WandaVision Theory: Agnes Kill The Twins-
WandaVision is through with its 5 episodes out of 9 and things have started to manifest as we all wished for. The first two episodes focused on setting the tone for WandaVision and their altered reality in Westview. This was really necessary because until episode 5 people thought that Wanda is controlling the entire reality, which is true, but episode 5 clearly told us that now, she doesn’t have complete control over the reality that she once created.
As WandaVision proceeds to dive deeper into Wanda’s shenanigans, we see that Wanda is now shaping up to be the show’s primary antagonist, at least for now. That much was made even more apparent by the latest episode of the series, as Wanda shows SWORD just how powerful she can be. In the episode, acting SWORD director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) orders SWORD agents to use a drone to shoot Maximoff. The only problem is, she foils their plot completely. She then exits WandaWorld and confronts Hayward and his agents directly. We also see Agnes ignoring all the powers that Wanda and her twins have, and continue to live normally.
Why is it that Agnes is unscathed by Wanda’s mind-blowing powers? “On a Very Special Episode…,” the most recent episode of the Disney+ series immediately puts the twins’ power on display. As newborns, their mother cannot use her magic to put them to sleep, making them the rare individuals that Wanda cannot manipulate. Additionally, they have the power to mature themselves in the blink of an eye, going from babies to 10-year-olds over the course of two scenes.
The show-within-a-show plot focused on the twins finding a stray dog later named Sparky and trying to convince their family to keep it. It’s unknown whether the pooch is Wanda’s creation, considering the “family adopts a lost dog” storyline is common in sitcoms. But it’s also very possible that Billy and Tommy created Sparky on their own, proving that dangerous magic may have been passed down.
After a momentary disturbance via a S.W.O.R.D. surveillance drone, Wanda, Tommy, and Billy wander the streets looking for their new pet. They find Agnes, who has a bundle of bad news. Allegedly, Sparky had eaten from her azalea bush, killing him in the process. His death prompts a discussion between the family about the permanence of death and whether Wanda can truly undo what seems permanent. It’s clear that Kathryn Hahn’s nosy neighbor knows more than she’s letting on. In this episode alone, she showed up at just the right time with the object the family needs, almost as if by magic. At one point, she stops the scene they’re performing, breaking character to ask Wanda if things are to her liking.
All of this pushes towards a theory WandaVision fans had held since before the series even started, of Agnes being a comic character and Wanda’s mentor Agatha Harkness. Whether she is the witch or not, it seems like Agnes’ role, unlike other Westview denizens, keeps the sitcom of Wanda’s reality on track. That includes pushing farcical plots along and taking notice of aberrations who don’t fit in, like a visiting Monica Rambeau. If Sparky was indeed a creation of Tommy and Billy rather than Wanda, she would want to take the dog off the table. And unfortunately, her target may now be set on Sparky’s creators. The more the twins grow up, the more they become cognizant of how fake their home is. And for Agnes, that means they need to be taken care of, as dark as those implications may be.
Ever since Kathryn Hahn was officially cast as the curiously titled “nosy neighbor”, the internet was swamped with theories regarding her true identity. The most prevalent was that Hahn would turn out to be Agatha Harkness — a frequent foil and mentor of Wanda’s from the comics. That was only lent further credence when she was credited as Agnes, which may be an abbreviation of “ag” from Agatha and “nes” from Harkness. Such a revelation has yet to be confirmed on the show. After only two episodes, it was too early to speculate fully on some merely-glimpsed characters. That being said, there was actually a lot to be gleaned from those that were more prominent.
Agatha Harkness was actually many centuries old on the page. As a result, she has witnessed and endured some of the world’s greatest atrocities. As well as the sinking of Atlantis, one of those tragic events was the Salem Witch Trials. In the wake of that brutal persecution, some witches deigned to create their own secret community.
Vowing to remain permanently separate from the rest of humanity, they shielded it from view and dubbed it New Salem. That would fit with Westview’s advertising mantra of “Home: It’s where you make it.”
