On March 5, the final episode of Marvel Cinematic Universe television series WandaVision aired on the Disney+ streaming service. While most of the finale received praise from fans and critics alike for its emotional themes and conclusion of Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) character arc, many fans criticized the reveal of why Evan Peters was playing the character of Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver. In the finale, Quicksilver holds Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) captive in his house while Wanda battles the villain Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). Monica, along with the audience, soon finds out that this version of Quicksilver is really just a wannabe actor and resident of Westview named Ralph Bohner, who was placed under a spell and given powers through a charm given by Agatha.
Many fans, particularly those of the X-Men Film Series by 20th Century Fox, were angered that one of the most beloved characters and an actor like Peters (who played the character outside of the MCU) were only used for an innuendo joke, calling it a waste of a great opportunity and an insult to the X-Men movies. The showrunner of WandaVision Jac Shaeffer revealed that she never intended to make Quicksilver’s inclusion as big of a deal as it turned out to be with fans, claiming it was only there for fan-service related purposes and would not have guessed that it would inspire so many theories. “I couldn’t have anticipated… I don’t know, maybe Mary Livanos and Kevin Feige are like, ‘Yeah, it’s like this every time.’ But I’m like, these theories are crazy!” she said. “So it wasn’t that was not part of my thinking, and also, that’s not my department. I am lucky enough that I get to hear about the other projects and sometimes I’m involved and their conversations. I know a little bit about all the things that Lizzie’s been up to. But that’s a bigger, fancier thing, what you’re asking about.”
Despite Shaeffer revealing that she never intended to do anything more with Peters’ Quicksilver character, many fans on social media have started using the phrase #SaveQuicksilver in an attempt to have Peters continue his extremely popular version of the hero.
