When people have talked about the future of the on-screen Avengers in a post-Endgame world, two of the names most often brought up as leaders of a new iteration of the team are Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. There will need to be new Avengers taking charge after the deaths/departures of cornerstone characters like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff. Spider-Man makes sense, given his age, popularity, and longstanding history with previous Avengers icons. Doctor Strange, though, has never felt like a real future-thinking answer for the magical pillar the Avengers need. How much longer are we going to keep demanding Benedict Cumberbatch dress up in a cape and make funny hands in front of a green screen?
Whether it was planned this way or not, Marvel just made things much easier on the franchise by swiftly developing a Doctor Strange replacement that’s not only younger, but far more interesting at this point in the MCU’s story. We are talking, of course, about Billy Kaplan.
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Also known by the alter ego Wiccan, Billy is one of the two sons of the Scarlet Witch, and has been a key piece of the Young Avengers teams in Marvel Comics for quite a while. He was a minor character in WandaVision, but Agatha All Along finally brought him into young adulthood and laid the groundwork for him to become a fixture in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Billy has a fascinating origin story and a ton of conflict from his past that still hasn’t been resolved. He’s one soul that has taken over a second body. He’s on the search for his missing twin brother — that he may or may not have sent into another dead body. He’s got a mentor in the form of a powerful witch’s ghost. Not to mention he’s almost just as powerful as his mother, who was considered the most powerful character in the universe for a time.
Anything Doctor Strange can do, Billy can probably to better (after a little training). When you factor in all of the drama that comes with that character after Agatha All Along, and the fear that comes with being the son of the Scarlet Witch, you’ve got a character that demands to be on-screen as much as possible moving forward.
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On top of all that, you’ve got a young and incredibly talented star-on-the-rise portraying Billy, who could easily help anchor the MCU for a decade or more moving forward. Joe Locke is best known for his starring turn in the hit Netflix series Heartstopper (he was also phenomenal in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd earlier this year). Since that show debuted, he has been quickly garnering attention from TV fans around the world. After Agatha All Along, he’s got a shot to become one of the most in-demand young actors around.
Locke was a scene-stealer throughout the nine episodes of Agatha All Along. Do you have any idea how hard that is when you’re sharing those scenes with Kathryn Hahn and Patti LuPone? Billy’s story required an actor who could hold their own in heavily emotional situations, but could also keep up with some incredible comedic performers. Locke had absolutely no problem toeing that line, gliding between acting worlds at will. There were a couple of episodes where he essentially had to carry the entire show on his shoulders, and those turned out to be some of the best episodes of the series.
This is an actor who has more than enough talent to be a face of Marvel heroes on screens both big and small. He also happens to be just 21 years old and tied to a character with more story possibility than almost anyone else in the MCU. Alongside Tom Holland and Iman Vellani, Locke is ready to take the next step and help anchor the next generation of Marvel’s long-running franchise.
