The gallant North-West side, fighting for Premiership survival, battled gamely after they had been reduced to only ten men after the 34th minute sending off of Antonio Valencia.
Seemingly against all the odds, Wigan, inspired by their Australian goalkeeper, John Filan, held out to grab a vital point against a Villa side which still lacks the finishing touch.
It may have been Villa's 2000th league game at Villa Park but they had little reason to celebrate as they failed yet again to record their first ever league win over Wigan.
Villa's performance was hardly a surprise as they have never scored more than two goals in a match this season.
They were expected to have been boosted by their weekend success at Blackburn but it was not the case.
Agbonlahor's speed was significant and he posed numerous problems for the likes of Matt Jackson and David Unsworth but Villa failed to cash in as Wigan held out to earn a worthy draw.
Wigan themselves were not without the capability to create a surprise as they demonstrated in the 22nd minute when Emile Heskey opened the scoring following a left-wing corner from Denny Landzaat.
The ball was nudged on by Lee McCulloch for the well-built Wigan striker to notch his eighth goal of the season despite strong protests that Thomas Sorensen had been hampered.
With Patrik Berger showing fine form, Villa were able to mount several promising attacks but Agbonlahor wasted a glorious chance when he outpaced Jackson only to shoot straight at Filan.
Wigan's hopes of improving their somewhat precarious situation suffered a serious setback in the 34th minute when Valencia was sent off for a two-footed, lunging tackle on Wilfred Bouma, who subsequently had to be replaced by Ashley Young.
Although Stiliyan Petrov was again off the pace Villa completely dominated the second period as they bombarded Wigan's defence.
They forced themselves back into the game with a 50th minute equaliser from Agbonlahor.
Skipper Gareth Barry sent Berger clear and his cross was turned goalwards by the young Villa striker and the ball crossed the line despite a desperate clearance by Leighton Baines, who was subsequently booked as he continued to argue a goal should not have been allowed.
Baines then cleared an Olof Mellberg header off the line and this was quickly followed by Filan pushing the Villa defender's second header onto the post.