1970s Agatha Harkness was introduced as the
governess of
Franklin Richards. She easily fended off the
Frightful Four when they came to abduct Richards, and admitted to the
Fantastic Four that she is a
witch. She then aided the Fantastic Four in battle against
Annihilus. Through the actions of her son
Nicholas Scratch, she was revealed as a member of the previously unknown New Salem, Colorado, a colony of witches of whom she had been the leader. Scratch had taken control of the town and persuaded its inhabitants that Harkness betrayed the community's secrets by working for the Fantastic Four. She was abducted and taken back to the community with Franklin to stand trial. The Fantastic Four followed and came into conflict with
Salem's Seven, Harkness's grandchildren fathered by Scratch. The Fantastic Four defeated them and freed Harkness. In the process, Scratch's evil was revealed to the community of New Salem and he was banished to another dimension. Harkness became the magical tutor for the
Scarlet Witch in the use of witchcraft. Scratch and Salem's Seven returned, and Harkness foiled their attempt to conquer the world.
1980s Eventually, Salem's Seven took over the New Salem community again. They captured Harkness and killed her by burning her at the stake, although Harkness soon made her presence known to Wanda in what appeared to be a post-death astral form. 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 destroyed. Following hints from Harkness's astral form, Wanda channeled the remaining energy to become pregnant with twin children of
Vision, her android husband. Later, Harkness resurfaced, again alive and well, when Wanda's infant children began exhibiting odd behavior (disappearing for brief periods of time) and Wanda became unstable after her husband's dismantling; Harkness provided no explanation for her return. After
Mephisto claimed that Scarlet Witch's children were actually fragments of his own soul and reabsorbs them, Harkness briefly mind-wiped Wanda's memory of her children in an attempt to help her deal with the trauma. Harkness later restored those memories soon after when Wanda became a pawn in a complex plot by
Immortus. Harkness aided the
Avengers in their battle against Immortus.
2000s "Avengers Disassembled" Wanda, again having no memory of her children, angrily confronted Harkness about their existence.
Nick Fury of
S.H.I.E.L.D. found what appeared to be Harkness's corpse in her home and concluded that Harkness had been dead for a long time. Some time later, a partially amnesiac Wanda tells
Clint Barton she is under the care of her "Aunt Harkness" in a small apartment. However, this version of Wanda was later revealed to be a
Doombot that replaced the real Wanda at some point.
Ghost life Harkness has since made her presence known in the
New Multiverse as a ghost. She appears to Wanda and confirms her death at the hands of her protégé. She also concurrently serves as the omniscient narrator of Vision's ongoing solo title, having induced precognitive visions through an arcane ritual involving the murder of Ebony at some undetermined point before her death. Harkness fights alongside Wanda and the spirit of her biological mother Natalya Maximoff against a physical manifestation of Chaos which is attempting to destroy witchcraft. The two spirits channel their magic through Wanda and, after
Quicksilver is summoned, they manage to defeat the being once and for all although this has gravely wounded Order, the Goddess of Witchcraft. Natalya sacrifices herself to restore Order and, in doing so, also returns Harkness to life. Despite noting that her and Wanda's paths are intertwined, Harkness chooses to have some time to herself to enjoy being alive again.
2020s The Daughters of Liberty Agatha Harkness later appears as a member of the
Daughters of Liberty, teaching magic to its members. At the time when Captain America figured out that Dryad is a revived
Peggy Carter, Harkness teleported herself to inform him that the threats that the Daughters of Liberty have been facing are connected with
Aleksander Lukin's sister Alexa. Harkness later briefed the Daughters of Liberty's latest recruit
Shuri about the situation involving
Selene having
Sharon Carter's soul. She then proceeded to transport herself, Sharon's
Iron Patriot appearance, and Shuri to where Selene is located.
Midnight Suns During the battle with Corina (now calling herself Korrosion), a gigantic explosion of energy was unleashed due to the Black Mirror's destruction and neither Korrosion or Agatha Harkness were anywhere to be found. It later turns out that the explosion had sent them back to their homeworlds where they belong. Harkness discovers that by absorbing the Mirror's energy, she has been restored to her physical and mental prime and is now a young woman again. She briefly goes into hiding as she adjusts to her new body.
Restoring the Darkhold During the "
Contest of Chaos" storyline, Harkness uses
Chthon's remains to create a new
Darkhold and starts by having
Spider-Man and
Wolverine fight each other in the Amazon rainforest. Harkness proceeds to pit various heroes against each other in pairs. After a brief battle with
Clea on the astral plane, Harkness returns to her body in the
Bermuda Triangle while in the presence of her champions. When
Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch try to reason with her. Harkness escapes and witnesses the
Darkhold take on a sentient form. The
Darkhold later flees from Harkness and escapes into a river. ==Powers and abilities==