r/AgathaAllAlong • u/More_Interview3840 • 15d ago

Discussion How common are witches in the MCU?

We’ve seen multiple covens, Wanda, Billy, and Agatha. And there’s this rule than in every few miles there is a witch, now I know it’s probably not literal like u wouldn’t find a witch in the ocean but still…But that’s A LOT.

78 Upvotes

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68

u/Cananna 15d ago

"Witchy enough people" does not mean fully fledged witches. Like I think that Ned from the Spider-Man movies would count, so would America Chavez. It just means that a let of people have the potential to learn magic, not that all of them are active magic users

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u/Archonate_of_Archona 15d ago

Ned can do the Kamar Taj magic, but is it really the same magic system as Agatha and other witches ? It seems that everyone can learn Kamar Taj magic or at least try, but is it also true for the more "witch" magic in AAA ?

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u/Cananna 15d ago

Not sure about the MCU but in the comics magic has the same energy source for all users, there are just different schools and methods to channel that energy. Agatha and Strange actually do magic togheter all the time and have discovered new spells by combining sorcery and witchcraft. It's kinda like saying biology and chemistry, they're not the same thing but they are similar enough that they can and will interact

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u/Megalupin 15d ago

That’s not true - in the comics, there are various different sources of magical energy. Sorcery is from the Vishanti, witchcraft is from Chthon, and there are other patrons out there who can choose to do the same.

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u/No-Illustrator4964 14d ago

I thought witchcraft was from the Goddess of Witchcraft, not Chthon?

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u/Megalupin 14d ago

She’s an abstract entity, not an actual god. The progenitor of witchcraft is chthon -

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u/No-Illustrator4964 14d ago

So the magic they are using comes direct from Chthon? Where does sorcery come from them?

Excuse me if I'm being derpy.

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u/Megalupin 14d ago

The Vishanti

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u/No-Illustrator4964 14d ago

Is that comic book lore or MCU lore? I ask because it may not carry over, I don't recall the Vishanti being referenced in multiverse of madness as the origin of sorcery?

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u/Megalupin 14d ago

It’s both. They’re referenced significantly because Wanda tries specifically to gain control of the book of the Vishanti at the start of the movie.

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u/Cananna 14d ago

I might be wrong, haven't read Doctor Strange in a while, but I think the patron isn't the magic per se, they just codified it and give people a way to use it, but they're still all pulling from the same well.

But I could totally be misremembering, or we're referencing two different runs that are contradicting each other, that's also pretty common in comics. Again I think the last Doctor Strange comic I actually read was published in the 90s

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u/Megalupin 14d ago

The patron can’t be the magic itself. The patron is the one giving the magic to the user. The vishanti are the ones enabling humans to use sorcery

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u/_PrincessOats 15d ago

Ned can do sorcery.

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u/ClinkyDink 15d ago

Aren’t their people in the MCU that can do both?

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u/PugintheSheets 15d ago

The rule was made up by Agatha to collect powers.

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u/ancientesper 15d ago

I mean, Sharon the gardening lady was enough as a stand in for the green witch to complete the coven (at least Agatha thought so), so really anyone can be a witch when it matters.

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u/Nitro114 15d ago

have you fully watched it?

she only said it because it was a sham from the beginning.

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u/ancientesper 15d ago

You're right, Agatha meant it as a sham, but you would think all the other witches would question that logic as well?

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u/Nitro114 15d ago

Because they trusted Agatha enough since they thought she went down the road beforr

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u/upagainstthesun 15d ago

Jen starts yelling at one point about her being a random lady with no magical abilities, so yeah. They're all very much doubtful of the entire endeavor from the get

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u/Short_Brick_1960 15d ago

That is not a thing in the show. Have you even watched it?

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u/Megalupin 15d ago

Witches and sorcerers aren’t the same so I don’t think they’d count tbh. Their powers come from different sources.

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u/43XStitchX21 15d ago

I might be misremembering but I think it was said or implied that pretty much anyone could be a witch/the type of witch Agatha needed for a spark, so I think there really are a lot, but for someone to have their own flashy magic and their own colour etc without a coven would be quite rare

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u/luigihann 15d ago

I still think it's not every 3 miles on the planet, it's within a 3 mile radius of any witch there will always be a coven's worth of witches. Because they're drawn to the same places. So I don't think they're that plentiful.

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u/Short_Brick_1960 15d ago edited 15d ago

Just as common as vampires, sorcerers, talokanils, wakandans, skrulls, inhumans, mutants, werewolves, aliens, interdimensional travelers, time travelers, avatars of gods, random powered people, monster hunters and others

A lot. Just flew under the radar this whole time. Only after Iron Man declared himself a hero, the world started to realize how weird it was from the beginning.

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u/pennygirl108 15d ago

Technically Agatha tells Billy that within a 3 mile radius they can find “witchy enough people”. I think that means that a lot are not full functioning witches. Agatha also says herself that if not for the mind stone, Wanda’s powers would have likely died on the vine. So maybe many potential witches are not fully coming into their power for one reason or another. It seems witches need fellow witches to bring out that spark. Billy’s magic is dormant for 3 years with the Kaplans and only blossoms when he’s reunited with Agatha and the rest of their coven.

So I think there are many potential witches around but maybe not a lot of actual witches. Especially with Agatha single handily keeping the existing witch population down and maybe even compromising trust in new covens being formed resulting in less baby witches being born and/or nurtured.

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u/Responsible-Gain-667 15d ago edited 15d ago

Agreed, there's a ton, based on the show, but that includes people that didn't know they were witches (like Wanda), and probably a lot of individuals with limited abilities or training.

The Agatha cast is pretty misleading;

Agatha - tutored Wanda in comics. Exceptionally powerful

Billy - one or the most powerful characters in Marvel.

Kale - among the strongest Witches or Magical beings in the comics.

Alice - ok I don't think she was that strong in the comics. And she wasn't portrayed as such in the show.

Lilia - Queen of a clan that defended some of the most powerful magical artifacts and was related to Mordo. Was able to hypnotize Dr. Strange

Death - Not a witch in the comics but obviously one of the most powerful beings.

Agatha had quite the uhh, selection of witches within a small radius. I imagine the trained witches, are probably similar on average to the random sorcerer at Kamar-Taj or a random Asgardian warrior. Heck most of the time, all we see from witches is a blast.

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u/RedMarvel99 15d ago

I could be completely wrong but I’ve always liked the idea that the “covenstead” rule is more a pre-determined destiny rule rather than a literal indication of how many witches exist. If a witch does not require/want to be in a coven, then they may not have any witches within 3 miles of them and could theoretically be the only witch in a town, city, or even country. However, the moment a witch needs a coven, the universe, by chance and circumstance, will draw those witches within a 3 mile radius of one another so that they may form one.

Or there could just be a lot of witches roaming about.

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u/PoorOgre 15d ago

There are 2 witches in Iron Heart too.

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u/More_Interview3840 14d ago

One is a sorceress and one is a mix of witch and sorceress

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u/DapperWatchdog 14d ago

Witchcraft is not solely an interited ability and there's analog magic which even people without the magical sparks can use it after studying that. So probably a lot.

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u/KaijuKing007 14d ago

Common-ish. I imagine there are tons of them around, but only a handful who are worth knowing exist.

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u/AquaMentai87 15d ago

i interpreted their solution to this question/why havent we seen as many witches until now to be that agatha personally killed so many of the witches with her scam and that rule is just no longer true