Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGN’s Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry: What Happens When There Are No TV Shows Left To Binge? This column contains slight spoilers for WandaVision and Agatha All Along.
Back in 2021, a witch, her husband, and the sons they made out of thin air would kick off the MCU’s television era (I love Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter too, but the powers that be simply insist that they do not count, and they didn’t bring the Netflix series into canon until very recently). It was a tumultuous time for us at home, it was a tumultuous time for film and television studios… Basically, it was just a bad time, even if we were starting to come out of our houses again after the release of the vaccines in late 2020. In short, the MCU needed Wanda Maximoff back then, and it needs Agatha Harkness now.
Here’s the thing: Superhero fatigue is fake. It’s not real. It’s made up. It’s a weird buzz phrase that someone picked up a year ago and the internet ran with it. A thing like superhero fatigue can’t exist not because it is some untouchable genre, but because it is such a malleable one. A superhero story can be about anything! Just needs to have a superhero (or villain, or otherwise powered-person) involved. Superhero stories can look like Watchmen or they can look like Supergirl and everything in between and beyond. People aren’t tired of superhero stories. They’re tired of the same superhero stories.
Before we all stumble over ourselves to defend the classics… I love ‘em too! I also don’t think it’s possible for me to be more excited for James Gunn’s Superman which, while I suspect it will have Gunn’s traditional penchant for the absurd and love of outcasts, will largely pay traditional homage to the boy scout. The point is that the superhero genre can’t survive if it’s just going to serve up the same flavor over and over and over again. And, while I quite enjoy the MCU and remain one of the few defenders left standing, it is incredibly guilty of largely serving up that same flavor throughout the majority of its phases.
Yes, part of it has to do with its leads. Fandom stopped belonging solely to straight white guys decades ago — and they, just like everyone else, seem sick of seeing the same story over and over again — and everyone who doesn’t fit into that demographic is just waiting for their respective genres of choice to catch up. But it goes deeper than whose faces we’re seeing in the leading roles. It also matters who is telling the stories, what cultures those stories touch, and how they can reach beyond their given demographic to show people the magic that can happen when we start to look at stories beyond what we know. It can and has been done in the MCU — Black Panther was remarkable in every way. But it also took us a literal decade into the franchise epic to get there. Captain Marvel would come a year later to similar success but (rightfully) less critical acclaim.
But what does all of that have to do with witches? Everything, actually.
For some, witchcraft is a religion, for others, it’s a symbol of female authority and resistance to male domination, and for many it is both. For the MCU, it’s a story angle that has saved its ass twice now. Back when WandaVision debuted, it was because they needed Disney+ to succeed and for their television offerings to start off strong and tide them over until theatrical releases came back into play (when Shang-Chi released later that year). Now? Now it’s because fans need a reminder that the franchise is more than its traditional bag of tricks, especially after MCU leadership has sprinted back to the Russo Brothers and Robert Downey Jr.
Because the thing is that it’s not just about telling a good story. It’s about telling a story that people connect with, that fans crave, and that opens up brand new worlds of possibility. WandaVision did that with an innovative storytelling method that kept things fresh while attached to a beloved character working through debilitating grief. Agatha All Along is doing the same through an emotional and hilarious look at the complications and true meaning of coven alongside the catchiest damn tune since the Hex Girls’ “Hex Girl” in “Ballad of the Witches Road.”
In fact, Agatha All Along captured what makes witches stories so broadly appealing early on with Debra Jo Rupp’s Mrs. Hart. It doesn’t matter if you’re a craft-obsessed weirdo like me or an empty nester housewife, all of us have a little witch in us. Member of a sorority? You’re part of a coven, babe. (Witches feel the same way about mega-covens as most Christians feel about mega-churches, but you’re not here for that discussion.) Every woman can identify, on some level, with the witch archetype because every woman, on some level, knows what it’s like to be viewed as lesser, treated differently, or even persecuted because of our gender. Just because things have gotten better over the years doesn’t mean that systemic sexism doesn’t remain a significant problem in the modern world.
The fact that systemic sexism still exists might be a frustrating thing for some to read. It’s sure as hell a frustrating thing to experience! But, whether it’s something you accept or something that vexes you, the truth remains that witches’ stories have been en vogue for well over a century, women will connect with them for a century more, and right now Agatha All Along is reminding people that the old dog that is the MCU still has new tricks.
But what about the boys?! Yes, I hear you. I, too, am thrilled to see the MCU eschew its traditional masculinity to reach out to more men! Bringing in Billy Maximoff’s (Joe Locke) story is an absolutely inspired way to speak to men who don’t fit into the archetype the franchise has built for their gender.
Billy brings a certain balance to the series in both his perspective and skill level. And balance is exactly what’s going to save the MCU if it is to be saved. Sometimes, when folks read these stories from me, they get the sense that I’m not also hyped out of my mind for stories like Daredevil: Born Again, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. What I and fans like me need isn’t for every story to speak to us; we just want some stories to do so. Marvel has to find an equilibrium between being something fresh and avoiding falling back into the same thing it created well over a decade ago. I love Phases 1-4, but I’ve seen Phases 1-4. I hope they keep showing us something new every now and again.
And, not for nothing, balance is critical in witchcraft, too.
See you after the finale!
