| “ | Who's been messing up everything? It's been Agatha all along! Who's been pulling every evil string? It's been Agatha all along! She's insidious! (Ha ha) So perfidious! That you haven't even noticed! And the pity is (the pity is).... pity pity pity pity! It's too late to fix anything! None that everything has gone. Thanks to Agatha. Naughty Agatha. It's been Agatha all along! | „ |
| ~ Agatha All Along song |
| “ | I take power from the undeserving. It's kinda my thing. You're clearly in over your little red head. So, why don't you surrender your magic to someone who knows what to do with it? And I'll let you keep this pathetic little corner of the world all to yourself. | „ |
| ~ Agatha Harkness giving Wanda Maximoff an ultimatum |
| “ | Wanda, Wanda, Wanda. You didn't think you were the only magical girl in town, did you? The name's Agatha Harkness. Lovely to finally meet you, dear! | „ |
| ~ Agatha revealing her true nature to Wanda Maximoff |
Agatha Harkness is the main antagonist of the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision and will return as the titular protagonist in her upcoming spin-off show Agatha: House of Harkness.
She went under the alias "Agnes", and acted as Scarlet Witch's neighbor. She was always in the background of the series popping up and checking in on Wanda. When Wanda makes her way to Agatha's basement, she discovers a lair filled with artifacts, books and glowing vines. Agatha comes out of the shadow and reveals herself as a fellow witch to Wanda. She is Scarlet Witch's arch-nemesis.
She was portrayed by Kathryn Hahn, who also voiced Ericka Van Helsing in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Appearance
Agatha has the general appearance of a roughly forty-year old woman with brown hair. Her outfit would constantly change as Wanda kept moving Westview up a decade to fit her reality and her perfect life, but she always wears a brooch on the collars of her shirt. When she reveals herself, her hair is messy and down and wears a purple top.
Personality
When she first arrives, she acts as a friendly neighbor to Wanda, welcoming her to the neighborhood, bringing a plant as a housewarming gift. She helps Wanda with her anniversary night with Vision, giving constant suggestions on what she should do. She appears as a nosy neighbor in most of her episodes, more likely as a showoff. Agnes is able to get close enough to Wanda for her to start trusting her, enough to where she can use her magic in front of Agnes. Once Wanda discovers Agatha's lair, she appears more deranged and proudly so, with her own theme song calling her "evil", indicating Agatha's true nature and revealing that she had been manipulating Wanda and the fake Westview reality all along.
Relationships
Ally/Minion
Ralph Bohner
Ralph Bohner is a resident of Westview that is being mind-controlled by Agatha and she always mentions that he is her husband. She characterizes him as dull and uninteresting. In the end, the fake Pietro that was pretending to be Wanda's brother is revealed to be Ralph and he is the real owner of the house that Agatha lives at Westview.
Enemies
Wanda Maximoff
Agnes warms up to Wanda, and the two start to appear to be best friends in the neighbor, walking around town, gossiping, and having a sense of trust between them. Pretending to be among the many residents of Westview that were abducted by Wanda, she pretended to have been under Wanda's control, using a TV alias, obeying Wanda's commands, asking for permission to do certain things, and appears to be in pain when she talks to Vision. Despite this, she later reveals to Wanda that she had been manipulating her and the whole false reality all along. Her motivations is to learn how Wanda created the fantasy reality and then steal her powers for herself.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Telekinesis: As a witch, Agnes was able to do various acts of magic within Westview, open and close doors, change clothing, and messing with Wanda and Vision's magic show.
- Mind Manipulation: Like Wanda, she is also able to manipulate people's minds, project images inside their head, and able to control the actions of the neighbors within Westview and ideas.
Abilities
- Expert Tactician: She was able to outsmart and play along with her ploy and act as one of the hostages that were stuck in Westview and under Wanda's control. She played her part and stayed in line as per Wanda's wishes and acted like a normal citizen of Westview.
- Longevity: As revealed in Episode 8, she is revealed to be over 300 years old.
Victims
- Evanora Harkness (mother; drained her life force)
- Salem Coven (drained their life force)
- Sparky (Maximoffs' dog; likely poisoned)
Quotes
| “ | Oh this is going to be a gas! | „ |
| ~ Agnes |
| “ | Who's been messing up everything? It's been Agatha all along! Who's been pulling every evil string? It's been Agatha all along! She's insidious (Ha-ha!), so perfidious. That you haven't even noticed, and the pity is, (the pity is, pity, pity, pity, pity) It's too late to fix anything, Now that everything has gone wrong! Thanks to Agatha (Ha!), naughty Agatha. It's been Agatha all along! |
„ |
| ~ Agatha revealing how she manipulated everything behind the scenes to Wanda in her own theme song. |
| “ | And I killed Sparky too! | „ |
| ~ Agatha's most infamous line at the end of her song, revealing that she killed Billy and Tommy's dog, Sparky, followed with an evil laughter. |
Trivia
- In the comics, Agatha Harkness is a witch who survived the Salem witch trials and watched the fall of Atlantis. She was a foe and mentor to Scarlet Witch.
- Agatha mentions that her supposed marriage anniversary to Ralph is on June 2nd, the first day that the Salem witch trials started in 1692.
- In the comics, Agatha Harkness wasn't always a villain as she mostly plays the role of Wanda Maximoff's mentor and an anti-hero throughout her multiple issues. According to Jac Schaeffer, it was originally planned for Agatha to serve more like a mentor towards Wanda in the show, but the crew realized that making her a proper antagonist would serve the show's structure as they were breaking the episodes.
- There was an extremely popular theory that Agatha's frequently mentioned husband, Ralph, was actually the iconic Marvel villain Mephisto, which was further hinted by the birth of Wanda's children, who are both fragments of Mephisto who dissapear when he did. When asked, Paul Bettany said that answering whether Mephisto would be in the series could get him fired. Despite this, in the end, Ralph is revealed to be the fake Pietro.
- Another theory surrounding Agatha is her pet rabbit, Señor Scratchy, who could possibly be Nicholas Scratch — Agatha's son in the comics. Additionally, her rabbit's name means Mr. Scratch, a common old English nickname for the Devil. "Nick Scratch" and "Jack Scratch" were both pseudonyms of Mephisto.
- Agatha Harkness is Kathryn Hahn's first live-action role in a Marvel production, and the second Marvel role she played. Her first role was as Olivia Octavius/Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
- Agatha Harkness is the first main antagonist in the Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the first Phase Four main antagonist was going to be General Dreykov from Black Widow, the first Phase Four film, which was originally slated to be released prior to WandaVision until the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its release.
- It's possible that the spell that brainwashed Agatha to assume her Agnes persona is no longer in effect due to the Darkhold's destruction in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. If that's the case, then it's likely that Agatha will return possibly soon as Kevin Feige promised.
External Links
- Agatha Harkness on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
