Star Trek: Voyager Created Its Own Version Of WandaVision Almost 30 Years Ago

Star Trek: Voyager did a version of WandaVision nearly 30 years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although Star Trek and the MCU are both huge franchises, there generally aren't a lot of similarities between the two. The MCU took a decidedly science fiction lean during its first three phases but in a different way than the Star Trek timeline, which depicts a utopian vision of the future while the MCU runs concurrently with the present. However, one MCU show that did seemingly borrow a story idea from Star Trek was WandaVision.

Kicking off Phase Four of the MCU in 2021, WandaVision followed Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) living a seemingly idyllic sitcom-inspired life in small-town New Jersey. Through a slow build-up, the show revealed that in her grief over Vision's death, Wanda had used her Chaos Magic to create their marital bliss, inadvertently enslaving the entire town of Westview in the process to act as characters in her fantasy. Although not a direct copy, this premise is a lot like a season 3 episode of Voyager involving the Doctor (Robert Picardo).

Voyager’s Season 3 Episode “Real Life” Is Like Star Trek’s Version Of WandaVision

"Real Life" has a lot of similarities to the MCU show

Voyager season 3, episode 22, "Real Life" bears a lot of similarities to WandaVision in premise. Although there was no mystery about how the Doctor's fantasy in "Real Life" existed thanks to Star Trek's holodeck, both he and Wanda created an idealized version of family life for themselves to experience something they felt like they couldn't have any other way. Additionally, the sitcom aspect of WandaVision and how it progresses through different eras is also loosely reflected in "Real Life." The quote from Robert Picardo below talking about the episode's premise unintentionally sums up these similarities well:

"The first act of that script is like a '70s sitcom. It's like The Partridge Family or The Brady Bunch. Everything about it is like an old sitcom. Then the second act – after The Doctor's family program has been randomized, so that everybody's not so perfect in their behavior – became like a '90s sitcom, where everybody's dissing dad. Then, suddenly, it took this odd turn and became very dramatic. And the last part of the show is like an ER episode, where a child is going to die. It starts out so silly and so ridiculous, then becomes quite touching by the end."

Of course, WandaVision is not a one-to-one copy of "Real Life," and likely wasn't directly inspired by the Star Trek episode. The show relies much more heavily on the question of why Westview exists and has a clear villain whereas "Real Life" does not. The theme of grief and loss is also much more present throughout. However, both "Real Life" and WandaVision end up giving their protagonist a greater understanding of their own humanity and the emotional/mental trials they could withstand. Interestingly, "Real Life" isn't even the only Voyager episode with a connection to the MCU.

Star Trek: Voyager's "Endgame" Beat Avengers By 28 Years

Voyager also did "Endgame" before the Avengers franchise

Similarly to the explosive final film of the MCU's Phase Three, Voyager’s series finale was also called “Endgame.” The chess term is a fairly popular title for finales, but the similarities between "Endgame" and Avengers: Endgame don't end there. Both stories involved time travel to reverse - or in Voyager’s case prevent - the deaths of several important characters. In the MCU, the scale was much larger thanks to the Blip, but Admiral Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) plan to prevent the deaths of Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Chakotay (Robert Beltran) in Voyager was just as important.

Another big similarity between the two projects was their respective villains. Although their motivations differed widely, Thanos (Josh Brolin) and the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) are fairly comparable big bads in terms of their relative importance to their respective franchises. Thanos is perhaps the most substantial villain the MCU has created to date, and the Borg Queen is the head of Star Trek's biggest enemy. Despite many differences, Star Trek: Voyager and the MCU are a lot more similar than they might appear at first glance.