WARNING: The following contains spoilers for WandaVision Episode 7, "Breaking the Fourth Wall," now streaming on Disney+.
Agatha Harkness may not be the only villain in Westview, New Jersey. Over the past few episodes of WandaVision, S.W.O.R.D.'s Acting Director Tyler Hayward has made a name for himself as well. Between his attempts to kill Wanda and his devastatingly personal jabs at Monica, he certainly hasn't won himself any fans. However, it may be his crimes against Vision that build him into a true Marvel Cinematic Universe baddie. "Breaking the Fourth Wall's" latest clues could indicate Hayward will unleash a new robotic threat on the MCU: adaptoids.
First, let's break down what an adaptoid even is. As they appeared in 1966's Tales of Suspense #82 by Stan Lee, Gene Colan and Jack Kirby, adaptoids were androids created by Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) using the Cosmic Cube, a piece of super advanced technology that originated in another world entirely. When A.I.M. sent an adaptoid to kill Captain America, it cycled through the appearances of Edwin Jarvis and Bucky Barnes and mimicked the fight styles of Avengers like Hawkeye and the Wasp -- essentially, "adapting" to best combat its target.
Like the Cosmic Cube, this adaptoid soon gained self-awareness and became the Super-Adaptoid. With its newfound sentience, the Super-Adaptoid set out with one mission: to transform others into adaptoids like itself. This goal led the Super-Adaptoid to face off against other Marvel heroes, like Iron Man, Spider-Man and the X-Men.
Notably, other adaptoids created by A.I.M. have been used to scout the multiverse. At one point, A.I.M. even sent them to fight an alternate-reality team of Avengers. Like the Super-Adaptoid, though, they soon gained self-awareness and broke away from their masters, escaping into the void between universes. What's more, the adaptoids' appearance would track for a project called "Cataract," as their modern appearance features a blank face with only a glowing yellow circle, like a gaping, singular eye.
Now that the adaptoid crash course has ended, let's talk about WandaVision's "Breaking the Fourth Wall." In the episode, Jimmy Woo discovered that Darcy had broken through Hayward's firewall and recovered files about something called Project Cataract. As he relayed the findings to Monica Rambeau, they realized why Hayward was so intent on finding Vision.
"R&D reports, all on the same subject: Codename Cataract," Jimmy revealed as they drove over to meet Monica's contact. "Hayward wasn't decommissioning Vision; he was trying to bring him back online. Nothing worked until --"
"Wanda stole Vision's body," Monica supplied.
"That's why he was so focused on tracking Vision inside the Hex," Jimmy realized, only for Monica to add, "Hayward wants his sentient weapon back."
However, as we saw in "We Interrupt This Program," Vision was far from the only weapon S.W.O.R.D. -- which stands for Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division -- was working on. As Hayward welcomed Monica back to the agency, they walked past agents working on heavy machinery out in the open -- and that's not accounting for any top secret weaponry in the works. By burying Project Cataract under all these firewalls and bullying Monica off the Maximoff Anomaly assignment, Hayward proved he has much to hide about the way he spent the three years between Maria Rambeau's death and Monica's post-Blip return.
Having three unimpeded years with Vision's corpse must have opened up a world of opportunity for Hayward and his agents to study the synthezoid, who was initially built as a new body for Ultron with cutting edge technology that blended human biology with vibranium. Given this time, they must have learned much about Vision's design. Indeed, one of the files Darcy sent Jimmy appears to show blueprints for Vision's body. This intense study could indicate a desire to move beyond simply repairing Vision; with these blue prints, S.W.O.R.D. could have attempted to build their own, lesser versions of the synthezoid -- or so they thought.
Since adaptoids have a nasty habit of becoming self-aware, such an attempt could have been disastrous for S.W.O.R.D. If the adaptoids fought back, S.W.O.R.D.'s human agents would have been more or less powerless to fight back, especially if the androids were anything like they are in the comics. Since both Vision and the adaptoids have the ability to change their appearance, perhaps they even masqueraded as the S.W.O.R.D. agents they overthrew. This could build Hayward up to be more than a personal foil for Monica; he could perhaps be the Super-Adaptoid himself.
This could help explain Hayward's drive to kill Wanda. After all, Wanda proved herself adept at killing synthezoids when she sacrificed Vision to stop Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. She is, perhaps, the most powerful Avenger in the MCU and, as such, she poses a major threat to all those that would stand against her. Killing Wanda would be an act of self-preservation for an adaptoid. Even if Hayward himself is not an adaptoid, taking out Wanda could prevent anything from standing in the way of his own adaptoid army.
Further, "Breaking the Fourth Wall" positioned Hayward to be a villain for Vision just as much as Wanda and Monica. As Jimmy explained in "On a Very Special Episode," Vision did not want to be brought back if he died, and he most certainly did not want to be used as a weapon. By experimenting on Vision, Hayward defied the synthezoid's living will and violated his corpse without his explicit consent. There's no telling what Vision will do when he learns the truth, or if he remembers the circumstances surrounding his own death and dismemberment.
Since the Marvel Studios series is titled WandaVision, it makes sense for the show to give Vision a villain as well. After all, he takes up one half of the title! Further, by introducing adaptoids, the MCU series could explain not only Project Cataract's codename, but also Hayward's obsession with finding Vision and killing Wanda. S.W.O.R.D. is certainly up to something, and it looks like all will soon be laid bare as the show hurtles towards it conclusion over the next two episodes.
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. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.