'Splainin to Do

WandaVision theory: 3 huge clues that reveal the show's true villain

Is Scarlet Witch really the only one behind all of this?

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Marvel fans have been trying to figure out who the bad guy of WandaVision is for months, and the Disney+ series hasn’t made it easy. But the few hints that the show has made, have all pointed to Wanda herself being the show’s unexpected villain.

Warning! Spoilers below for WandaVision Episode 4.

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The conclusion of WandaVision Episode 4 did a lot to further those theories, with Wanda bitterly calling Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau an “outsider” and accusing her of “trespassing,” before throwing her out of Westview. The moment seemed to confirm that Wanda is not only aware her current reality is a false one, she’s also actively working to maintain it.

And yet, we’re still not totally convinced Wanda is responsible for what’s going on in WandaVision. At least, not all of it. There are a few reasons for that — starting with two of Westview’s most prominent citizens.

Agent Woo's investigation into Westview.

Marvel Studios

Agnes & Dottie — Rumors have been swirling about Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes ever since she showed up in the first WandaVision trailer. Most fans believe that Agnes is actually a character named Agatha Harkness from the Marvel comics, a powerful witch who has been both a mentor and rival to Scarlet Witch.

Similarly, there's been speculation about who Emma Caulfield’s Dottie could be — the woman who Agnes herself told Wanda is the “key to everything in this town.” Many believe she’s playing a notable character from the comics as well, though it’s still unclear which character she could be. Neither Dottie nor Agnes has acted very “normal” in the show so far either — although that's a pretty low bar in Westview.

What’s interesting though, is that in WandaVision Episode 4, we see Kat Dennings’ Darcy Lewis and Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo figure out the real-life identities of almost every major Westview citizen we’ve met so far except Agnes and Dottie. Agnes’s photo is on the board, but no New Jersey ID is pinned on top of it like the others, while Dottie’s picture is nowhere to be seen. (It's possible the board is still a work-in-progress at that point, but this feels like a pretty big clue.)

Given the rumors surrounding the characters and their behavior up until this point, we’re going to assume neither are just “normal” townsfolk. If they both really are witches (or superpowered beings of some kind), then it seems strange that they just happened to be trapped in an alternate reality cooked up by Wanda. The odds are that there’s something else going on with these two, and whatever it is will likely help explain how Wanda (and Vision) ended up in Westview in the first place.

Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision.

Marvel Studios

The Man Behind the Curtain — A majority of the theories surrounding WandaVision right now suggest the series will feature the MCU debut of Mephisto. Many even believe Agnes’ unseen husband, Ralph, is actually Mephisto. The appearance of a white rabbit with a similar name to two of Mephisto’s aliases from the comics only fueled these rumors.

A Mephisto Easter egg in the Loki trailer also seems to confirm the character will play a big role in the MCU moving forward. So the evidence is certainly there for Mephisto to be the one controlling everything in Westview— especially given the show’s inclusion of a Marvel comics storyline that involved Mephisto, Agatha Harkness, and Wanda...

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in WandaVision.

Marvel Studios

The Twins — Consider this the second part of the above theory because we just can’t imagine why WandaVision would include the pair’s twin sons if it wasn’t going to incorporate at least some of the same elements in that comic book storyline. Specifically, we’re referring to the fact that in the comics, Tommy and Billy were created using shards of Mephisto’s own soul, who then erased Tommy and BIlly from existence when his soul was reformed. That storyline ends with Agatha Harkness erasing Wanda’s memories of her sons.

Of course, Wanda’s memories were eventually restored, which led to her suffering a nervous breakdown, killing Agnes, and kickstarting the infamous House of M storyline. In other words, Tommy and Billy’s existence plays an integral part in Wanda’s mental spiral in the comics, and their inclusion in WandaVision seems to be for very similar reasons. Wanda didn’t become “pregnant” with her twins on her own in the comics, and we seriously doubt she did in WandaVision either.

Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision.

Marvel Studios

The Inverse Analysis — It’s a testament to the writing of WandaVision, that we still have no idea what's happening even at the show's halfway mark. The WandaVision creative team has done a very good job at revealing new information to viewers at a steady — but not breakneck — pace, which has helped keep it consistently interesting. The show seems to really want us to believe that — as Monica says at the end of Episode 4 — it really is Wanda behind all of this, but that alone is enough to make us look for a different villain.

WandaVision is streaming now on Disney+.

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