WandaVision meta: Pietro is Peter Maximoff
For several reasons I absolutely loved the idea of WandaVision's Pietro Maximoff actually being X-Men's Peter Maximoff. But then fans of this theory were disappointed in the finale with the revelation of his supposedly true identity. Things don't add up, though, and still seem to be pointing towards 'Pietro' being Peter.
Warning: This post is ≈3000 words long and includes all the relevant gifs (14) I could find. I tried to keep it succinct, so I hope I didn't under-explain anything.
What were they thinking?!
"[My intention] with the Evan casting, it was twofold. It seemed like the cherry on top of this very meta story. [...] But I didn't want it to be a gimmick. What we wanted for Wanda was that it would be a gut punch. She would see this person, know immediately that he's supposed to be her brother, but also know that something is off. But she would doubt herself so thoroughly that she would go along with it. And I felt that the only way the audience could go on that journey with her - and also feel the exact same gut punch and euphoric thrill - is if it was Evan. That's a meta piece that I feel served our story. So I was really looking forward to people losing their minds, but that is how I saw it integrating into the story."
Hollywood Reporter interview with writer Jac Schaeffer
Uh, thanks for the cruelty, I guess. I don't know, it just seems like a bit of an assholean move, as if the finale wasn't enough of a downer already. And it did feel like a rather long time until she explained that. Sure, we got that explanation less than a week after the finale, but you'd think after the fan reactions the Bohner reveal caused, the creators would explain that decision asap. Between the finale and this explanation we've heard from them a few times on this topic (and it all was insufficient), yet this was the first time we were offered that explanation (to me the only solid one), hmmm.
Go to 1:10:32 to hear director Matt Shakman talk about things getting changed in the finale & Covid messing with the show. Originally there was a 10th episode planned, which explains why some characters' storylines ended so abruptly. So maybe the Bohner reveal wasn't originally planned or at least not like this. It's possible they had some proper clues about Ralph not being Ralph in the original finale. After all he did have a somewhat bigger role originally:
At 2:04:50 Shakman talks about a Señor Scratchy scene in the basement that featured several characters, including Ralph (and in Assembled 1x01 Making of WandaVision there was a shot of Ralph and Monica standing next to each other on a street). It was cut for being too much of a detour. Ugh, properly finishing other characters' stories isn't a distraction, it's satisfying!
CB: Did the shutdown or the delay or anything like that prompt any changes to the story of the show? Was there anything would have happened and didn't or was added to adapt to protocols?
MS: Yes and no. I mean, we were working really hard on the finale before the shutdown. We were re-breaking it and rebuilding it. And we were rewriting as we went along, a lot of the scenes were changing day-by-day. Sometimes day of, that's just the processor you're in it and especially when you are building towards a finale, it's really hard to get that chess board to work all those pieces to come together in a satisfying way.
So we had longer time to land that, some of the elements of the finale because of the pandemic, but we were already in that process anyway. So pandemic or not, we sort of, I think would've ended up in the same place.
There were some things that we ended up cutting, some scenes that we ended up adding, which is a traditional process at Marvel where you edit it, you show it, you see how things are working and then you have a little bit of additional shooting. So we ended up putting some of that a little bit of additional shoot into the LA portion of it.
ComicBook.com interview with director Matt Shakman
Oh, look, the finale included new stuff. Among other things that might refer to the Bohner reveal. If this was meant to be a satisfying conclusion to the Pietro storyline, you made one hell of miscalculation though, dude!
From the same interview:
"There definitely were conversations about bringing Aaron Taylor-Johnson back early on, I think Kevin [Feige] talked about this publicly. But it was ruled out fairly early on and we've already got Vision from back and so Agatha is bringing Pietro into this world, fake Pietro, into this world to further her agenda."
Bring into this world, huh, interesting choice of words. Did he actually reveal here that Agatha summoned 'Pietro' or is he just referring to her making someone play the role of Pietro?
This article describes it all better than I ever could. It's so good that I have to quote most of it:
The adversarial turn between siblings is not only never resolved, it’s never even brought up again. It feels like this should be an important development for both characters, but they don’t so much as interact for the rest of the series.
[...]
But because it’s not really “her Pietro” (both in and out of universe), his appearance here feels more like a footnote than a proper story thread. Wanda doesn’t even mention Pietro in the finale, where he’s reduced to a mere prison guard for Monica Rambeau, a character he has no relationship with.
This is a strange decision in a show ostensibly about Wanda’s grief. Her inability to cope with the extent of her loss is the entire impetus for the show’s events, to the point of her attempting to rewrite reality so she can avoid processing her pain. While the loss of Vision is what drives her to take this course of action, it’s only the latest in a long line of traumatic backstories, each of which were stepping stones on the path to her breaking point: her parents dying when her house is bombed, brutal experiments by Hydra scientists, the death of her brother at the hands of Ultron. The potential to undo the loss of Vision is of prime importance to Wanda, but for some reason, the potential to undo the loss of her brother doesn’t appear to affect her.
Absent any other apparent explanation, the surprise reveal of Quicksilver’s appearance seems to serve a purpose not for the story or characters, but for the audience. Wanda opening the door and seeing the Evan Peters version of Pietro Maximoff doesn’t really mean anything to her, but it does mean something to the people watching, because the show is expecting them to know that he’s the actor who played that same character in Fox’s X-Men franchise. It’s a hollow move, because it simultaneously dilutes what should be an important character beat into an “I know him!” cameo, while also opening up a well of speculation that doesn’t really go anywhere. It also isn’t necessary, because using the MCU version of Quicksilver as a ghost, vision or reincarnation could have added to the main thematic thread of Wanda processing her grief.
Of all the theories from fans about what exactly WandaVision was going to entail that didn’t pan out, the idea that Pietro’s appearance opened the door for the MCU and Fox X-Men films to crossover was probably one of the most misguided - was this the first step into the multiverse, many fans wondered, where other movie universes could merge with the MCU? - but it’s also the only one the show actively encouraged. Comics concepts like Mephisto or Nightmare showing up this season were all fan-generated, but there’s no way the producers of the show didn’t know what Pietro’s introduction would imply.
Turning WandaVision into a primer for franchise management by having it all be a setup for X-Men would have taken away from the show’s strengths as a character piece delving into the inner lives of two Avengers who didn’t get as much time in the mainline films as they could have. The fact that indulging speculation about mutants and the multiverse would have probably hurt the show makes the decision to briefly play into it all the more jarring.
IGN: Why Doesn't Quicksilver Matter in WandaVision?
Seriously, you can't just drop references left, right and center in a mystery show and expect people to not consider them hints. I find it hard to believe the creators would just waste a perfectly good character/plots. This can't all have been bad writing/a completely misjudged casting stunt, can it? I'm thinking Covid messed with the show more than they admit.
But I disagree with the article about the theory being misguided. It would have to have been a storyline, they could just have left some real clues. If they can include Monica's origin story, why wouldn't they be able to give some proper multiverse hints?
pretty Peter for some random guy
They really wouldn't have to go to such length to convince us 'Pietro' is Peter, casting Evan Peters was enough for that. It just seems excessive to strew a boatload of identity hints and then claim it's not Peter. Compare and fail to find contrast:
How did he get here?
My previous belief was that Peter is Jimmy's witness and that's how we got Ralph, but Jimmy speaks of having talked to the witness's known associates and relatives. I find it hard to believe that Peter would have been pulled into a strange dimension with associates and relatives. It seems a bit much and would make the backstory too big. I'm rather glad to leave that theory behind, because I never liked the idea of Peter having been stuck there for a while anyway. And what bothered me most of all about this theory was that he lived just 2 houses away from Wanda. Coincidences happen, but Agatha needing a Pietro for Wanda and he's right there in the house where she set up camp is just too enormous.
I can think of 2 possibilities of how Peter really got there.
Hex effects
There is no Ralph. What I had forgotten to take into account before was that the Hex has affected everyone who enters it (except for Agatha). It their stuff (that would include bills), their names and to a degree their personalities.
speedsters gonna speed
You still can't tell me that 'Pietro' was given superspeed by Wanda (she could only affect the look, give it that contrail-swirl that her Pietro's running used to leave) or Agatha. I maintain that superpowers aren't handed out by mind-control/possession (unless maybe the person who does the possession possesses those powers).
But Wanda gave Vision superspeed, you'll say. Did she, though? It always bothered me how long it took Vision to get the doctor and finally I drew the conclusion. If it takes you 6 minutes to get the doc in a small town, your speed isn't that super. Compare that with 'Pietro' returning with Tommy within a second, both of them freshly costumed.
out of time
The show is set in 2023, so how come Peter doesn't look like he's in his 60s? For one thing, time travel has been proven possible both in X-Men and in Avengers. It's possible he's been pulled from a different time (might have been intended by the summoner or happened on its own) to match Wanda's age.
For another thing: We probably don't need to worry about that anyway, because in X-Men time clearly is fucked works differently. All that decade-hopping and yet the characters haven't aged much! And WTF was going on in Dark Phoenix? It was supposed to be set in 92, but it looked awfully present-day (and sounded like it too, see Dazzler's music).
Where is he now?
Is Peter still there after the Hex? Wouldn't I like to know! I hope he's not, would be cruel. I think that if Agatha was the one who summoned him, he'll have been returned to his own dimension & time when Wanda drained Agatha's magic. If he had been summoned by Wanda, I assume the end of the Hex will have brought him back home.
ETA: I can't believe after so many rewatches there were still things for me to discover! One of those things is how part of the story was supposed to go at one point. So Monica freed 'Ralph' from Agatha's mind-control and right after that we saw the Minimoffs deciding to go do something. And this is where the deleted scene of Monica and Ralph standing on a street seems to come in. From the background (I only just realized that this is a house's front yard, not a roundabout) we can tell that when the characters are looking back, they're looking at Agatha's house. They probably just left it, had no idea what to do, saw the Minimoffs run in to steal the Darkhold and joined them. The deleted Señor Scratchy scene ensues. We don't know if this scene was only wacky or went a bit dramatic too. Maybe Ralph is injured (Hey, there are other parallels to Dark Phoenix, so getting rid of that character in that way is so plausible it hurts!) and stayed behind because of that or because he's distracting Scratchy so the others can escape. Alternatively during this scene or while the quartet is on the way to the town square Wanda opens the Hex. That might have resulted in 'Ralph' being temporarily freed from Wanda's mind-control or - more likely, I think - vanished right away (this one would explain why, despite helping with the Darkhold, he wasn't in the square later), giving us a solid hint that he wasn't a Westview resident. And probably freaking out he Minimoffs even more when they started to disintegrate.
Warning: This post is ≈3000 words long and includes all the relevant gifs (14) I could find. I tried to keep it succinct, so I hope I didn't under-explain anything.
What were they thinking?!
"[My intention] with the Evan casting, it was twofold. It seemed like the cherry on top of this very meta story. [...] But I didn't want it to be a gimmick. What we wanted for Wanda was that it would be a gut punch. She would see this person, know immediately that he's supposed to be her brother, but also know that something is off. But she would doubt herself so thoroughly that she would go along with it. And I felt that the only way the audience could go on that journey with her - and also feel the exact same gut punch and euphoric thrill - is if it was Evan. That's a meta piece that I feel served our story. So I was really looking forward to people losing their minds, but that is how I saw it integrating into the story."
Hollywood Reporter interview with writer Jac Schaeffer
Uh, thanks for the cruelty, I guess. I don't know, it just seems like a bit of an assholean move, as if the finale wasn't enough of a downer already. And it did feel like a rather long time until she explained that. Sure, we got that explanation less than a week after the finale, but you'd think after the fan reactions the Bohner reveal caused, the creators would explain that decision asap. Between the finale and this explanation we've heard from them a few times on this topic (and it all was insufficient), yet this was the first time we were offered that explanation (to me the only solid one), hmmm.
Click to viewGo to 1:10:32 to hear director Matt Shakman talk about things getting changed in the finale & Covid messing with the show. Originally there was a 10th episode planned, which explains why some characters' storylines ended so abruptly. So maybe the Bohner reveal wasn't originally planned or at least not like this. It's possible they had some proper clues about Ralph not being Ralph in the original finale. After all he did have a somewhat bigger role originally:
At 2:04:50 Shakman talks about a Señor Scratchy scene in the basement that featured several characters, including Ralph (and in Assembled 1x01 Making of WandaVision there was a shot of Ralph and Monica standing next to each other on a street). It was cut for being too much of a detour. Ugh, properly finishing other characters' stories isn't a distraction, it's satisfying!
CB: Did the shutdown or the delay or anything like that prompt any changes to the story of the show? Was there anything would have happened and didn't or was added to adapt to protocols?
MS: Yes and no. I mean, we were working really hard on the finale before the shutdown. We were re-breaking it and rebuilding it. And we were rewriting as we went along, a lot of the scenes were changing day-by-day. Sometimes day of, that's just the processor you're in it and especially when you are building towards a finale, it's really hard to get that chess board to work all those pieces to come together in a satisfying way.
So we had longer time to land that, some of the elements of the finale because of the pandemic, but we were already in that process anyway. So pandemic or not, we sort of, I think would've ended up in the same place.
There were some things that we ended up cutting, some scenes that we ended up adding, which is a traditional process at Marvel where you edit it, you show it, you see how things are working and then you have a little bit of additional shooting. So we ended up putting some of that a little bit of additional shoot into the LA portion of it.
ComicBook.com interview with director Matt Shakman
Oh, look, the finale included new stuff. Among other things that might refer to the Bohner reveal. If this was meant to be a satisfying conclusion to the Pietro storyline, you made one hell of miscalculation though, dude!
From the same interview:
"There definitely were conversations about bringing Aaron Taylor-Johnson back early on, I think Kevin [Feige] talked about this publicly. But it was ruled out fairly early on and we've already got Vision from back and so Agatha is bringing Pietro into this world, fake Pietro, into this world to further her agenda."
Bring into this world, huh, interesting choice of words. Did he actually reveal here that Agatha summoned 'Pietro' or is he just referring to her making someone play the role of Pietro?
This article describes it all better than I ever could. It's so good that I have to quote most of it:
The adversarial turn between siblings is not only never resolved, it’s never even brought up again. It feels like this should be an important development for both characters, but they don’t so much as interact for the rest of the series.
[...]
But because it’s not really “her Pietro” (both in and out of universe), his appearance here feels more like a footnote than a proper story thread. Wanda doesn’t even mention Pietro in the finale, where he’s reduced to a mere prison guard for Monica Rambeau, a character he has no relationship with.
This is a strange decision in a show ostensibly about Wanda’s grief. Her inability to cope with the extent of her loss is the entire impetus for the show’s events, to the point of her attempting to rewrite reality so she can avoid processing her pain. While the loss of Vision is what drives her to take this course of action, it’s only the latest in a long line of traumatic backstories, each of which were stepping stones on the path to her breaking point: her parents dying when her house is bombed, brutal experiments by Hydra scientists, the death of her brother at the hands of Ultron. The potential to undo the loss of Vision is of prime importance to Wanda, but for some reason, the potential to undo the loss of her brother doesn’t appear to affect her.
Absent any other apparent explanation, the surprise reveal of Quicksilver’s appearance seems to serve a purpose not for the story or characters, but for the audience. Wanda opening the door and seeing the Evan Peters version of Pietro Maximoff doesn’t really mean anything to her, but it does mean something to the people watching, because the show is expecting them to know that he’s the actor who played that same character in Fox’s X-Men franchise. It’s a hollow move, because it simultaneously dilutes what should be an important character beat into an “I know him!” cameo, while also opening up a well of speculation that doesn’t really go anywhere. It also isn’t necessary, because using the MCU version of Quicksilver as a ghost, vision or reincarnation could have added to the main thematic thread of Wanda processing her grief.
Of all the theories from fans about what exactly WandaVision was going to entail that didn’t pan out, the idea that Pietro’s appearance opened the door for the MCU and Fox X-Men films to crossover was probably one of the most misguided - was this the first step into the multiverse, many fans wondered, where other movie universes could merge with the MCU? - but it’s also the only one the show actively encouraged. Comics concepts like Mephisto or Nightmare showing up this season were all fan-generated, but there’s no way the producers of the show didn’t know what Pietro’s introduction would imply.
Turning WandaVision into a primer for franchise management by having it all be a setup for X-Men would have taken away from the show’s strengths as a character piece delving into the inner lives of two Avengers who didn’t get as much time in the mainline films as they could have. The fact that indulging speculation about mutants and the multiverse would have probably hurt the show makes the decision to briefly play into it all the more jarring.
IGN: Why Doesn't Quicksilver Matter in WandaVision?
Seriously, you can't just drop references left, right and center in a mystery show and expect people to not consider them hints. I find it hard to believe the creators would just waste a perfectly good character/plots. This can't all have been bad writing/a completely misjudged casting stunt, can it? I'm thinking Covid messed with the show more than they admit.
But I disagree with the article about the theory being misguided. It would have to have been a storyline, they could just have left some real clues. If they can include Monica's origin story, why wouldn't they be able to give some proper multiverse hints?
pretty Peter for some random guy
They really wouldn't have to go to such length to convince us 'Pietro' is Peter, casting Evan Peters was enough for that. It just seems excessive to strew a boatload of identity hints and then claim it's not Peter. Compare and fail to find contrast:
- We start off with the hair. What an exciting moment that was. You know whose hair is grey (without dark roots, though)? Peter Maximoff's from the X-Men sequels! The haircut/-style is very Dark Phoenix (which fits, as that's the time he would be about the same age as Wanda). The dark roots, I assume, are for out-of-story convenience for when the Hex adjusts the style to look more like Wanda's Pietro.
- Sure, he has the same face, so you can argue we can expect him to have same expressions. On the other hand I think we can assume an actor to have his face, gestures & all that under control enough to not act too much like a character that he's supposedly not really playing.
- generally friendly face (as someone with resting bitch face this makes me really envious) Ha, I didn't mean to highlight the nodding, it's just a coincident that both gifs include it.
- rather smiley person (curse your good brain chemistry, this makes me even more envious). And compare these wide smiles:
- Hey, remember that short head-tilt 'Pietro' did at Wanda's door?
- Wanda said "Now, I know that you think that I have gone full soccer mom." and 'Pietro' - walking in front of her, so she can't see it - mouthes "Yes!" and does so with the same head movement as can be seen in here, btw:
- look at that lopsided smirk
- An out-of-story example and this might just be a coincidence, because the WV piece was played at at least one other, unrelated moment: After Peter's glorious kitchen scene the soundtrack sounds similar in style (with its fluty things and the brass/woodwinds doing the same sort of things) to what's played at 'Pietro''s introduction.
- Silliness! Both characters like to have fun. Especially with their superspeed. 'Pietro' chased the Minimoffs through the living room, for Peter let me refer you to that above-linked kitchen scene.
- gamer
- 'Pietro' steals Halloween candy. This is Peter's illegally acquired hoard:
- Dwells in dark basement/attic room crammed with stuff, lots of it sports-related.
- Likes music. As evidenced by 'Ralph''s at least 4 guitars in his attic room and Peter's band shirts (hehe, Rush), listening to music while speeding, several music-related posters in his basement room, 2 guitars, a drumkit and a large collection of cassette tapes.
- If flicking Monica across the room reminded you of something, it might be this moment:
- For shits & giggles let me also add: Not informing family members that he's related to them. Although while Peter had the chance to tell Magneto, 'Pietro' didn't get a chance to tell Wanda.
- Wanda turns the SWORD agents' guns against Hayward. This is such a Magneto move - you can't do that sort of reference just for fun!
- Maybe it was just intended as a sweet reference, but after the Bohner reveal it just felt more like being mocked when Tommy disarms the SWORD agents and then is wearing goggles & an agent's cap.
How did he get here?
My previous belief was that Peter is Jimmy's witness and that's how we got Ralph, but Jimmy speaks of having talked to the witness's known associates and relatives. I find it hard to believe that Peter would have been pulled into a strange dimension with associates and relatives. It seems a bit much and would make the backstory too big. I'm rather glad to leave that theory behind, because I never liked the idea of Peter having been stuck there for a while anyway. And what bothered me most of all about this theory was that he lived just 2 houses away from Wanda. Coincidences happen, but Agatha needing a Pietro for Wanda and he's right there in the house where she set up camp is just too enormous.
I can think of 2 possibilities of how Peter really got there.
- Wanda subconsciously summoned him (in this episode she talked about missing her brother and then Tommy said about Sparky "He is family. Bring him back, mom."), Agatha saw it and put him under her mind-control.
- Agatha summoned him.
Hex effects
There is no Ralph. What I had forgotten to take into account before was that the Hex has affected everyone who enters it (except for Agatha). It their stuff (that would include bills), their names and to a degree their personalities.
- In the first episode Agnes assumes Wanda is single because her house is so big (at which point it was only a bungalow, btw). If 'Ralph' was actually there before the Hex, he's living in a suspiciously big house for a single person. So here we have another reason why I'm not buying that he was there all along.
- Well, Agnes' house seems a bit big for her alone too, therefore she might have invented a husband to bolster her alias. If Agatha was the one who summoned 'Pietro', the moment he got there the Hex might have overwritten his identity to something connected to her, making him the husband Agnes had kept talking about. And only when she put him under her mind-control did he become Pietro.
- Since we're on the topic of the house, Ive noticed a curious thing about the cars there: In the 1x08 flashback the house looks in good condition and there's a car in the driveway and one on the curb, so you'd think someone does live there. All the cars on Wanda's street look like they're the same inside (at least once we're in the present again) and outside the Hex, except for the one in Agatha's driveway (the one on the curb isn't there in the Hex). It was white, but in the Hex it's golden. I don't quite know what to make of that. Maybe the cars belonged to a realtor and a possible buyer and they happened to leave the house just before the Hex was created? They'll still be in the town, as it appears to not have been enough time to leave between Wanda driving past the house and creating the Hex on the plot adjacent to the next house. I previously thought 'Herb' lived between Wanda and Agnes and wondered why Dottie came out of that house, but now I'm pretty sure Dottie lives in there (since we've seen her there twice) and Herb was just there for gardening. When he wasn't under Wanda's mind-control, he told her that he just wants to go home. He might be that realtor or potential buyer!
- Alternative idea for the creation of Ralph: Wanda had threatened him that "If I see any funny business, I'm going to magic you into a pickled herring." and until a few days ago I thought of this as just a crack theory, but it's actually started to make sense, as the show is so meta: There was funny business (well, more like he pissed her off with an insensitive comment) and as a result (though I'm not sure if she did it consciously) she turned 'Pietro' into a Bohner-shaped red herring! Yeah, she did recast Pietro! Which is why Ralph seems to be an actor, judging by the headshot with his name on it. Or because Wanda thought of him as an impostor - it's sort of the same thing as an actor. These things might have been consciously done by Wanda, but she didn't know 'Pietro' was being controlled by Agatha. That connection between the latter two will have prompted the Hex to turn him into Agatha's husband.
- As has been pointed out everywhere: People generally don't laugh about their unfortunate names. And as the show has shown us, occasionally a mind-controlled person's personality is coming through, and Peter does seem to be the type of person to laugh about Bohner.
- We only got to meet the 'real' Ralph for one moment. Did Agatha free everyone from Wanda's mind-control or just the people in the town square? My guess is she didn't bother with the rest of the town, so when Monica freed 'Ralph' from Agatha's mind-control, we see him as the Ralph into which the Hex had turned him. Which is why he didn't join the battle.
speedsters gonna speed
You still can't tell me that 'Pietro' was given superspeed by Wanda (she could only affect the look, give it that contrail-swirl that her Pietro's running used to leave) or Agatha. I maintain that superpowers aren't handed out by mind-control/possession (unless maybe the person who does the possession possesses those powers).
But Wanda gave Vision superspeed, you'll say. Did she, though? It always bothered me how long it took Vision to get the doctor and finally I drew the conclusion. If it takes you 6 minutes to get the doc in a small town, your speed isn't that super. Compare that with 'Pietro' returning with Tommy within a second, both of them freshly costumed.
out of time
The show is set in 2023, so how come Peter doesn't look like he's in his 60s? For one thing, time travel has been proven possible both in X-Men and in Avengers. It's possible he's been pulled from a different time (might have been intended by the summoner or happened on its own) to match Wanda's age.
For another thing: We probably don't need to worry about that anyway, because in X-Men time clearly is fucked works differently. All that decade-hopping and yet the characters haven't aged much! And WTF was going on in Dark Phoenix? It was supposed to be set in 92, but it looked awfully present-day (and sounded like it too, see Dazzler's music).
Where is he now?
Is Peter still there after the Hex? Wouldn't I like to know! I hope he's not, would be cruel. I think that if Agatha was the one who summoned him, he'll have been returned to his own dimension & time when Wanda drained Agatha's magic. If he had been summoned by Wanda, I assume the end of the Hex will have brought him back home.
ETA: I can't believe after so many rewatches there were still things for me to discover! One of those things is how part of the story was supposed to go at one point. So Monica freed 'Ralph' from Agatha's mind-control and right after that we saw the Minimoffs deciding to go do something. And this is where the deleted scene of Monica and Ralph standing on a street seems to come in. From the background (I only just realized that this is a house's front yard, not a roundabout) we can tell that when the characters are looking back, they're looking at Agatha's house. They probably just left it, had no idea what to do, saw the Minimoffs run in to steal the Darkhold and joined them. The deleted Señor Scratchy scene ensues. We don't know if this scene was only wacky or went a bit dramatic too. Maybe Ralph is injured (Hey, there are other parallels to Dark Phoenix, so getting rid of that character in that way is so plausible it hurts!) and stayed behind because of that or because he's distracting Scratchy so the others can escape. Alternatively during this scene or while the quartet is on the way to the town square Wanda opens the Hex. That might have resulted in 'Ralph' being temporarily freed from Wanda's mind-control or - more likely, I think - vanished right away (this one would explain why, despite helping with the Darkhold, he wasn't in the square later), giving us a solid hint that he wasn't a Westview resident. And probably freaking out he Minimoffs even more when they started to disintegrate.