WandaVision is a popular Marvel television series that premiered on Disney+ in 2021. The show focuses on Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch, and Vision, two superpowered beings living idealized suburban lives. However, as the show progresses, the realities of their situation are revealed. A key part of this revelation is the emergence of a main villain behind their experiences.
Agatha Harkness
The main villain of WandaVision is ultimately revealed to be Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch. Agatha has been manipulating Wanda and the events in Westview throughout the show. She first appears in episode 7 disguised as Wanda’s nosy neighbor Agnes. However, by the end of the episode, Agatha reveals her true identity and motives.
Agatha explains that she is a centuries-old witch who sensed Wanda using powerful magic to create the Westview anomaly. Intrigued, Agatha inserted herself into Wanda’s reality to try to understand how Wanda created this false world. As Agatha says, “I want to know how you did this, how you stole power that’s not yours.”
So Agatha’s villainy stems from her curiosity about Wanda’s abilities mixed with her desire for more power. She manipulates Wanda, causes chaos in Westview, and drains power from Wanda because she wants access to such strong magical capabilities.
Agatha’s Role in WandaVision
Throughout WandaVision, Agatha assumes different identities and creates obstacles to test Wanda’s powers. Here are some key aspects of her villainous role in the show:
- First appears as nosy neighbor Agnes to get close to Wanda
- Repeatedly asks probing questions to figure out Wanda’s abilities
- Traps Wanda in nightmarish visions to trigger more magic
- Reveals Pietro is fake, damaging Wanda’s reality
- Drains Wanda’s magic and tries to absorb it for herself
- Trapped under Wanda’s final hex as punishment for meddling
So while Agatha says she just wants to understand Wanda’s power, she clearly has no qualms about harming Wanda and Westview residents to gather this knowledge. Her deceptive and manipulative actions drive much of the show’s conflict.
Agatha’s Magical Abilities
As an ancient witch, Agatha Harkness has a vast array of magical powers and abilities she uses to manipulate Wanda:
- Teleportation – Agatha can teleport around Westview at will.
- Energy blasts – She fires purple energy blasts from her hands and fingertips.
- Mind control – She controls and manipulates people’s minds.
- Shape-shifting – Agatha transforms her appearance and disguises herself.
- Magical entrapment – She uses spells to immobilize and trap opponents.
- Draining magic – Agatha can drain magical energy from other sources.
Her full extent of powers is unknown, but these hints demonstrate Agatha’s mastery of offensive and manipulative magic. She uses these abilities to overpower Wanda and disrupt the fabricated world of Westview. Agatha’s magical skills make her a formidable villainess.
Agatha’s Comic Book Origins
In Marvel comics, Agatha Harkness is an ancient witch who acts as a mentor and tutor to Scarlet Witch. She helps train Wanda in magic and chaos magic. Some key facts about comic book Agatha include:
- First appeared in Fantastic Four #94 in 1970
- Served as Franklin Richards’ nanny for a period
- Has a son named Nicholas Scratch who is a villain
- Often portrayed as morally gray rather than evil
- Helped Wanda resurrect her children Billy and Tommy
So in the comics, Agatha leans more positive as an ally and teacher. The WandaVision show notably diverges by making Agatha an outright villain driven by her hunger for greater power.
Conclusion
Although masked for most of the show, Agatha Harkness emerges as the central antagonist of WandaVision. She is a sinister witch who manipulates Wanda in an effort to drain her magic. Agatha’s cunning deceptions and powerful magic make her a formidable foe. And while comic book Agatha is more benevolent, the MCU iteration is decidedly more villainous. By the finale, her selfish scheming leads to an imprisonment under Wanda’s final Westview hex.
Other Key Characters
While Agatha Harkness is the main overarching villain, WandaVision includes other antagonistic characters who drive conflict:
Tyler Hayward
- Director of S.W.O.R.D. who ordered surveillance of Wanda and Vision
- Tries to kill Wanda and weaponize Vision
- Recast as shady, power-hungry government agent
White Vision
- Reactivated by Hayward without emotions or memories
- Sent to destroy Wanda’s Vision
- Regains humanity after merging minds with original Vision
Monica Rambeau
- Thrown out of Westview twice by Wanda
- Powers blocked by Wanda’s hex
- Temporarily an unwilling antagonist due to manipulation
So while not as outright villainous as Agatha, Hayward, White Vision, and Monica do take on antagonistic roles at times due to Wanda’s warped reality.
Wanda’s Moral Status
An interesting complexity is Wanda’s own moral status. While technically the protagonist, some of Wanda’s actions are morally dubious:
- Involuntarily conscripts Westview residents into her fantasy
- Mind controls citizens to play roles against their will
- Hurts those who try to interfere, like Monica Rambeau
- Refuses to end the hex even when confronted by harm done
So while Wanda didn’t intend this harm initially, once aware of it she makes morally questionable choices. This leaves Wanda in a morally gray area between hero and villain for much of the show.
Wanda’s Motivations
Wanda’s villain-adjacent status stems from trauma and grief over:
- The death of her parents
- Her brother Pietro’s death
- The death of Vision
- Loss of her children after House of M
This drives her to recreate an ideal life with Vision by unconsciously warping reality. However, once confronted, Wanda chooses to preserve this fantasy world despite the harm it causes Westview residents.
Wanda’s Redemption
By the finale, Wanda goes through a redemption arc by:
- Releasing Westview residents from mind control
- Saying goodbye to her fantasy family
- Removing the Westview hex
- Isolating herself to study her powers
Wanda admits what she did was wrong but that her grief caused lapses in judgement. Letting go of her fabricated life and family is a bittersweet redemption for Wanda.
Key Groups
In addition to individual characters, various groups take on adversarial roles in WandaVision:
S.W.O.R.D.
- Government agency monitoring Wanda
- Headed by antagonist Tyler Hayward
- Create hostile Vision variant to destroy Wanda’s Vision
- Attempt to weaponize Vision’s corpse
Westview Residents
- Unwillingly trapped and mind controlled by Wanda
- Forced into Wanda’s fantasy against their will
- Try to break free and alert outsiders to truth
Wanda’s Family
- Pietro – fake version created by Agatha to spy for her
- Tommy & Billy – Wanda’s fabricated children who are not real
- Vision – created from Wanda’s magic, questions reality
So most players in Wanda’s fantasy world turn antagonistic as they try to reveal the truth she is hiding, even if unintentionally.
Conclusion
Agatha Harkness is the definitive main villain of WandaVision due to her active manipulation of Wanda and devious hunger for power. But the show contains other antagonists like Hayward, White Vision, and the unwilling Westview residents. Even Wanda herself occupies morally gray territory at times before achieving redemption. But Agatha’s cunning deception and sinister motives drive the conflict throughout, cementing her place as the central villainess of WandaVision.