This piece contains spoilers for WandaVision.
Ah WandaVision, so mysterious, enigmatic, and full of secrets for us to pick apart. After two episodes there are still a lot of questions to be answered. But the final moments of "Don't Touch That Dial" gave us something intriguing to chew on. It's all to do with that creepy beekeeper who crawled out of the manhole as the episode came to a close. So who was it? What do they have to do with Wanda? And what on Earth is going on with the Disney+ MCU series? Don't worry, curious viewers. We're here to answer all your burning questions and more.
In a very Wicker Man (2006) moment, a beekeeper surrounded by a swarm of bees appeared out of the middle of the street during the final act of episode two. It was impressively creepy but probably left a lot of viewers scratching their heads. But the answer isn't too hard to decipher. In fact, this represents one of the clearest hints at where the show is headed. And it all comes to down to an organization which was first introduced in 1966's Strange Tales #146. The issue is split between two stories, one about Doctor Strange and another about Nick Fury battling a group of strange and mad scientists in yellow hazard suits. It's those evil geniuses who are vital to understanding what we saw during "Don't Touch That Dial."
Working as an arm of HYDRA—an evil Nazi organization in the Marvel Universe—the group is later revealed to be A.I.M. or Advanced Idea Mechanics. They're a cartel of criminals and scientific geniuses who aim to use their smarts to grab power and create weaponry. Why does this have anything to do with the creepy beekeeper? Well, the colloquial term for members of the crew is beekeepers because of the way that their suits look so similar to those worn by the keepers of the bees. The big question is whether or not what Wanda was seeing was a literal representation of A.I.M. being involved or some kind of repressed trauma about her past.
If you've watched the MCU movies you'll know that Wanda has a past with HYDRA. Baron von Strucker—the creator of A.I.M.—was the man who gave her and her late brother Pietro powers. We only knew him as part of HYDRA, but his group was using the magic of the Infinity Stones to create super powered weapons, which sounds a lot like the mission of A.I.M. in the comics. Perhaps the reason she was seeing the beekeeper was simply due to her horrific memories of being experimented on? That would also explain why we saw the unexpected Strucker watch advert. These may not necessarily be real threats but simply manifestations of Wanda's fears, a mirror to the manifestation of her fantasy life with Vision that she's living in.
While WandaVision hasn't offered us a concrete answer to this, the comics offer some good options. Her powers in those stories have often enabled her to create and control reality. Sometimes she's even changed the entire world simply to fit her own needs. It's a dangerous gift that has been manipulated and even used as a weapon before, so that could always be what's happening here. Either way, it was a little clue that Wanda has at least some power over her surroundings and the way that time flows within the strange suburb of Westview.
Well, it sets up two key things: that Wanda can control her surroundings and/or that we may have found our antagonists in the HYDRA-created organization, A.I.M. This plays into a couple of big theories for the series. Since WandaVision was announced, comics fans have pointed to Wanda's reality-warping powers and the possibility that she is in fact in control of Westview. The fact that she rewound time hints that might be the case. If that's so then perhaps she has created the space to deal with the loss of Vision at the end of Avengers: Infinity War? There is also the chance that she made some kind of deal--perhaps with the demon Mephisto, who played a large part in her tragic comics history--to bring Vision back to life and is stuck in a monkey's paw style setup where she has some agency but can't directly escape.
If HYDRA is a real threat rather than a metaphysical one, then they could possibly have infiltrated S.W.O.R.D., the organization that seems to be watching over Wanda and maybe trying to save her. That could be why she saw the beekeeper with a S.W.O.R.D. logo on his back. Maybe Wanda knows that S.W.O.R.D. has been infiltrated and is hiding out? It's not beyond the reach of reality as we know that S.H.I.E.L.D. was thoroughly infiltrated by HYDRA before Captain America exposed them during Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
How HYDRA will actually play into later episodes is still to be seen, but checking out some of the comics which feature A.I.M. and Baron von Strucker might be a good place to start if this piece has gotten you intrigued. Also, there's no harm in rewatching some MCU hits like (the post-credits scene from) Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which both feature important parts of Scarlet Witch's backstory, including an appearance from Strucker himself. While WandaVision still has plenty of secrets to unravel for the detectives among us, this is a good omen. There are puzzles to solve here and it seems like the creative team on the show is eager for WandaVision fans to dig a little deeper into what we're watching.
In the meantime, be sure to check out how watch every Marvel movie in order. And then have a look at Disney+ on Apple TV.
