Warning: This article discusses Agatha All Along episode 6 spoilers.
Another Agatha All Along episode, another week without a Scarlet Witch return. Wanda Maximoff’s ghost has been haunting the WandaVision spin-off throughout its run, but so far it’s holding out on actually resurrecting Elizabeth Olsen’s superhero sorceress, despite the increasing cries of the rabid Wanda fandom. At least episode 6 offered the next best thing, though: a hint that her reputation isn’t quite as destroyed as we thought.
In the flashback-heavy episode 6, Joe Locke’s Teen aka William Kaplan aka Billy Maximoff (aka Wiccan) is investigating the Westview hex when his boyfriend Eddie innocently asks, “That big red dome thing in the sky? I thought that turned out to be some Avengers training exercise gone wrong.” In this one line, Agatha has turned on its head our understanding of what happened to Wanda’s public image after the hex.
What this revelation tells us is that the Avengers actually covered up Wanda’s Westview weirdness to the world at large. Given her actions, the involvement of government agency S.W.O.R.D., and her ultimate evil turn in Doctor Strange 2, we’ve assumed for over three years now that Wanda’s name had been dragged through the mud and she was now publicly viewed as a villain. Thanks to the Avengers, however, it seems her reputation is intact.
Or, as one X user put it, “WANDA’s PR TEAM CONTROLLED IT.”
On the face of it, this seems like a wholesome and caring move on the Avengers’ part, as they protected the reputation of one of their own. On the other hand, it’s possible this was more out of a desire to avoid a PR nightmare. “I guess cause they can’t have the world thinking that the Avengers are going rogue,” one fan suggested. They wouldn’t want another Sokovia Accords situation on their hands!
Honestly, the Avengers did Wanda a real solid here. Once she’s eventually resurrected, she doesn’t even need to do an apology video!
We’d love to know which Avenger it was who first suggested putting out the lie about the hex. Some think it might be Clint, who’s responsible for her becoming an Avenger in the first place.
Others sense it might’ve been Rhodey — or rather Skrull Rhodey.
Don’t forget that Stephen Strange knew all about WandaVision in Multiverse of Madness, though, so clearly the world’s magical community knows the truth.
At least the citizens of Westview seemed to unilaterally agree to keep the whole thing hushed. Apart from notorious Redditor Ralph Bohner, of course…
How the Avengers’ rescuing Wanda’s reputation sets up her Doomsday comeback
It’s entirely possible this random line in a random episode of Agatha All Along wasn’t meant to convey any grand foreshadowing for what’s to come in the MCU, but even so, Marvel now has the potential to take this idea and run with it. As one fan joked, there’s nothing stopping Wanda from coming back to life without fear of getting canceled. So for those still bitter over her going off the deep end in Doctor Strange 2, the franchise now has a way of brushing that under the rug.
However Wanda is resurrected — whether thanks to a wish Billy makes at the end of the Witches’ Road or something to do with Downey’s Doctor Doom — with the corrupting influence of the Darkhold behind her, she is now primed to rejoin the Avengers’ ranks like nothing ever happened. Maybe Marvel doesn’t even need to explain it and could just have her rock up to battle by quoting Rhodey in Iron Man 2: “Look, it’s me, I’m here, deal with it. Let’s move on.”
Published: Oct 17, 2024 01:10 pm