'WandaVision' And 'Falcon And The Winter Soldier' Tease Big Guest Appearances, Including One Comparable To 'The Mandalorian'
The days of Marvel television and Marvel films not interacting are over. The Marvel Studios-produced Disney+ shows are directly connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it sounds like WandaVision is going to take things to a new level, according to star Elizabeth Olsen. Meanwhile, the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will bring back a very familiar face from the MCU beyond its two main stars.
After Paul Bettany's tease about a top secret guest star in WandaVision set the internet ablaze with speculation, Olsen is fanning the flames. In a new interview with TVLine, Olsen hints at a massive cameo coming to the show, on par with that of Luke Skywalker's surprise appearance in another Disney+ show, The Mandalorian. When asked if WandaVision had secret cameo down the line, the actress replied, "Yes," confirming that she's "really excited" for viewers of the show to see what's in store.
While Olsen didn't specifically make the Luke Skywalker comparison (the interviewer did), her confirmation that the secret cameo was of that high caliber makes the speculation game much more interesting. It has been widely theorized that the WandaVision guest star that Bettany was speaking of was Nathan Fillion, who had been cast as Wonder Man in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 before being cut from the script. Now, many fans think he will make his actual MCU debut in WandaVision, as the character has a history with Wanda in the comics.
But there's also the theory that the Marvel multiverse – which may or may not have been teased in WandaVision's most recent episode – may build up to the introduction of the X-Men or Fantastic Four to the MCU. Many are speculating the X-Men might be what Olsen is referring to here, because of Wanda's comic book connection to the mutants. She's the daughter of Magneto in the source material, so maybe we're looking at a cameo from Ian McKellen? Personally, I'm banking/hoping on Chris Evans...as Johnny Storm.
There's less speculation to be had with the revelation of a familiar guest star in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is set to debut on Disney+ in March. In an interview with the Post-Credit podcast, Don Cheadle said his James "Rhodey" Rhodes, AKA War Machine, will "show up" in Falcon and the Winter Soldier at some point.
"That's some of the fun of the MCU is that we all get to show up now in each other's stories, and there's ways that we are cross-platforming these characters," Cheadle said. "They become storylines sometimes in the movies, and the storylines in the movies sometimes become storylines in the shows. It's really fun and interesting."
Cheadle also has his own Disney+ series down the line, Armor Wars, which is about Tony Stark's tech falling into the wrong hands. Rhodey's cameo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier may be connected to the storyline of that series, Cheadle teases. "By all imagination, it's completely open-ended; this can go anywhere. So, it's great. I can't wait to get in the room with the writers and for us to figure out how all those things happen. You know, Rhodey shows up in 'Winter Soldier and Falcon's show, so it could be a lot."
WandaVision releases new episodes on Disney+ on Fridays. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuts on Disney+ on March 19, 2021.