As published in CLAUDIA

I would say that there was an energetic connection between Marvel’s darkest phase and the pandemic and post-COVID. It was a brake on the popularity of superheroes and today it is still groping to return to its previous unanimity. In the midst of all this, comic book fans are divided on the artistic liberties that change a lot in films and series. Among them is the witch Agatha Harkness, who is back with the series Agatha All Along, available on Disney Plus.

I’ve been meaning to talk about Agatha for months, but I’ve been waiting for her official return. I admit my internal conflict that sympathizes with actress Kathryn Hahn and with that, I have fond eyes for the character who was the antagonist in WandaVision. In the series, we meet Agatha Harkness, who is one of the most powerful centuries-old witches on Earth, disguised as Agnes and trying to steal the powers of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), the Scarlet Witch. Fake to the last hair on her head, isn’t she?

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1970, in the comics she first appeared in Fantastic Four #94 as the nanny of Franklin Richards, son of Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) and Susan Storm (the Invisible Woman) of the Fantastic Four. Able to manipulate magical forces, teleport, project energy, cause illusions, and summon extradimensional entities. She is also the mentor of the Scarlet Witch, something that changed in the WandaVision series.

The advantage of having an actress like Kathryn Hahn in the role is that she has humor and empowerment, as well as charisma. As Agnes, a seemingly harmless and helpful neighbor, she kept the secret of her identity until the end and not all fans appreciated the revelation, others had already figured it out. Given the brilliance of the series, the surprise that Agatha Harkness was the true manipulator behind the twisted events in the town seemed to reduce the narrative impact. I don’t know if I agree… On the other hand, I understand that the difference in the series compared to the comics of not having Agatha as a mentor to Wanda Maximoff, helping her understand and control her magical powers, may have bothered. It would be amazing to have the two witches together instead of as antagonists.

We waited four years until Agatha Harkness finally got her own series in the MCU universe and this expands the role of witches and creates opportunities for more magic in the different multiverses. In this first season of her series, we meet her again three years after the duel with the Scarlet Witch, and Agatha, unaware of who she really is, is tired and powerless, but determined to regain what she once had and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this.

I really like it when the story changes the character’s perspective. Loki is there to see us rooting for the villain and Agatha All Along is still in the same school. It’s as if we were now going to see Agatha Harkness as we will see Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz ) in Wicked (in theaters worldwide in October. It’s an invitation to understand the antagonist’s motivations and see that not everything is as binary as our reality forces us to perceive. Even witches can be misinterpreted too.

If Agatha’s role in the comics is very different from what we see on the Disney Plus digital platform, thanks to Kathryn Hahn it’s impossible not to like her. And her mission to regain her powers seems like a metaphor for Marvel. The witch’s challenge is not easy because being a spinoff of an innovative and brilliant series like WandaVision can be a Herculean task.

In the first episode – The Witch Is Back – the narrative is paradoxically dark and fun, picking up the action, as I said, three years after WandaVision and right after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Agatha has been living like Agnes, in a delirium similar to Wanda, “trapped” in a fantasy universe where we see her as a detective investigating the death of a mysterious woman. With quotes and jokes about the clichés of the detective genre, especially Mare of Easttown, Agnes/Agatha doesn’t know, but the body is Wanda’s and with the “death” of the rival witch, the spell that holds her may be undone.

She is irritated by the interference of “Agent Vidal” (Audrey Plaza), who constantly provokes her to question what is happening. Agatha’s refusal to face “the truth” is finally overcome when a young man (Joe Locke) breaks into her house to steal something, and in prison he says he’s looking for “The Road,” a reference that initially confuses Agnes.

There’s a lot to seriously muse about in terms of the series’ themes. WandaVision was a study of grief in many ways, and here we have a person “trapped” in someone she doesn’t need to be. But this is less philosophical than Loki or WandaVision, so it’s really just an adventure in which Agatha has to get back to her old self to be powerful before being found by the “Salem Seven”, who want to destroy her once and for all.

With the help of her fan and delinquent, she sets out on a mission to catch some witches, to better summon “The Road”, the destiny that will give anyone who reaches the end “the thing they want most”. The second episode is about the recruitment of her clan, formed by Lilia (Patti Lupone), Sasheer Zamata (Jennifer Kale), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), and Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp).
With a promising start, Agatha All Along does not intend to innovate, but being able to laugh and like an antagonist is a powerful spell that seems to have no immunity. I am already enchanted.

Pesquisar

Pesquisar