The MCU may have just introduced a whole new breed of anti-Avengers villains who have more in common with Iron Man than Thanos. Despite the end of the Infinity Saga, WandaVision has also shown how the blip twisted those left behind.
Episode 6 saw the reality of what S.W.O.R.D. actually represents teased a little more overtly as Hayward’s poisoned attitude towards Scarlet Witch was unveiled. The acting director mentioned the so-far unseen reality faced by those left behind to “keep the light on” suggesting unprecedented strain and the possibility of unprecedented coping mechanisms. Though his involvement in Vision’s vivisection is intriguing, it’s how the blip affected him personally that really marks him out as one of the show’s most complex figures.
While the extent of his potential malevolence is yet to be revealed, Hayward represents a new breed of villains who shares something fundamental with the likes of Zemo, Vulture, and Wanda herself. In all four cases, each antagonist was twisted against the MCU’s superheroes because of their past experiences as collateral damage. Hayward, though, is a more complex figure again, shaped somewhat ironically by the same emotional response that drove Tony Stark to breaking point. Only Hayward’s probable PTSD has poisoned him against superpowered individuals who he holds either able or as a threat equal to Thanos. Hayward, arguably is a new breed of empathetic villain directly created by the blip.
If this is the case, Hayward is more difficult to understand but easier to explain. His experience changed him, even if he was already threatened by the otherness of superheroes, emboldening his ideology and the blip worked as propaganda. It’s not difficult to see how the same process could have turned a group of Americans from turning against superheroes under the banner of the Flag Smashers, who will turn up in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. They may not be justified in their hatred of superheroes as the cause of the blip, but their need to focus their hatred at their failure is not entirely illogical.
Like Zemo’s role in Civil War and Scarlet Witch’s own voluntary association with HYDRA, that motivation will make this new breed of heroes like Hayward all the more compelling. He’s far more complex than the stereotype of a power-hungry megalomaniac because there’s a direct parallel between him and Tony Stark and that is a challenge for the audience. And so too is the idea that the blip, which was previously seen as a grand, heroic gesture wasn’t without its own ramifications. That will hopefully give WandaVision’s climax even more of a bite in the final few episodes.