pages of Marvel Comics lore. In the comics, the White Vision is a version of the beloved character devoid of everything that makes him so … well, beloved. Think Ultron, but Vision, and a little less chatty. Really, it's exactly what Ultron wanted, a highly sophisticated weapon that could wreak so much havoc in the wrong hands. We don't know Tyler Hayward all that well, but from what we've seen? Safe to say his hands decisively classify as "wrong."

What does White Vision's arrival mean for the WandaVision endgame? For one thing, it's potentially the answer to the question about Paul Bettany's much-hyped actor coming to the Disney+ series; in the end, perhaps he's lauding some scenes he has with none other than himself! A Vision versus Vision battle feels all but certain. The good Vision winning out over the bad one? Much less so.

Perhaps the scariest and saddest possibility is this: Wanda may have to kill Vision all over again. The newly minted Scarlet Witch is no longer hiding from her past, fully aware of how she came to Westview and what she's done since riding into town. Episode 8 ends with Wanda face-to-face with Agatha Harkness "Mephisto-arming" Billy and Tommy in broad daylight. The dark is in the light, and Wanda has no choice but to act accordingly — and if that means a showdown with what remains of Vision? So be it.

Not content with delivering two punishing Vision death scenes in Avengers: Infinity War, and not enough to traumatize us with the images of Vision torn apart as he crawls out of the Hex in Episode 6 and then sprawled out on operating tables here in Episode 8, WandaVision may actually kill the poor guy all over again — and could even have Wanda once again do the deed.

"You could never hurt me," Vision once told Wanda. Tell that to my heart, Vis.

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