WandaVision: SWORD's Project Cataract Weapons Plan Teases Bad News for Vision

The latest episode of WandaVision could promise some bad news coming for Vision on the Disney+ series, and his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be in jeopardy based on the events of "All-New Halloween Spooktacular!" The episode takes a lot of inspiration from the '90s sitcom Malcom in the Middle while utilizing an undertone of uncertainty that works in conjunction with All Hallows Eve. It also goes to show that the Scarlet Witch, donning her comics-accurate costume for the first time with Marvel Studios, is one of the most powerful and terrifying characters in the franchise.

It also shows us a little bit more about why SWORD may also be its own kind of threat to the MCU. As Darcy Lewis discovers, SWORD has a secret project called "Cataract," and it doesn't look good for Vision.

WandaVision Episode 6 SPOILERS Follow!

In WandaVision Episode 6, SWORD experiences something of an internal rupture. Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) are none too happy with SWORD Director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) about trying to take out Wanda with that Episode 5 drone strike. But when they take a stand, Hayward declares it a final straw and banishes the trio from the operation in Westview.

Of course, Jimmy, Darcy, and Monica don't take the dismissal lying down: they turn the tables on the SWORD agents and sneak right back into the site. Darcy's move is to hack Hayward, and get a sense of what SWORD is really up to. The first discovery Darcy makes is that Hayward is actually tracking Vision (not Wanda) inside of Westview. Later in the episode, Darcy stays behind at the SWORD site to hack the last of Hayward's firewall protections. When she breaks through, Darcy discovers a "Classified Weapons Intel" initiative codenamed "Cataract," which SWORD is apparently carrying out, using Vision's body as the main asset.

So what is SWORD's Project Cataract?

There are already several good theories out there about what Project Cataract could be:

One we've broken down in-depth at Comicbook.com is that WandaVision is setting up Marvel's Secret Invasion event - with a twist. In the comics, it was the Skrulls who infiltrated Earth for a slow coup, using their shape-shifting abilities. However, SWORD and director Hayward could have been infiltrated by the Kree, while Nick Fury was dusted in The Snap. We know the Kree have both a pure-blooded blue race (Ronan) and a variant "pink" race that appear like standard humanoids with cool eyes (Yon-Rogg, Mar-Vell, Korath). Hayward could easily be Kree and SWORD a Kree staging ground for Earth's invasion. Vision's technology and Project Cataract could be key to that plan, which is why Hayward wants him back so badly.

Another popular theory is that WandaVision is adapting the "Vision Quest" and "Darker Than Scarlet" storylines of '80s West Coast Avengers comics. Those storylines saw Wanda recover Vision's body from a government agency trying to weaponize it, ultimately rebuilding Vision (albeit without the "soul" he had before). Wanda then learned her sons weren't real and went mad, as it is revealed that Vision's ordeal and Billy and Tommy's origin (shards of the devil's soul morphed into human form by Wanda) are all part of an over-arching scheme by Kang The Conqueror/Immortus. We learn in those storylines that Wanda is also a "Nexus Being," who is a singular focal point for all realities and timelines in the multiverse - something that's also very important to the MCU's Multiverse story arc in Phase 4 projects like Loki, Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Finally, all of the Agents of SHIELD fans out there are still hoping that the series' Life Model Decoys (LMD) storyline could become official MCU canon.

WandaVision streams new episodes Fridays on Disney+.