WandaVision "Awakening" Easter Egg References House of M
A smart Easter egg in WandaVision episode 4 explicitly references the classic House of M story, in which Scarlet Witch creates a fake reality. When Scarlet Witch first appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron, she was described as a "miracle"—one of just two beings to be granted superhuman powers after being exposed to the Mind Stone. Wanda Maximoff was originally described as being a telepath and a telekinetic, essentially the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of the X-Men's Jean Grey.
WandaVision appears to be retconning that powerset, revealing Scarlet Witch possesses the power to manipulate reality itself. The problem with such abilities is that they typically leave a person untethered to reality, unable to differentiate between what is real and what they have wished into being. "Can you understand the delicate mindset of a woman, a person, who has control over reality," Doctor Strange asked the Avengers in Avengers #503. "It means reality controls her. Imagination becomes the enemy. Structure disappears." The development of Wanda's powers in the MCU appears to have resulted in her taking control of an entire town, transforming it into a sitcom-based reality where she gets to play Happy Families with Vision.
WandaVision episode 4 saw S.W.O.R.D. attempt to figure out what's going on in Westview, studying the transmissions from WandaVision's sitcom reality. As noted in ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast, their case notes on Westview's residents include a subtle nod to House of M, a famous comic book story in which Scarlet Witch rewrites reality on a planetary scale. The notes are on a man named Abilash Tandon (known as Norm in the sitcom world), who briefly seemed to resist WandaVision's false reality back in episode 3. Specifically, they mention "Vision awakened him."
This term is indeed lifted straight from House of M, where one young girl named Layla Miller resists Scarlet Witch's reality-manipulation. She possesses the ability to "awaken" anyone she interacts with, jolting them out of the false reality and restoring their knowledge of the world as it was meant to be. That led to some pretty dark moments, because Spider-Man's experience of the House of M timeline was of a world where he was married to Gwen Stacy rather than Mary Jane Watson; Peter Parker couldn't help feeling as though he had effectively committed adultery.
It's interesting to see this term used in relation to WandaVision, specifically because S.W.O.R.D. notes Vision's presence – without Wanda – was what led to Abilash "awakening." It's possible he is the flaw in Scarlet Witch's WandaVision reality, and that proximity to others allows them to resist her magic. If that is the case, it's no surprise a recent WandaVision teaser suggested Vision and Scarlet Witch will ultimately wind up opposing one another; as much as she loves him, Vision is Wanda's greatest threat.
Source: ComicBook.com
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