Harkness, Agatha

Agatha Harkness is witch with decades of experience and has been a mentor to Wanda Maxamoff, the current Scarlet Witch.

## History

### Ancient Times

Agatha Harkness was old enough to remember 500 years before Atlantis sank to the bottom of the sea. Back then, she had contact with the cosmic being Scrier, who had promised her that he would return when needed.

### Witch Hunts

At some point, Harkness became interested in witchcraft. In the early 15th century, Harkness was stationed in Transia, near the Wundagore Mountain, where she was part of coven that also included Corina, Jacquette Laveau, Minoru and Zoric. One time, the group gathered to try to put an end to the witch hunts happening across Europe, and Jacquette sacrificed Corina (who she deemed the weakest) to invoke the powers of Valtorr, much to the shock of everyone else.

For years, Harkness tried to rescue Corina from the Dominion of Valtorr, but was never powerful enough to do it.

By the late 17th century, Harkness had settled in the English colony of Salem, Massachusetts. She formed her own coven of witches hoping to freely practice magic in the New World, but her group was persecuted during what became known as the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, she encountered the mutant hero Firestar after she was accidentally sent back in time. Believing Firestar to be a witch, the people of Salem tried to burn her at the stake, however, she fought back and was later contacted by Harkness via telepathy. Harkness revealed that she approved of the trials, believing them necessary for the magical people to grow stronger and be prepared for a war against mankind; she even sent some of her coven to cull the weak.

She asked Firestar to join her but she refused, and a fight ensued. After Firestar showed she was more than a match to Harkness, she freed some of Harkness's own people and begged Harkness to let them live away from mankind. Finally admitting warfare wasn't the only solution, Harkness decided to acquiesce to their desires and led them to the mountains of what would become Colorado.

### Low profile

Agatha Harkness and the witches that accompanied her built the city of New Salem, where they prospered away from the troubles of mankind. Harkness married and gave birth to a son, Nicholas Scratch, but eventually decided to leave the city.

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.

### Franklin's Nanny

At some point, having settled in the US, Agatha Harkness became a governess, teaching children in need, before retiring. However, when the Fantastic Four reached out to her to care for their newborn, 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 swiveling 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.

### Scarlet Witch

After meeting Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch), she sensed her desire to better control her powers and offered to become her new tutor, claiming her task with little Franklin was complete and Susan should be the one taking care of him now. Wanda was thrilled with the prospect of improving her witchcraft skills and thus accepted the offer.

She trained Wanda until her marriage with the synthezoid Vision, at which point she told Wanda she's done her part and Wanda would have to keep learning on her own.

Back in New Salem, Harkness's son had fathered seven children, who had received tremendous power and started calling themselves the Salem's Seven. With their help, Nicholas Scratch took control of the town and persuaded its inhabitants that Harkness had betrayed the community's secrets by working for the Fantastic Four. She was forcefully brought 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, successfully defeating them and freeing Agatha. In the process, the community of New Salem was shown the evil of Scratch and he was banished to another dimension.

Eventually, Salem's Seven took over the New Salem community. They captured their grandmother 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 Vision's children.

Later, Harkness resurfaced, avoiding explanations for her return. When Mephisto revealed he had absorbed Scarlet Witch's children, which had been fragments of his soul all along, Harkness wiped Wanda's memory of her children to help her cope with the loss.

Harkness ultimately died a second time, after Wanda confronted her 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 (who had tracked Wanda to a small village near Wundagore Mountain) that she was under the care of her "Aunt Agatha" in a small apartment. While Wanda was sleeping, Hawkeye, curious about this Aunt's true identity, tried to turn the doorknob to her room, but 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.