Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is off to a blazing start thanks to the efforts of WandaVision , which finished off its nine-episode run on Disney+ nearly a week ago . Combining tributes to American TV sitcoms with a classic MCU epic, the franchise’s first exclusive effort on Disney+ sent shock waves through the fandom with exciting reveals coming nearly every week.
The core plot of the show centered around Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff as she experienced the grief of losing Vision while also fully adopting her Scarlet Witch persona. In doing so, she had a handful of adversaries giving her a world of trouble including Tyler Hayward’s SWORD and Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness .
As it turns out, there was another level to Agatha’s journey that didn’t even make it to the final cut of WandaVision .
AGATHA HARKNESS’ UNTOLD BACKSTORY
In a recent interview on The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith , WandaVision head writer Jac Schaeffer tackled the question of when and how Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness showed up in Westview to cause trouble for Wanda and Vision. Schaeffer revealed that Agatha "sensed [Wanda's Hex] and came to Westview," feeling what the writer describes as "the 'afterglow' of so many spells cast at once."
Schaeffer also spoke of Agatha as a "kind of like a succubus" when discussing her powers. There was reportedly a journey planned out for Agatha featuring "where she's been and what she's been up to and what her journey has been," but that plot didn't make it into the series' final cut.:
"This is not the definition of her, this is just an artful term that I use, she is kind of like a succubus. She travels looking for powerful beings to take from... We had done a lot of ideating of where she's been and what she's been up to and what her journey has been and all that, and that didn't make it into the show because that was the right move. But it was helpful for us just to sort of have a bit of a biography for her. But yeah, she came [to Westview], she sniffed it out and had to show up and figure out what was going on."
AGATHA COULD FEEL ANOTHER WITCH ON HER LEVEL
While much of this plot wasn't fleshed out in full as Agatha Harkness revealed her magical and villainous nature, these quotes match up quite well with what did happen in the last couple of episodes.
"Episode 8" featured Kathyn Hahn's Agatha saying "when I sensed this place, the afterglow of so many spells cast all at once" as she had Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda trapped in her basement with her magical runes. It seems that Wanda was proving her incredible powers to be true the moment she created the Westview anomaly , which lines up well with the Chaos Magic Agatha spoke of in the very same entry .
When "Episode 9" debuted, Agatha revealed her full abilities in the Hex as she slowly absorbed the magic blows that Wanda was throwing at her, stealing Wanda's magic and life force in the process. This was also the case in her origin story from "Episode 8," which showed her in the 1693 Salem Witch Trials being tried for her crimes before sucking the magic out of her mother and sisters.
The story Schaeffer discussed could have shown more of Agatha's life between that event and the MCU's present day, stealing magic from different beings in order to extend her life for more than three centuries. Although she proved to be one of the MCU's more powerful villains, especially to kick off Phase 4, this would have been an interesting journey to see more of with an extension to the story.
All nine episodes of WandaVision are now available to stream on Disney+.
