People are streaming Agatha All Along and realizing that they might've had more interest in the villain of WandaVision than they originally guessed. No doubt part of the reason the Marvel series is crushing it with audiences is Aubrey Plaza, whose character, Rio Vidal, is a bit of a mystery in these opening episodes. I've seen many fan theories about the character she might actually be playing, and I feel it makes sense after Deadpool & Wolverine.
Readers not watching Agatha All Along with a Disney+ subscription might be missing out on one of the more significant villain reveals in the history of the MCU. While I'd love to see Aubrey Plaza play one baddie in upcoming Marvel movies more than others, I could see some other viable options at all. Here's the chatter surrounding her character and why could be the big reveal.
I Love The Theories That Rio Vidal Is Actually The Shadow King
The fact that so many people overlook the fact that Aubrey Plaza has played a Marvel role before makes me so sad. I loved Noah Hawley's Legion, and while it never managed to get Patrick Stewart as Professor X, it did feature Plaza as a version of the famous Marvel villain The Shadow King.
Plaza originally played David's friend from the psych ward, Lenny Busker, and was masquerading as someone entirely different before Navid Negahban made his official entrance as the Shadow King. The actress's first scene in Agatha All Along had me convinced she was playing the Shadow King once again, to the point that if she isn't this character, I have to think she was encouraged by Marvel to channel that performance again for this series.
The Shadow King debuted as one of the first villains Professor X encountered in the X-Men mythology. As Amahl Farouk, he has powers in the astral plane and has existed since before the dawn of humanity. His main goal is to inhabit the minds of psychics and other telepaths in order to gain power in the world.
Agatha Harkness isn't the most powerful telepath in the Marvel universe, but everyone has to start somewhere. It's possible the Shadow King is attempting to gain a foothold in the 616 reality by taking her body captive and then possibly transferring over to more powerful telepaths when the opportunity presents itself. It's a theory that I absolutely love, and it would be a great nod to a past Marvel series that is absolutely worth streaming with a Hulu subscription for those who haven't seen it.
With X-Men slowly making their way into the MCU, it would be amazing to see one of their more notable villains show up and begin to establish a foothold before other mutants start to become more prevalent on Earth-616. Honestly, the more I talk about this I feel like I'm more or less envisioning my ideal direction for Marvel in the future rather than what is realistically happening, but I'm still not ruling it out. The Shadow King is certainly strong enough to take down Agatha, and I'm hoping we see them return.
I Can Understand Why People Think She's Blackheart
I know quite a few Agatha All Along viewers are already rolling with the idea that Rio Vidal is the villain Blackheart due to the symbol of the final Coven member literally being a "black heart." Blackheart is a very powerful being with immense powers largely driven by magic, but the hint presented in the show just feels a little too on the nose for the MCU. Plus, unless Ghost Rider is coming to the MCU, I'm not sure we need Blackheart just yet.
I Empathize With Those Keeping Hopes For Mephisto Alive
There's a mixture of jokes and serious theories that Rio Vidal is the demon Mephisto, which would be a huge deal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, WandaVision kind of ruined me on ever guessing Mephisto for a villain in a series tied to Wanda Maximoff again, so I'm not even going down that road this time. I can empathize with the people that want to hold onto hope that this is happening, but I just can't subscribe to it.
I should also add that there was a rumor last year that Sacha Baron Cohen was playing Mephisto in the upcoming series Ironheart. I'll be honest, I'm even skeptical of that rumor, but given how great the character is, I can understand why people keep claiming he's coming to the MCU.
Is Rio Vidal Actually Death?
It's been pointed out a few times now that the name Rio means "river" in Spanish, and that Vidal in Latin translates to "life." When we think of the "river of life" the closest thing that comes to mind is the River Styx in Greek mythology that separates the world of the living and the dead. It's said that Charon works as a ferryman on the river, and that character has also been likened to the personification of, wait for it, Death.
Death exists as a cosmic entity in the MCU, and there were actually discussions at one point to include her in the franchise much earlier. Unfortunately, the Russos balked at putting her in Avengers: Infinity War despite her having a major role in the comic story. I certainly think there's a chance we'd see Death more than Blackheart or Mephisto in Agatha All Along, but I'm still leaning towards it being the Shadow King for now.
I Hope This Isn't Another Ralph Bohner Situation
Ultimately, I'll be ok with whoever Rio Vidal ends up being, assuming this isn't another Ralph Bohner situation. For those not familiar with what that means, it refers to the last time the MCU tried to tease us with a big reveal with Evan Peters' character in WandaVision, only to reveal he was largely meaningless to the story.
I can't help but chuckle looking back on the hubris of the MCU creatives back then. Fresh off of Avengers: Endgame, it seemed like the good times would never end. What's wrong with a little trolling of fans who are so conditioned to character reveals? Wouldn't it be nice to subvert expectations?
People weren't pleased now, and considering public perception is that Marvel has dropped the ball a few times since then, it would not be a great idea to try and trick the audience once again. Doing so might just cause some fans to jump off the Marvel bandwagon, and I think a few have already.
Agatha All Along streams new episodes to Disney+ on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. Catch the opening episodes right now and catch up because this series is off to a strong start.
