What’s a witch with out her darkish magical secrets and techniques? Marvel’s Agatha All Alongside miniseries has one entrance and heart. The starring flip for Kathryn Hahn’s diabolical Agatha Harkness, final seen in 2021’s WandaVision, encompasses a plucky younger witchy wannabe initially solely as “Teen,” and performed by Heartstopper’s Joe Locke.
The character’s actual identify has not but been acknowledged: As of tonight’s premiere episodes, there’s a transparent magic impact conserving him from revealing it. He’s listed within the credit as “Teen” and referred to within the present as “Teen.” And the solid and crew has stored his identification underneath lock.
But when you recognize something about Marvel Comics’ Scarlet Witch, Marvel magic, or the setting’s teen superheroes, you’ve bought a strong hunch. If Locke isn’t enjoying Billy Kaplan, AKA Wiccan, it could be terribly unusual.
Billy is the teenage Marvel Comics superhero often known as Wiccan, or the Demiurge. He’s a frequent member of the Younger Avengers, on the events that that staff is collectively and adventuring. He’s bought innate magical powers that enable him to warp actuality just by stating what he needs to happen and specializing in that intention. And he has a magical future to develop into: It’s been prophesied that sometime he’ll develop so highly effective that he’ll be capable of rewrite the legal guidelines of magic itself.
Which may not appear Teen’s actual identification is a shoo-in. Proper now, all we all know is that he’s a teenage boy who has a boyfriend, and needs to be a witch, and that though he’s form of dopey, he’s highly effective sufficient to crack the Scarlet Witch’s imprisoning phantasm round Agatha. Oh, and each time he tries to say his identify or clarify who he’s, Agatha simply hears nonsense or muted noise. Nothing that’s occurred in Agatha thus far contradicts the likelihood that Teen is an authentic character, new to any Marvel timeline.
However there’s a ton of circumstantial proof suggesting that he’s Wiccan. For one: Locke is a useless ringer for the character design. Skinny teen boy, floppy darkish hair. Examine.
For an additional, Billy is a Scarlet Witch-adjacent character, and this is a Scarlet Witch-adjacent present. Within the comics, Billy is — it’s extra sophisticated than this, however don’t fear about it — one of many Scarlet Witch’s long-lost twin sons. Her youngsters, Billy and Tommy (or illusions of them, at the least), have already featured in WandaVision and within the alternate universes visited in Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity. Teen could possibly be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s approach of integrating Billy into the principle timeline in an enduring approach.
We additionally know that Teen has a boyfriend: Wiccan is one in every of Marvel’s most outstanding queer characters. He and his boyfriend Teddy (the superhero often known as Hulkling; no relation to the Hulk) have been collectively in comics for nearly twenty years.
To sum up: Billy and Teen are each witchy magic customers of sure energy, they share a sure look, they’re each linked to the Scarlet Witch, and so they’re each queer. Agatha All Alongside hasn’t revealed something that may preserve Teen from being an authentic character, nevertheless it additionally hasn’t revealed something that may preserve him from being the Marvel Cinematic Universe model of Billy, both.
We’ll be watching Agatha All Alongside carefully over the remainder of its episodes, to see if it’s actually pulling a “Wiccan All Alongside,” and we’ll preserve you up to date. As a result of if this isn’t Billy Kaplan, it’s the misdirect of the century.