With its J.K. Simmons cameo as J. Jonah Jameson, and the reveal of its titular hero’s secret identity, the mid-credits scene in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Far From Home has spurred a great deal of discourse – but not to be under-appreciated is the movie’s post-credits sequence. With what turns out to be a weird, innocuous twist, it’s revealed that the Nick Fury we saw in action throughout the whole film was actually the Skrull Talos in camouflage, as the real Fury is presently not on Earth, but instead on a ship out in space.
While the studio has not confirmed anything, the moment has inspired a great deal of speculation in the aftermath that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is introducing S.W.O.R.D. into the mix – the more extraterrestrial-focused version of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the comics that is headquartered on an orbiting space station called The Peak. With no franchise releases since then, it’s been left hanging as an upside-down puzzle piece with no clear placement yet, and while last year’s Disney Investor Day set up the possibility that the upcoming series Secret Invasion would answer the majority of questions, instead it seems to be that the first property to follow it up is WandaVision.
The first two episodes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series arrived on Disney+ this evening, and while there is a hell of a lot to dissect (and believe me, our staff intends to get into all of it), the most intriguing moments come, respectively, at the very end of both. The first has the pullback that reveals the lives of Wanda and Vision actually being broadcast as a series, being watched in what seems to be some kind of military monitoring station. The second sees the eponymous heroes wander into the empty street of their suburban neighborhood at night after hearing a loud noise, and be surprised to witness a manhole cover being lifted. When it’s sufficiently moved, a man in a beekeeper outfit – surrounded by a cloud of bees – emerges, and while we can’t see his face, it doesn’t really matter because Wanda simply says, “No,” and the entire scene rewinds.
We’ll get more in-depth into the whole rewinding thing in another feature because what we want to focus on here are the twin logos that we see in these two scenes. One is visible on a monitor next to the one that is broadcasting WandaVision, and the other is emblazoned on the back of the beekeeper’s uniform. At first glance you might mistake it for an on/off button, but on closer inspection you’ll notice that the line down the middle has a hilt and a handle at the bottom, making it a perfect match for the S.W.O.R.D. logo:
So what are the implications of this? Obviously there isn’t a hell of a lot to go on, as WandaVision is clearly putting together a creepy mystery that will continue to escalate throughout the series, but there certainly are things we can glean from just the basic details. For example, we currently have no solid clue what is going on to make the lives of Scarlet Witch and Vision appear like classic sitcoms, but if S.W.O.R.D. is involved that would seem to suggest that the source of the problem may be extraterrestrial-related.
It may not be precisely what Nick Fury is looking into up in space, as S.W.O.R.D., like S.H.I.E.L.D., keeps its finger in many pies, but their involvement by itself seems as if it could be a hint. Scarlet Witch has long had the ability to manipulate reality in the comics, and while it’s not something we have seen much from Elizabeth Olsen’s Marvel Cinematic Universe version yet, WandaVision may be changing that – and a malicious alien may be pulling the strings (hence the radio calls to Wanda asking who it is that is “doing this to” her).
From the casting as well as the trailers, we know that the show is eventually going to feature characters outside the WandaVision sitcom, including Randall Park’s Jimmy Wu and Kat Dennings’ Darcy Lewis. Is it possible that they’ve been recruited to work with S.W.O.R.D. in the time since we last saw them on screen? It’s something that may not be revealed until much later in the series, but it’s an interesting scenario to consider.
We’re only just now scratching the surface of WandaVision, with seven more episodes set to follow the two that just debuted, and it should go without saying that we are hungry for more answers. We plan on feverishly covering the Disney+ series here on CinemaBlend for its entire run, so be sure to stay tuned here on the site for our articles and videos, and head to the streaming service to find new episodes every Friday at midnight PST/3am EST.
