Who Is Agatha Harkness In Wandavision Explained

WandaVision episode 7 has finally revealed the villain – and (SPOILERS) as many fans have suspected all along, it was Agnes (Kathryn Hahn). After luring Wanda over to her house and into her creepy basement, “Agnes” reveals that her name is actually Agatha Harkness, and she, like Wanda, is able to use magic. A little “behind the scenes” recap of WandaVision‘s episodes reveals Agatha magically willing a lot of the big events in the Hex bubble sitcom world – like “Quicksilver’s” timely arrival. While this reveal is certainly a twist, mainstream viewers are now asking: Who is Agatha Harkness? Here’s the Marvel Comics History you need to know for WandaVision to make better sense:

Who Is Agatha Harkness In Wandavision Explained

Agatha Harkness is one of Marvel’s oldest and most powerful witches. In the comics, Agatha was a survivor of the Salem witch trials, who acted as a mystic on the sides of both good and evil (depending on the occasion). Agatha eventually became a key mentor for Wanda Maximoff, helping her master her mysterious mutant “Hex Powers” as a form of magic. It was Agatha who helped Wanda give “birth” to her twin sons with Vision, Billy and Tommy, but that conjuring came at a great price.

To make Wanda and Vision’s sons, Agatha had Wanda borrow a few shards of the devil, Mephisto’s, soul to give the boys life. Mephisto eventually takes his soul back, essentially erasing Wanda’s children from existence. When Wanda went mad with grief over that loss, Agatha erased her memories of her kids. Later, Agatha would have to restore Wanda’s memory again, when it was learned that Marvel villain Kang/Immortus (a big bad for Phase 4) was manipulating Wanda to control her power as a Nexus Being. Eventually, Wanda flipped out and killed Agatha over her memories of her sons, which is one of the inciting incidents that led to Marvel’s famous “House of M” reality.

These storylines are all baked into WandaVision, with Hahn’s Agatha Harkness’s reveal still holding potential for other “big bad” reveals to come. Harkness also has major ties to The Fantastic Four family, as she eventually became a mentor to Reed Richard’s reality-manipulating mutant son, Franklin. The House of M connection has also been one of WandaVision’s leading theories for some time.

Other notable comic book ties between Agatha Harkness and WandaVision include Agatha and a collection of her fellow witches (the Salem Seven) all living in a small town and Agatha’s evil son Nicholas Scratch (same name as Agnes’s pet bunny) corrupting the town. The Salem Seven eventually confronted and were beaten by Scarlet Witch. So keep your eye on some of those other Westview neighbors…

With so much potential MCU story still ahead of her, we no know why Kathryn Hahn has been dodging those Agatha Harkness questions so hard..

WandaVision is now streaming on Disney+