Many comic book geeks are super excited about the new Disney+ series Agatha All Along for a variety of reasons. For me, it is mainly due to the speculation around who exactly Heartstopper’s Joe Locke is playing. His character has simply been dubbed “teen,” but there has been speculation that Locke, who is gay, will be playing a well-known gay character from the comics, Billy/Wiccan, the son of Wanda aka the Scarlet Witch.

Interestingly, Scarlet Witch’s children and her connection to Agatha Harkness all came from the same writer. In the mid-1970s, Steve Englehart, who was writing Avengers, expanded Wanda’s powers by having Harkness teach her witchcraft. It was during this period that she married Vision.

Englehart additionally wrote the limited series that had Scarlet Witch getting magically pregnant and delivering twin sons, William and Thomas. The writer also used the characters in Avenger’s spin-off series, West Coast Avengers.

Englehart’s replacement on that series, John Byrne, wrote the ‘Vision Quest’ storyline, where the Vision was dismantled and turned into an emotionless being. This leads to the annulment of his marriage to Wanda.

Byrne also connected the children’s origins to the demon lord Mephisto, as they are revealed to have been created using parts of his essence. He absorbs the children creating a bond to Wanda. To sever the bond, Agatha Harkness removes Wanda’s memory of the children.

Wanda’s memory loss is a bit iffy continuity-wise as some writers have her regaining them, but then the ‘Avengers Disassembled’ storyline, written by Brian Michael Bendis, relies on the fact that she is reminded of their existence and their demise. This event triggers her emotionally and causes her to kill Agatha Harkness and the Avengers have their “worst” day with the apparent deaths of characters and the destruction of Avengers Mansion.

The event resulted in the Avengers disbanding. It was during this time that a new team appeared called the Young Avengers, their formation triggered by Vision’s plan.

The Young Avengers series was created by queer writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung. It introduced the character Billy Kaplan who initially took the name Asgardian and is later called Wiccan. He has an appearance that is patterned on that of two prominent Avengers, Thor and the Scarlet Witch, and has magical abilities like Wanda. It also introduced his boyfriend, Teddy Altman aka Hulkling.

In ‘Secret Identities’ storyline, we get to see some of the characters’ pasts. It is revealed that Billy had an issue being accepted because of his sexuality. It also showed that he was bullied because of it.

Saw the first two episodes of #AgathaAllAlong! IF Joe Locke really is playing Billy Kaplan, as a gay Wiccan comic fan of many years, I enjoyed his take on Billy so far. The eagerness, wit, and fanboyism is there. He reads as queer, but the performance is NOT a gay stereotype. pic.twitter.com/ELpDAqz9xM

— Wiccan Updates (@BillyKaplanUpd) September 18, 2024

In a later story, Billy discovers he has a long-lost twin brother, Tommy Shephard aka Speed, who has powers similar to Wanda’s twin brother Pietro aka Quicksilver.

The series has a lot of gay storylines and adds even more queer characters as it goes along. It also goes more into the true origins of Billy and Tommy. I don’t want to spoil it as I am hoping some people will check out the comics and see why they are some queer favourites.

If Joe Locke does turn out to be Billy/Wiccan (still a big ‘if’), it won’t be the first appearance of a Young Avenger in the MCU. Outside of Billy and Tommy appearing in WandaVision, three original members have already appeared.

Cassie Lang, Ant-Man’s daughter, first appeared all the way back in Ant-Man (2015), with a young adult version eventually appearing in the sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Eli Bradley appears in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021). Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye appears in the TV series Hawkeye (2021).

Two characters who joined the team in volume two of the comics have also appeared. Young Loki appeared in the first Loki series (2021) and America Chavez, Marvel’s first Latin-American LGBTQ+ character, appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

There have already been hints about the formation of a teenage team with a mid-credits scene in The Marvels (2023), showing Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel trying to recruit Kate Bishop.

The new series has the potential to lead to more queer storylines, and it’ll be interesting to see if Joe Locke’s role does turn out to be a version of Wiccan.