The sixth episode of WandaVison debuted last week and while the latest episode of the series certainly upped the tension by revealing that it’s not Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) that SWORD head Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) is after but Vision (Paul Bettany), the Marvel Studios series has yet to reveal its villain. That means that theories still abound regarding what exactly is going on in Westview and if Wanda is doing this all on her own or somehow being manipulated by some darker force. However, one brief moment in the episode, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”, has some wondering if one of the theorized potential big bads, Nightmare, really is in play — and if Hayward knows about him already.
In the previous episode, “On a Very Special Episode…”, Hayward sent a weaponized drone into Westview with the intention of killing Wanda. That fails, prompting Wanda to emerge from the world she’s created and drop the drone, warning Hayward to leave her alone. This week, when planning the next move, Monica (Teyonah Parris) along with Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Jimmy (Randall Park) confront Hayward about the plan. The scene results in Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy being thrown out but also in that scene, Hayward says something interesting: “This whole nightmare ends.”
It’s a line that could very easily just be a throwaway bit of dialogue, but this is Marvel, where no detail is too small and it becomes even more interesting when you realize that this isn’t the only use of the term “nightmare” in the episode. Pietro (Evan Peters) has a heart-to-heart with Wanda at the Town Square and notes that the kids have now appeared in Westview. He asks her where she’s been keeping them and hypothesizes she’s kept them asleep this whole time, praising her efforts as being better than “giving people nightmares” and “shooting red wiggly-woos” out of her hands.
Sure, a lot of this is connecting dots that may not end up being anything at all, but there’s always the possibility that Wanda’s actions have an even larger consequence. We still don’t know exactly what SWORD wants with Vision’s body and we also don’t really know if Wanda is doing this with complete control or if she’s being manipulated. It’s not impossible that Wanda did start all this on her own, but her efforts have led to Nightmare being able to cross into reality or is on the cusp of doing so. Taking out Wanda would, arguably, stop that.
Or Hayward just could be referring to the idea of Wanda having their asset and so much control being a nightmare for SWORD personally. We’ll just have to keep tuning in to find out.
The first six episodes of WandaVision are now streaming on Disney+.
Who do you think the big bad is on WandaVision? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section.