Agatha All Along Teases a Young Avengers Debut - and It's Not Who You Think

Agatha All Along's premiere includes an Easter Egg for the Young Avengers' Hulkling.

By Timothy Adams

Thanks to the two-episode premiere of Agatha All Along, we have an idea of another Young Avenger destined to make their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. Kathryn Hahn steals the show in Agatha All Along, but the streaming series doesn't really get moving until Joe Locke's unnamed Teen helps her recruit a coven to head down the Witches' Road. The Teen is an Agatha Superfan, so he's pretty excited to work with his idol. Many fans are already speculating that Teen is an older Billy, Wanda Maximoff's son in WandaVision and future Young Avenger Wiccan. But what Agatha All Along fans may not have expected was the setup for one of Wiccan's teammates on the Young Avengers.

Warning: Spoilers for Agatha All Along beyond this point!

In Agatha All Along's Episode 2, titled "Circle Sewn With Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate," Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and Teen (Joe Locke) drive around Westview to recruit a handful of witches to join their coven so they can journey down the Witches' Road. Before they head to the first location, Teen gets a call on his cellphone from someone labeled "Boyf" with Blackhand's "On My Mind" playing as the ringtone. The camera pans down to show this individual, who is another young teen with light brown skin and black curly hair. Teen declines the call and tells Agatha, "Sorry. He worries." Then the two get back to their regular conversation.

While this scene appears to be mundane, it likely has more importance than audiences realize. If Agatha All Along's Teen really is Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan, then the boyfriend that's worried about him could be Teddy Altman, aka the Young Avenger Hulkling.

agatha-all-along-young-avengers-teddy-hulkling-easter-egg.jpg
(Photo:

Agatha All Along tease for Hulkling, a member of the Young Avengers

- Marvel Comics)

Who is Hulkling?

Hulkling debuted alongside Wiccan, Iron Lad, Patriot, and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) in 2005's Young Avengers #1. The book took place after "Avengers: Disassembled," with Earth's Mightiest Heroes no longer a team. Each of the Young Avengers mirrored one of the Avengers icon, with Hulkling being the stand-in for Hulk. However, Hulkling's true origin is that he's the child of the Skrull princess Anelle and the Kree warrior Captain Mar-Vell, making Hulkling part-Skrull and part-Kree. The Skrull side of his biology is what allows Hulkling to shape-shift. 

Wiccan and Hulkling enter into a relationship during their time on the Young Avengers, with the couple being one of the more open gay relationships in the Marvel Universe. The Empyre event featured Hulkling finally accepting his role as the prophesized leader of both the Skrull and Kree, with the event concluding with Hulkling taking on the role of Emperor Dorrek-Vell, as well as the long-awaited marriage between Hulkling and Wiccan.

Is Agatha All Along setting up the Young Avengers?

hulkling-young-avengers.jpg
(Photo:

Hulkling on the cover of Marvel's Emperor Hulkling #1

- Marvel Comics)

If Agatha All Along is dropping clues to the Young Avengers, it would join a list of Marvel shows on Disney+ and feature films that have sprinkled the MCU with these characters. WandaVision introduced fans to the twin siblings Billy (Wiccan) and Tommy (Speed); Eli Bradley (Patriot) appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; Loki included Kid Loki; America Chavez was in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; Kate Bishop fought alongside Clint Barton in Hawkeye; Ant-Man's daughter Cassie Lang (Stature/Stinger) was in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and now we have Teddy (Hulkling) possibly in Agatha All Along.

The mid-credits scene in The Marvels also continued the MCU's Young Avengers setup. The scene saw Ms. Marvel head to New York to recruit Kate Bishop, telling the young Hawkeye that she was putting a team together, similar to Nick Fury's cameo in the first Iron Man movie. Ms. Marvel also referenced Cassie Lang when speaking to Kate Bishop.

While Ms. Marvel has not been on an official Young Avengers team in the comics, she would make for an easy inclusion in the MCU. Also, they way they have Ms. Marvel doing the recruiting, she could possibly even be their leader. Ms. Marvel led a similar team in the comics when she was joined by Miles Morales and Nova (Sam Alexander). Calling themselves Champions, the team had an expansive roster of young Marvel heroes that included Ironheart, Brawn (Amadeus Cho), Power Man, Patriot, Falcon (Joaquin Torres from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World), and Vision's daughter Viv.

Related:

While there isn't an ongoing Young Avengers comic being published by Marvel, the company did announced a New Champions series featuring an all-new cast of young teen heroes.

The first two episodes of Agatha All Along are now streaming on Disney+.

Trending Now: