The latest episode of WandaVision has left the fans stumped. From Monica Rambeau finding her superpowers to Agnes being revealed as Agatha Harkness, there’s a lot to unpack. Though there’s no shortage of fan theories about what could go down in the final two episodes of WandaVision, many have already started digging through old comics to find out exactly who Agatha Harkness is and whether or not she’s a real villain on WandaVision.
Who in thee hell is Agatha Harkness? I wish I’d read comics as a kid. Unfortunately, my knowledge of comic book stories is limited to the Saturday morning Marvel and DC cartoons I watched back in the day. #WandaVision
— Martin McFly (@KashmirThoughtz) February 20, 2021
For those of you who are not so keen on unearthing their old comic book treasure, here’s everything you need to know about Agatha Harkness of the comics.
Agatha Harkness’ Comic book origins
Agatha Harkness was first introduced in the ’60s in the Fantastic Four comic series as an old woman who tutored Franklin, the son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. She was a member of the New Salem, and like most old women was good at tutoring children. She had agreed to babysit Franklin as soon as she was contacted by the parents (once she knew who they were).
She eventually fought the Fantastic Four and had them all bewitched, dropping clues to The Thing (Ben Grimm) that she could possibly be a witch. Later, Agatha became Franklin’s permanent governess and even gave up her own life, but didn’t quite die until she was killed in a fit of rage by her own student – Wanda (the Scarlet Witch).
How is Agatha related to Wanda?
Agatha’s presence in MCU is particularly significant in the lives of Wanda and Vision, and their children Billy and Tommy. While still dead, Agatha remains Wanda’s mentor and guide and suggests how Wanda could get pregnant by channeling her magical powers.
But when the children are born, Wanda is confronted by the now resurrected Agatha telling her that the children are not exactly real. The whole escapade culminates in Agatha revealing that Wanda’s children were actually created from Mephisto’s soul (a supervillain in the Marvel universe). The children are later subsumed into the arms of Mephisto’s disciple, Master Pandemonium.
To save Wanda from the grief and devastation of the hard truth, Agatha wipes her memory. But when Wanda finds out the truth later, her rage takes the better of Agatha and ends up killing her.
What are Agatha Harkness’ powers in the comics?
Agatha Harkness is an ancient and powerful witch. And being a witch, she can cause a great deal of trouble with her magic. Throughout her comic book years, she’s been shown to use teleportation, projecting her energies telekinetically, knocking out her enemies with her spells, and being able to tap into the energy sources of different dimensions. She’s clearly much more powerful than Wanda, which is why she is never really under her control in Westview.
so excited to see where it goes!!! agnes is definite agatha harkness from the comics and i’m pumped to see what power she truly holds, because she knows that it’s all an illusion of wanda’s doing and we know that from an earlier ep. gonna be cool
— beth (@highkeybeth) February 15, 2021
Even though Agatha Harkness is not really a clear-cut baddie in the comics, she doesn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities in WandaVision (especially when one considers that it was her that killed Sparky). We’ve already seen what her lair looks like – a dark, ominous, vine-infested dungeon that is the stuff of nightmares – and with two more episodes to go, we just might get a glimpse at her true powers.
