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This article contains spoilers for Agatha All Along episode 1.
At the end of Agatha All Along‘s first episode, the titular witch has stripped away all her false identities. She is not a hard-boiled cop, she is not an ’80s aerobics fanatic, and she is certainly not Agnes, Westview’s goofiest neighbor. She is Agatha Harkness: a powerful witch whose powers have been stolen by Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.
But if that’s who Agatha is, then who is the teenager bound and gagged in her closet? If she’s not a detective, then the teen, played by Heartstopper breakout Joe Locke, is not her suspect. So who is he?
The first episode ends on that cliffhanger, but the identity of the teen (who is literally only referred to as “Teen” thus far) is pretty obvious to comic book readers and perhaps even to close-watching fans of the MCU. Locke’s character is likely Billy Kaplan, who is also William Maximoff, Wanda’s magically-created son.
The Conjuring of Wiccan
Billy Kaplan first appeared in 2005’s Young Avengers #1, written by Allan Heinberg and penciled by Jim Cheung. Like the other members of the Young Avengers — Iron Lad, Patriot, and Hulkling — Billy modeled himself on an older hero, taking the name Asgardian. And that’s intentional, as the Young Avengers were assembled by Iron Lad, who needed to create a team to resist an impending attack by time-traveller Kang the Conquerer. With the Avengers and Fantastic Four dead at the hands of the supervillain Onslaught (well, actually recreated in a bubble universe as part of Marvel’s disasterous attempt to reboot its flagship titles but that’s not important right now), Iron Lad needed to make new heroes.
Even after Iron Lad revealed himself to be in fact a younger version of Kang, who was absorbed into the time stream after standing up to his older self, the Young Avengers stayed together. But in the absence of Iron Lad, Billy rescinded his Norse stolen valor and embraced the magical nature of his powers, taking instead the name Wiccan. And if your head is hurting already, then take some aspirin, because things only get weirder from here.
The Young Avengers soon meet a teen hero called Speed. Given his power set, completely white hair, and general arrogance, Tommy Shepherd a.k.a. Speed is a clear analogue for Quicksilver. However, outside of his early-onset graying, Tommy is an identical twin to Billy. How can that be, given that both teens have different sets of biological parents?
The more that Billy investigates, the more he becomes certain that he and Tommy are reincarnations of Billy and Tommy Maximoff, the twin sons of the Scarlet Witch and Vision. Which is even more strange, since Billy and Tommy never really existed.
Wanda’s Kids in the Multiverse of Madness
In 1986’s Vision and the Scarlet Witch #12, written by Steve Englehart and penciled by Richard Howell, Wanda gives birth to twins William and Thomas. How, exactly, the android Vision managed to sire children is given a complicated answer that involves the original Human Torch, Wonder Man, and the villain Nekra, all of whom have their own bizarre backstories that we can’t get into here. In short, everyone thought they were regular, real kids.
All of that changed in 1989’s Avengers West Coast #52, written and drawn by John Byrne, one of the strangest comic issues of all time. The cover features Z-tier villain Master Pandemonium with the toddlers William and Thomas as his hands. No, that’s not a typo. The tots aren’t in his hands. They are his hands, like, at the end of his arms.
Master Pandemonium discovered that the twins were in fact manifestations of Wanda’s will, brought to life in part by taking from the soul of Mephisto, Marvel’s version of the devil. Master Pandemonium stole the children from Wanda and integrated them into his body in hopes of augmenting his own abilities. And even after the West Coast Avengers defeated him, the twins did not restore to life. Instead, they dissolved, their essence returned to Mephisto.
Oh yeah, one person knew this truth about the twins the entire time: Agatha Harkness. However, in addition to being an old lady (until a recent de-aging), the comic version of Agatha is far more benevolent and served as Wanda’s mentor.
At least she did, until many years later, Wanda went mad and murdered Agatha. At the same time, Doctor Strange (who delivered the twins in the first place) realized that Wanda’s powers were much greater than anyone save Agatha realized. She could, in fact, alter reality on a whim, even if she didn’t know that’s what she was doing.
And so, when Mephisto tried to reclaim the souls of William and Thomas, Wanda unconsciously sent those souls away. More specifically, she sent them to the bodies of Mrs. Kaplan and Mrs. Shepherd. And when those women gave birth, they in fact, gave birth to the reincarnated Thomas and William Maximoff.
Thus, Tommy and Billy are, at once, children of separate parents, identical twins, and the children of Wanda Maximoff and Vision. Feel free to exhale now.
Young Avengers, Assembling
Chances are, the MCU won’t try to do something nearly as complicated. After all, they are working with basically one chief creative in Kevin Feige and over a relatively short amount of time, instead of many creatives who wrote and re-wrote the comics over several decades.
However, it’s all but certain that Locke’s Billy Kaplan will be a variation of Billy Maximoff, even though the MCU version of Wanda’s kids also disappeared at the end of WandaVision. They too were created by her hex, not real figures, and needed to be reabsorbed so she could defeat Agatha.
Yet, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we saw that Wanda used the Darkhold to go across realities, and found one in which her kids existed. While the movie ended with Wanda from the Sacred Timeline leaving these alternate reality versions, and even destroying herself and the Darkhold so that no one else could make her mistake, Agatha All Along begins with Agatha trapped in the hex because of the Darkhold’s powers.
It seems likely, then, that Billy (and Tommy, who certainly exists somewhere in the MCU, even if we haven’t seen him as a teen yet) came to be because of Wanda’s work with the Darkhold, which explains Agatha’s interest in him. Furthermore, after Ms. Marvel visited the Kate Bishop Hawkeye at the end of The Marvels, we know that the MCU is putting together its own version of the Young Avengers.
In the process of uncovering her own identity, then, Agatha will be uncovering the identity of Billy Kaplan. Thankfully, the MCU version won’t have to go through quite so many layers.
The first two episodes of Agatha All Along are streaming on Disney+. New episodes premiere Wednesdays, culminating with the finale on October 30.
The post Agatha All Along: Joe Locke Is Likely Playing a Familiar Marvel Character appeared first on Den of Geek.
