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Viewers first met Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness when she was masquerading as Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) nosy neighbor in Westview, Ohio, the dream town that Wanda created with a very powerful hex in WandaVision, which came out early in 2021.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the powerful purple witch differs slightly from that which appears in the comic books. Her context and setup can be gleaned from certain previous MCU projects ahead of her standalone series, which premieres Sept. 18 on Disney+.
Read on for a summary of what to watch and keep in mind before Agatha All Along.
WandaVision (Specifically the Last 3 Episodes)
In Episode 7 of WandaVision, “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” Agnes revealed her true identity as Agatha Harkness, a very powerful and old witch who is after Wanda’s source of power. That episode also introduced the earworm theme song “Agatha All Along.” In the comics, Agatha is portrayed an older woman who becomes a friend and mentor to Wanda, but she has much more animosity toward The Scarlet Witch on the small screen.
The eighth episode of WandaVision brought viewers back to a key part of Agatha’s backstory — her execution scene. Surrounded at the stake by several members of her coven and her mother, Agatha tricked the witches into blasting her with their powers because one of her unique abilities is absorbing that power and siphoning it off the other witches. Later on in the episode, she also gave Wanda a runes lesson. The end of Episode 8 first pointed to the idea that Wanda is the Scarlet Witch, a legendary being whose powers are capable of spontaneous creation.
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The finale of WandaVision features a big showdown between Wanda and Agatha where Wanda applied Agatha’s runes lesson. Before her defeat, Agatha revealed that she was in possession of the Darkhold, or the book of the damned. The black book is a powerful and deadly source of magic that requires an immense sacrifice to possess. Agatha All Along went through a couple name changes like the phases of the moon, and one of them was Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.
In the end, Agatha remained trapped in Westview as Agnes, acting out various television plots, now unaware of her true identity due to a hex cast upon her by Wanda. She’s also been stripped of her magic. That’s where audiences will find her at the beginning of the new series.
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Agatha does not appear in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but Wanda’s fate at the end of the film could hold clues to whether a resurrected version of The Scarlet Witch could return to the spooky sequel series.
Wanda became a villain of sorts in the second Dr. Strange movie because she gained possession of the Darkhold, which corrupted her. She was attempting to dream-walk with the deadly book in order to reunite with her two sons — Billy and Tommy — versions of whom she created, and lost, in WandaVision. America Chavez (Xochitl Gonzalez) used her interdimensional powers to bring the Scarlet Witch version of Wanda to Earth-838, which frightened that universe’s version of Wanda’s sons. This brought Wanda to make another sacrifice, letting go of the dream world she created in WandaVision because it was hurting the Westview residents. She also brought down the source of the Darkhold’s power and destroyed all copies of the Darkhold across the multiverse in the process.
Bonus – Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron introduced Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, and this film also sae the creation of Vision (Paul Bettany), who received a lot of screentime in WandaVision. Vision also has a standalone series — Vision Quest — in the works.
For even more extra credit, Wanda also appears in Avengers: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, as she was an official member of The Avengers.
