The Marvel Cinematic Universe's six-hour fantasy adventure series shouldn't have worked as well as it did, but it proved everyone wrong. When the MCU began its official TV journey on Disney+ with WandaVision, the franchise's streaming future seemed incredibly bright. WandaVision was a well-deserved hit, a genre-blending classic that not only showcased Wanda Maximoff's incredible power but also the franchise's willingness to experiment with its storytelling.
It wasn't all smooth sailing for the MCU after WandaVision, however. Some shows, like Loki, changed the audience's understanding of the franchise and rekindled everyone's love for one of its most complex characters. Others, like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk, showcased fun new stories and characters but did nothing to break the mold. (Secret Invasion, meanwhile, was a critically panned mess.) Surprisingly, after WandaVision and Loki, one of the few MCU shows to try something genuinely daring was WandaVision's unofficial sequel series, Agatha All Along.
This was a show that no one had asked for. Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness was a standout in WandaVision, sure, and her catchy theme song became a viral meme. Did that mean she had the chops to lead a full show by herself? Was the magical, witch-y side of the MCU intriguing enough to lure viewers in to learn more? As it turns out, yes. Not only did Agatha All Along's ratings improve each week when it first aired in 2024, but it turned out to be one of the most inventive and compelling MCU streaming shows of them all.
Despite the three-year gap between WandaVision and Agatha All Along, Agatha and her fellow coven members recaptured the magical, mysterious spirit of the Scarlet Witch's first semi-solo outing. While both WandaVision and Agatha All Along were about overwhelming grief, untapped power, defying death, and unyielding love, the two shows approached these themes in entirely different ways. Where WandaVision recreated a new sitcom format each week, Agatha All Along featured brand-new settings and genres in every episode, as the coven's journey down the Witches' Road tested their resolve.
All in all, Agatha All Along is one of the MCU's most rewatchable shows. It's one of those projects that proves creative risks can pay off, as long as those involved are willing to go the extra mile to create something that not only expands the franchise's lore but also offers a genuinely memorable, emotionally rich narrative experience — something many of the MCU's other Disney+ shows were sadly lacking.
What makes Agatha All Along even more exciting is the way it works as both a standalone, serialized adventure and as a game-changing entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's lore. While every character and relationship is part of Agatha's story and the history of witches and magic in the primary timeline, certain characters, like Agatha, Joe Locke's Billy Kaplan/Maximoff, and Aubrey Plaza's Rio Vidal, can all change the MCU's power hierarchy.
As Wanda's son, Billy has proven himself to be nearly as powerful as his mother. Agatha All Along's finale revealed that he was responsible for manifesting the Witches' Road, much like Wanda created an entire alternate reality in Westview. Adding another powerful magic wielder to the MCU could have serious consequences for the franchise's future, as the Multiverse Saga comes to a close and more and more mutants are introduced in canon. Not to mention, Billy's confirmed existence as Wiccan — and the return of his super-speedy twin brother, Tommy — brings the franchise one step closer to establishing the Young Avengers.
Then there's the official introduction of Plaza's Lady Death. Death has been an important character in Marvel Comics lore since the '70s. She's essentially the opposite of Thor: Love and Thunder's Eternity, an immortal being with the power to end the universe and kill its inhabitants at will. Agatha All Along also confirms Rio as the original "Green Witch," making her power even more impressive; not only does she have dominion over death, but it seems she also has dominion over nature and life itself.
Agatha All Along is one of those rare, unexpected gems that not only improved the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole but told an incredibly rewarding story of its own. Whether the final installment of this unofficial magical Disney+ trilogy, this year's VisionQuest, will be able to do the same remains to be seen. Fingers crossed.
All episodes of Agatha All Along are available to stream now on Disney+.
