What MCU Fans Noticed About The Drone In WandaVision Episode 5

In the most recent episode of WandaVision, "On a Very Special Episode...," the tension starts really ramping up for Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), and S.W.O.R.D., when Vision — who has been living a happy, suburban existence with Wanda — starts questioning this strange reality in which Wanda has total control over the citizens. Unfortunately, Wanda doesn't want to admit that this is all her doing, and tries to keep control over her quaint life with Vision and their twin sons, Billy and Tommy.

While all of that is going on inside Westview, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), Dr. Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), and S.W.O.R.D. are still investigating how to stop whatever Wanda's doing. Thanks to Rambeau's clever deductions, she realizes that Wanda is manipulating anything that enters Westview to fit whatever decade she's in. To overcome that, Rambeau brings in a drone from the 1980s, hoping she can use it to enter the town and communicate with Wanda. But because of some scheming done by Director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg), he sends the drone in fully-equipped with missiles, and attempts to use one to take out Wanda. Of course, that plan doesn't go so well, and Wanda exits Westview to issue a swift and very serious threat. 

On top of the seriousness of Hayward launching an attack on Wanda, and the violence it almost led to, fans noticed something significant about the specific drone S.W.O.R.D. uses, and the emotional connection it has to Wanda and her upbringing in Sokovia.

When Wanda throws the destroyed drone at Hayward's feet outside of Westview, viewers get a closer look at its design. On one side of the device, there is a familiar logo bearing the words "Stark Industries." Unsurprisingly, the drone sourced from the eighties is one produced by none other than the Stark family. In a Reddit thread, fans pointed out the dark connection Wanda has with Stark Industries: as revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron, When Wanda and Pietro were ten, Stark weapons killed their parents in front of them, which remains a major source of trauma for Wanda. 

If Hayward's attack had been successful at taking Wanda out, it would've been a deeply scarring event for her children. Also, considering that he fires a missile at Wanda while Tommy and Billy are standing right behind her, they also could've very easily been injured. Considering this, it's a miracle she doesn't kill Hayward then and there.

Some Reddit users questioned how S.W.O.R.D. got their hands on an old Stark drone, as after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) became Iron Man, he stopped producing weapons. U/No_Lawfulness_2998 asks if the drone would "have been decommissioned years ago," which is understandable, but subsequent comments bring up the fact that S.W.O.R.D. could easily get the drone from some old storage or a museum. U/RockyRocket2 compared it to how "people still fly old WWII planes for fun. If something was ever a production military weapon, examples probably still exist in collections."

Along with that, S.W.O.R.D. probably has contacts who stockpile old Stark weapons. Given the suspicion already surrounding S.W.O.R.D. and their motives, it makes sense that they might have villainous contacts who have black market goods like old Stark technology. When Tony stops producing weaponry, he likely attempts to have all of the Stark weapons rounded up. But even then, it's impossible for the company to get them all, especially from people who already don't have them legally.

WandaVision episode 5 also shows a bit more about how Wanda ends up in Westview. Just a few days earlier, she breaks into S.W.O.R.D. and steals Vision's body. When Hayward shares this information, he paints Wanda as a villain by stating that bringing back Vision goes against his "own living will." Agent Woo adds that Vision "didn't want to be anybody's weapon." Knowing this, Wanda appears to be in the wrong when she brings Vision back to life. While S.W.O.R.D. may be right on that count, Hayward smoothly skips over the fact that the footage shows S.W.O.R.D. taking apart and experimenting on Vision, which is definitely not respecting him or his final wishes. Also, as Woo literally goes through all of Wanda's history, her previous connection to Stark missiles has to be well-known to Hayward. It's possible he purposely brings in Stark weaponry to test her. 

So what does Hayward really want out of all this? Maybe he is concerned about the citizens of Westview and wants to save them. Or maybe he wants to take out Wanda, retrieve Vision's body, and continue whatever experiments S.W.O.R.D. started.