Agatha Harkness

Agatha Harkness was old enough to remember 500 years before Atlantis sank to the bottom of the sea (purportedly c. 18.500 BC). Back then, she had contact with the cosmic being Scrier, who had promised her that he would return whenever needed, only to be apparently destroyed. Although Scrier resurrected, Harkness gave him up for dead at the time.

In the 17th century, Harkness settled in the English colony of Salem, Massachusetts. She formed her own coven of witches hoping to freely practice magic in the New World. In 1692 A.D., she and her group were persecuted by the Puritans during what became known as the Salem Witch Trials. She encountered the Mutant hero Firestar when she was accidentally sent back in time while fighting the Sphinx. Believing her to be a witch the Puritans tried to burn her at the stake. She fought back but was saved by Agatha leading her to safety. Agatha revealed that she approved of the trials, believing them necessary for the magical people to grow stronger; she even sent some of her coven to cull the weak. She asked Firestar to join her but she refused. Firestar begged Agatha to find another option. Her pleas did not fall on deaf ears and Agatha agreed and settled the town of New Salem, a secret magical community in what would be known Colorado.

She became the most powerful sorceress in this community, and later its grande dame or leader. Agatha was involved in turning over various sorcerers to the witch-killing authorities, on the grounds that she was strengthening the witch community by ridding it of those who could not defend themselves. The fact that New Salemites referred to outsiders as "mortals" may indicate that they had longer lifespans than human beings. The identity of her husband was unknown and it was not even known whether Harkness was her late husband's last name or her maiden name. Agatha and her husband had only one child together, the warlock known as Nicholas Scratch.

At the end of the 18th century during the American Revolutionary War, Harkness joined the Daughters of Liberty, a group of women fighting for justice in the new world. She used her centuries of knowledge to train them in the mystical arts.

At the end of World War II, she was recruited by U.S. Army Major Alan Dakor, alongside The Ghost Dancer and Emerald Warlock, to join the Department of the Uncanny and help stop the threat of Hilda von Hate.

Agatha Harkness became a governess, tutoring children in need, though she eventually retired. But when the Fantastic Four contacted her to ask her to watch their newborn baby, Franklin Richards, she agreed immediately, once she considered who his parents were.

When the heroes first brought Franklin to her house atop Whisper Hill, she invited them in to spend the night, as it was too late and too stormy for them to return home. Though once The Thing and the Human Torch had settled down, the Thing fell through a swivelling painting in his room, and straight into the clutches of the Frightful Four. The evil four soon captured the rest of the Fantastic Four, but they soon faced Agatha Harkness, whom they underestimated. She warned them that her cat Ebony’s hackles were up, but the Wizard ignored her warning and attacked. The cat transformed into a massive panther and soon sent him fleeing out of the window, where he smashed into a tree and was knocked unconscious. The Sandman and Trapster attacked moments later, but Agatha turned the Sandman’s body into rock and used her magic to convince the Trapster that the newly-freed Thing was a monstrous, demonic creature, wherein he fainted dead away in fright.

The rest of the Fantastic Four soon recovered, as the Frightful Four’s weapons crumbled to dust minutes before, thanks to Agatha. They rushed to locate the baby, and found him in Agatha’s care, sleeping soundly. Before they also went to sleep at her behest, Ben Grimm spied a book entitled Tales of Old Salem on an end table. Agatha taunted him with the possibility that she was a witch, which sent him running down the hall to his own room.

Agatha became Franklin’s permanent governess afterward. She took Sue and Franklin into her home when the Atlanteans attacked New York. When Sue tried to surprise Franklin by trying to sneak up on him while invisible he was somehow able to see her. She told Agatha, but she dismissed it, leaving her to suspect her of keeping some kind of secret from her. Agatha later contacted Sue during the middle of a fight to come to help her son. Agatha then revealed her mystical powers to save Reed Richards. Reed and Sue thanked Agatha for saving him from the Negative Zone and Sue and Franklin returned to Whisper Hill. Sue left Franklin again with Agatha's care as she went to help Reed again. Agatha contacted the team to warn them of the danger of the Overmind. She then helped them contacted the watcher at his Citadel. She then told them to contact Doctor Doom for help. She warned them again of danger with the arrival of Air-Walker. Reed asked Agatha to help link minds with the President of the United States to convince the threat of Galactus was over. Agatha went on a secret trip and returned Franklin to his parents. Agatha soon tried to help Franklin when his powers started to emerge. Agatha then used Franklin's powers to destroy Ultron.

Through the actions of Nicholas Scratch, she was revealed as a member of the previously unknown New Salem colony of witches. 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. The Fantastic Four followed and came into conflict with Salem's Seven, who was Agatha's grandchildren through Scratch. The Fantastic Four eventually won out and freed Agatha. In the process, the community of New Salem was shown the evil of Scratch and he was banished to another dimension. Scratch tried to escape multiple times to get his revenge on the Fantastic Four. Each time they were assisted by Agatha, who eventually disowned Scratch.

Eventually, Salem's Seven took over the New Salem community again. They captured Agatha and killed her by burning her at the stake. 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. Wanda channeled the remaining energy to set in motion her becoming pregnant with her synthezoid husband's children.

Later, Agatha resurfaced, avoiding explanations for her return. She claimed that Scarlet Witch's children were actually fragments of the soul of Mephisto and wiped Wanda's memory of her children rather than fight to free the two from Mephisto when he reabsorbed the two.

She went on to aid other mystics in a number of crisis situations, and trained Wanda further in the use of her powers, claiming that her mutant ability was actually to use "chaos magic" and helped fully resurrect the Avenger, Wonder Man.

Harkness ultimately died a second death, this time for good, after Wanda confronted Agatha about her children. Later, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. found Agatha's corpse in her home, as Scarlet Witch had murdered her teacher in cold blood.

Sometime later, a partially amnesiac Wanda told Clint Barton that she was under the care of her "Aunt Agatha" in a small apartment. While Wanda was sleeping, Hawkeye, curious of this Aunt's true identity, tried to turn the doorknob to her room. The knob appeared to slip from his hand, similar to Wanda's past subtle probability manipulations. Wanda also mentioned this Aunt to Beast, saying she was stuck out there for purposes of looking after an "elderly relative" who would worry if she got home late.

Agatha was resurrected when Wanda's mother Natalya sacrificed her soul to revive the Goddess of Witchcraft. With this new lease on life she returned to living on Wundagore Mountain. After killing Ebony as part of a ritual to see the future using the Wundagore Everbloom, she had a vision in which the Vision was covered in blood standing above his dead allies. She warned the Avengers about it, and they sent Victor Mancha to spy on Vision, which ultimately led to the exact thing Harkness was trying to prevent: when the Vision's son Vin found out about Mancha, Mancha accidentally killed him to shut him up, leading Vision to fight all his allies so he could get to Mancha and kill him in retaliation.

The truth, however, was that the Vision's wife Virginia was actually behind the whole thing, as she had tempered with the Vision's brain so he would turn on his allies. However, Virginia accidentally ended up experiencing the future as well and realized Vision would no longer be the hero he'd fought his whole life to be. Not willing to let that happen, she rushed his side and killed Mancha before he could, committing suicide shortly after.

After a brief stint back with the Daughters of Liberty, Agatha Harkness was invited to teach a few classes at the new Strange Academy,which she deemed an interesting opportunity when she learned Nico Minoru and Zoe Laveau, descendants of her old coven colleagues, would be there as well. Around this time, Ebony also returned to the land of the living through mysterious ways.

In the meantime, Corina, still trapped in the Dominion of Valtorr, finally managed to defeat her captor and take control of the Dominion. Driven by a desire for revenge, Corina, now calling herself Korrosion, planned to bring the end of the world, but Harkness attacked her with a magic dagger that could siphon her power, while Zoe and Nico destroyed the Black Mirror that acted as the link to the Dominion of Korrosion. With the energy unleashed, a huge explosion followed and, in the end, neither Corina nor Harkness were anywhere to be found. In reality, Corina had been sent back to her dominion, while Agatha Harkness had gone into hiding after being returned to her youth.

In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,

And she is reprised by Courtenay Taylor in the English dub, as a tribute for Pauline Newstone, and she will be voiced by Yorie Terauchi in the Japanese dub.