It's safe to say that Wiccan is among the most important new characters introduced in the Marvel Universe over the past two decades. He was a founding member of the Young Avengers. He and his boyfriend Hulkling were central players in 2020's Empyre crossover. And even now, these two heroes have a key part to play in Jonathan Hickman's Imperial event.
At this point, it's surprising to think that Billy Kaplan has never had a solo comic to call his own, even after the character made his full MCU debut in 2024's Agatha All Along series. That's finally changing soon, with writer Wyatt Kennedy (Marvel United: A Pride Special) and newcomer artist Andy Pereira teaming up for Wiccan: Witches' Road.
Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive look inside Wiccan: Witches' Road #1, and then read on to see commentary from Kennedy.
Kennedy agrees that Wiccan was overdue for his own solo series. He sees the series as a chance to better define Billy Kaplan on his own terms and develop a larger supporting cast and rogues gallery.
"I think the thing that I was most interested in exploring was creating a cast and environment that felt exclusive to Billy," Kennedy tells IGN. "The Marvel universe is wonderful in how sprawling it is, but what always attracted me to their books were the ways in which Spider-Man’s cast felt exclusive to his world, his own perspective. I wanted to give Billy his own villains both new and old as well as a firmly placed status quo that serves as a jumping off point for other creators to play with."
As mentioned, both Wiccan and Hulking are major players in the Imperial storyline still raging in the Marvel cosmos. Wiccan: Witches' Road essentially picks up right where that storyline leaves off for the two characters, with Wiccan making an unexpected return to Earth.
"I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say the series opens with Billy and Teddy (aka Hulkling) literally crashing down to Earth after they’ve lost their kingdom," Kennedy teases. "We’re definitely gonna explore that emotional fallout."
Obviously, the "Witches' Road subtitle" evokes the plot of Agatha All Along, where Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness is joined by Joe Locke's Wiccan and other witches on her fateful journey. We were curious how much inspiration this new book takes from that MCU series. As Kennedy reveals, while the road itself plays a part, fans shouldn't be expecting much overlap between the two projects.
"So, total transparency, I’ve not seen the show and to this day I still haven’t. I’m planning on watching it once my work’s concluded, but it felt important to me to not be overtly beholden to the show either consciously or subconsciously," Kennedy says. "There are no Agatha appearances, and iterations and discussions of what a “Witches Road” can be are present, but I wanted to craft something that felt wholly its own, but still rooted in gothic horror and dark fantasy."
As Kennedy says above, part of the goal with the new series is to give Wiccan a rogues gallery all his own. Kennedy is hesitant to reveal too much about the first villain anchoring the series, except to say that they may not be as much a villain as readers are expecting.
"All I’m willing to say right now is that they’re rooted in our own real world mythology and folklore, but they’ve never been explored like this in the Marvel Universe," Kennedy says. "I hesitate to even call them a 'villain' in the traditional sense, because they represent a big part of earth magic’s presence and what role Billy plays in protecting that."
Finally, Kennedy has plenty of praise for Pereira's artwork, saying, "Andy’s absolutely incredible, and a blast to work with! Everything I’ve seen exceeds how I imagined it at the time of writing, and he’s someone who I’m thrilled to work with again very soon."
Wiccan: Witches' Road #1 will be released on December 3, 2025. You can preorder a copy at your local comic shop.
In other news, check out our exclusive excerpt of the Batman 1989 sequel Batman: Revolution and see why Marvel seems serious about ending the new Ultimate Universe.
Exclusive: Ghost of Yotei Joins Magic's PlayStation x Secret Lair Crossover