Though S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. might look like the same bureaucratic institution at first glance, WandaVision director Matt Shakman revealed that a lot of thought went into making the latter feel like its own entity.

In a conversation with Screen Rant, Shakman discussed the thought process behind conceptualizing S.W.O.R.D. as a realistic place whose goals made sense within the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe story, despite featuring more fantastical elements and characters in the comics. "We started where we start pretty much anything when we design it; we say, 'What would it be in the real world?' So, we looked at Cape Canaveral, we looked at the history of the space agencies, and what those worlds looked like and felt like," he explained. "Then we worked with our production designer, Mark Worthington, and concept designers and storyboard artists, and started to build out the world of S.W.O.R.D."

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"But we really wanted it to feel grounded and real, to contrast with the sitcom reality inside the hex," Shakman continued. "We looked at films that I think do that really well - movies like Arrival, for instance, and the temporary base that they built around their extraterrestrial anomaly was a great reference point for us. We imagined that S.W.O.R.D. is exactly the right agency when you have a radioactive anomaly; that they're used to going into foreign planets, very difficult terrain. So, that pop-up base that we built was based off existing radiological and biological chemical response units that are out there."

Compared to S.H.I.E.L.D., in Iron Man by Agent Phil Coulson, S.W.O.R.D.'s MCU backstory has been explored primarily through WandaVision. In the fourth episode, "We Interrupt This Program," it's revealed that S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division) was founded by Captain Marvel's Maria Rambeau and that her daughter Monica joined the organization as an adult. Now under the leadership of Tyler Hayward, who became acting director after Maria died in between the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the organization shifted its focus from aerospace to robotics, though WandaVision teased the organization being divided in loyalty between Rambeau and Hayward's missions. In the case of the latter, this includes reconstructing and reviving Vision's body for a seemingly weapons-related purpose.

Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes.

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Source: Screen Rant