WandaVision fans sure didn't see the end of Episode 5 coming

Sooo...let's talk about the latest episode of WandaVision. To be honest, we're still processing what we saw at the end of this week's installment, but it raises a ton of Marvel Cinematic Universe questions — all of them super exciting.

**SPOILER WARNING! If you haven't watched WandaVision Episode 5 yet, you may want to open up Disney+, check it out, have your mind utterly blown, and check back with us. Like the inhabitants of Westview, New Jersey, we're not going anywhere.**

Ok, here goes. So, in the closing moments of Episode 5, Vision (Paul Bettany) calls out Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) for holding an entire town hostage. The couple gets into an argument, but before it can reach a fever pitch, the doorbell rings. Wanda goes to answer it and we see a look of absolute shock on her face as she beholds a silver-haired individual standing on her doorstep.

At this point, we only see the back of the character's head, although there's no doubt that it's Scarlet Witch's brother, Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver. The obvious knee-jerk reaction for fans is to immediately expect Aaron Taylor-Johnson to reprise the role from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but that's not the case. WandaVision's resurrected Pietro has been recast (as Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis points out) and who's playing him now? Evan FREAKIN! Peters.

That's right: Marvel Studios tapped the Quicksilver of 20th Century Fox's now-defunct X-Men cinematic universe to crossover into the MCU. As fan reactions below seem to agree, the move transcends the concept of "mind blown," proving once and for all why Kevin Feige is the most successful comic book producer to ever work in Hollywood. Feige seems to know exactly what fans want. One might argue that he's now one step ahead of the DC Extended Universe, which also plans on using its fast-paced hero, the Flash, to open the door to different realities for its big screen mythos. To be fair, though, two versions of the Flash (played by Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller) did briefly meet during the Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths event last year.

Perhaps it's not too bold to say that Peters' WandaVision appearance is up there with Cap wielding Mjolnir in Avengers: Endgame, as it's only something you can effectively pull off after more than a decade of building up audience goodwill. We are now in ucharted territory as Disney starts taking advantage of its $73 billion acquisition of Fox. Two realities are beginning to merge and the world — nay, the multiverse — will never be the same.

Still, why "recast" Quicksilver, other than to excite fans?

Well, our favorite theory comes courtesy of @stanameliashep on Twitter: "MCU Pietro is dead af and wanda said herself that she can’t bring back dead things, so in order to get Pietro into Westview, she [Wanda] had to pluck him from another universe, hence Evan Peters." 

Not a shabby take by any means. In fact, it makes perfect sense and would be a great way to lay the groundwork for Doctor Strange 2, as well as the introduction of mutants into the MCU (not to mention lingering buzz that past Spider-Men could show up in Spider-Man 3). However, one could argue that it doesn't hold water since Wanda was able to bring Vision back...unless she physically needs a corpse in order to perform her ghoulish necromancy. And since Pietro died during the Battle of Sokovia, his body was either lost or buried somewhere within the country.

Like always, we'll have to wait until next week for more information. That said, it looks like Peters' take on Pietro will be occupying the cool, Uncle Jesse archetype for when Wanda's fabricated sitcom reality jumps to the '90s. As we eagerly wait for Episode 6 to drop next Friday, see how Twitter reacted to Peters' MCU debut. They do bring up a good point: since Episode 5 technically takes place in the 1980s, the X-Men: Apocalypse iteration of Quicksilver is rather apropos.

Careful, some NSFW reactions linger below...

Episodes 1-5 of WandaVision are now streaming on Disney+. Episode 6 premieres next Friday, Feb. 12.