Billy’s Powers Make Scarlet Witch’s Finale Goodbye Even Sadder

In hindsight, Wanda saying goodbye to her children, Billy and Tommy, in the WandaVision series finale is even sadder knowing how Billy’s powers work. One of the biggest things to come out of WandaVision is Wanda officially becoming Scarlet Witch; her origin story is different in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the power level of her abilities compared to the comics remains roughly the same. Because of that, and because she uses Chaos Magic, Wanda was able to turn a small town like Westview into a pocket reality in which her dead husband, Vision, could return.

But there was more to Scarlet Witch’s Westview than just Vision being back in a sitcom-esque world; they had twins together in less than a day. Their children, Billy and Tommy, quickly manifested powers of their own. Billy took after Wanda in that he had some form of telekinesis, but he also displayed a level of telepathy – particularly when he sensed Vision dying outside of the Hex. Tommy, meanwhile, took after his uncle Pietro; his main superpower in the series was superspeed, though it’s possible he had other abilities that weren’t shown.

Although Billy and Tommy’s powers were revealed a little over midway through the series, they weren’t used to their potential until episode 9 when they fought SWORD and got caught in the middle of Agatha Harkness and Scarlet Witch’s battle. But towards the end of the episode, when Wanda said goodbye to her twins shortly before the Hex took them, Billy could be seen smiling, calmly. Knowing he’s a telepath – or at least an empath – Billy should’ve been able to sense his mother’s emotions in that moment, and he could’ve known what was about to happen (via Twitter). Still, he accepted his fate and smiled at his mother. It was already a heart-wrenching scene, but knowing this makes it even worse.

A core part of the WandaVision series finale is acceptance. Not only does Wanda accept the reality of the situation in Westview – particularly, what she’s done to the citizens – but the reality that she can’t live this life forever without hurting others. On top of that, she accepts her destiny as the Scarlet Witch, which is a storyline that should continue with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022. But the idea of acceptance trickled down to other characters as well, such as Monica Rambeau becoming Photon, Vision realizing he’s not the true Vision, and Billy knowing what his mother’s goodbye really meant.

The only hole in this observation is that Billy couldn’t read Agatha’s mind. He did say he could read everyone else’s mind but hers, but it’s possible he couldn’t read her mind because she’s a witch, not because she protected herself with some form of wards. With that in mind, it’s theoretically possible Billy couldn’t read Wanda’s mind either because she’s also a witch. Still, the smile he gives his parents moments before the Hex erases him and his brother is saddening. If he really could read his mother’s mind and did so at that moment, then that certainly makes the scene more tragic in hindsight.