Who Is Sparky? WandaVision’s Dog (& Weird Comic Origins)

Warning! Spoilers for WandaVision episode 5 ahead.

WandaVision episode 5 has introduced Sparky, a dog from the Marvel comics with a bizarre origin story that relates directly to Vision. Sparky’s inclusion was one of a few surprises featured in the episode, with the biggest one, of course, being the unexpected arrival of Evan Peters’ Quicksilver from Fox’s X-Men movies. But there were other nods to the comics throughout.

In the show’s latest episode, Wanda and Vision’s twins, Billy and Tommy, magically age themselves up to age 10 to convince their parents to let them keep a dog they found. After the dog received a shock from an electrical outlet, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) jokingly suggested the name Sparky, which was taken up by the twins. Later on, Billy and Tommy were upset to discover Sparky had died after ingesting azalea flowers in Agnes’ front yard. The boys, who somehow knew that Wanda could bring people back to life, begged their mother to resurrect him, but she maintained that death could not be undone. Sparky was later buried offscreen by Vision.

Sparky actually exists in Marvel Comics as a recent creation of Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta. He made his first appearance in 2016’s Vision #6 as the synthezoid Vision’s android dog. In the comic book series, a lonely Vision decided to build his own android family. Living together with him in his home was his wife, Virginia, their two kids (Viv and Vin), and the dog, Sparky, having created Sparky from the brain patterns of their neighbors’ dog, Zeke. Sparky was a green dog that shared many of Vision’s powers, including his ability to phase through solid objects. This was right in line with Vision’s own origin story, as he too was given life by the brain patterns of another living being, who in his case was the superhero, Wonder Man.

Vision’s dog from Marvel Comics bears little in common with his MCU counterpart, but one thing they do share is an unfortunately short lifespan. The comic book version of Sparky was abruptly killed when Virginia went berserk. Given that WandaVision isn’t using Vision’s android family, it made sense for the series to create its own take on Sparky by making him a regular dog in Wanda’s fake world. Though he wasn’t utilized as an android, he still served as a fun homage to Tom King’s Vision comic. Also, it’s worth mentioning that Billy and Tommy’s dog wasn’t the show’s only nod to Sparky. A dog bone was spotted next to Grim Reaper’s helmet in the intro to WandaVision episode 2.

Another interesting note about Sparky is that his role in WandaVision, as brief as it was, just gave the MCU its third canine character from the comics, with the first being Guardians of the Galaxy’s Cosmo the Space Dog and giant teleporting bulldog Lockjaw in Inhumans.  Neither dog was utilized much, but the next one stands a good chance at getting more screen time. Marvel is poised to introduce Clint Barton’s canine companion, Lucky the Pizza Dog in its upcoming Disney+ series, Hawkeye.

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