| Agatha Harkness | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Fantastic Four #94 (January 1970) |
| Created by | Stan Lee (writer), Jack Kirby (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Agatha Harkness |
| Partnerships | Fantastic Four |
| Abilities | Highly skilled magic user |
Agatha Harkness is a fictional character, a powerful witch in the Marvel Comics universe. Supposedly, she was one of the original witches from the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. She somehow survived and later became a significant figure in Marvel continuity, protecting Franklin Richards as his nanny and notably mentoring Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch) in real magic. She was eventually killed by Wanda, who went insane. She also had a familiar named Ebony, a weird cat-like creature that could sense the presence of mystical beings.
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Agatha Harkness was first introduced as Franklin Richards' governess after she easily fended off the Frightful Four when they came to abduct Franklin Richards.[1] She then aided the Fantastic Four in battle against Annihilus.[2]
Through the actions of Nicholas Scratch, her son, she was revealed as being a member of the previously unknown New Salem, Colorado colony of witches, of whom she had been the leader. Scratch had taken control of the town and had persuaded its inhabitants that Agatha had betrayed the communities' secrets by working for the Fantastic Four. She was abducted back to the community along with Franklin so that she might be put on trial.[3] The Fantastic Four followed and came into conflict with Salem's Seven, who were Agatha's grandchildren by Scratch. The Fantastic Four eventually won out and freed Agatha. In the process, Scratch's evil was revealed to the community of New Salem and he was banished to another dimension.[4]
Scratch tried many times to gain revenge on the Fantastic Four. Each time Agatha assisted them; she also disowned Scratch.
Agatha became the magical tutor for the Scarlet Witch in the use of witchcraft.[5]
Scratch and Salem's Seven returned one more time, and Agatha repulsed their world takeover attempt.[6]
Eventually Salem's Seven took over the New Salem community again. They captured Agatha and killed her by burning her at the stake, though Agatha soon made her presence known to Wanda in what appeared to be a post-death astral form. In an ensuing battle between the Scarlet Witch and Salem's Seven, the entire community's energies were drawn into Vertigo of the Seven, who lost control of them. Wanda managed to capture some of the energy and funnel it away, but the entire town was still decimated. Following hints from Agatha's astral form, Wanda channeled the remaining energy to become pregnant with her husband, The Vision's, children.[7]
Later, Agatha resurfaced, again alive and well, when Wanda's infant children began exhibiting odd behavior (disappearing for brief periods of time) and Wanda became unstable after her husband's dismantling; Agatha provided no explanation for her return.[8] After Mephisto claimed that Scarlet Witch's children were actually fragments of his own soul and reabsorbs them, Agatha briefly mind-wiped Wanda's memory of her children in an attempt to help her deal with the trauma. Agatha later restored those memories soon after when Wanda became a pawn in a complex plot by Immortus. Agatha aided the Avengers in their battle against Immortus.[9]
Agatha assisted the Fantastic Four again, in babysitting and in controlling Franklin Richard's fluctuating cosmic powers. In at least one instance, when Franklin was angry, this failed, causing Agatha to faint. She also saved the life of the Avenger Tigra, who had become confused, lost and injured while trapped in a very feline form. Agatha stayed with Tigra until her powers, for the moment, were stabilized.
Agatha assisted other mystics in a number of crisis situations. She continued to train Wanda further in the use of her powers, claiming that her mutant ability was actually to use "chaos magic". This magic was the energies derived from the demonic Chthon who had been sealed under the mountain where Wanda was born. Agatha helped Wanda fully resurrect the Avenger Wonder Man.
In a sequence during the Avengers Disassembled storyline, Wanda, again having no memory of her children, angrily confronted Agatha about their existence. At the end of that issue (occurring some time after Wanda and Agatha's confrontation), Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. found what appeared to be Agatha's corpse in her home and concludes that Agatha had been dead for a long time.[10]
Some time later, a partially amnesiac Wanda tells Clint Barton (who had tracked Wanda to a small village near Wundagore Mountain, where he unknowingly saved her from a thief) that she is under the care of her "Aunt Agatha" in a small apartment; when Hawkeye, curious of this Aunt's true identity, ties to turn the doorknob to her room, the knob appears to slip from his hand, similar to Wanda's past subtle probability manipulations, yet she is still asleep.[11] Wanda also mentions this Aunt to Beast, saying she is stuck out here for purposes of looking after an "elderly relative" who would worry is she got home late (indicating that this Aunt indeed exists in some form).
Agatha Harkness derives her powers from manipulation of the forces of magic. She has the ability to manipulate magical forces for a number of effects, including teleportation, energy projection, and the tapping of extra-dimensional energy by invoking entities or objects of power existing in dimensions tangential to Earth's through the recitation of spells. She also has the abilities of mesmerism, thought-casting, and illusion-casting. Agatha Harkness's age reduces her ability to perform strenuous physical tasks.
Agatha Harkness has a gifted intellect, and a vast knowledge of magical lore.
Agatha has a magical familiar named Ebony, a pet cat with the ability to transform into a large, ferocious panther.
The Ultimate Universe version of Harkness makes her debut in Ultimate Fantastic Four. Unlike her mainstream Earth-616 counterpart, this version is much younger and is considered quite attractive. She first appears in #54, claiming to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. psychologist sent to evaluate the Baxter Building thinktank.
In issue #56, it is revealed that her S.H.I.E.L.D status was faked and she is really an ancient empathic being that destroyed Atlantis. Known as the Dragon-of-Seven or the Hydra, it can exist as a single creature or as seven seemingly separate ones. In her form as a group of seven individuals she posed as the superhero group Salem Seven.
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