In the recap for the “WandaVision” series finale, Wanda faces off with Agatha Harkness as well as her own demons as she comes to realize her powers while trying to save her family…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
After nine episodes, “WandaVision” has come to an end and plenty was revealed but there were still more than a few questions remaining when the final post credits scene was over.
The entire season was based around Wanda Maximoff and the relentless grief she felt after losing both of her parents as a child and then watching her brother get shot at killed in Sokovia before losing the only man she ever loved when Thanos ripped the mind stone from Vision’s head thus killing him.
That kind of pain and loss eventually escaped Wanda’s mind as she unleashed her powers to create an idyllic sitcom reality based on the shows that gave her so much comfort throughout her life. The end result was an ever-morphing alternate reality where Wanda was raising a family with Vision yet the people living in her make-believe town were actually trapped under her mind control.
Of course, Wanda soon discovered that she wasn’t alone inside “the Hex” because another witch was soon revealed and Agatha Harkness was desperate to understand the source of the power that allowed this world to be created in the first place.
Agatha is an ancient witch, who gained her powers through dark magic while draining the life of the members of her coven. Over the past 300 some odd years, Agatha has undoubtedly continued to gain strength but even she wasn’t prepared for the kind of power that Wanda is wielding, which is what drew her to Westview in the first place.
When we left Wanda and Agatha in the penultimate episode a week ago, they were locked in a stand-off with a battle about to begin. As Agatha holds Wanda’s children hostage, you knew this fight wasn’t going to be pretty and when you throw in a new version of Vision that was resurrected as a weapon by the agents of S.W.O.R.D., you better get ready for a whole lot of chaos.
With that said, let’s get to our recap for the “WandaVision” series finale appropriately titled “The Series Finale”…
The Destroyer of Worlds
As Agatha taunts Wanda while holding her children hostage, it’s clear she’s not in this battle to learn more about the person known “The Scarlet Witch.” Instead, Agatha reveals her true intentions are the syphon away Wanda’s powers in the same way she gained the strength of her entire coven when they turned against her for using dark magic.
Agatha believes that in Wanda’s untrained hands, this amount of magic is reckless and dangerous and it would be much better served under her control. When Wanda manages blast Agatha from a distance, the ancient witch just absorbs the blows and then shows how that is actually what she’s always wanted.
Wanda looks down at her hand to see it rotting away as Agatha begins to steal her powers.
Thankfully, Wanda is able to think quick and instead of blasting Agatha directly, she sends a car flying at her. The end result is Agatha being plowed into a house with only her boots left behind like a modern homage to the “Wizard of Oz.”
But Wanda dispatching Agatha momentarily is only a brief reprieve because she’s soon joined by Vision — except this isn’t the one she knew and loved.
The White Vision appears out of the sky and he lands before coming face to face with Wanda, who immediately moves to embrace him. He does the same but with much more force after snatching Wanda off the ground and nearly crushing her head with his hands while remarking that he had been warned she was quite powerful.
Before he could say anything further, Wanda’s Vision swoops into save the day.
He engages in a battle with the White Vision while Wanda tries to save their children while preparing for round two with Agatha.
As Wanda wanders around Westview, Agatha finally emerges again while taunting her witchy counterpart from a rooftop. She tells Wanda that there’s an entire chapter devoted to her — The Scarlet Witch — inside the Darkhold.
Now the Darkhold is a piece of history from the Marvel Universe that dates back many, many years and it has previously shown up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although only through “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “The Runaways,” neither of which have ever really tied back into the films (or now TV series on Disney+)
Without getting too deep in the woods, the Darkhold is an ancient text written by Chthon, a demonic Elder God, who collected all of his knowledge — mostly evil, dark magic spells and incantations — into a single book with pages made out of human flesh. The book was bound in iron and eventually passed down through hundreds of thousands of years with the possessors of the Darkhold always corrupted after using its magic.
In Marvel legend, the Darkhold is responsible for creating the first vampire as well as the curse of the werewolf. Numerous people have used the Darkhold throughout history including Doctor Doom as well as Morgan Le Fay (a version of that character appeared in “The Runaways”) and even Baron Zemo, who will return in the upcoming “Falcon and Winter Soldier” series starting in two weeks.
Obviously, the version we’re seeing in “WandaVision” could be different but the overall effect still seems the same — it possesses a whole lot of dark, evil energy and Agatha believes it spells out the kind of doom that Wanda is going to bring to the world as the Scarlet Witch.
“The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, no need for incantation. Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme. It’s your destiny to destroy the world.”
~ Agatha Harkness
The Sorcerer Supreme is none other than Doctor Strange but his actual name is never invoked in the series much less does he make an appearance, although we know Wanda Maximoff will play a major role in the upcoming sequel “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which is due out in March 2022.
Of course, Wanda isn’t convinced that she’s somehow this truly evil person so Agatha does her best to convince the Avenger that she’s as bad as they come.
Agatha then proceeds to remove the spells from everyone living inside Westview and they all return to their former selves after being trapped in Wanda’s head game ever since she came to town. The people begin approaching her, essentially begging for their lives while also looking at Wanda with equal parts anger and fear after what she’s done to them.
Wanda struggles to face the reality of this world she build while effectively kidnapping thousands of people to play roles in her fantasy land.
Meanwhile, Monica is being held prisoner by Fietro — fake Pietro — and she can’t seem to escape as he uses his super speed to stop her every time she tries it. Monica eventually begins perusing around the house and she finds an electric bill and a headshot that reveals “Pietro” is actually an actor named Ralph Bohner and he’s nothing more than an extra playing a twisted part in Agatha’s attempts to get at Wanda.
After she removes a charmed necklace given to him by Agatha, Ralph returns to normal and Monica is able to escape.
As fun as it was to theorize that Pietro Maximoff had crossed over inside the multiverse to be reunited with his sister, it seems he was really just a decoy that served no other purpose that being a distraction for Wanda while Agatha tried to discover the source of her powers.
Outside the bubble, S.W.O.R.D. director Tyler Hayward monitored the battle between his White Vision and the other Vision while taunting Jimmy Woo after he was captured. Jimmy knows that Hayward has been doing all of this without permission from the government much less the Avengers, who once called Vision a member of their team.
Jimmy eventually sets himself free before calling in the calvary in order to stop Hayward before he can kill Wanda and maintain his secret “Cataract” program, which helped to resurrect a Vision he could control as a weapon.
Back in the Hex, Wanda is starting to face the reality of what she’s done to all the people living in Westview and she wants to just shut it all out again. She once again unleashes her full power while beginning to tear down this false reality, which means the walls of the Hex start coming down and Hayward is able to lead his troops inside.
But Wanda soon faces a different kind of reality — by tearing apart her sitcom version of Westview, she’s also destroying her children and the Vision she resurrected with her mind. They can only exist inside this alternate reality and as they begin to get torn apart just like the rest of Westview, Wanda is forced to stop in order to save her family — and the walls begin closing in again.
While her family is whole again, Wanda still has to deal with Agatha, Vision has to face White Vision and Hayward soon arrives with his troops in tow.
First things first, Hayward and his S.W.O.R.D. army are dispatched rather easily but the director tries to take his own shot to bring down Wanda’s children. Monica shows up just in time to jump in front of the bullets but she’s not hurt or killed — instead her new powers protect her as she absorbs the energy from the bullets.
Remember, Monica’s new ability is that she can become any form of energy on the electromagnetic scale and that includes stopping a bullet being fired directly at her.
One bullet does manage to slip through but Wanda’s children have inherited her family’s powers and they stop that one as well. Hayward then tries to make his escape but thankfully Darcy Lewis shows up in her ice cream truck to smash his getaway vehicle and remind him that he’ll be soon going to jail for all the misdeeds he’s committed.
As for Vision and White Vision — the continue to fight it out until the battle stops for an intellectual debate instead.
Wanda’s version of Vision is ultimately just a construct of the man she once loved but he’s only real inside the borders of Westview and he has no real corporal form otherwise. Meanwhile, the White Vision has all of the body parts and pieces that once made up the real Vision but he has no memory whatsoever and ultimately he’s been cobbled back together to serve as a blunt instrument for S.W.O.R.D. to use against it enemies.
The dueling Visions then discuss the metaphysics of identity through a thought experiment called the Ship of Theseus.
Essentially the concept is this — the Ship of Theseus sits in a museum but as the wood making up the ship begins to rot, those original pieces are then replaced. But now is this still the Ship of Theseus if it’s called that yet many of the parts making up the ship are no longer original. The same theory also asks if you take all of those pieces of rotted wood from over the years and cobble together a new ship, is that in fact the Ship of Theseus?
Long story short, the Visions decide that neither one of them are the true Vision that once existed even though one behaves and acts like the original Vision yet the other has the body.
After helping the White Vision unlock his true memories — the ones that Hayward had locked away because he was never supposed to be anything more than a weapon — he flies away and leaves Westview. So there’s now a White Vision out there with the memories from his past but without the mind stone that actually made him exist in the first place.
Vision then reunites with his children and Monica while Wanda continues her fight with Agatha by tapping into her mind and carrying them both back to 1693 on the day when she was supposed to be burned alive by her coven.
Wanda intends to use this in the same way that Agatha used the past to unlock her secrets.
At first, Agatha is horrified to see the members of her former coven drained and dead but she soon turns the tables because even the dead witches from centuries ago remember the terrifying stories about the Scarlet Witch.
Agatha tries to make a bargain with Wanda to take her powers and in return she will leave the alternate reality built in Westview just the same as it was. Wanda can remain behind with her family and Agatha will absorb the power of the Scarlet Witch.
Needless to say, Wanda declines.
Another fight ensues after they return to the present day and Wanda decides to unleash everything at Agatha, who continues to absorb the powers back into herself. Ultimately, Wanda is drained dry as she turns withered and old while Agatha takes control of the powers — or at least that’s what she thinks.
Just when Agatha decides to do away with Wanda once and for her, her spells no longer work.
Wanda then reanimates and waves a finger to reveal she cast runes all across Westview just like Agatha taught her in the basement in the previous episode. Remember, Agatha said a witch who casts the runes is the only one capable of using their powers in that particular space.
All of Westview has been encapsulated by Wanda’s powers, which means that entire town is under her spell — and after casting those runes, it means Agatha can no longer do any kind of magic.
Wanda re-absorbs all of her powers and whatever Agatha has left in side of her as well as she finishes her transformation to finally become The Scarlet Witch — and the outfit is pretty amazing.
Agatha begs for her life and Wanda decides to spare her — but not before transforming the witch into the nosy neighbor she portrayed in Westview. Now Agatha is permanently stuck playing that housewife but Wanda promises to come calling on her if she ever needs magical advice, which means we will likely cross paths with that character at some point in the future.
As for the alternate reality created, Wanda knows it’s time to let go of her grief and pain, which means returning everything and everyone else back to normal.
She rips apart the Hex once and for all but not before tucking in her children one last time before they disappear and she says a tearful farewell to Vision before he does the same. Before he disappears, Wanda reminds Vision that he was created in part by the mind stone and she gained her powers the same way, which means they are always going to be connected.
This may be goodbye for now but Wanda promises that they will say hello to each other again one day.
When the Hex is finally gone, Wanda is left standing in the same spot where this all started — the plot of land that was supposed to be her forever home with Vision.
Wanda returns to the town square where Monica attempts to make her feel better by saying if she had those powers, she would have absolutely done the same thing to bring her mother back.
Still, Wanda knows what she’s done was a serious violation of her powers and so she transforms back into the Scarlet Witch before flying away to parts unknown.
There were two post-credits scenes this week, which set up a pair of future Marvel movies or shows.
First up was Monica in the aftermath of her Westview experience — she prepares for her debriefing after seeing Tyler Hayward taken away in handcuffs and she’s pulled into the local movie theater. But she doesn’t find the FBI waiting there to ask her questions — instead a single agent reveals themselves as a Skrull — the shape-shifting alien race we first met in “Captain Marvel.”
The Skrull says that she heard Monica was grounded and an old friend of her mother’s was interested to see if she wanted to touch the sky again. That old friend is undoubtedly Nick Fury, who we last saw flying in a Skrull ship in the post-credits scene from “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
Nick Fury befriended Monica’s mother after meeting her with Captain Marvel back in the mid-1990s when she first landed on Earth. It’s likely that Monica joining the Skrull ship in space is setting her up to appear in either “Captain Marvel 2,” or potentially also popping up in the new “Secret Invasion’ series that will feature Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
In the final post-credits scene we find Wanda living in seclusion somewhere deep in the mountains, far away from where anybody could possibly be hurt by her.
After walking inside to make some tea, we find that she’s now separated her conscious similar to what Doctor Strange can do with her Scarlet Witch side reading all of the pages in the Darkhold. A moment later, Wanda is distracted after hearing cries for help — from her children, Billy and Tommy.
By all accounts, Wanda’s children are “dead” because they were truly just figments of her imagination conjured up for the Westview reality she built. But now it appears that Billy and Tommy exist somewhere — perhaps out in the multiverse and that’s how Wanda will eventually find herself either teamed up with Doctor Strange or opposing him when she moves heaven and Earth to get to her children.
We will have to wait to find out when Wanda returns in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in March 2022.
Next up — “Falcon and Winter Soldier” will debut on Friday, March 19 and we will be recapping all six episodes from week to week!
