Popverse's top stories of the day

• Humanity blossoms into something... new in BOOM! Studios' In Bloom this December
• Agatha All Along got you wondering how magic works in the MCU? Here's your guide to Marvel's many on-screen magicians
• What can we learn from the brief life of Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi's Time Bandits reboot from Apple TV+?

We love a hero but sometimes we need a villain. Marvel Studios’ next big outing is the decidedly spooky Agatha All Along on Disney+, which shows the WandaVision villain heading down Witches’ Road, which promises to give you “the thing you want most,” according to the trailer. But are fans ready to root for a villain in the MCU, or will Marvel have to give Agatha Harkness a bit of a makeover to make her more endearing now that she is the star of her own show?

You’re probably thinking, “But Popverse, what about Venom and Morbius, two iconic Marvel villains who have had standalone films?” First, we try to forget Morbius happened, so thanks for reminding us of it. Second, ignoring the fact that those were part of Sony’s misguided attempt to set up a Spider-Man universe without the webslinger present, both of those movies made fundamental changes to the characters before their cinematic debut that went way beyond merely removing Spidey from the film. Both were presented as more of edgy anti-heroes in their movies with distinctly heroic motivations that were far removed from their comic book counterparts.

That can work for a character that is getting a fresh introduction, but we’ve already seen Agatha Harkness in action and she showed no signs of being redeemable. As the frustratingly catchy song says, she was the source of all of the ill that befell Wanda in the bewitched town of Westview. She sabotaged Wanda and Vision’s magic act, kidnapped Wanda’s twin sons, and even killed Sparky to further torment Maximoff. You can argue that all of these things happened in an illusion conjured up by Wanda in her grief over Vision’s death, but it is still hard to love someone who would kill even an imaginary dog for her own gain.

The closest that Marvel has come to giving us a villain to root for was Loki, who was introduced as an attention-starved son who dabbled in some world domination before getting a face-turn with his own show, but that was over the course of several movies across multiple MCU Phases. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki was a cornerstone of the franchise for nearly as long as Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and arguably had a more interesting character arc.

Unless they’re trying to set her up as a major character going forward, which hasn’t been hinted by the studio or cast, we are either going to get a sanitized version of the Agatha Harkness we saw in WandaVision or Marvel needs to convince us that she is a villain worth rooting for across a single series. Which can be done, but it needs a delicate touch and some very clever writing, making this one of the most challenging MCU projects that has come out so far.

Want to know what's coming up next in pop culture? Check out our guides to upcoming movies, upcoming TV shows, upcoming comics, and upcoming comic conventions. If you're looking for specific franchises or genres, we have all the upcoming MCU, upcoming Star Wars, upcoming Star Trek, and upcoming DC movies & TV for you. If you're a fan of superheroes and not specific to just Marvel or DC, we have overall guides to all the upcoming superhero movies and upcoming superhero TV shows (and new seasons) as well.