The Wii is very important in the pantheon of Nintendo consoles. It brought a resurgence in the company’s profits and marked a shift in how its console war strategies. After spending most of the ’80s and ’90s dominating the market, Nintendo began flagging in the mid-’90s when Sony entered the field with the first PlayStation. By late 2001, Nintendo would release its least successful console to date, as the GameCube fell behind both the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s first XBox.
Then the Nintendo Wii arrived. The Wii’s focus on unique motion controls, gameplay with broad appeal, and a lower price tag than its competitors made Nintendo a hit again to the tune of 101.63 million consoles sold between 2006 and 2019.
What does all this have to do with WandaVision? Maybe nothing — or maybe quite a lot. Wanda and Vision have certainly had a tough go of things in the past. They were on the run during the events of Avengers: Infinity War and they were both killed by Thanos. Heck, Vision should still be dead! Maybe, as the Wii was for Nintendo, WandaVision is a second chance for the pair to come out on top.
It’s also potentially relevant that the Wii came out in 2006. While superheroes certainly existed (Captain America and Captain Marvel were both doing their thing before the 21st century), the big moment when the whole world knew of a superhero didn’t come until Tony Stark revealed he was Iron Man in 2008. For all we know, Wanda and Vision are hiding throughout different points in time where they won’t be recognized as superheroes. From that angle, 2006 would be safer for them than most anytime afterward.
Whether or not an errant Nintendo Wii is important will remain a mystery until January 15, when WandaVision premieres its first two episodes on Disney+.
