Two episodes in, and one of the biggest question marks hanging over Agatha All Along so far is the exact nature of Aubrey Plaza’s character. Though not yet named in full on screen, Plaza is credited as Rio Vidal. Clearly, a powerful sorceress in her own right, Rio obviously has an intense history with Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness, with the pair having a very literal love/hate relationship.
Interestingly, Rio Vidal does not exist as a character in the pages of Marvel Comics, but Plaza has got people wondering if there’s a big twist to come with her character — similar to “Agnes” being outed as Agatha all along in WandaVision — after the actress made some intriguing comments at the show’s premiere. Plaza promised that there was a “reveal” coming and that fans will “go crazy” for it.
This being the MCU fandom, naturally everyone immediately went to their favorite knee-jerk fan theory — she’s gonna be Mephisto! While that might have seemed a bit of a stretch prior to the series premiere, surprisingly Agatha All Along suggests this theory might not have been too far off the mark. Albeit one generation off…
Aubrey Plaza’s Rio Vidal may have a surprise connection to Ghost Rider
In what is already being dubbed “the sexiest scene in the MCU,” thanks to the unexpected chemistry between Plaza and Hahn, Rio has a tender moment with Agatha in the middle of her attack on the House of Harkness at the end of episode 1. “You don’t have a heart!” Agatha barks at Rio, only for her enemy to lean into her and reply. “Yes, I do. It’s black, and it beats for you.”
Rio’s symbol being a black heart is emphasized in episode 2, when Lilia’s psychic vision of Agatha’s coven includes not a name but a drawing of a black heart. This confirms hints in the trailers that Rio is a Green Witch, whose specialty is Earth magic. Maybe that’s because her origins have root in the underworld. Blackheart, it just so happens, is the name of the child of Mephisto.
A frequent foe of Ghost Rider, Blackheart is the son of Mephisto in the Marvel universe. Anyone who’s been brave enough to sit through 2007’s Ghost Rider movie with Nicolas Cage will recognize the character as the film’s antagonist, as played by Wes Bentley. Are these references to black hearts in Agatha just harmless Easter eggs, or a hint that Plaza is actually playing a gender-flipped version, reimagined as the daughter of Mephisto?
Agatha and Rio were definitely a couple in the past, and the offspring of an actual Hell-Lord is absolutely Agatha’s type. If Agatha All Along ends with a promise that Ghost Rider is finally coming to the MCU then all of WandaVision‘s Ralph Bohner-sized sins will be forgiven.