WandaVision: Why Kathryn Hahn Could Be the Key To Scarlet Witch's MCU Future
Disney+'s WandaVision is finally about to make its way into the world, and as ready as fans may be to finally get their hands on some new MCU content, no one knows what to expect from the first Marvel Studios series.
In the show, Wanda Maximoff is somehow traversing through decades of television history, and she's accompanied by Vision, who... died the last time we saw him. Oh, and Wanda will be having twins along the way, too.
Seems like a lot right off the bat, doesn't it? Well, WandaVision gets even stranger with its supporting cast, as it includes several unexpected MCU characters returning like Randall Park's Jimmy Woo and Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis. And on top of all of that, new characters are also being introduced in WandaVision, who add even more mystery to the show's already puzzling dynamic.
The most mysterious of these new characters, though, is Agnes, a certain "nosy neighbor" of Wanda and Vision's played by Kathryn Hahn. Not much is known about her role in WandaVision, but the more fans learn about her, the more questions are raised about her significance in this new series.
Hahn has finally gotten the chance to speak openly about her role in WandaVision, and that did nothing but raise suspicions even further that "Agnes" may be more problematic than neighborly to Wanda and Vision at their home in Westview.
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Kathryn Hahn, widely known for her roles in American comedy classics like Step Brothers and Bad Moms, recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about her upcoming part in Marvel Studios' WandaVision, in which she revealed that right after she got the job, she was "walked through the story arc" by the show's writer, director, and producer (Shakman, Schaeffer, and Livanos, respectively). Hahn said she "asked a ton of questions," calling herself "a little bit of a newbie" to the MCU.
Hahn then mentioned that she was "blown away by the ambition and the swing" that was described to her as WandaVision's premise.
Hahn then revealed that she "had the luxury of knowing where everybody was headed" in WandaVision, as opposed to only knowing her own character's direction. Sounds like she's playing a pretty important role, right? Confusingly, Hahn then described her character Agnes as "that neighbor who’s always flopping over uninvited and offering advice," and while Agnes is "always complaining while at (Wanda and Vision's) house," she somehow reveales "nothing about her own home life."
"Well, with some shows, the reality is that you have to take things episode by episode. So I did have the luxury of knowing where everybody was headed; I got to know the whole thing. As the decades hurdled by, the trick was to hold steady to something in the center, and that became really fun. Agnes’ role, especially in a classic sitcom sense, is that neighbor who’s always flopping over uninvited and offering advice. We know nothing about her own homelife, and she’s always complaining while at their house."
What's more interesting is Hahn's excitement to work with Elizabeth Olsen, or rather, her excitement to work within the world of Wanda Maximoff. Hahn elaborated that she knows a lot about "Wanda Maximoff's backstory" and how "dark and traumatic" it is, which helped make this new gig with Marvel Studios "irresistable" for Kathryn Hahn, admitting that she "couldn't have dreamt a cooler part."
"I was also very excited about the idea of working with Lizzie [Elizabeth Olsen]. I just think she’s so tremendous. I knew a little bit at the time — and I know more now — but Wanda Maximoff’s backstory in the comics is so dark and so traumatic. There’s so much there. And I knew that opening that up over a longer period of time than had been afforded in the films was going to be very exciting in this format. So, to know that it was going to be something that the MCU has never done before — and that I was going to enter this world through a 1950s sitcom — all of those reasons together made it irresistible. I couldn’t have dreamt a cooler part, honestly. I was thrilled."
Oh, and when Hahn was asked if any of her family or friends knew anything about her role as Agnes in WandaVision, she said she's told "no one" because she "wanted to keep it all a surprise."
So what exactly is Kathryn Hahn so excited about, and what makes it worth hiding?
PERKS OF THE JOB
First and foremost, is it really that common for anyone other than the main cast to be walked through the entire premise of the show on their first day, by all the show's top executives? Hahn may be considered one of the main supporting roles in the show, but if I didn't know better, I'd say Hahn is enjoying all the perks of being an MCU A-lister. But she's just playing a pesky neighbor to Wanda and Vision, right?
Additionally, Hahn referring to herself as a "newbie" gives the impression that she spent quality time on set with those that are not so new to the MCU, like Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. But this can also give the implication that Hahn expects to progress from her newbie status to that of a seasoned MCU alum, hinting that Hahn may have signed on for more than just a season of WandaVision.
Are Wanda and Vision going to be staying in Westview longer than expected, or is Agnes going to show up again elsewhere in the MCU?
AGNES OR AGATHA?
The initial assumption when Kathryn Hahn’s “Agnes” was announced for WandaVision was that she'd be a rather pleasant distraction in WandaVision, meant to draw Wanda's attention away from the real issues she'll undoubtedly face in the series. But the more Hahn spoke on her new MCU role, the more it seems like Agnes could actually present one of the series' biggest dilemmas.
For fans suspicious of Hahn's involvement in the Disney+ series, Marvel Studios may have actually hidden a few clues in the trailers for WandaVision for comic fans to notice. There's been speculation that Hahn's character may be posing as "Agnes" in Westview, but may actually be the infamous witch Agatha Harkness from Marvel Comics, which is a name frequently heard when Wanda Maximoff comes to town.
The first clue that supports this theory will be pretty obvious to Marvel Comics fans. In a couple trailers for WandaVision, Agnes is shown wearing a pronounced broach on her neck — a style staple that Agatha Harkness is rarely seen without in the comics.
Now, the broach and similar sounding names may just be a coincidence, as broaches were far more common in the 50s when Agnes is initially shown wearing it, but what's interesting is that Agnes is still sporting a broach in her character poster for the series that puts her in a much more current setting — possibly even present day.
And speaking of Wanda Maximoff, Hahn sure does seem to know a lot about Wanda, and although she knew a little bit about the Marvel mutant before, Hahn knows "a lot more" about Wanda now that she's got this MCU gig. If there's anyone in Marvel Comics that knows all there is to know about Wanda Maximoff, it's Agatha Harkness, who has served as both a menace and a malicious mentor to Wanda over the years.
Plus, Agnes literally dressed up as a witch for Halloween (and cackles like one, too). It's already been hinted that Wanda's powers may stem from witchcraft, and Wanda will also reportedly have a run-in with a witch coven in the show. So where is all of this witchcraft coming from, and why haven't we seen any of it in all of these WandaVision trailers?
It almost seems a little too obvious at this point, doesn't it?
A MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS AWAITS
There's another detail that's been given a total of about 5 seconds in WandaVision promotional footage, yet will likely be one of the most pivotal developments in the entire series: Wanda's twins.
As if the show wasn't confusing enough already, Wanda is also going to have a couple synthezoid babies with her previously presumed dead love interest? How on Earth is that possible?
Well, without going into too much detail, the only way Wanda really could have been impregnated in this crazy trance would be through magic. To simplify things and get straight to the point, Wanda in Marvel Comics once thought that she was able to conceive a child (or two) simply by her own magical abilities. But what she later found out was that the magic to make that possible actually came from the evil Agatha Harkness, who did it to corrupt her unborn children with shards of the soul of the demonic Marvel Comics villain Mephisto, a longtime foe of none other than Doctor Strange.
Stay with me here. Assuming Agnes is in fact the MCU's Agatha Harkness, perhaps she is working in servitude to the MCU's Mephisto, and her sole purpose of acting as this nosy neighbor of Wanda's that keeps popping in on her and Vision is actually to keep tabs on Wanda's offspring.
What if Wanda's pregnancy is the very reason she's trapped in this altered reality, and having these twins is the first domino that falls in the trail leading to the Doctor Strange sequel?
To wrap this all up in a bow, if Hahn really "couldn't have dreamt a cooler part" than playing a simple nosy neighbor in the MCU's first Disney+ series, then good on her for going above-and-beyond for preparing for the role through extensive research on the show's subject material.
But Agnes seems to control every invasive interaction she's had with Wanda and Vision thus far, and the little breadcrumbs dropped throughout the promotional footage for WandaVision hints that Agnes could be up to something. And if it's anything like what Agatha Harkness has cooked up in her Marvel Comics cauldron through the years, it ain't gonna be anything good for Wanda Maximoff.
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