Agatha Harkness, also known as Agnes, is the main antagonist of the Marvel Disney+ series WandaVision. She is a magical witch living in Westview and manipulating Wanda Maximoff undercover as a nosy neighbor named Agnes, trying to find out how Wanda created The Hex around Westview.
She is played by Kathryn Hahn,
History[]
Background[]
In Salem, Massachuettes 1967, Agatha was arrested for her crimes and trialed for execution by witches including her own mother, Evanora Harkness. As they were draining her of her powers, Agatha begged for mercy and even promised she will changed, but Evanora would not believe her. However, Agatha broke free of her restraints and killed both her mother and the other witches by draining their magic instead. She then escaped from Salem and spent years hunting for more power to absorb, keeping her dead mother's brooch as a souvenir.
Series[]
In 2023, Wanda Maximoff, unwilling to cope with Vision's death, created an illusion of him and creates a giant energy field called The Hex to cover the entire town of Westview, brainwashing the citizens and anyone else who entered to think they are in a 50s setting. Agatha heard of The Hex and entered disguised as Wanda and Vision's new neighbor, Agnes. She shows up at their doorstep to welcome them with a pot of flowers, but Wanda slams the door on her because they have Vision's boss over for dinner.
Throughout her stay in Westview, Agatha continued to decieve Wanda by posing as Agnes to gain her friendship and manipulated some of the events around the town, like conjuring a rabbit out of Vision's hat during his and Wanda's magic act. She even brainwashed an actor named Ralph Bohner to convince Wanda that he's her twin brother Pietro who came back from the dead. Wanda's sons, Billy and Tommy, adopt a dog named Sparky, but Sparky gets loose and ends up in Agatha's garden. Agatha kills Sparky and lies that he died eating some bad weeds in her yard.
Agatha tricks Wanda into letting her babysit Billy and Tommy, but they completely disappear when Wanda comes to pick them up. Agatha lures Wanda to her basement where she reveals her true identity and how she was manipulating events around The Hex to find out how Wanda did it. She also incapatates Wanda with magic runes that temporarily suppress her powers. She then guides Wanda through a series a flashbacks about Wanda's life, from the bombing that killed Wanda and Pietro's parents to the reveal of how Wanda created The Hex. Back in the real world, Wanda finally finds her sons being telekenetically strangled by Agatha and saves them. Suddenly, Vision's original body_which was reanimated into White Vision by S.W.O.R.D director Tyler Hayward_attacks Wanda. Hex!Vision battles White Vision and eventually gives him back his memories, while Wanda fights Agatha all over Westview. Agatha gloats to Wanda how she doesn't deserve her powers for how she imprisoned everyone in Westview, which is backed up by the enslaved citizens begging Wanda to release them from The Hex. Wanda is torn and eventually relinquishes her powers to Agatha, only to outsmart by using the same runes against her, allowing Wanda to both reclaim her powers and steal Agatha's as well defeating her for good. As punishment for her crimes, Wanda brainwashes Agatha into her cover identity (Agnes) and imprisons her in Westview.
Trivia[]
- Agatha Harkness is the first main antagonist of Phase Four of Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Agatha Harkness is one of the three females of a Marvel Disney+ series who wasn't revealed to be evil at first, the others being Sharon Carter in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Revonna Renslayer in Loki.