WandaVision spoilers for episodes one and two follow.
WandaVision’s episode 2 opens with more domestic bliss, following that Bewitched-style premiere. Sat in separate beds, Wanda and Vision are enjoying married life to its PG extreme when a loud banging (from outside) suddenly interrupts the couple.
Afraid of what the noise might be, Wanda pulls the two beds together to bring her husband closer. The pair soon discover that the sound just came from tree branches hitting against their window. But a strange sense of unease follows, hinting that everything might not be what it seems in their suburban haven…
Cue a gorgeous animated sequence, a bizarre radio transmission, and the world’s best magic show, all of which adds more mysterious layers to this world the two Avengers now live in.
And then, just as the episode starts to wind down, Wanda suddenly finds herself pregnant. With no onscreen hanky-panky to speak of, the origin of this miracle pregnancy is a mystery too, one that unfortunately has to wait when that loud banging noise suddenly returns. This time though, it’s not a tree making all that racket.
Wanda and Vision venture outside to discover a strange person climbing out of a sewer drain in the middle of the street. The identity of the man in question isn’t clear because his face is obscured by a large beekeeping mask. Although he does briefly turn towards the camera, his face is covered in shadows.
While Wanda doesn’t seem to recognise who he is specifically, her reaction is still a hostile one, suggesting that he doesn’t belong in this suburban dreamscape that she’s (possibly) created. With just a thought, time suddenly rewinds, taking them (and us) back inside where Wanda and Vision celebrate the news of their pregnancy.
The couple kiss, and when they do, colour suddenly explodes everywhere, updating the world of Westview to something that wouldn’t look out of place on The Brady Bunch. But even as the credits start to roll, that crackly radio voice appears once more, calling out to Wanda. “Who is doing this to you Wanda,” it asks. “Who?” And that mystery speaker isn’t the only one asking this question either.
Back when the ‘beekeeper’ briefly appeared in an earlier trailer, some fans suspected that he may be a member of AIM, a criminal organisation who wear big yellow hazmat suits which bear more than just a passing resemblance to beekeeping gear.
However, we can now confirm that this is not the case. Sure, it wouldn’t be hard to bring in AIM given their close association to Hydra (another group who plagued Captain America in the movies). But a closer look at the symbol printed on the beekeepers back suggests that he actually belongs to another organisation altogether.
Last year, WandaVision set photos confirmed that SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) would debut in the show, and our first proper glimpse of them now comes courtesy of the beekeeper’s SWORD logo pictured on his back (as seen above, via Comicbook.com).
So what is SWORD exactly? In the comics, this space-based intelligence agency deals with extraterrestrial threats to world security. Think SHIELD, but with more aliens and space stuff.
Their MCU debut was actually teased a little while back at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home in one of the film’s post-credits scenes when Nick Fury could be seen relaxing on a Skrull ship. When he stated that it was time to get “back to work”, this may have hinted at the origins of a new space-bound counterpart to SHIELD.
If that’s true, then what is SWORD doing all of a sudden in Westview? Well, we know for a fact that something’s not right with this suburban landscape… if the comics are anything to go by, it looks like Wanda has suffered a break from reality, likely brought on by Vision’s death at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
Using her powers, Wanda has (probably) reshaped reality to create a better world for herself, but unfortunately for Westview, it looks like the entire town has been sucked into her delusion too.
If so, then that ghostly voice on the other end of that radio transmission likely belongs to a SWORD agent trying to break through and help Wanda, not realising that she’s the one who started this whole mess.
But then who is that beekeeper? If he is indeed affiliated with SWORD, then how did he end up in Westview while his colleagues all look in from the outside? The most obvious answer is that he found a way to break through Wanda’s defences, possibly in the now miniaturised SWORD helicopter pictured below. Or perhaps he simply got caught up in Wanda’s initial spell?
Whether that’s true or not, that doesn’t explain the beekeeper attire. Our guess is that this suit helps shield him from Wanda’s magic, although as we all saw, it didn’t stop her from sending him back where he came from.
There’s also the question of whose face lies under that mask. While the beekeeper could just be an anonymous agent brought in to look creepy, it’s also possible that he might end up playing a more pivotal role later on. Perhaps that might be Jimmy Woo under the mask, reprising his role as Randall Park from Ant-Man. Or what if this is someone more sinister? it looks like someone higher up might be pulling some strings here too.
Whoever might be under the mask, the bees that accompany him also feed into the surprising amount of flower motifs dotted throughout the first two episodes. Was this agent warped into a beekeeper when he entered Westview? Or is he a puppet of some other entity, one who’s more powerful than even Wanda or SWORD? (Internet rumours currently point to Mephisto or Baron Von Strucker, the Nazi who gave Wanda her powers in the first place.)
Expect answers to eventually come our way by the end of season one, or perhaps even in a second season if this hint from Marvel producer Kevin Feige is anything to go by…
WandaVision airs weekly every Friday on Disney+.
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