Agatha All Along‘s two-episode premiere revealed Westview’s lingering ill feelings towards the Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), sparking a debate about what kind of legacy she left behind.
Agatha All Along is a spinoff of WandaVision that follows Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) after she breaks free of Wanda’s spell and forms a new coven of witches. The series takes place after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and seemingly confirms Wanda’s fate, as her body is found in the opening episode.
It is later revealed that over three years have passed since Wanda’s time in Westview. However, the town hasn’t forgotten her. In one scene, Agatha and Teen (Joe Locke) come across the former home where Wanda, Vision (Paul Bettany), and their children used to live. The home has been vandalized and graffitied with phrases like “Evil Witch” and “Stay Away.”
The town’s sour attitude towards Wanda isn’t wholly unwarranted. After all, she used her chaos magic to place a Hex over Westview, trapping its residents in an alternate reality and stripping them of their free will. However, many Wanda fans have pointed out the situation may be more nuanced than the residents of Westview realize.
Should Wanda be viewed as a villain in the MCU?
On social media, some viewers slammed Westview residents for vandalizing Wanda’s home in Agatha All Along. After all, labeling Wanda an “evil witch” is a gross simplification of the character. When she was in Westview, she was also a wife, mother, friend, and superhero.
Meanwhile, upon departing Westview, she lost everything again. After losing her brother and partner, she was forced to lose her partner a second time and the children she had conjured in order to free Westview of her spell.
Yet, it doesn’t seem as if the residents of Westview care about her grief or the fact that she is much more than some villain. A few users also got a bit cheeky, pointing out that the residents should be grateful Wanda put their little town on the map.
The outrage over the vandalism of Wanda’s home and Westview’s apparent hatred of her sparked a debate on X.
The posts defending Wanda received dozens of comments from users pointing out that the character essentially kidnapped and enslaved an entire town. Many also pointed out that her wanting her husband and children wasn’t an adequate excuse for what she did. Several users brought up how Wanda’s villainous actions continued in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when she tried to kidnap America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) and murdered the entire Illuminati.
It can’t be denied that Wanda did some terrible things in both WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At the same time, she wasn’t fully aware of the Hex she put Westview under, given that she cast the spell unwittingly out of grief and a lack of understanding of her chaos magic.
Not only that, but she eventually saved the town from Agatha and decided to break the Hex, sacrificing her life in Westview to free the residents. On top of that, many Wanda fans have pointed out a double standard among MCU fans. After all, some true villains in the MCU, such as Loki (Tom Hiddleston), get way less hate than Wanda.
It’s strange how some viewers are so fixated on recalling Wanda’s past but fail to call out the MCU stars who have done much worse than her.
The double standard also extends to Westview itself. Although the town hates Wanda in Agatha All Along, they don’t harbor these ill feelings toward Agatha. In WandaVision, it was revealed that Agatha was manipulating Wanda’s Hex, thus contributing to what happened to the residents of Westview. Yet, the neighbors actually took care of Agatha while she was under Wanda’s spell, buying her groceries and humoring her Hex delusions. That they view Agatha differently than Wanda suggests that perhaps they aren’t fully aware of the situation and everything that happened in Westview.
Ultimately, Wanda has done some villainous things, but Westview’s and some MCU fans’ hatred of her isn’t wholly fair. It seems the MCU unfairly has more sympathy for terrible villains who redeemed themselves than for heroes who turned to villainy after suffering unimaginable trauma.
Published: Sep 20, 2024 12:47 pm