Today marks the end of the MCU. F's in the chat, guys...

WandaVision is new. Like, new new. Not just a new show, but a new paradigm in "television". It might also be a new paradigm in cinema. And it is just the first. Today is when the Marvel Cinematic Universe, always removed from the TV shows (other than a few references in SHIELD), becomes the... Marvel Media Universe? I'm sure they'll have a better name for it at some point. Netflix's stable of Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage; Carter, SHIELD and Inhumans based on ABC; and a sprinkling of other shows such as Runaways on Hulu - all were housed under a separate Television Division.

With their recent release of Disney+ streaming service, Disney and Marvel now have a locked in subscribership to make cross over films and series a reality. A-list actors from their biggest franchises are now fair game for the small screen, and today we see the start of this shift.

Wanda Maximoff and Vision are relative new comers to the MCU, both arriving at the end of Phase 2 in the Avengers film "Age of Ultron" (did that "Age" only last about 48 hours?). Both have become pivotal characters, and fan favourites. They now become the first fully fledged cross over from movie to series. Coulson was a spinoff and never appeared in the movies again, and while Vision (probably) won't either, Elizabeth Olsen will reprise her role as Wanda in the next Dr Strange film, which this series is sort of a prelude to.

So, how did we get here? Spoiler Alert: Vision died when Thanos ripped a Infinity Stone from his forehead - but Coulson also died before appearing in his own show, no big deal right? Well whereas SHIELD was very much the tone of most of the MCU, Wandavision is apparently something new for the franchise. A weird (and hopefully wonderful) mash up of time bending, reality warping, sitcom induced heart ache and mystery. That's a lot of genres for one show. Yet this is what Marvel can get away with. We already know these characters, so the show can be about the "event", not a character study (though I don't doubt there'll be some poignant moments).

Like other Disney+ shows, such as The Mandalorian, WandaVision will release weekly from now until March, when we get a NEXT part of the MMU (I should really think of a better name), in the form of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which will then see the Black Widow movie hit theatres, leading to the NEXT NEXT series, Loki, sometime in May. By the time that ends, we should be hitting the real start of Phase 4 with the release of Shang-Chi. Many more shows are also planned to fit between the movies. CBS wanted "Star Trek: All The Time", but now Disney has the financial clout, and the fanbase, to do the same with Marvel...