Why Joe Locke playing Billy Maximoff in Agatha All Along is huge for gay Marvel fans

Joe Locke’s ‘Teen’ has officially been revealed as Billy Maximoff aka Wiccan in Agatha All Along, finally giving queer fans hope for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Warning: Spooky spoilers for Agatha All Along episode 5 ahead.

The state of queer heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – the on-screen adaptation of Marvel’s colourful roster of comic book characters – is just that; a bit of a state.

After the MCU’s genesis in 2008 with Iron Man, the franchise has ballooned with 33 subsequent films and 13 TV series (including two series of Loki and What If… each). Across those numerous projects, there have been – and we’re being liberal here – a handful of outwardly queer heroes.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) contained a blink-and-you’ll miss it kiss between two female Dora Milaje warriors, one of whom was played by Michaela Coel, which was cut from release in some territories; Thor: Ragnarok‘s Valkyrie is ‘canonically bisexual’, but a kissing scene was cut from the 2017 film. Fans got a fully fleshed out gay superhero was in Eternals (2021) character Phastos, who was played by Bryan Tyree Henry, and had a husband and kids – but plans for a sequel have since been scrapped.  

Agatha All Along star Locke even admitted that the MCU was “behind the times” when it came to gay representation in pre-premiere publicity for the WandaVision spin-off. Well, not any more.

The end of episode five of Agatha All Along saw a big reveal for Joe Locke’s ‘Teen’ character that no-one (quite literally everyone) saw coming.

After getting royally p*ssed off with the perpetually selfish Agatha (Kathryn Hahn), ‘Teen’ tells her that, for him, witchcraft, isn’t about power, to which Agatha snarls, “You’re just like your mother,” before she’s thrown into a mud pit by Jen and Lilia, under ‘Teen’s’ control.

‘Teen’s’ mother, for the uninitiated, is Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), aka the Scarlet Witch with whom Agatha beefed all throughout WandaVision – making ‘Teen’ Billy Maximoff, or as many comic book readers will know him, Wiccan. And that’s a really big deal for the rest of Agatha All Along – but it’s an even bigger deal for queer Marvel fans.

As we head into the final four episodes of Agatha All Along, it’s sure to be a wild ride – but assuming Wiccan doesn’t meet an untimely demise (admittedly a possibility, with Agatha calling the shots) then finally, finally, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has an out, gay superhero who doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere any time soon.

An early episode of Agatha All Along already confirmed Teen’s sexuality when he received a call from his boyfriend. In the comics, Wiccan is a magic user who is often depicted as dating Hulkling, a shapeshifter who many fans have ‘cast’ as Locke’s Heartstopper co-star, Kit Connor. A natural progression for Wiccan would be for us to see that relationship on-screen, Connor or not.

There’s also a few pieces of hard evidence that show that a younger group of heroes could be where the MCU is headed: in recent releases, Marvel has been introducing some choice descendants and protegés of legacy heroes, taking up some of the biggest mantles in the MCU. Some might even call them… Young Avengers.

The Young Avengers is a team that, at various points, has featured both Wiccan and Hulkling, along with but not limited to Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye (Hailee Steinfeld), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), all of whom have now graced our screens in the MCU. Hawkeye was even ‘recruited’ by Ms. Marvel at the end of The Marvels (2023), and according to Production Weekly via Fiction Horizon, a Young Avengers project was “in active development” in early 2024.

Should Agatha All Along end with Wiccan alive, the MCU finally looks set to, pardon the phrase, assemble the Young Avengers – with Joe Locke’s proudly gay superhero at their forefront. Anyone have Kit Connor’s agent’s number?