Just How Powerful Is Billy Maximoff, and What Can We Expect From the Character in the MCU?

Even before Agatha All Along debuted, fans were speculating about Joe Locke seemingly being cast as Billy Kaplan/Wiccan from Marvel Comics. While the initial episodes tried to keep his identity a mystery, the latest batch of episodes has confirmed that the mysterious teen is, in fact, the Young Avenger Wiccan. Born Billy Kaplan, the young boy’s body has seemingly been taken over by the soul of Wanda Maximoff and Vision’s son, Billy Maximoff, from WandaVision, following a car crash that seemingly killed the original host.

Being the son of the Scarlet Witch, one of the most powerful characters in Marvel Comics and the MCU, many have wondered just how powerful Wiccan is. While fans have only seen a brief glimpse of his powers in WandaVision and Agatha All Along, in the nearly 20 years since his creation, Marvel Comics has laid down some interesting teases for how powerful he is and, more importantly, how powerful he will grow to become. Here is a breakdown of Billy Kaplan/William Maximoff/Wiccan’s powers in comics, what the MCU has established, and where the franchise could go with the character.

Billy Maximoff Is One of the Most Powerful Magic Users in the Comics

Wiccan has a long, complicated history in the comics. He first appeared as a baby named William Maximoff in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #12 in September 1986 and was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Richard Howell. It was established that the twins Wanda and Vision had were not real but shards of the demon Mephisto. Billy Kaplan made his debut appearance in Young Avengers #1 in April 2005, going under the code name Asgardian before adopting the Wiccan persona in #6. Because he started with the code name Asgardian and modeled himself after Thor, he started out only with lightning-based spells before expanding his powers. While Billy’s powers had limits originally, as he needed to be able to hear his spells, he developed spells he could cast without words. His powers include force fields, flight, mass teleportation, astral projections, illusions, and energy blasts.

Eventually, he discovered his nature as the “son” of the Scarlet Witch. Just like her, he could manipulate magical energies, allowing him to alter and warp reality at will. Fears of his powers matching those of the Scarlet Witch were first teased in Young Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #1 when, during a fight with the supervillain team The Sons of Serpents, Wiccan puts every villain into a coma with just a thought when he got angry. Wiccan released a flash of light so powerful that Carol Danvers thought it was a bomb until Captain America pointed out it was Wiccan.

Wiccan is such a powerful sorcerer that in New Avengers #51 from March 2009, Wiccan was one of the potential candidates to replace Doctor Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. Then, in 2013’s “Battle of the Atom” storyline to celebrate X-Men’s 50th anniversary, a future version of Wiccan traveled back in time and was revealed to be the Sorcerer Supreme from another potential future timeline. Marvel teased Wiccan’s future again in the 2016-2017 comic Doctor Strange and the Sorcerer Supremes.

Doctor Strange travels to a dimension that sees the past and future Sorcerer Supremes together, and it is revealed that Wiccan will become the future Sorcerer Supreme. With Marvel Comics recently having made Doctor Doom the new Sorcerer Supreme following their Blood Hunt event and setting up a new initiative, “One World Under Doom,” the storyline might set up for Wiccan to take over as Sorcerer Supreme from Doctor Doom at the end of the series since Marvel certainly could use the event to not only spotlight their upcoming MCU big bad in Doctor Doom but also the recent popularity and attention around Wiccan.

If being as powerful as the Scarlet Witch and the next Sorcerer Supreme wasn’t enough, Wiccan might also be a god. Young Avengers Vol. 2 has Loki tell Wiccan he is destined to rewrite the rules of magic and ascend to a god-like reality warper. In Young Avengers Vol. 2 #13, one of the final issues in the run, Wiccan achieves this all-powerful status and sees the past, present, and future. Despite being able to alter the universe, he deems himself not ready for such power and relinquishes it. This revelation, combined with what fans already know, points to the life of Billy Kaplan as a journey of ever-growing power. He will go from a boy to a superhero, to the Sorcerer Supreme, and eventually to a god. While currently a young man, he is destined to be more powerful than any current Avenger.

The MCU Has Only Teased Billy Maximoff’s Powers

The most fans have seen of Wiccan’s powers in the MCU are due to four episodes, two in WandaVision Episode 6, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!” and Episode 9, “The Series Finale,” as well as the two most recent episodes of Agatha All Along, “Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power” and “Familiar by Thy Side.”WandaVision showed young Billy Maximoff (Julian Hillard). Billy’s telepathic powers kick in when he senses that Vision is in trouble following his attempt to leave the Westview barrier. This ability is shown more in Agatha All Along. Following his transfer into Billy Kaplan’s body, Wiccan can now hear the thoughts of those around him when someone is stressed.

In “The Series Finale” of WandaVision, Billy displays his magic for the first time. In contrast to the Scarlet Witch’s red magic or Agatha Harkness’s purple, Billy Maximoff’s is blue, and he uses this magical energy to stop a series of bullets. In Agatha All Along, this power extends to control others’ minds as Billy takes control of Jennifer Kale and Lilia Calderu, forcing them to throw Agatha into the mud. He then is able to throw both women back into the mud with this ability. Yet he seemingly doesn’t have full control of his powers and appears to be connected to his emotions.

So far, in just four episodes of television, Billy Maximoff has displayed telepathy and magic that can both throw people and take control of individuals’ minds. This is very similar to how Wanda Maximoff started in the MCU in Avengers: Age of Ultron. This seemingly implies Billy’s powers are equal to his mother’s, and Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have established the Scarlet Witch as one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse.

How Billy Maximoff’s Powers Are Key to the MCU Multiverse Saga

With three episodes to go in Agatha All Along, there is plenty of time to develop Wiccan’s abilities. This is only the beginning of his story. With Wiccan being a founding member of the Young Avengers in the comics, he will undoubtedly be part of whatever team the MCU seemingly has been building towards in Phases 4 and 5 in projects like Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels. Yet, given his history in the comics, Wiccan might be a key figure in the future of the MCU, which could impact Avengers: Secret Wars and beyond.

Rumors are already pointing to the MCU adapting the comic The Children’s Crusade for The Young Avengers project, be it a film or streaming series. That comic also involves Doctor Doom, who fans know will be the main villain in both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. We’ve speculated that Doctor Doom’s plan in Avengers Doomsday will be to take Loki’s throne at the End of Time and mash the various multiverses into one composite world, Battleworld, for Avengers: Secret Wars.

With Wiccan having powers equal to the Scarlet Witch and his god-like status in the comics, Wiccan could potentially assume Loki’s position on the throne following Avengers: Secret Wars and restore the Marvel Multiverse, rebooting the MCU. However, that would likely cut off a lot of potential stories for Wiccan, so it would make more sense that it will be Wanda Maximoff/The Scarlet Witch who redeems herself by restoring reality while reputing the Darkhold prophecy that the Scarlet Witch was destined to destroy the multiverse and instead would save it.

If that is the case, Wiccan could be a new leading face for the MCU following the Multiverse Saga and Phase 6. The MCU is seemingly setting up the X-Men and Fantastic Four to carry the franchise forward and spin off the various Young Avengers characters into new lead roles. Wiccan could easily fill the void that Doctor Strange will likely leave once Benedict Cumberbatch decides to step away from the role, and Wiccan could become the new lead sorcerer of the MCU.

One of the biggest aspects of Wiccan’s character is his relationship with fellow Young Avenger Hulkling, the son of a Kree Prince and a Skrull Princess, the forbidden child of two warring species. Wiccan and Hulkling are two of the most prominent gay characters in Marvel Comics, and Agatha All Along finally delivered on its “gayest MCU series” by having Billy Kaplan not only have a boyfriend but also share a kiss and say, “I love you.” Hulkling and Wiccan’s romance is central to many key storylines that Marvel Studios could adapt in the future and make for an epic romance that spans into the next saga.

In many ways, it would be fitting for Wiccan to be one of the central figures of the MCU moving forward. While not originally planned to be the first Phase 4 entry, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WandaVision became the start of this new era for Marvel Studios, marking the debut of Wiccan. Audiences will have seen Wiccan’s story progress from WandaVision through Agatha All Along, watching his character and powers grow. It certainly wouldn’t be difficult to imagine in 2031, 10 years after Billy Maximoff showed up in WandaVision, that Wiccan is a household name among general audiences and one of the central heroes of the MCU. Agatha All Along is streaming on Disney+.