What That Sword Symbol on 'Wandavision' Means for the MCU
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Disney’s WandaVision (and practically the entire MCU)
The last time we saw Wanda Maximoff (also “Scarlet Witch,” though she’s yet to be called this moniker, officially) was at Tony Stark’s funeral at the tail end of Avengers: Endgame. Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) was mourning with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), both having lost Stark and someone else close—Hawkeye mourning Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) and Wanda mourning Vision (Paul Bettany), who died at the big purple hands of Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
Well, now Wanda is back in Disney+’s WandaVision, inexplicably reunited with Vision in a 1950's styled sitcom, featuring several recurring oddities and symbols. One of these is a sword insignia, which appears three times in the first two episodes: once on a control panel at the end of episode 1 (as if Wanda’s world/reality was actually being viewed by an audience); once on a crashed toy helicopter, appearing in color à la the The Giver; and finally on the person of a mysterious beekeeper who emerges out of a sewer drain before Wanda rewinds and resets the story back in her living room.
While it’s unclear just what the heck is going on, there are some identifiable features of Wanda’s world, particularly that sword insignia, which belongs to a real MCU organization, though not one we’ve seen on screen yet.
Here’s what to know about the sword insignia and what it could mean for the future of the MCU.
What is S.W.O.R.D.?
The Sentient World Observation and Response Department (S.W.O.R.D) is a government agency combatting extraterrestrial threats and complimenting S.H.I.E.L.D’s domestic operations; if SHIELD is the FBI, then SWORD is the CIA, and by that we mean: they deal with UFOs.
Marvel recently got the live action rights to SWORD (which is technically under the X-Men umbrella of copyrights), meaning it will likely play more of a role in recent Marvel properties.
And we have seen something of SWORD before. In Captain Marvel, we’re introduced to Monica Rambeau—as a little girl—who is a SWORD agent in the Marvel comics. In Wandavision, that character (now an adult and going by the name "Geraldine") is being played by Teyonah Parris.
In episode 3, "Geraldine" was confirmed as a S.W.O.R.D. agent.
While the reveal came as no surprise to comic fans, Geraldine’s apparent tongue slip before postpartum Wanda gives us a few more clues as to what’s going on in WandaVision.
After Wanda suddenly remembered her twin brother Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver), Geraldine—perhaps in an attempt to further spark Wanda’s memory—asks to confirm if Pietro was indeed killed by Ultron (an event occurring at the end of the second Avengers film). Wanda freaks out and portal ejects Geraldine into a field, wherein she’s surrounded by SWORD personnel.
In episode 4, we learn how S.W.O.R.D. found Wanda.
Episode 4 kicks off with the un-dusting, when Tony Stark reverses Thanos’ extermination of half of all life on earth. The dusting occurred at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Only five years later, in Avengers: Endgame, were the Avengers able to undo the destruction, causing the Dusted to reappear where they had been five years prior.
SWORD agent Monica Rambeau had been dusted while in hospital, awaiting the prognosis on her mother, Maria Rambeau, the founder of SWORD (and close friend of Carol Danvers). Monica finds out her mother died after she had been dusted. Rambeau then returns to SWORD headquarters and is told to focus on terrestrial missions, explaining why SWORD is operating in New Jersey.
Alongside current FBI agent—and former SHIELD agent—Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), Monica is dispatched to the Garden State to investigate a missing person, and eventually, a missing town. She then enters the energy field and is trapped in Wanda’s manipulated sitcom reality.
SWORD then assembles a team, including Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings' character from the Thor movies, now a Dr.), to monitor Wanda. It’s then we learn about the various glitches in Wanda’s matrix, including the helicopter—a SWORD drone turned retro upon energy field entrance—the voice over the radio—agent Woo attempting to reach Wanda—and the beekeeper—SWORD agent Franklin attempting a subterranean entrance into Wanda’s world.
How SWORD will extract Wanda from this world, however, is still anyone’s guess.
Stream WandaVision Now on Disney+
You Might Also Like
