Disney+’s WandaVision series has (mostly) been a chipper televised event for the Scarlet Witch and her synthezoid husband. They’ve experienced all the enforced happiness that sitcoms from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s were built on, but a clip from this Friday’s coming episode looks like it’s going to explore what’s behind the TV veneer… or rather, what’s around it.
If you’ll recall at the end of last week’s episode, Teyonah Parris’ Geraldine was tossed quite literally out of the town of Westview — and the mysterious bubble surrounding it — seemingly for bringing up Wanda’s brother and his death at Ultron’s hands in Age of Ultron. This clip, which looks to be set prior to that event, seemingly confirms a lot of things we were confident about already, but still manages a surprise or two.
“Geraldine” — better known in the reality of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Monica Rambeau, grown-up daughter of Captain Marvel’s Maria Rambeau and, in the comics, a superhero herself — and agent of SHIELD Jimmy Choo (Randall Park) are clearly encountering the Westview bubble for the first time here, prior to Monica willingly or unwillingly getting sucked into the twisted televised reality inside. And if last week’s necklace hint wasn’t enough, it’s worth pointing out that Monica is indeed wearing a SWORD logo t-shirt, which presumably means she’s part of the Sentient World Observation and Response Department.
SWORD, the extra-terrestrial sister-agency to SHIELD in the comics, first got its big tease in the MCU at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, with the movie seemingly hinting at its arrival in the form of the new organisation run by Nick Fury and a legion of friendly Skrulls via spaceship in its post-credits scene. (In fact, I suspect Jimmy has transferred to SWORD as well, if only for simplicity’s sake.) Nothing shocking there, so far at least.
However, there a few cool things in the clip. First, there’s the triumphant return of Dr. Darcy Lewis, who’s moved up from being Jane Foster’s intern in Thor to helping SWORD with the WestView situation. And if you’ll check out that wall with SWORD’s dossiers on the town’s inhabitants, they all have driver’s licence cards attached… with the exception of Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) and Dottie (Emma Caufield), the latter of which doesn’t seem to have a dossier at all. Hmm. Also, those licenses are all from New Jersey; in the first Vision and the Scarlet Witch comic series from 1982, the couple moved to the suburbs of Leonia, New Jersey, after getting married and retiring from the Avengers.
Phew! That’s a lot of layers. Not bad for a 53-second clip-slash-trailer! We shall presumably see it and much more on Friday, when WandaVision returns for episode 4.