Obviously we don’t have a lot to go on (and I doubt it’s anything approaching a priority to mention) but I feel like Billy as a host of sorts for the demiurge kinda leaves some room for Tommy in the mythos even if oliveira’s take does end up getting properly glossed over… maybe Tommy could have been a vessel if he had an interest in magic, something like that
Well, that still feels like you're leaving him on the sidelines. If Tommy's going to be a part of this, I want him to actually be included, not just the also-ran.
Overall, I do really enjoy how Wiccan: Witches' Road re-imagines Billy's role as the Demiurge. It's more balanced and sustainable than previous versions, it's grounded in established history, and it's a clever way to focus the character on magic and witchcraft without directly copying Wanda. I just think the execution was sloppy. The Demiurge-child character felt kinda-half baked, and the final issue raises a lot of unnecessary questions as to how or why Billy became its host/steward/reincarnation-- the exact nature of their relationship is frustratingly unclear. I don't need everything spelled out for me, but Kennedy struggles to even find a consistent thematic note, which is troubling.
Compare this to Oliveira's M'Kraan saga-- we know how and why the twins come into contact with the crystal, it fits neatly into their established timeline, and they're both equally involved. We don't know exactly what their role as the Demiurge will entail, but we're given the general gist. As a retcon, it's well-integrated and satisfying to read. I can't say the same for W:WR-- the premise is great, but the execution is not as thorough, and Kennedy doesn't seem to have much interest in Billy's history or family ties, even though they are an important part of his magical origins.
There's an easy solution to this problem, but it would require Kennedy to read up on Wanda and accurately represent her role in the twins' origin story. He and Oliveira both approach this topic in bad faith. It makes Wanda look much worse than necessary, and it causes Kennedy to overlook what I believe is vital lore that could tie everything together.
In Children's Crusade, we learn that Wanda attempted to resurrect Billy and Tommy by using her Nexus powers to channel the planet's "life force," which is also described as a part of "Earth's mystical energies". This is not an established concept in the Marvel world, at least not one that comes up very often. The closest thing is actually Earth's Demiurge, which is the personification of the planet's native life force, and its source of natural magic, which is something Kennedy expands upon in W:WR. Wanda was overwhelmed by this power, leading to her catastrophic breakdown in Disassembled, but given that the twins do turn up alive, we're meant to infer that her spell worked, just not how she expected. Reuniting with Billy and Tommy allows Wanda to regain control, and later, she works with Billy to harness, and eventually banish the "life force."
But what if it wasn't banished? What if it just found a proper host? As a Nexus being, Wanda can tap into almost any source of mystical power, but she's not necessarily compatible with all of them. If the twins were reborn through the power of the Demiurge, maybe they are actually suited to channeling or hosting its power in a way that Wanda can't. Maybe the two of them, together, are the key to balancing that power, and can catalyze each other to grow and expand, the same way that Wanda and Pietro. I think if Kennedy had been more aware of, or invested in, this history, he could have incorporated Tommy and Wanda into the story more thoughtfully. I would have really liked to see him build towards a resolution where Billy and Tommy find that balance together by reconciling some of their shared trauma, and I think that focusing on those relationships would have been a more impactful way to explore the parts of himself that Billy has been neglicting or denying, rather than giving him a weird imaginary friend.
