'Agatha All Along': Did Billy Really 'Save' His Brother? The Sad Backstory of Tommy Shepherd
A rough road ahead.
WARNING! SPOILERS for Agatha All Along.
After being first introduced in WandaVision as the magically conceived twin sons of The Vision and Wanda Maximoff, it was clear that Tommy and Billy Maximoff were a vital building block towards the future of the MCU, with both characters becoming members of the Young Avengers in the comics.
A mid-point twist in WandaVision's sequel series Agatha All Along revealed that the mysterious Teen was actually Billy Maximoff, having reincarnated via inhabiting the body of Eastview teenager William Kaplan, and that rather than seeking power at the end of the Witches' Road, he was seeking a way to restore Tommy, his twin brother. He seemingly accomplishes this in episode eight, with Agatha aiding him in finding a body for Tommy's soul to inhabit.
Going by what we know from the comics, Billy has most likely placed Tommy's soul in the dying body of a boy named Thomas Shepherd. Unfortunately, unlike Billy who landed on his feet with loving, attentive parents in the form of Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan, Tommy does not seem to be so lucky.
A Not-So-Charmed Life
In the comics, Tommy, like Billy, was born to The Vision and his wife, Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. In this and most other media, he is usually stated to be the eldest of Wanda's twins. Sadly, Wanda had unknowingly drawn the twins' souls from splintered soul-fragments of the demon Mephisto, who eventually reabsorbed them, to Wanda's great despair. However, the love they had experienced as Wanda's children altered them permanently, and so the fragments that had been Tommy and Billy were expelled from Mephisto, and reincarnated into knew bodies.
Billy was born into a relatively happy family as the eldest of Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan's three sons. Tommy was not so lucky.
He reincarnated as Thomas Shepherd, the only son of Frank and Mary Shepherd. A troubled couple, Frank and Mary divorced while Tommy was still young, and his very few references to them over the years do not paint them in a positive light. While he stops short of confirming abuse, at the very least he was somewhat neglected.
When his powers of super-speed manifested as a teenager, Tommy initially struggled to control them. This resulted in him inadvertently causing damage, and being labelled a problem child, ending up in and out of Juvenile detention. After accidentally 'vaporising' his high school, Tommy was placed in a high-security facility with robotic guards and power-dampening cells. When it became clear that his parents were not interested in fighting to free him, and would probably not come looking were he to disappear, he was forced into a regimen of experimentation to transform him into a living weapon.
Becoming Speed
Unbeknownst to Tommy, his presence and powers had been detected by a secret Avengers fail-safe program, intended to help recruit the next generation of Earth's heroes if the Avengers were to become defunct. Desperate for help to rescue teammate Hulkling after he had been kidnapped by Kree soldiers who plan to execute him (Hulkling is a Kree-Skrull hybrid, and thus an abomination through Kree eyes), the recently formed Young Avengers use the program to locate Tommy, breaking him out of the aforementioned facility.
It is during this jailbreak that he first meets Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan, and Cassie Lang notes that the pair are near identical. Tommy helps rescue Hulkling, after which he officially joins the Young Avengers under the codename Speed.
Tommy is eager to prove himself as a hero, fearing he may be returned to the facility if he does not. He usually attempts to hide his fears behind bravado. However, his troubled past helps him, and subsequently the other Young Avengers, connect with the Runaways, a group of young superpowered individuals who have fled their homes after discovering all their parents are part of a supervillain cult.
Finding the Scarlet Witch
Soon after meeting Tommy, Billy forms the theory that, due to their names and their powers matching those of the Maximoff twins, the two of them are soul-twins, and reincarnations of the Scarlet Witch's lost sons. Tommy, due to his already troubled family background, initially resists this idea. However, despite the fact that he and Billy often irritate each other, he eventually embraces having a brother, though insists that he is still older, and agrees to join Wiccan's hunt for the Scarlet Witch.
The search bears fruit in 'Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade'. The team locate Wanda Maximoff, who, after recovering from a bout of amnesia, confirms Wiccan's suspicions that he and Speed are her reincarnated sons. Tommy refuses to allow himself to be excited over this revelation, as he believes Wanda will have to be locked up for her actions in 'Avengers: Disassembled' and 'House of M', and therefore, intentionally or not, will become just another person who abandons him.
This thankfully doesn't happen, thanks to the reveal that the events of the above stories were at least partially manipulated by Doctor Doom. While Billy eventually develops a bond with Wanda as a mentor in magic, Tommy still resists a closer connection, likely due to abandonment issues caused by his birth parents. However, Tommy's lack of a true bond with Mary Shepherd, unlike Billy's close relationship with Rebecca Kaplan, means he is more regularly and openly able to refer to Wanda Maximoff as his Mother.
Tommy also clearly loves Wanda. This was shown during the 'Trial of Magneto' storyline, when following Wanda's temporary death, Tommy refuses to leave her body alone in Krakoa's Boneyard, devotedly standing guard during the investigation of her death and debate over whether Krakoa's resurrection technology should be used for her.
New art for the current 'Scarlet Witch' comic run hints at a potential Maximoff family reunion, so we may see this Mother-Son relationship improve further in the future.
In the MCU
In the MCU, as in the comics, Tommy is the first born son of Wanda Maximoff and Vision, born within the Westview anomaly. While Tommy's original body was lost during the dissolution of his Mother's hex, his soul seemed to remain close to his brother, Billy, even after Billy's soul inhabited the body of William Kaplan.
In Agatha All Along's penultimate episode, Billy finds a body for Tommy's soul to inhabit, a boy drowning during a cruel prank. Billy claims the boy is in a bad place, with nobody to love him.
This boy is most likely Thomas Shepherd, growing up in a neglectful, possibly abusive home environment, or even already in Juvenile Hall. Tommy's resurrection was apparently difficult for the cast to film, adding to the theory that he has not ended up in a positive place.
Hopefully, Billy and Agatha will find him before too much damage is done.
About the Creator
Kristy Anderson
Passionate About all things Entertainment!
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Comments (1)
This is an incredibly detailed and insightful analysis of Tommy Maximoff's character and his journey in the MCU and comics. You've done an excellent job of connecting the dots between the two universes and highlighting the potential challenges and opportunities for his character. The contrast between Tommy's experiences in the comics and the MCU is particularly interesting. While the comics delve deeper into his troubled past and complex relationships, the MCU version offers a more mysterious and tragic backstory. Your analysis of the potential parallels between the two universes is thought-provoking and raises intriguing questions about Tommy's future. It's clear that his character has the potential for significant growth and development, and I'm excited to see how his story unfolds in future MCU projects. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights with us.