Agatha All Along Just Debunked a Popular Rio Vidal Fan Theory

Agatha All Along dropped a ton of lore this week and upended one of the most popular pieces of evidence about Rio Vidal’s true identity. Episode 6 is all about Billy Maximoff and how he ended up on The Witches’ Road. One of the big reveals was who placed the sigil on the boy, and it ended up being Lillia Calderu! The divination witch read Billy’s future and tried to protect him. In her haste, she decided to place the sigil on the boy so that he wouldn’t be in danger of some other witch finding him and using his tremendous power for their own gain. However, the power of the sigil makes it so that she wouldn’t remember his identity either. This revelation means one of the earliest clues about Rio Vidal’s true nature was not what it seemed on first blush. The fan base is absolutely shocked by these developments.

When Agatha Harkness was putting together her coven, she took the teen around to all the different witches within the miles radius around Westview. Their early trip to Lilia Calderu left them with a list of names to pursue on this journey. A bunch of Marvel fans’ eyebrows went straight up when she drew a black heart instead of a name for one of the entries. Of course, their imaginations jumped right to Rio Vidal. But, it seems as though the black heart might be from Lilia remembering Billy and not being able to write down his name. It really fits when you think about it and feels so crushing as she was trying to prevent this exact scenario from taking place. Yet and still, destiny came for Billy and she could only protect him for a little while longer.

Agatha All Along Just Debunked a Popular Rio Vidal Fan Theory

Rio Vidal might really never have been meant to travel down The Witches’ Road with the coven at all. Mrs. Hart looks like she was the plan at Green Witch and the other women just panicked when Sharon bit the dust in the first trial. As Rio Vidal crawled into frame, it became clear that the witches did summon her, but this wasn’t a part of Lilia’s roster earlier in the series. The small detail had some Marvel fans believing she could even be Blackheart or some other comics deep cut. (That one theory was massively aided by the idea of Mephisto finally making some sort of appearance in Agatha All Along after being teased multiple times in WandaVision. Now, that theory has taken a bit of a hit as well.

Aubrey Plaza has been very mum on what’s going on with her Marvel character. Despite the relative silence out of Marvel Studios, the fans think they’ve already got this one figured out. A couple of observant viewers noticed that some of Rio Vidal’s costume design slots in nicely with the Death tarot card that debuted earlier in the series. As an existing Marvel Comics character, that does make a measure of sense. Other moments with the Green Witch lock into place too. Her approaching Billy tentatively after his close call in Episode 4, Rio’s disappearance after Alice’s demise, her absence from Billy’s flashbacks during this episode? It’s all very suspicious when you stack it all up. There’s also the matter of her longstanding unspoken relationship with Agatha, and fans think that links back to the death of the Harkness witch’s son.

Rio Vidal Isn’t Blackheart, and That Means The Death Fan Theory Still Has Legs

The bottom line here is that Rio Vidal isn’t going to be some sort of wild pull like Blackheart. Death is much more reasonable guess in this scenario. In addition, a Mephisto appearance seems a bit unlikely, so adjust your expectations accordingly. (Challenge level: impossible.) Plaza’s palpable chemistry with Kathryn Hahn will prove enough of a reward without some massive third act swerve. But, the latest episode helps set Marvel fans on the right track of expectations as the finale looms larger and larger. There are other surprises lurking in Agatha All Along. However, they might not be exactly what people were expecting in those first few chapters.

What was your favorite detail from Agatha All Along Episode 6? Check out all the pop culture discussion over at @ComicBook!