The Witches’ Road played a big part in the plot of Agatha All Along, is a relatively recent addition to Marvel Comics lore. This addition to the universe first came in the 2015-2017 Scarlet Witch series, in issue #3, and was created by writer James Robinson and artist Steve Dillon. This series came after a decade-long period of instability for the character of Wanda Maximoff, and the Witches’ Road helped set her on the path to full redemption. But to explain the Witches’ Road, we have to briefly explain the modern history of the Scarlet Witch first.
The Fall and Rise of the Scarlet Witch
The 2004 event Avengers Disassembled had the Scarlet Witch lose control of her chaos magic, nearly destroying the Avengers and killing several teammates. This is after she learned her children were merely magical constructs, and not flesh and blood. Afterward, she decimated the mutant race in House of M. She vanished for years, until coming under the control of Doctor Doom. She was finally freed from his influence in Young Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, and embarked on a new life where she tried to redeem her heroic legacy.
The First Scarlet Witch Ongoing Series Introduces the Witches’ Road
In James Robinson’s Scarlet Witch series, the newly returned Wanda learns that witchcraft itself is broken. Magic is no longer working correctly for the witch community around the globe. To get to the bottom of the mystery, she journeys to the mystical realm known as the Witches’ Road. She embarks on this quest with her guide and former mentor, the witch Agatha Harkness. In the comics, the pair were not adversaries as they are in the MCU. Agatha actually tutored Wanda in the use of magic, beyond her own mutant powers. Wanda learns that only witches and other magic users can travel on the Road.
When Wanda embarks on the Witches’ Road, she faces a series of trials over the course of the fifteen-issue series. She learns more about herself, discovering that her superhero name “The Scarlet Witch” is actually a title first used by her birth mother, Natalya Maximoff. This idea found its way into the MCU in WandaVision, with the name Scarlet Witch also being a formal title assigned to a powerful being, and not just a heroic codename.
The Many Trials of the Witches’ Road
As part of her trials on the Witches’ Road, Wanda comes up against various spirits, creatures, sorcerers, and demons. Although Wanda is on the Witches’ Road for several weeks, time passes far slower on Earth than on the Road. In our world, only hours have passed. She eventually learns that the battles she fought on the Road were caused by the entity called Chaos, who is the source of her own Chaos Magic. Chaos was attacking Witchcraft, itself an entity that is the source of all the witches’ powers. It was the attack from Chaos that caused the sickness in witchcraft across the world.
In the end, Wanda’s final trial is facing her own traumatic past, and all the pain and suffering she caused. Not only to her fellow Avengers, but also the mutant community. She must also confront what others did to her, especially her adopted father, Magneto. Wanda, along with Agatha and her mother, find a way to save the entity Witchcraft by combining into the so-called “Witches’ Trio,” the Mother (Natalya), the Maiden (Wanda) and the Crone (Agatha). The powers of Witchcraft and Chaos then combine in Wanda, making her the most powerful witch in the Marvel Universe.
The MCU Version of the Witches’ Road in Agatha All Along
For most of Agatha All Along, we believed that the basics of the Witches’ Road remain the same in the MCU. It was another dimension with its own magical rules that governed reality. A realm with many separate trials only a true witch could face. It’s a realm that only witches and other magically inclined people can access as well. In the series, most witches think of the road as a myth. Yet some believed it was a real place.
Well, in the end, it did indeed turn out to be a myth. Agatha concocted it to lure unsuspecting witches into a coven and drain them of their magic, a giant con she pulled for centuries. It only truly became real when Billy Maximoff used his power to create it under Westview. This is similar to the hex his mother used to shape Westview to her needs in WandaVision. The Witches’ Road Billy creates is based solely on his imagination. Does is still exist? We never saw Billy break his own spell so future witches might indeed travel down the road. Only time will tell.
