Agnes’ Ralph References Secretly Gave Away WandaVision’s Twist

WandaVision episode 7 arrived with a big twist as it revealed who has been behind many events in Westview: Agnes (Kathryn Hahn), who is actually Agatha Harkness, and whose constant references to her unseen husband “Ralph” could have given away this big reveal. The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps expanding now that the Infinity Saga came to an end with Spider-Man: Far From Home, and its new era of content will not only cover movies but also television/streaming, with a long list of TV shows set to stream exclusively on Disney+.

Kicking off this new era is WandaVision, a TV show centered on Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision follows Wanda and Vision as they live an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, with each episode done in the style of sitcoms from different decades. Viewers soon learned that things are not what they seem in Westview, and there are a lot of secrets waiting to be uncovered, including the motivations of the villain of the show. Living next to Wanda and Vision’s place is Agnes, the “nosy neighbor” who in episode 5 gave hints of her being aware that Wanda is in some control of Westview and its residents, but it was all part of her own game.

Episode 7 of WandaVision revealed that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, a powerful sorceress, who in the show has been the puppet master behind Herb cutting the wall, Vision starting to question his surroundings, and the recast of Pietro/Quicksilver, now played by Evan Peters rather than Aaron Taylor-Johnson. As part of her role as the nosy yet friendly neighbor who always arrived at the right time with the solution to everything, Agnes kept on mentioning her husband “Ralph”, who hasn’t appeared in WandaVision, making way for many theories on whether he’s real or not and if he could actually be someone else, such as Mephisto (a villain used in many WandaVision theories given all the references to him throughout the show). However, the mysterious Ralph could actually be a reference to a lesser-known character from Marvel Comics, and through him, Marvel could have been subtly hinting at WandaVision’s big twist.

This character is Ralph Halley, and he’s a student and practitioner of black magic, through which he could apparently transform himself into different things. Ralph married a wealthy woman named Helen, and he then began to acquire and study various books on the occult, eventually learning a spell to transform himself. Helen feared that these practices would drive him mad and would try to kill her so he could inherit her money, a suspicion only made bigger when Helen came across a mouse she was sure was Ralph, as he knew she was deathly afraid of rodents and there were no mice in their house. Helen sought Dr. Springer for help but he didn’t believe her at first, and it wasn’t until he saw how aggressive Ralph was that he became concerned. Ralph died at his home in strange circumstances as something delivered a fatal blow to his neck and broke it, but Helen was too small to be the killer. Springer then found all his books, of which one had a spell titled “How To Change Into Animals”, and the police found a mouse-trap under Ralph’s corpse.

Among the many books Ralph owned was quite possibly the Necronomicon, a powerful book of black magic in the Marvel Universe. In the comics, Scarlet Witch considered the Necronomicon to be an abomination and believed all copies had been destroyed, but Agatha told her the book could help her with her demon problems. Agnes’ many references to her husband Ralph could be a subtle reference to Ralph Halley and even the Necronomicon, which could be the mysterious book Wanda found in Agnes’ lair. WandaVision is packed with details and Easter eggs not only from the MCU but Marvel Comics as well, and the big twist to Agnes’ identity could have always been there and the clues delivered by her in what many believed to be a running gag.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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