Marvel May Have A Huge Thanos Connection Hiding in Plain Sight
Has Agatha All Along been about Thanos all along?
Agatha All Along’s characters are as enthralling as they are mysterious. We may not know who Teen is, but the witchy fanboy has already captured the fandom’s — and Agatha’s — heart. Even members of the coven like Lilia and Alice seemingly came from nowhere, but in only three episodes we’ve managed to learn so much about them. That’s especially true with Episode 3, where poison-induced hallucinations revealed a slew of tragic backstories.
But all throughout that episode, one character is missing: Aubrey Plaza’s Rio Vidal, the Green Witch with whom Agatha seems to have a history. However, a possible leak may have revealed her true identity — and it’s got a strange connection to Thanos.
Warning! Possible spoilers for Agatha All Along ahead!
UK retailer Smyths reportedly posted a photo of a Funko Pop of Agatha in her witchy outfit. That’s all well and good, but on the back of the package were illustrations of two other Pops. One showed Teen as Wiccan, the superhero alter ego of Billy Kaplan, Wanda Maximoff’s reincarnated son — an identity that has been theorized as a possibility since Locke was cast.
What’s really interesting is the other character, a woman dressed in green and identified as “Death.” Could this be Rio’s true identity? She’s identified by Lilia in Episode 2 with just a black heart, and who would have a blacker heart than Death herself?
In the Marvel Comics, Lady Death is a prolific character. Technically, her first appearance was in a short story published in Marvel Mystery Comics #10 all the way back in 1940, but in her current form, she first appeared in Captain Marvel #26 back in 1973. She’s a cosmic entity, the sister of Eternity, but has a special connection to Thanos.
Death appeared to Thanos as a child and soon became his only confidant. As he grew up and began going on murderous rampages, it was Death who convinced him he enjoyed it. Thanos soon fell hopelessly in love with this young woman despite not knowing her true identity and would kill to prove his love for her. After a killing spree, he won her affection and she showed her true nature to him, but it drove him mad, giving him the name “The Mad Titan.” In fact, Thanos’ father suggested he was mad all along and never saw the true Death to begin with.
Thanos only learned Death’s true identity after he proved himself to her in Thanos Rising #4, published in 2017.
Could this be the same Death in Agatha All Along? Rio is a witch, but there’s no saying she can’t also be the cosmic manifestation of Death who appeared to young Thanos. She could fill in the gaps of his backstory, years after he’s died, while still making a name for herself and how Death fits into this magical world.
Considering we never saw Death during Thanos’ backstory in Avengers: Infinity War, she may take on a different form altogether in the MCU. And if Rio has a history with Agatha, does that mean that she had a flirtation with Death in her past? If so, is that literal or figurative? Did she just have a near-death experience in the past?
Death has been a constant in the MCU, and in fact was the theme rippling throughout Agatha’s original show, WandaVision. But what happens when she takes on a physical form in the MCU, and what does Death have to do with Agatha? Hopefully, we’ll learn in the coming weeks.
