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Credit: Marvel StudiosMarvel Studios’ inaugural Disney+ (Disney Plus) original series, WandaVision (2021), has been highlighted by Marvel President Kevin Feige as a key direction in which to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and its Multiverse Saga.
Related: Disney’s Halloween Marvel Release Will Be the Most Queer the Franchise Has Ever Been
The plan is to follow up the fan-favorite Marvel series with two exciting spinoffs.
The first is the upcoming Vision Quest, starring Paul Bettany as the White Vision version of the character from WandaVision, likely off to create a robot family of his own. The second is Agatha All Along, a spooky season-appropriate series centered on Kathryn Hahn’s character, Agatha Harkness, which debuted September 18.
Originally titled Agatha: House of Harkness by Marvel, the witchy new Marvel Television show underwent several title changes. From Agatha: Coven of Chaos to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, it was even called Agatha: The Lying Witch with Great Wardrobe at one point — all part of a clever marketing gimmick from Marvel Studios.
The title has now been simplified to the simple but effective Agatha All Along, a nod to the fan-favorite WandaVision jingle.
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Why Are Fans Angry With Marvel’s New Disney+ Series?
Kathryn Hahn’s coven of misfit witches faces a magical gauntlet of “tricks and trials” while traveling down the legendary Witches Road, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday.
As usual, it’s the anti-“M-She-U” or “anti-woke” crowd that’s banding together to review bomb the new Marvel show. Why, you may ask? Well, because it’s led by a female hero, and because it’s a particularly queer series with main characters who are LGBTQ+.
Led by WandaVision director Jac Schaeffer, Agatha All Along embraces a campy, fun-loving approach for the Halloween season. It is inspired by the success of songs from the original WandaVision show, incorporating “Agatha All Along” songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez’s new music, exploring a refreshing “horror-meets-musical theater” aspect of the MCU.
Despite the anti-Agatha All Along fan campaign, the series has nevertheless garnered an impressive reception, with 9.3 million views in its first week and positive reviews from critics. That isn’t stopping haters of the series, however, who are banding together to take the show down with negative reviews on the show’s IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes pages.
Noticing this flood of one-star reviews within the first hour that the show dropped — indicating that these “reviewers” were not even watching the first two episodes on release day — fans have mobilized to counter the (unwarranted) low review scores.
X/Twitter’s Scarlet Witch Updates shared the news, urging fans to rate Agatha All Along to bump the show’s score to a more fair position. Users like Marvelous Gamer shared screenshots of these reviews, backing up the original post:
Scarlet Witch Updates: Please go rate #AgathaAllAlong on IMDb because it got review bombed.
Here: 🔗https://imdb.com/title/tt15571732/
Also Rotten Tomatoes: 🔗https://rottentomatoes.com/tv/agatha_all_alongMarvelous Gamer (in reply): When the show first dropped within the first hour, the 1 star numbers were in the high hundreds.
When the show first dropped within the first hour, the 1 star numbers were in the high hundreds. pic.twitter.com/G1TGd6QfbJ
— Marvelous Gamer (@Mar_DC767620022) September 28, 2024
Of course, this has led fans of the new Halloween-y series to begin rating the series with their own reviews, effectively pulling the initial “6/10” score on IMDb to the current “6.8/10”, nearly a whole number rating higher than before. The show also now sits as one of the top shows on the site that are currently airing, in the fourth position at the time of writing.
User @heartstperxjoe urged fans to rate the show to counter the deliberate actions of haters wanting to lower the score. Several screenshotted half-star reviews were highlighted:
please go make an account on rotten tomatoes and rate the show because a bunch of misogynistic homophobes who clearly haven’t even watched it are desperately trying to lower the score right now. #AgathaAllAlong
(text in four images): “More trash with an agenda. Don’t waste your time. I would say that it could only get better but Marvel
and Disney have shown us that yes….they CAN make it worse.”
“really bad on every single level as to be expected with so much modern media”
“This was really insufferable, it’s look like was
making bad on purpose”“When the cast themselves say it’s the gayest marvel show/movie to date… That proves a show doesn’t need to be good/interesting, you just need to pander to certain demographics. This makes The Acolyte look like Citizen Kanew.. The WBS Charmed had more going for it.”
“This stupidity with MCU must to stop. Who cares about Agatha? Who even knew of her existence. They keep making TV shows about insignificant characters who once appeared in a tiny square of a Marvel comic.”
please go make an account on rotten tomatoes and rate the show because a bunch of misogynistic homophobes who clearly haven't even watched it are desperately trying to lower the score right now. #AgathaAllAlong pic.twitter.com/rpFjm8mxqg
— rei 🌧️ loves joe locke (@heartstperxjoe) September 20, 2024
User @CraazyIdiot notes that the haters are having a “meltdown” over the show, calling the review-bombers “braindead” for their actions:
The chuds are having such a meltdown and I’m living for it lmaoo. I just hope Agatha gets a new season, just to piss off the braindead incels.
The chuds are having such a meltdown and I'm living for it lmaoo. I just hope Agatha gets a new season, just to piss off the braindead incels.
— D. V. (@CraazyIdiot) September 28, 2024
Increasing the number of reviews may help shift the needle towards more accurately reflecting public sentiment. Hopefully, unique projects that dare to take risks within the frequently risk-averse MCU will get their time of day and will not be edged out of the superhero franchise altogether by the actions of the immature few.
What do you think of Agatha All Along getting review-bombed? Have you watched the show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
More on Agatha All Along
Broadway legend Patti LuPone (queer icon in her own right) plays the kooky divination witch Lilia Calderu in Agatha’s coven. LuPone expressed a ton of enthusiasm for her role — essentially getting in trouble with Disney and Marvel Studios for “pulling a Tom Holland.”
The series also introduces potions witch sorceress Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), protection witch Alice Wu Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Debra Jo Rupp as Mrs Hart/Sharon Davis, and the green witch Rio Vidal (played by Aubrey Plaza). Multiple insiders shared earlier in the series’ production timeline that Plaza’s Vidal would be Agatha Harkness’s jilted former lover.
Heartstopper‘s Joe Locke also joins the cast as the mysterious “Teen” — rumored to be Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch’s son Wiccan/Billy Maximoff (or Billy Kaplan in the Marvel comics).