This new understanding of SWORD does recontextualise everything that’s come before it, though, and poses a new, more fascinating question: is Wanda the enemy? We see the SWORD field team discover that the supporting cast of WandaVision are all missing persons rather than manifestations, and so the suggestion is that real civilians have been imprisoned and manipulated by Wanda to populate WestView. For those viewers, this episode is about establishing that SWORD are not responsible for trapping Wanda in a comedy prison, rather than introducing any further wild quirks. But for anyone well-versed in SHIELD’s sister agency, Monica’s pendant, the helicopter, and the ‘bee keeper’ from the sewer had already demonstrated that the agency was quite clearly observing the sitcom. If you were previously unaware of SWORD, then this acts as quite a major milestone episode, pulling back the curtain on that mysterious logo that has been peppered through the season. But the impact of the episode lies in your wider understanding of the Marvel universe. Seeing the events of the first three episodes play out from the perspective of SWORD neatly declutters a lot of what’s been going on so far. All these things considered, anyone looking for some reassurance that WandaVision is a show about the universe they care about will certainly find it here. The episode even opens on Monica being brought back from the blip, neatly calling back the MCU’s biggest event while also clarifying the show’s time period. SWORD’s Response Base on the outskirts of WestView calls back to the SHIELD tents set up around Mjolnir back in Thor, while mentions of cosmic threats and broadcast signals entwined in radiation cement that particularly Marvel flavour of sci-fi. The Marvel energy is present through the whole episode, generating a very familiar feel that is a significant departure from WandaVision’s established style.
It makes for an episode that really hammers home that MCU signature style an interconnected world rather than separate projects under the red banner. All three bring their respective expertise to solve the mystery of WestView. She’s not the only MCU connective thread SWORD has provided the web pulls in Thor’s chatterbox Darcy - now complete with a PhD - and Ant-Man’s FBI agent Jimmy Woo. Last seen in Captain Marvel as the young daughter of Carol’s friend, Maria, Monica is now a Captain at the agency. Key among their staff is Wanda and Vision’s strange neighbour Geraldine, better known in the real world as Monica Rambeau. But while Wanda’s reveal provides episode 4’s final big moment, this is a chapter primarily dedicated to SWORD, now revealed to be the MCU’s Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division.
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