Is Agatha working alone?

One episode remains of Marvel Studios first Disney+ show, WandaVision and the question of who is the true villain of the show still remains. After the reveal that Agnes was the witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) we have had a clearer picture of what has been happening in Westview. The catchy jingle at the end of episode 7 made it clear that it was “Agatha All Along”. While this is still likely, we don’t actually know the reasoning for Agatha to be manipulating Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), other than her quest to understand how Wanda created the hex. This begs the question that Agatha’s true motives may be much darker and concern a different entity entirely.

Mephisto:

Leading the debate for the villain behind Agatha’s action is the demon Mephisto. Also known as the devil of marvel, Mephisto rules over the Hell dimension with his main goal to corrupt minds and collect spirits for his own realm.

We are yet to see Mephisto in the MCU and it would be likely that if he is introduced there would be a clearer motivation than that of the comics, a motivation that relates to Wanda and Agatha.

How Mephisto could link to WandaVision comes through is involvement with Billy and Tommy in the comics. When Wanda originally gave birth to the twins they were fragments of Mephisto’s soul. Eventually Mephisto reabsorbed them and subsequently ended their lives. Compare this to WandaVision and the ground works have been laid for this potential outcome. Billy and Tommy were not conceived in a natural way, so how they were created and born is a big question.

Moreover, during the Halloween episode Pietro (Evan Peters) called the twins “demon spawn.” We have learnt that Pietro was in fact Agatha’s eyes and ears. Therefore it was Agatha calling them “demon spawn” and if we relate this back to the comics, after the twins were reabsorbed by Mephisto, Agatha cast a spell on Wanda so that she would forget her children. The big similarity if the twins follow their comic book origin is that Agatha knows of their true form whereas Wanda doesn’t.

Now, there would have to be some difference from the comics for Mephisto to be the big bad of WandaVision. Firstly, Agatha would have to serve him! This is something which has been teased since the start of the series, with the line about the devil being in the detail and Agatha talking about her unseen husband favourite day being the start of the Salem witch trials.

I believe the key for Mephisto to be the true villain is Agatha gifting him the twins so that he can reabsorb them like the comics. However, where I start to question this theory is because of Agatha seeking to understand who Wanda is. Learning the truth about Wanda has not connection to Mephisto which starts to make me think that Agatha has no connection to Mephisto.

This is why the series is so intriguing because we are questioning everything we see multiple times. Despite Mephisto not having a connection to chaos magic he does have a connection to the twins, which is why he has to be considered to potentially having a connection to what has been happening.

Chthon:

For me, I believe the likely connection to everything is the demon Chthon. The origin of the former elder god is complicated but the main points of his backstory within the comics fit with WandaVision too well.

Born before Earth existed, Chthon was the first dark magician. He was also the creator of the Darkhold, which is a spell book filled with all his knowledge of dark magic. Also, the type of magic that he uses is chaos magic, the very same that was revealed to be that which Wanda uses. This connection has gone rather under the radar and needs to be brought to life. For me, there is a clearer connection to Chthon than everyone’s favourite Mephisto.

Firstly there is the Darkhold. When Wanda went searching for her twins and discovered Agatha’s bewitched basement there was a book on display, a book we do not know yet but a book fans are speculating to be the Darkhold. This was then supported with the latest episode which confirmed that Agatha practices dark magic, the same magic spells the Darkhold includes. It also could be the Necronomicon book which used the Darkhold as its source. Either way it looks likely Agatha has a dark magic book which was created by Chthon.

Within the Darkhold there is spells which have the possibility to summon Chthon, which means that Agatha could be seeking to bring him back.

So we have established a potential connection between Agatha and Chthon simular to Mephisto. However, there needs to be a reason for Agatha wanting to know who Wanda is. If we look at the Avengers Vol 1 #185-187 we get an explanation for the origin of Wanda. In the MCU mutants have not been introduced, so we cannot expect Wanda to just be a mutant, instead her origin could follow the comic book storyline where she was touched by Chthon at birth. This explains her powers which were revealed to be there before her experiments with the mind stone which amplified the chaos magic powers.

What this means is that Chthon gave her a fraction of his powers in hope of manifesting himself as Wanda later in her life. This would then explain why Agatha wanted to learn who Wanda is and when she discovers that she is the legend of the Scarlet Witch, she could seek to use her to manifest Chthon in the modern day. The Darkhold could be how Agatha is able to achieve her goal.

Agatha All Along:

We can speculate all we want about a potential bigger villain, but we are yet to see this being appear or even be mentioned. For that reason it has to be considered that Agatha has been working alone all this time. Everything which connects Mephisto and Chthon to WandaVision comes from links to the comics, but as we know the MCU isn’t a direct copy of the comic books.

If we breakdown all the key questions we have, Agatha could be at the heart of them all.

When Agatha seeks to understand how Wanda created the hex, this could all be for Agatha to continue learning about magic. During the Salem witch trials, it was made clear that Agatha had a thirst to learn everything even if she couldn’t control the magic. Moreover Agatha tells Wanda that she was called to Westview due to the spells Wanda used, which again backs up the fact that Agatha is curious about all magic.

After the truth is revealed that Wanda uses chaos magic and is the Scarlet Witch, we can see the anger on Agatha’s face. She says that Wanda used her great power to make “breakfast for dinner”. The potential motivation could be that Agatha believes Wanda is unworthy of the mythical magical powers which could lead to Agatha wanting to take the power for herself. This could also explain the book we see, which could help Agatha undertake the spells needed to transfer Wanda’s powers.

This theory would likely come true if there was no source material, as it is easily the most obvious. However, why I believe fans are suggesting another entity entirely being involved is because of the link to Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This means we have been expecting a ‘multiversal’ being to appear which will then lead directly into the Dr Strange sequel.

Verdict:

There have been other entities people believe could make an appearance. Nightmare, Grim Reaper and now Ultron have all been speculated to appear. However, looking at the evidence we have at our hands the only 2 potential appearances are Chthon or Mephisto and that may not even happen as it could just be Agatha. There arrival is solely based on the comics and links that have appeared in the series. But, Marvel has a history of planting Easter Eggs that have no relation to what is happening, most notably the Infinity Gauntlet in the very first Thor movie.

No matter what happens and who is revealed as the main villain, they will certainly threaten Wanda and the results of the coming conflict will shake the MCU to its very core.

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