WandaVision Episode 4: Ready, AIM, theorize

Certain names appeared repeatedly in the first episodes of WandaVision, but there is an organization that we haven’t discussed yet: AIM

Before delving into this week’s theories, however, let’s take a second to recognize exactly where the show is within the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios has already confirmed that WandaVision happened right after Avengers: Endgame, but thanks to a sad revelation about Monica Rambeau’s mother, Maria Rambeau, who plays at the beginning of the fourth episode, we know that it has been about three weeks since the blip. (Remember, the “blip” is how they referred to Thanos’ great snappening, referencing events that occurred in Avengers: Infinity War.)

Three weeks is a relatively new period for people – especially those who returned to Earth after turning to dust. For Wanda, it has been exactly three weeks since she turned to dust, returned to fight Thanos, and apparently moved to New Jersey to start a new life in a fictional city. The last three episodes have focused entirely on your perspective, but episode 4 features – or rather, refeatures – some main characters that act like our eyes and ears in Westview, trying to figure out what Wanda is doing and who is possibly controlling it.

[Warning: Consider this your warning about inevitable WandaVision episode 4 spoilers. Turn back now or forever hold your tweets about spoilers.]

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

We talked a lot about Mephisto in these columns, a demonic demon who has deep ties to Wanda, Vision and the big Marvel universe in general. There is another theory that we need to discuss today, and although I think it is less likely, there are many possibilities for ignoring its potential. I’m so excited that I can write these next words: let’s go back to Iron Man 3.

Iron Man 3 introduced Marvel Cinematic Universe fans to a company called Advanced Idea Mechanics, better known as AIM Headed by Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian in the film, AIM’s role in the comics is slightly different, and therein lies some theories. In comics, AIM is a kind of think tank belonging to several of the world’s smartest scientists who believe in controlling and using technology to acquire unspeakable power. There are three specific reasons why some fans believe that AIM has links to WandaVision and, most importantly, suggestions on what this could mean for the big bad guy in the series to reveal:

• The first appearance of a bee costume in WandaVisionsecond episode of
• Strucker Watch
• Hexagons

Bees? Beads? Bees!

A man in a beekeeper outfit coming out of a sewer in the middle of an empty suburb late at night would be unusual in any world, but at Marvel, bee clothes are deeply connected to AIM. The organization’s seemingly disposable henchmen are called “expensive beekeepers”, like our sister publication Polygon points. A man emerging from a sewer to see what is happening to Wanda within his own fictional reality could refer to a thug completing a job for AIM. Now, the fourth episode explains his appearance – he is a man named Franklin – as a SWORD agent entering Wanda’s prism to try to make contact with the mutant. Hence the SWORD logo on the back of his suit – but why does he appear as a beekeeper in the Wanda universe?

As actress Kathryn Hahn recently said in an interview with TVLine, “There are so many layers” to what is happening on the show. Agent Franklin may be just a SWORD lackey sent to try to contact Wanda. But Marvel also has a history of organizations run by dubious figures. This and where WandaVisionThe newest character arrives – Tyler Hayward, director of SWORD Part of this is my own feeling of “I don’t trust him” which comes from being a longtime Marvel fan and still being unnecessarily irritated by the name Alexander Pierce. Something about this guy looks like out. He’s an original from the Marvel Cinematic Universe too, so there is no comic precedence to inform our hypothesis.

Could Hayward be a member of AIM? In that case, could AIM be using one of its most deadly creations – the Cosmic Cube – to help distort Wanda’s reality? That’s where one of our other connections comes in that could link AIM to Wanda’s new world.

TARGET? Hydra? What?

In the second episode, we have a commercial for a fictional product called the Strucker watch. The commercial appeared to incorporate Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, a sleeping Hydra agent within SHIELD who is seen holding the custody of Wanda and his twin brother Pietro in a Winter Soldier post-credits scene and Ultron erathe opening battle. In the comics, Baron von Strucker helped start AIM, using it as an organization to create top-secret and dangerous weapons for Hydra during World War II.

Coincidence? Perhaps, but this is Marvel Studios. Nothing is ever a coincidence. It’s also not like WandaVision is trying to move away from its Hydra connections. The third episode contains a commercial for Hydra Soak, which is a reference to a blue novel created by the evil organization that is used to put false memories in people’s heads, according to Agent Coulson in an episode of Season 4 of SHIELD agents If AIM and Hydra are involved in distorting Wanda’s mind to create a false reality, the only reason to do so is to use Wanda until she can become – or produce – the weapon they need.

Maintaining Wanda because of his weapon potential is the same reasoning behind the much more circulated fan theory about Mephisto being the figure behind Wanda’s current self-arrest. It’s still my favorite theory, especially considering that Marvel Comics put Mephisto in a flashy promo for the “next big thing” WandaVision started to roll, Like IGNJoshua Yehl pointed out on Twitter.

If Mephisto appears to be the most likely candidate for WandaVisionbig villain reveal (or at least part of the villain reveal), it may seem strange that people are still talking about AIM. That’s where geometry comes in.

Image: Marvel Entertainment

Hexagons for everyone

WandaVision has affinity with shapes – specifically hexagons.

Variations of the AIM logo were drawn in a golden hexagon. Remember the reference “beekeeper”? The honeycomb also takes the form of a hexagon. Subtle reference to form throughout the series can indicate the work of AIM at stake. Hexagons can have a radical shape that WandaVisionThe team is interested, but then again, this is Marvel Studios. There are rarely coincidences.

Monica Rambeau wears hexagon earrings in the third episode of the series, for example. Then, the fourth 3D episode shows the fake city of Wanda, which is shaped like a hexagon. Episodes disappear in the form of hexagons, not circles traditionally associated with older programs coming to an end. Not to mention that Jimmy Woo basically writes on his giant white board of clues “what’s going on with these hexagons?”

The hexagon can be a reference to the number of points in the form – six – which is also the number of Stones of Infinity. (The vision, of course, is effectively powered by the Mental Stone.) Or hexagons can be a subtle joke with the prefix hex, a Germanic term that means witchcraft. Wanda is a witch, and we are sure that her neighbor Agnes is actually the ancestral witch Agatha Harkness. Or hexagons can allude to the correlation between the number six and the devil (666), which can be a subtle nod to Mephisto. There are many possibilities here.

What if it’s AIM?

I really don’t think AIM is the big bad, so this is just some fun speculation that I don’t believe will come true – what if everything is leading to MODOK?

Now you may be thinking, “Why are there so many acronyms in the Marvel names?” Reader, I have the same question. MODOK is very cool, however! MODOK, which stands for Mechanized Organism Designed Just to Kill, was once the leader of AIM. He’s the type of guy who can bridge the gap between the first phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the next cosmic phase – not to mention MODOK has deep ties to both the Avengers and X-Men universes.

Part of the reason why I am sure it is not MODOK, besides not being really aligned, is the lack of interaction between him and Wanda. Of course, there is a Avengers x X-Men moment, but we are not configuring Avengers x X-Men. At least not yet. Whether any of this happens – or everything happens at all – is part of the mystery that makes WandaVision so funny. As the weeks go by, we will have a clearer response from those behind this ordeal. Who knows? Maybe it was just Wanda all the time.