Joe Locke's Teen and Aubrey Plaza's Rio Vidal aren't the only characters shrouded in mystery in new Marvel series Agatha All Along. A follow-up to the hit Disney Plus show WandaVision, it follows Kathryn Hahn's Salem spell-caster as she rounds up her own coven and sets off down the infamous Witches' Road, which supposedly has the power to grant its most intrepid wanderers what they desire most.
In the comics, Agatha Harkness is a nanny for the Fantastic Four's Reed Richards and Sue Storm, but also the mother of Nicholas Scratch, a villainous warlock who's aligned himself with the likes of Dormammu and Mephisto in his quest to become Sorcerer Supreme. And, well, he seems to be quite the focus on the new show, too...
Four episodes in, and Nick has yet to be explicitly seen, but that hasn't stopped fans from wondering if he's been hiding in plain sight.
After being namedropped in episode 1, and referenced in subsequent installments, viewers have put their thinking caps on and started coming up with theories as to who he really is, and what really happened to him. We dive into them below...
With that, it should go without saying that this article contains major spoilers for Agatha All Along episodes 1 to 4. If you've yet to tune in, and don't want to know anything that happens, turn back now and come back another time!
Is Señor Scratchy Agatha's son Nicholas?
In Agatha All Along's latest chapter 'If I Can't Reach You, Let My Song Teach You", Agatha seems more convinced than ever that Teen is her son, Nicholas Scratch, but at the end of the episode, Aubrey Plaza's Rio Vidal candidly tells her: "That boy isn't yours." With that, we can rule out that theory... for now at least.
If you cast your minds back to episode 2, Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) jokingly asks Agatha whether Teen is "another child sacrifice", which has led other fans to wonder what became of her son Nicholas. In episode 3, Jennifer then pulls Teen aside and warns him not to trust Agatha. When he quizzes her as to why, Jennifer says that Agatha was rumored to have traded Nicholas for the Book of the Damned, AKA the Darkhold. If she gave up her own son to gain more knowledge and power, what might she be willing to do to her new coven?
Later on in 'Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials', each witch – poisoned by the wine they've been forced to drink to move on to the next trial – suffers terrible visions representing their darkest fears. Alice (Ali Ahn) sees her mother, Jennifer sees the man who bound her, and Lilia (Patti LuPone) sees two death-like figures.
Having initially resisted drinking the wine, Agatha guzzles down a glass and soon imagines a crib in the corner of the kitchen. She wanders up to it and pulls back the comforter, only to find the Darkhold inside. She stumbles back in fright but when the others ask her what she saw, she brushes them off. Guess it wasn't so much of a rumor after all?
"I do assume she sacrificed Nicholas in some capacity to get the Darkhold. But whether he died or was turned into a bunny or reincarnated into someone else still remains to be seen," tweeted Shawn AKA @wicklingstan. "Either way, it seems that could be the primary motivator for Rio and/or the Salem Seven."
I do assume she sacrificed Nicholas in some capacity to get the Darkhold. But whether he died or was turned into a bunny or reincarnated into someone else still remains to be seen. Either way, it seems that could be the primary motivator for Rio and/or the Salem Seven. pic.twitter.com/iWKeSMljN3September 21, 2024
"Okay so Señor Scratchy is definitely gonna be Nicholas Scratch turned rabbit," wrote Bronco AKA @upsidedwnbronco.
Plenty of others back the idea that Señor Scratchy, Agatha's pet rabbit, could actually be Nicholas, too. As someone else took to social media to point out, Nicholas' choir award, which can be seen in his untouched bedroom in detective Agnes' home in episode 1, stands next to a bunny ornament. Later, in Agnes' office, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment where a plant on a unit behind Agnes briefly turns into an old-school looking photo of a young boy, before reverting back to being a plant. The most interesting thing? Both the plant and the photo are next to another bunny decoration...
I just noticed in episode 1 of #AgathaAllAlong in her imagined detectives office, in one shot we see a rabbit statue next to a potted plant and then less than a second later it’s suddenly next to a photo of a young boy instead..plant gone. these are literally back to back shots pic.twitter.com/VbnIudH1zTSeptember 19, 2024
Maybe it's just obvious bait that I fell for, but my current theory is (as some theorized during WandaVision) that Señor Scratchy is indeed #AgathaHarkness's son Nicholas Scratch, trapped in rabbit form by his own mother during her initial quest for the Darkhold.#AgathaAllAlongSeptember 19, 2024
What if senor scratchy was the nickname given to the rabbit by Nicholas scratch?September 19, 2024
"What I would say is that there's a lot in the pilot to examine. It feels a little bit like a trick, and like something that we do and then we move on," showrunner Jac Schaeffer previously told The Wrap. "But it is worth a viewer's time to pay attention to what they’re seeing in the pilot."
In the comics, Salem's Seven are Nicholas's shapeshifting children, and given that they featured in the two-episode premiere, we can assume that Agatha's son is going to play a role going forward. It doesn't really seem like a coincidence that Teen randomly picks Señor Scratchy up in 'Circle Sewn with Fate/Unlock Thy Hidden Gate' right before he sees the septet descend upon Westview. Looks like it's going to be a while, though, before fans' theories are either debunked or proven right...
Like the onscreen version, Agatha has a complicated relationship with Nicholas in the source material, having grown up resentful of his mother – who was employed as a nanny for Reed Richards and Sue Storm – integrating herself into the outside, non-magical world. Nicholas often went up against the Fantastic Four and Agatha, inadvertently getting himself banished to the Dark Realm following one fateful fight.
Throughout his run, he was aligned himself with Mephisto and Dormammu, a name Doctor Strange fans will recognize, in his pursuit of becoming the Sorcerer Supreme.
Agatha All Along episodes 1 to 4 are streaming now. Ensure you don't miss a thing with our Agatha All Along release schedule. For more on the wider MCU, check out our guide to all of the upcoming Marvel movies and shows or get up to speed with our breakdown of the Marvel timeline.
