What to Remember Before Watching 'Agatha All Along'
It's been over three years since WandaVision debuted as the first Marvel Cinematic Universe show on Disney+. And while you probably haven't forgotten the "Agatha All Along" song that went viral during the pandemic, you may not quite remember the specific details of who Agatha is, what her powers were, and how witchcraft worked in that show.
Agatha All Along, the spooky spinoff series from WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer, centers on antagonist Agatha, a dark witch who wielded a book called the Darkhold and tried to steal Avenger Wanda Maximoff's powers. At the end of WandaVision, Wanda cast a spell on Agatha trapping her in a delusion.
In the intervening years, Wanda took a rather villainous turn and went on her own doomed adventures to reunite with her family in the film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Agatha has presumably spent years toiling in the town of Westview where Wanda left her.
In the new Disney+ series premiering on Sept. 18, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) breaks out of Wanda's (Elizabeth Olsen) spell and gathers her own coven of witches on a quest to get her powers back. Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and none other than Patti LuPone play the witches who join forces with Agatha in order to walk something called the Witch's Road.
Here's everything you need to remember from WandaVision before watching Agatha All Along.
Wanda Maximoff traps Agatha in a spell
In WandaVision, Avenger Wanda Maximoff visits Westview, New Jersey, where her dead lover, Vision, had planned to build the couple a house and settle down. Powered by a wave of immense grief, Wanda casts a hex over the entire town and mind-controls every resident. Doing so allows her to resurrect Vision and bear their (imaginary) twin sons. The foursome live out their flawless suburban life in a sitcom-inspired reality. (Each episode riffs on a different famous family sitcom.)
Toward the end of the show, Wanda discovers that her nosy neighbor Agatha is herself a witch who had insinuated herself in Wanda's fantasy in an attempt to steal Wanda's power. Agatha reveals that Wanda was, in fact, the Scarlet Witch, a fabled magic-user cited in the Darkhold, a book of spells.
Agatha, who can steal other witches' powers when blasted with them, tries to hold Wanda's sons hostage. Wanda defeats Agatha and punishes the dark witch by trapping her inside her own mind.
When Vision pleads with Wanda to free the townsfolk of Westview, she assents, killing her (imaginary) husband and (imaginary) children in the process. She leaves the town but takes the Darkhold with her to study magic.
Agatha, meanwhile, stays in Westview, acting out various television plots. That is where we find her at the beginning of Agatha All Along.
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The Darkhold is a book of dark magic
The Darkhold is basically a very powerful book of dark magic. Agatha possesses it in WandaVision, and Wanda takes it from her. The book of evil spells then becomes the MacGuffin in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
In Multiverse of Madness, Wanda, desperate to reunite with her sons, tries to capture a superhero named America Chavez. She believes she can use America's multiverse-hopping powers to conjure up her sons from a parallel timeline.
America Chavez is under Doctor Strange's protection. When the wizard refuses to give up the young girl, Wanda uses the Darkhold to "dream walk" or inhabit another version of herself in a parallel universe, and chase Doctor Strange and America throughout the multiverse.
But during the movie, a sorceress sacrifices herself to destroy the Darkhold and stop Wanda from dream walking. Wanda travels to a mountain that is the source of the Darkhold's power to restore her abilities.
Doctor Strange, in order to stop Wanda, acquires the Book of Vishanti, the Darkhold's antithesis, but Wanda destroys that book. Doctor Strange then acquires a Darkhold from a parallel universe to dream walk himself and battle Wanda.
Wanda dies in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Wanda eventually realizes the error of her ways when her parallel universe sons cower in fear of her instead of embracing her. Realizing she's transformed into a monster, Wanda brings down a mountain on top of herself and thus destroys all the Darkholds across all universes. Wanda's death no doubt has implications on the curse she cast on Agatha and serves as the inciting incident of the series.
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The Salem Seven are supervillains from the Marvel comics
Seven hooded figures feature heavily in the Agatha All Along trailer, and fans have speculated that these mysterious characters are the Salem Seven. These villains could be the main antagonists in the series, though how closely the show will hew to the source material is unclear.
In the comics, Agatha has a satanic son named Nicholas Scratch. He, in turn, has seven children, the Salem Seven. The Salem Seven battle against Agatha as well as the Fantastic Four.
But the Salem Seven may get a different origin story in Agatha All Along. In WandaVision we saw that Agatha was put on trial in Salem by other witches for practicing dark witchcraft above her station. Agatha managed to kill all the witches who planned to punish her, including her mother. Given that the trial took place in Salem, it stands to reason that the Salem Seven in the show may be somehow related to these witches Agatha betrayed and murdered.
Write to Eliana Dockterman at [email protected].
