When it comes to Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) shows and movies, there’s a hero and a villain. Sometimes you get their philosophy heavily debated online (take Thanos, for example), but it’s pretty clear who is who. And then there’s Agatha All Along, which has played a little cagey about who is the bad guy in the series. Is it the Salem Seven? Perhaps it’s Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza)? Or, I would argue, far more likely the villain of Agatha All Along is, well… Agatha, all along.
Yes, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) was the main antagonist of WandaVision. But entering her own series as the title character, the assumption is that she would have a heroic redemption arc, leading into the finale. And while I do still think we’ll get there in some form, the show has been driving home every episode that Agatha is not a good person. Not only that, the greatest danger to the other characters in the show isn’t the Witches’ Road they’re traveling or the encroaching Salem Seven… It’s Agatha, a known witch killer.
Contrast that with Loki, another villain-centric series that took pains to challenge the title character to grow up and do better. Granted, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) already had several movies and a heroic sacrifice under his belt (several, in fact), versus Agatha only appearing on WandaVision. But still, the Loki TV series took pains to challenge the God of Mischief, but also have him step up when needed.
Agatha has been doing nothing but stepping down for the past five episodes. She’s been pretty clear about traveling the Witches’ Road for her own power. And the other witches in the coven — Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — are well aware that Agatha isn’t trustworthy. They know she killed her coven back centuries earlier, as seen on WandaVision. And they also know that Agatha traveled the Witches’ Road, with only one other witch making it out with her, alive. They don’t trust her, and that lack of trust is backed up at every turn.
Take the first trial in Episode 3, where she refused to drink the poisoned wine with everyone else until she was forced to drink. She stepped up in the second trial, but only when her own life was threatened. And in this week’s third trial, she killed Alice. You could argue whether it was accidental or not — I certainly fall on the side of Agatha not being able to control herself — but either way, she murdered another witch. Again. Oh, and then she goaded Teen (Joe Locke) in a way that led to him revealing himself as the Scarlet Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) son and tossing the coven into the mud on the side of the road. It’s pretty clear that they’ll come back, but getting her entire coven killed is not a heroic action.
So Who Is The Hero Of Agatha All Along? It’s Teen
Does Agatha still have the chance to turn things around? Sure. And pure speculation, but I do think we’ll see her do something selfless to help her coven by the end of the season. But I don’t think she’s the good guy, nor has any evidence provided shown us that if given the chance, she’ll step up to the plate.
No, the hero here is likely Teen, aka Billy Kaplan, aka Billy Maximoff, aka Wiccan. He’s the son of the Scarlet Witch, after all, and a future member of the Young Avengers. There may be many twists and turns to come here. But at least based on the Marvel Comics, he’s a hero. Not Agatha.
To be clear, that doesn’t mean he’s the main character of the show. Agatha is the protagonist of the series, but she’s not a hero. Teen is the antagonist of the series, but he’s not a villain. It’s all about perspective, the way you see yourself, and the way others see you. Agatha is the main character, and everything — Teen’s identity, Rio’s identity, all the mysteries… They come from her, first. But this isn’t (hopefully) about her learning to save the universe. It’s about her learning to care about someone other than herself and make up for the sins of the past.
Those include whatever happened to her son Nicholas Scratch, and killing her coven. For the latter, saving her current coven could go a long way to showing growth there. For the former, learning to care for Teen despite him being the son of her greatest enemy can go a long way to repairing that particular structural weakness in her character. If the show goes all the way into making Agatha a hero and palling around with the Avengers, that’s a mistake. She’s not Captain America, nor is she even Loki. She’s Agatha Harkness, a bad witch. And as every character is fond of telling us in this show, the world labels witches as bad, when from their direction, they’re not.
Agatha is bad. She is a villain. And she’ll continue to be through the end of the series because she’s the one working against everyone else. If she successfully makes it to the end of the Witches Road, she’ll take power for herself… But perhaps learn that all the power in the world isn’t enough if there’s no one there to share it with. That’s how we see Agatha growing by the season’s end. Not with the world at large knowing she’s saved them, but with those around her knowing she’s got their backs. At least, until she stabs them in it.
Agatha All Along Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first two episodes of Agatha All Along premiered September 18 at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET on Disney+. It streams weekly, leading up to the two-episode finale on October 30. There are nine episodes, in total.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Agatha All Along, with premiere dates:
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 1: “Seekest Thou The Road”
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 2: “Circle Sewn With Fate Unlock They Hidden Gate”
- Wednesday, September 25, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 3: “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials”
- Wednesday, October 2, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 4: “If I Can’t Reach You Let My Song Teach You”
- Wednesday, October 9, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 5: “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power”
- Wednesday, October 16, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 6
- Wednesday, October 23, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 7
- Wednesday, October 30, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 8
- Wednesday, October 30, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 9
Where To Watch Agatha All Along:
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