Spoilers below.
Agatha All Along has come to an end with two closing episodes, including the heart-wrenching finale, which revealed how Agatha lost her son, Nicholas Scratch, to Death (a.k.a. Rio). Over the last several weeks, the Disney+ series has focused on Agatha Harkness’s journey—and possible redemption—and her connection to the Scarlet Witch’s son, Billy, who has just realized how powerful he truly is. Throughout Agatha’s time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she’s been painted as a villain or antagonist. Though she is not the hero in this series, she does get audiences to begin to wonder if we’ve been wrong about her the entire time. We later find that she’s not that different from Wanda as a witch and mother, and why she feels so connected to Billy.
So much happens in the two-episode finale, titled “Follow Me My Friend / To Glory at the End” and “Maiden, Mother, Crone.” Let’s break down the events in those final episodes and what they mean to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Final Trial of the Witches’ Road
After losing Lilia in the last trial, Agatha, Billy, and Jen face their final test on the Witches’ Road, which would require a Green Witch’s expertise. Instead of figuring out how to free themselves, each one of them attempts to obtain what they wanted most from the road.
Jen’s wish was to regain her powers. She had thought her powers were bounded by a mad scientist, but she later found out Agatha was actually responsible. Using an unbounding spell on Agatha, Jen’s powers are restored, and she is freed from the Road.
Agatha tells Billy to blast some of his energy to her to gain what she desires most: power. He refuses because that would leave him stranded. She gives him what he wants the most: a way to find his brother, Tommy.
After learning from Rio that Tommy’s soul is still floating around somewhere, Agatha has Billy use his powers to focus and help his brother find a body to take over. Billy sees a young teenager who is being bullied and drowns underwater, leading Tommy’s soul to inhabit the teenager’s body. Billy disappears after he locates his brother’s soul, but it doesn’t mean he knows where this person is.
As for Agatha, she is stuck in the trial, with no way of gaining her powers. She realizes she needs to pass the test to survive. Inside her locket, she has Nicholas’s hair and a seedling. She uses the tears in her eyes to hydrate the latter, then buries it into the ground (in the crack Billy left when he disappeared). A flower grows from there, releasing her from the final trial.
Agatha’s Sacrifice
Rio offers Agatha a choice: give herself up to Death or have Billy give himself up in order for Agatha to live. As the sacred protector of nature, Rio believes Billy is an “abomination” who should not exist due to his reincarnation into William Kaplan. Since Billy has already disappeared from the Trial, Rio decides to take Agatha and have her die a painful death.
But Billy arrives in time to grant Agatha her wish by giving some of his powers to her. She is recharged and ready to battle Rio but realizes they can’t fight Death—no one can. She tells Billy that she will sacrifice herself so that he can live. Being the standup guy that he is, Billy offers himself to Rio. Agatha returns to her selfish self, telling Rio to take Billy and walks away to start her new life…until Billy telepathically asks her if this is what happened to her son, Nicholas. This prompts her to have a change of heart. Ultimately, she sacrifices herself to Death/Rio and dies. We later find out it’s because Billy sometimes reminded her of Nicholas.
Agatha’s Borrowed Time with Her Son
Throughout the series, Agatha has shown herself to be a sarcastic and selfish witch who doesn’t seem to care about anything but herself. It’s how people have perceived her, and she has fully embraced it. Even Rio confronts Agatha about how others believe she sacrificed Nicholas for the Book of Shadows when the truth is that he died from stillbirth but was given “special treatment” from Death, allowing Agatha time with her son.
Though the series shows her as a loving mother, Agatha still viciously and intentionally murders other witches by absorbing their powers. As Nicholas gets older, he begins to assist his mother by bringing witches to her, but he grows tired of it. He doesn’t want to keep running away from their colony, but they keep traveling to escape Death from taking him. One night, Rio does come for Nicholas, and Agatha never forgives her for it.
The Witches’ Road Was a Fairytale That Agatha Made Up
While traveling, Nicholas and Agatha created the song “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road.” It was meant to be a tune shared between mother and son, who performed it in front of crowds to attract witches for his mother.
But after Nicholas’s death, Agatha began singing their song, attracting a young witch who became Agatha’s first victim of the Witches’ Road con. The song became the stuff of legends, which singer Lorna Wu helped spread around. Although there is no actual Witches’ Road, Agatha uses this song to attract witches and absorb their powers. She had been playing this con for centuries. She expected the same to happen when she sang with Jen, Lilia, Alice, and Sharon, but at that time, the Witches’ Road became real.
But the Real Witches’ Road Was Created by Billy
Like his mother, the Scarlet Witch, Billy subconsciously created the whole world of the Witches’ road using his powers. He truly believed it existed, so he manufactured it with his mind. He realizes this when he finds clues around his home reflecting his journey on the Road: the Lorna Wu poster, the Wizard of Oz figurines and poster, the Ouija board, and other trinkets. He recalls Agatha and Lilia telling him of his abilities, with Agatha hinting that she knew his identity all along.
He realizes that it was because of him that Sharon, Alice, and Lilia died. Heartbroken, he closes the Witches’ Road and dedicates it to the three lives lost.
Agatha Is a Ghost Now
This one is tricky because the character has appeared as a ghost in the comics, as a spiritual guide for the Scarlet Witch, and eventually comes back to life after assisting Wanda in the Witches’ Road. In the series, Agatha dies after sacrificing herself to let Billy live. But Agatha isn’t ready to cross over yet, prompting her to return as a ghost and find the person who could bring her back to life: Billy.
After he realizes what he’s done by creating the Witches’ Road, she tries to comfort him by telling him that he’ll get used to it. Angered by her words, Billy attempts to banish her, forcing her to cross over, but she stops him, as she is not ready to face her son yet. He suggests that she be his spiritual guide, which she accepts. Together, they begin their search for Tommy.
What does this mean to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
With Tommy now existing in the universe, Wanda and Vision’s children have returned to the MCU. Billy, who takes the superhero name Wiccan, has the same powers as his mother, while Tommy, a.k.a. Speed, has speedster powers like his uncle, Quicksilver. They are set to join the rest of the Young Avengers, including Hawkeye’s Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), Antman and the Wasp’s Stature (Kathryn Newton), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), Falcon II (Danny Ramirez), Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s Patriot (Elijah Richardson), and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez).
In the comics, the Young Avengers consisted of Kate Bishop, Stature, Wiccan, Speed, Patriot, Hulkling, Iron Lad, America Chavez, Kid Loki, Young Vision, Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, Falcon, Nova, and Miles Morales’s Spider-Man.
Though no official word on a film or television series is set for the Young Avengers, the MCU has hinted that the young heroes will team up, including in The Marvels’s mid-credit scene involving Ms. Marvel recruiting Kate Bishop onto her team.
With Vision Quest, the upcoming series based on White Vision’s life after WandaVision, audiences may see Tommy’s life story. The series will begin shooting next year with plans for a 2026 release. Paul Bettany will reprise his role as Vision, with James Spader set to return as Ultron. Terry Matalas will serve as the showrunner.
"[Matalas] and Jac have talked, and that show is really a love letter to everything that Jac built before and also continues on in a way that's unique to that filmmaker," Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel TV, told Entertainment Weekly. "There is a long tradition in Marvel, whether it was [director] Shane Black taking the baton from [Iron Man and Iron Man 2 filmmaker] Jon Favreau for Iron Man 3, or the Russos taking the baton [from Joss Whedon] in Avengers. Just like the comics, these franchises benefit from different storytellers, different artists playing with the material in new ways."
Though Agatha All Along will not continue for another season, the character remains in the MCU as a ghost. If the studios plan to give Billy Wanda’s storyline, Agatha will be vital to Billy’s journey as a powerful witch. In the comics, she assisted Wanda with mystical disturbances, and together, they traveled the real Witches’ Road. Since Billy and Agatha have done that already, we know they will have more adventures together. And, honestly, it’d be a waste not to have Kathryn Hahn in more MCU stories.
