In the final episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daisy Johnson heads into outer space, and many fans have wondered if her adventures there could somehow be tied to S.W.O.R.D. The Sentient World Observation and Response Department deals with extraterrestrial threats to world security and is the space-based counterpart of S.H.I.E.L.D., so this would make sense.
However, a closer look at the ship Quake was on confirmed that it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel, so we can probably forget about the ABC series playing into the clandestine group's origin story.
They are expected to factor into WandaVision, though, and were likely formed in response to Thanos' attack on Earth. However, had things played out a little different, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may very well have included S.W.O.R.D. at some point over past few years.
Talking at a press event this week, co-showrunner Jed Whedon said he would be open to developing an Agents of S.W.O.R.D. follow-up if the opportunity were to present itself (it almost certainly won't), with fellow executive producer Jeffrey Bell pointing out, "We tried S.W.O.R.D. early [in the series] and we were shut down."
Clearly, Kevin Feige has had something in mind for S.W.O.R.D. for some time now, and it's interesting to wonder which other ideas he shot down because there were plans for them in the MCU. Looking back, anything we did see in the ABC series probably won't make it to the big screen for a long time, as the Marvel Studios boss clearly didn't have much interest in those characters/ideas.
What do you guys think?