Marvel's Agatha All Along reveals Joe Locke's identity as a teen

This post contains Spoilers For “Agatha All Along” and Marvel's comic books.

The first episode of “Agatha All Along” begins when Agatha (Katherine Hahn) is introduced to the role of a no-nonsense noir detective, and Dean (Joe Locke) helps her realize that something is wrong. The presence of this teenager, whose identity has been shrouded in mystery since his first appearance in Westview, causes some intriguing changes in Agatha's perspective. She heads down the witches' road with her hastily assembled coven. Yes, Agatha is still capable of manipulating events to her advantage and instinctively seeks a drug-like power (often at the expense of others), but Dean's presence brings her a warmer, more maternal edge as the road trip becomes increasingly dangerous. .

However, old habits die hard, and people are shaped by their painful pasts and seek the same cycles of destruction that shaped them, a sentiment that runs through Episode 5, aptly titled “Dark Time, Awaken Your Power.” A A lot What happens here is that Agatha finally gains the powers she so desires at a terrible cost, succumbing to the wrath of a teenager whose identity is revealed by a subtle but perfect musical note. His hands glow with electrical energy as he takes over the minds of Jen (Sasheer Jamada) and Lilia (Patti LuPone), before they sink a shocked Agatha into quicksand-like mud, before meeting the same fate themselves. When the camera pans to Dean's face, he is seen wearing a crown very very Like someone who once wielded immense power: the Scarlet Witch.

Those familiar with Marvel Comics won't be surprised to learn that Joe Locke's Dean is none other than Billy Kaplan/Maximoff, son of Wanda Maximoff. Billy, also known as Wiccan, seems to have broken the sigil placed on him, either by righteous anger over Alice's (Ali Ahn) death or by Agatha's teasing that he is like her mother. But who exactly is Billy Kaplan according to the comics, and what does his existence mean for the show?

You may remember Wanda and Vision's twin sons Billy and Tommy from “WandaVision” and the deaths of these children. Westview's chaos-magic-fueled reality directly influenced the events of “Doctor Strange in a Multiverse of Madness.” The Twins aren't real in the traditional sense of the word, but they exist because of Wanda's reality-altering powers – a fact that Agatha realizes in 1989's “Avengers West Coast #51,” when she notices how the Twins disappear whenever Wanda isn't around. Not seriously thinking about them. Some time later in the Marvel Comics timeline, the twins are kidnapped and taken to Hell by Master Pandemonium, a servant of — wait for it — Mephisto who claims that the soul fragments used to create the twins came from him, prompting the twins to be erased from existence.

“Avengers Disassembled” and “Avengers: The Children's Crusade” have conflicting versions of what happened next, with the first offering different explanations for the twins' existence, but one aspect remains clear: Billy's (named William in the comics) soul is reincarnated in the form of Billy Kaplan, while Tommy (Thomas in the comics) reincarnates as Tommy Shepard. Somehow, the twins managed to persevere through the convoluted nature of Wanda's magic, allowing the lost Vision and Wanda Maximoff sons to chart their own path while proving their worth as superheroes to a new generation.

Billy, or Wiccan, has a string of impressive powers, his primary ability being manipulation of reality (like Wanda), which earned him the identity of the “Bringer of Chaos”. He is also adept at elemental manipulation, mainly manifesting as electrokinetic powers, as noted in “Agatha All Along” episode 5 when he uses mind control to blast other mages. During his comic book appearances, Billy/Wiccan has been seen using the powers of ice and fire creation, hydrokinesis, and light-focusing, while he has flight, healing, astral projection, and force manipulation (which he uses in an episode to influence and control others). In terms of raw power scaling, Wicken's abilities are considered S-tier, shaping his valuable (and often reality-altering) contributions to the Young Avengers and eventually the New Avengers.

“Darkest Hour, Awaken Your Power” unexpectedly raises the stakes. The story pattern of one trial per episode is abruptly broken with shocking deaths and character revelations. The trial – Agatha's trial – is still going on, and Dean's goal is to establish that No Nicholas Scratch, Agatha's son and the eponymous witch's hunger for power stems from her mother's perspective, which shaped her need to use ruthlessness as a defense mechanism. Agatha is a hostile figure who brought about the death of innocents by her inherent selfishness, but the episode helps us to understand why She's wired that way. “You were born evil,” her dead mother declares, and it's no wonder that Agatha internalizes that belief and embodies it, taking refuge in cruelty and the addictive thrill of taking what isn't hers.

When Agatha inadvertently causes Alice's death and realizes that Dean can't be her son (as Nicholas calls out during her power trip and begs her to stop), she doesn't have a hard time piecing together Dean's identity. Dean is devastated by Alice's death and repulsed by Agatha's indifference, which escalates when Lilia and Jen see the tragedy as a side effect of walking the path of witchcraft. By revealing his true identity, Billy distinguishes himself from them, chastising the trio for their rudeness, which adds an intriguing nuance to his motivations.

Did Billy target himself to hide his true motivations, or was it someone else? What could be his ultimate goal in terms of the path of the witches, and does he secretly have ulterior motives for Agatha because of her history with Wanda? The title of the episode may be a clue as to why Billy chose this moment to reveal his identity: the death of a highly secure coven member, brought on by his own coven's apathy, broke something in Billy, which in turn broke the sigil and awareness. His true abilities. Or maybe he just played it all for fools.

New episodes of “Agatha All Along” premiere on Wednesdays on Disney+.