WandaVision: Who Is The Beekeeper?

Contains minor spoilers for WandaVision episode 2

The Marvel Cinematic Universe train is back on tracks after 2020's temporary hiatus, and the MCU year starts with a very peculiar bang. The first two episodes of WandaVision are out on Disney+ (and full of things only adults notice). After much speculation, the world can finally find out what the strange, sitcom-inspired show is all about. 

Apart from the situational comedy antics of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and the mysteriously reanimated Vision (Paul Bettany), the show's two-episode premiere constantly teases that everything's not as it should be. One of the clearest signs of danger looming on the horizon is the mysterious beekeeper, who crawls out of a manhole at the end of episode 2. The man has a swarm of bees flying around him, and his clothes bear a sword logo that sure seems like it could belong to an espionage organization that's known as S.W.O.R.D. in the comics. 

It seems pretty clear that this ominous character will feature in future episodes, but who on Earth — or wherever it is WandaVision takes place — could the beekeeper be? 

If the Topps digital trading card image circulating online is legitimate, the MCU version of S.W.O.R.D. seems to be short for Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division. This would indicate that the beekeeper is some kind of agent out to deal with a sentient weapon — which, given the context of the show, would almost certainly mean the immensely powerful Wanda. 

Then again, the beekeeper's costume also resembles the field uniform of A.I.M. (pictured above), a powerful criminal organization with ties to Marvel power players like Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), who died in Avengers: Age of Ultron, yet just so happens to feature in a fake commercial on WandaVision. As it happens, A.I.M. already exists in the MCU as Iron Man 3 villain Aldrich Killian's (Guy Pearce) tech company, which has ties to the Ten Rings group. This is a particularly intriguing line of thinking, because versions of these organizations have been affiliated with supervillains the Mandarin and MODOK, both of whom are slated to make appearances in the MCU Phase 4. 

Of course, seeing as this is the MCU, the beekeeper could also simply be a new supervillain doing his own thing. If so, judging by the bees around him he might be the live-action version of Swarm a.k.a. Fritz von Meyer. Swarm's a genius Nazi scientist with an ability to control insects, and his body is ... well, entirely composed of bees. Granted, Swarm is a Spider-Man villain and a bit of a Hail Mary, considering that the character's rights likely lie with Sony Pictures. Still, one can't help but feel that he'd be extremely on-brand for WandaVision. 

New episodes of WandaVision drop on Disney+ every Friday, and one of them is bound to reveal what's up with the beekeeper.