If you’re a true Marvel fan, then you know that every little detail matters. Every thread is interwoven in such a way that everything will and always connect. These integral elements have birthed an entire sector of MCU fandom that is dedicated to scrolling through every frame of every movie, show, and trailer to find what hidden messages can give them hints into future storylines. WandaVision has kicked off Marvel’s Phase 4, and of course, fans have all the right to think about everything that is possible with it. The year-long gap was filled by WandaVision and heavily relies on multiverses and alternate realities.
Warning: WandaVision spoilers ahead!
In WandaVision Episode 5, in an effort to sneak one by Wanda, S.W.O.R.D. sends in an ’80s Stark Industries drone in an attempt to reach Wanda without her noticing they are there. While this scene is full of tension and intrigue, viewers may have missed the fact that the coordinates on the screen are far from Westview, New Jersey. The coordinates read 36°40’05.0″N 115°39’26.0″W, and when plugged into a map, land in the southern California side of the Mojave Desert.
This is the Mojave Desert, and the Nevada side of the same desert is the Joint Dark Energy Mission Faculty, a location first introduced in the opening scene of The Avengers (2012) and then again shown as the whereabouts for Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. in Captain Marvel. Notably, Nick Fury is present during both times that this Mojave Desert location is featured in the MCU. Until Episode 4, it was unknown if Westview was actually a real place or if it was a complete figment of the imagination. While it’s clear that something within that static barrier is amiss, fans learned through Monica Rambeau and Agent Jimmy Woo that Westview, New Jersey is a real place with real people, all of who seem to be missing, and apparently, Wanda is holding everyone hostage.
While there is the very real possibility that this coordinate location is a red herring, meant to send fans on the wrong path (especially since the coordinates flip when we cut back to the drone), the connection to historic MCU locations suggests there is a deeper significance. Another intriguing aspect about the Mojave Desert is that both times the MCU has gone to that location, Nick Fury was there as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and the Tesseract had been the primary focus. With all the craziness brought in Episode 5, this is hardly the most intriguing detail. But there is something to be said about the specific location pointed out by that drone.
Earlier, we talked about how Spider-Man: Far From Home has set up Westview. Actually, it was one of the post-credit scenes with Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home that set up SWORD, the new organization that just made its official MCU debut in WandaVision. In Far From Home’s post-credits scene, it was revealed that Fury was never the character that was helping Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in the movie. In actuality, Captain Marvel’s Tales (Ben Mendelsohn) was using his Skrull shapeshifting abilities to pose as him on Earth, while the real Fury was on board a spaceship and in contact with his impersonator. As time passed, it became increasingly apparent that Far From Home was hinting at SWORD, a peacekeeping organization in the Marvel comics similar to SHIELD, that fights alien threats. Viewers finally got to meet SWORD in WandaVision episode 4, where it was confirmed that they were monitoring what was happening in Westview.
Fans have pointed out that on Fury’s ship, there’s a screen that features a hexagon shape. This is important because it was specifically stated in WandaVision episode 4 that the energy bubble surrounding is shaped like a hexagon. We’ve seen this hexagon shape in the MCU before; it was introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as the shape of a jump point in the Universal Neural Teleportation Network series of wormholes in space. It is used again in WandaVision is purposeful. What this potential Scarlet Witch Easter egg could imply is that at this point in time, Fury already knew about the Westview situation. He presumably wouldn’t have known exactly what was going on per se, but he did at least have access to the same information that SWORD had obtained as of episode 4.
It looks like Fury is working closely with SWORD, and is continuously up-to-date with all the activities that are happening on Earth while he’s off-world. This is naturally consistent with who Fury is as a character in both Marvel Comics and the MCU. Whether he’s the director of SHIELD or not, Fury is an incredibly well-informed and well-connected person who keeps tabs on all sorts of unique situations. It could be that as the problem with Wanda and her fake reality of Westview continues to develop, it will reach a point where he will feel compelled to take a more active role. If that happens, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury could serve as an exciting guest character in an upcoming episode of WandaVision.
