WARNING: This article contains spoilers for WandaVision Episode 7.
As WandaVision has progressed through its first six weeks, mystery and intrigue are at an all-time MCU high as audiences wait for answers in the town of Westview.
The seventh episode, titled "Breaking The Fourth Wall," ended with the shocking reveal that Wanda's neighbor Agnes is actually the famous Marvel witch known as Agatha Harkness. While the "Agnes-as-Agatha" element was one of the more expected twists of the Disney+ show, the revelation to Wanda was still shocking as ever, as Agnes also delightfully admitted that she was responsible for most of Westview's hot drama that Wanda has had to deal with.
Oddly, Agatha Harkness in Marvel Comics was somewhat of a "good guy" who served as a mentor and leader figure to Wanda Maximoff for some time before Wanda made a mess of things. So it's important now to ask: why is Agatha Harkness in Westview, and what called for her devious turn against Wanda at the end of the show's seventh installment?
To figure out the witch's true MCU intentions, The Direct is taking a Deep Dive into the story behind Agatha Harkness.
HISTORY OF HARKNESS 101
First, let's get a better idea of who Agatha Harkness is outside of WandaVision .
In Marvel Comics, Agatha largely stays out of the spotlight and doesn't get a lot of attention unless she's accompanying the Fantastic Four or Scarlet Witch. Harkness did play a pivotal role in one of WandaVision's biggest (assumed) inspirations titled The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, which revolved around the conception and subsequent birth of their twin boys Billy and Tommy.
Oddly, Agatha was actually dead when this took place, but she appeared to Wanda as a ghost so that she could teach her how to master the magic behind creating new life with her android husband. But since Wanda used a combination of Agatha's magic and her own to create her two sons from a shard of the devilish Mephisto's soul, Billy and Tommy Maximoff never really existed at all.
Agatha would later erase Wanda's memory of her children entirely after their disappearance so that she could avoid grieving the loss of her twin boys. However, Wanda later found out about this and eventually killed Agatha in a fit of rage as a result.
In WandaVision thus far, Agnes — who we'll refer to as Agatha now — has appeared as a helper to Wanda and someone that she could trust. Clearly, Agatha had an ulterior motive that motivated her to form this bond with Wanda — but why?
AGATHA ALL ALONG
After revealing to Wanda that she wasn't "the only magical girl in town," Agatha proceeded to show the Scarlet Witch just how involved she was in the different happenings of Westview by showing her a montage of events with her own proud and catchy theme song — a Westview first for anyone not named Wanda Maximoff.
As the peppy music asked "Who's been messing up everything?," the witch calls back exclaiming "it's been Agatha all along!" Harkness replayed several behind-the-scenes shots for Wanda to show her just how conniving she was as Agatha manipulated the Maximoff family, admitting she had an ulterior motive from the moment they met at Wanda's door in the Disney+ show's debut episode.
The song then chimes in again asking "who's been pulling every evil string" as the screen fast-forwards to the Westview talent show, with Agatha's pet rabbit Señor Scratchy hopping onto the screen.
The song continues on calling Agatha "insidious" and "perfidious," claiming that "it's too late to fix anything now that everything's gone wrong" all "thanks to Agatha, naughty Agatha." All the while, Westview's other witch continues her montage, claiming responsibility for the odd behavior of Wanda's neighbors, "Pietro's" sudden appearance, and Vision breaking the Westview barrier and forcing Wanda to expand her Hex.
Plus, Billy and Tommy are now nowhere to be found after hanging out at "Auntie Agnes'" house. This is on top of killing the family dog, Spaky. So Harkness probably isn't on Wanda's side here in Westview, nor does she seem to have Wanda's best interests in mind.
Agatha was shown in her own director's chair behind the camera while Wanda was being interviewed, and she winked to let the audience know that she's the one in charge. If Agatha is the one behind the absolute mess that Westview has become, then why is she doing it?
MASTER MANIPULATOR
Looking back at just how involved Agatha has been in Wanda's Westview life makes you wonder if Agatha really is against Wanda, or if she needs her for something. Vision became curious of this in WandaVision's fifth installment when "Agnes" kept showing up with "just the item [they] require."
With the way that Agatha was teaching Wanda how to become a proper 50s housewife and how she took Wanda under her wing to the neighborhood swim club to make a good impression on Dottie, it seemed for a long time that "Agnes" was grooming Wanda into becoming the ideal person she was already trying to be. Agatha could have been doing this for Wanda in order to get closer to her, or the variety of lessons and advice she provided to Wanda conveniently aligned with her own agenda as she molded her into the witch she needs her to be.
It becomes darker as the season progresses when Agatha kills Billy and Tommy's dog the same day that they found it — seemingly only to find out if Wanda could raise it from the dead or not. But why would she need to know that?
It's also possible that Agatha was trying to force the twins to grow again, which they nearly did before their mother stopped them. If Agatha is responsible for the birth of Wanda's boys like she was in Marvel Comics, then maybe Wanda wasn't anticipating a pregnancy at all.
Rather, perhaps it was all brought to fruition by Harkness as she shoved her way into Wanda's life at any chance she got.
ARE ANY QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN EP. 7?
It's become clear that Billy and Tommy are an integral part of WandaVision and that their presence has big implications for the show, as well as the future of the MCU. Being the first MCU characters to be born with their abilities , the ten-year-old twins have already begun using their superpowers, and they've had little trouble becoming acclimated to them thus far.
In fact, Billy seems to become more in-touch with his special abilities with each episode now. His powers seem similar to Wanda's, much like his comic book counterpart.
In the last scene where Billy and Tommy are shown, they're sitting in Agatha's living room worried about their mother. Agatha reassures them that everything will be fine, and Billy admits that he likes being at her place. But then, Billy looks at his Auntie Agnes curiously and says "You're quiet...on the inside," to which Agatha has no response.
It may not be a coincidence that the twins disappeared shortly after this exchange, as this could prompt Agatha to get away with whatever she has planned before they get too wise. But this still doesn't explain what Agatha is up to, or why she is in Westview at all.
One important plot point that went almost entirely unacknowledged was the status of the Pietro imposter. But luckily, Agatha let us know she was responsible for that, too. If Harkness put "Pietro" on Wanda's doorstep, then it hasn't served any real purpose for her other than distracting Wanda and putting her on edge.
But perhaps Wanda needed to be distracted, even if it was just for one night. We now know from Agatha's montage that she was never under Wanda's influence. This tells the audience that Agatha never "got lost" when Vision ran into her on the outside of town; rather, Agatha was once again exactly where she wanted to be. She spooked Vision enough to decide to break through the Westview barrier, which then caused Wanda to expand the barrier and save him.
If an expanded Hex at the hands of a strained Wanda Maximoff is what Agatha had on her Halloween wishlist this year, then the witch got just what she wanted. But what is it about the Hex that benefits Agatha?
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR WESTVIEW
Now we need to know what Agatha's role will be in the remaining two episodes of WandaVision . Her plans don't seem to require Vision in any capacity — at least not since the Hex was expanded. Her agenda doesn't even seem focused on Wanda anymore, as she left her alone and took Billy and Tommy to her house.
Wanda seemed significantly weakened after expanding her Hex, losing control of the appearance of her own belongings. Perhaps that was Agatha's goal: to weaken Wanda into an impressionable state so that she would no longer be a threat if she chose to stand in Agatha's way.
This thought would direct Agatha's focus back to Billy and Tommy, who were conveniently left out of Ep. 7's ending, leaving us all hanging on whether Wanda's twin boys are even alright.
Witchcraft is often associated with satanism and the devil, giving some credence to the notion that Agatha Harkness could be in Satan's servitude. The Marvel Comics portrayal of the devil is the nefarious Mephisto, who has long been suspected to pop up in WandaVision. Despite no confirmation of this being the case, there have been some curious clues scattered throughout the series' seven episodes that would suggest otherwise .
Again, it's still a long shot that Mephisto is involved at all in the Westview anomaly, but attention is still being drawn to his possible lurking presence. Maybe fans have still yet to see the MCU devil because WandaVision is following the comics a lot more closely than usual; perhaps Mephisto will be reborn through Wanda Maximoff's twin boys, and Agatha needed the Scarlet Witch to weaken herself so that she would not be a threat to her plan.
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