Teen Revealed as Billy, aka Wiccan and Wanda’s Son

SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 1, Episode 5 of “Agatha All Along,” currently streaming on Disney+.

Practically since the news broke that “Heartstopper” star Joe Locke was joining the cast of “Agatha All Along,” Marvel fans have been gleefully speculating about who Locke’s character could be. At the very end of Wednesday night’s episode, “Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power,” the show effectively confirmed that Locke is indeed playing who the vast majority of fans had agreed was the most likely candidate: Wiccan.

Before that reveal, a great deal happens in a bracingly short amount of time. Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) is possessed by the ghost of her mother, Evanora (Kate Forbes), during a Witches’ Road trial that evokes 1980s teen horror movies. When Alice (Ali Ahn), newly liberated from her family curse, uses her magic to free Agatha from the possession, Agatha begins draining all of Alice’s powers. The only thing that stops Agatha is when Locke’s character — still referred to in the credits as “Teen” — yells out the name of Agatha’s dead child, Nicholas Scratch, and she hears a child’s voice say, “Mama! Stop!”

It’s too late for poor Alice, alas: Agatha drained her to death. Teen is devastated, and lashes out at Agatha, who protests — with seemingly sincerity — that she couldn’t control her ability to drain Alice’s powers. Teen is unconvinced.

“You wanted her power,” he says. “That’s what this has always been about for you, isn’t it?”

Before Agatha can reply, Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata) answers for her: “Of course it is. That’s what all of this is about — for any of us.”

“So that’s what it means to be a witch?” Teen says back to Agatha. “Killing people to serve your own agenda? No. Not for me.” 

Teen’s righteousness shifts Agatha’s entire demeanor. She seems to regard Teen with a new sense of understanding, and chuckles to herself with a wicked smirk before leaning in close to him. 

“You’re so much like your mother,” she says, like it’s an accusation.

In a way, it is: As Marvel fans and astute viewers will have surmised by this point, Agatha is referring to Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, who created her sons Billy and Tommy in “WandaVision” out of magic, only for them to disappear from existence when Wanda had to give up her fantasy world. Agatha has clearly concluded that, somehow, Billy — who as a kid demonstrated a facility for magic, like his mother — has returned.

Unfortunately for Agatha, she’s right. Teen’s hands begin to spark with pale blue magic, which commands Jennifer and Lilia (Patti LuPone) to grab Agatha and throw her into the muck just outside the Witches’ Road. Agatha is quickly sucked underneath; in a flash of anger, Teen plunges Jennifer and Lilia into the muck as well. In the episode’s final shot, Teen looks on with an enigmatic expression, his head suddenly sporting a crown strikingly similar to the one Wanda wore as the Scarlet Witch.

So, yeah, Teen is actually Billy, who in the Marvel Comics takes on the superhero moniker of Wiccan. But while “Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power” does resolve the biggest mystery of the show, it also conjures a whole slew of new, beguiling questions.

Prior to this moment, Teen/Billy behaved as if he had no innate magical ability at all. Was this just a ruse? Or did Agatha, by evoking Wanda, awaken something within him? Was Billy the one who placed the sigil that prevented the other witches from knowing his real identity — and if not, who did? Was Billy already aware of who his mother really is, or is this revelation as much a surprise to him as it is for his (now submerged) coven? How did Billy come back from nothingness? Did Billy’s brother Tommy also return? Do Billy’s parents — Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan (Paul Adelstein and Maria Dizzia) — know who he really is? Also, where the heck is Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza)?!

“Agatha All Along” will likely answer many of these questions in its final four episodes. In the comics, Billy’s origins are tangled up in some seriously weird magical metaphysics: When Wanda created him, she may — or may not! — have inadvertently used a fragment of the soul of Mephisto, Marvel’s version of the devil. After Billy’s body passes into oblivion — which may, or may not, have been Mephisto’s doing — his soul basically attached itself to another random kid. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe has never quite dabbled in anything this abstruse, and since alternate versions of Billy were introduced in 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the show may instead opt for a more multiversal explantation of this Billy’s resurrection.

Where Billy came from, however, seems much less important than the fact that he’s returned at all. Even a cursory search of social media demonstrates that, although most hardcore fans had already figured out Teen’s identity, it’s still been thrilling to have it validated by the show. While the MCU has started to incorporate genuine LGBTQ representation over the last few years, Billy is something new: A queer superhero who is central to their project and integral to the ongoing MCU storyline (unlike with Phastos from “Eternals” and Korg from “Thor: Love and Thunder”); whose sexuality isn’t just a conduit for profane comedy (unlike with Deadpool); and whose LGBTQ identity isn’t referenced so obscurely that it barely exists (unlike with America from “Multiverse of Madness” and Valkyrie from “Thor: Ragnarok”).

In other words, Billy is a powerful and consequential Marvel character who also happens to be unmistakably gay. And there’s so much more of his story left to tell.