It's been Agatha All Along - Agatha Harkness, of course. And with Agatha's long-awaited starring streaming series finally about to bring Kathryn Hahn back to her Emmy-nominated role, we're ready for a witchy dose of Marvel goodness. But how much will Agatha All Along draw on Agatha Harkness' comic book history, and how will her series tie into the MCU?
These questions may go hand-in-hand, so as you're catching up on the Marvel movies and shows to watch before the Agatha All Along premiere, we've got everything you need to know about Agatha's comic book history right here, including her arch-enemies Nicholas Scratch and Salem's Seven, her ties to the Fantastic Four, and her connection to the infamous Darkhold.
Who is Agatha Harkness?
In comic books, Agatha Harkness is the very picture of an old lady with a witchy secret – but the truth about Agatha's nature is even weirder than it appears from the outside.
Though she looks like an elderly woman (and technically she is), Agatha is even older than she appears, having lived since the time before the sinking of Atlantis tens of thousands of years in Marvel's past. Prolonging her life through magical means by way of her primal, often darkly influenced witchcraft, Harkness has lived countless lifetimes, constantly honing her abilities.
In the 1700s, Harkness settled in Salem, Massachusetts, starting a witch coven that became the targets of the Salem Witch Trials in the Marvel Universe's version of those historical events – an occurrence that Harkness later described as a "culling" of the weaker practitioners from her coven, showing the dark side that Harkness has occasionally displayed, despite being a usual ally to Marvel's heroes.
Agatha's history is rife with attempts to form new covens and consolidate power among women in her circle. Following the Salem Witch Trials, during the American Revolutionary War, Harkness even formed a group known as the Daughters of Liberty who she trained in the magical arts – a practice she would continue at least through World War II when she was recruited by the US Army to help take down Nazi sorcerers.
Oddly enough, as in WandaVision, Agatha has an unseen husband who plays a key role in her history. Little is known about her long-dead husband – including his name, which may have been Harkness. They had one son, named Nicholas Scratch (more on him momentarily), who has been a key part of many of Agatha's stories over the years.
The rest of Agatha's family is somewhat mysterious. Weirdly, she's been shown to have connections to a French magical dynasty known as Clan D'Arqness, which has a penchant for summoning demons.
Agatha Harkness came into contact with the modern Marvel Universe in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four #94, when Reed and Sue Richards contacted Harkness, who had spent most of the mid-to-late 20th century as a governess for children, to watch over their son Franklin. Though she initially hesitated, Harkness became Franklin's permanent governess.
Harkness often watched over Franklin while the Fantastic Four were on missions, which often led her to get involved in their adventures, eventually leading her to help Franklin control and harness his own burgeoning superpowers.
It's as Franklin's governess, alongside the Fantastic Four, that Harkness first met Wanda Maximoff. During an adventure in which Vision and Scarlet Witch faced off with a group of demonic entities known as Salem's Seven (in Vision & Scarlet Witch Vol. 2 #3), led by Harkness's son Nicholas Scratch who was technically the demons' father, Scratch managed to capture and actually kill Agatha by burning her at the stake.
However, her astral form survived, and recognizing the magic potential in Wanda Maximoff thanks to her connections to the ancient Marvel deity of chaos Chthon, she became a mentor to Wanda. When Salem's Seven used their own magical abilities to duel Wanda, she absorbed a large portion of Harkness's magical power to defeat them.
Later, Wanda used this power to create her twin sons William and Thomas, though they were ultimately revealed to be the products of the demon Mephisto, who was channeling his own dark magic through Harkness's witchcraft.
Harkness later returned to life and continued her mentorship of Wanda and other Marvel magic users, even sequestering and protecting Wanda after she created the House of M reality and caused the mutant decimation in which thousands of mutants lost their powers due to a spell cast by Wanda.
Harkness has died and returned to life several times since first being burned by Salem's Seven, with her fate apparently being directly entwined with Wanda's. Most recently, she managed to return herself to her physical prime as a much younger woman (who kinda resembles Kathryn Hahn), and managed to recreate the power of the Darkhold in the sentient humanoid form of a teenage boy, who she is now raising.
Agatha Harkness in the MCU
In the MCU, Agatha Harkness's history is somewhat different from the comic book origins we just laid out.
She's ancient, but not quite as ancient as her Marvel Comics inspiration (MCU Agatha was by all indications a young woman in 1693 Salem). She's also significantly more sinister and manipulative in her pursuit of possessing Wanda Maximoff's intrinsic magical potential, gaining her immortality by magically absorbing the life force of her coven all the way back in the era of the Salem Witch Trials.
Following Agatha's capture in WandaVision, Agatha All Along puts her on the fabled Witches' Road, assembling a new coven in an attempt to regain her power and rebuild what she's lost.
Interestingly, as in recent comics, she's got a teen boy with her. Simply named 'Teen', the character is played by Joe Locke, and many fans are convinced that he's actually Wiccan/Billy Kaplan, the son of Wanda Maximoff who, in comics, is a founding member of the Young Avengers.
But could 'Teen' actually be a humanoid incarnation of the Darkhold, like the one Agatha is now raising in comics? We saw the Darkhold temple destroyed in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness. Could 'Teen' be the Darkhold reborn in human form? Or could he somehow be both Billy Kaplan and the Darkhold?
We'll have to wait to find out more until Agatha All Along's two-part premiere, streaming September 18 on Disney Plus.
While you're in a Marvel mood, read up on how to watch Marvel's movies and shows in order, and all the upcoming MCU releases we know about.
