A Look at Disney: Villains Profile: Agatha Harkness

Oh, this is so exciting. Agatha is my favorite MCU villain and she has a lot to delve into. Full disclosure while I have been watching Agatha All Along, I’m writing this before the series ends. This presents such an interesting dynamic as we have a villain starring in her own spinoff and unlike what you usually expect, I don’t believe her show is redeeming her but rather explaining her.

Agatha is a character that has been greatly embraced by fans and I think that comes from her campiness. She’s a bad witch and she knows it. She’s not going to apologize for who she is. In many respects, I believe she is similar to Winifred Sanderson in this regard, they both revel in being witches. Yet there’s something more here at play when looking at what Jac Schaeffer has brought to the two MCU shows she’s worked on. WandaVision was about grief and trauma and what happens when one takes it too far.

In all honesty before watching Agatha’s show, I binged WandaVision on a flight home. It was my third time watching it through, it’s one of my favorite shows of all time. And at that point I thought Agatha’s most evil deed was going to be her making Wanda face the citizens of WestView over what Wanda did.

In many ways, that was a necessary evil for Wanda but Agatha wasn’t doing that to help Wanda. Yet as Agatha’s show progressed, we learn she’s done so much worse, that it’s almost hard to narrow it down. Agatha is a witch that has been alive for centuries so she has many heinous deeds but I’m going to stick with what we see onscreen.

First Appearance

 

We see Agatha in the very first episode of WandaVision parading as nosy neighbor, Agnes. At first, you are led to believe she is just another victim of the Hex. Well, you don’t even know that when watching the first episode as it takes time for the mystery to unravel on WandaVision but with rewatches, you are able to pick up on how Agatha is faking that the Hex affected her.

A perfect example of how Agatha almost lets her mask slip and knows the truth of the Hex is in the ‘80s set episode when she asks Wanda if she wants to run that line again. It’s a small moment sure but upon rewatches, it stands out as a moment that lets you know Agatha knows more than she’s letting on.

Interestingly, she’s on the opposite end when we first see her in her show as the curse Agatha is under is still under effect and at first her show makes you think we’re pulling another WandaVision but with procedurals as it opens as a cop show with Agatha as a detective but the spell is quickly broken and she regains her memories.

 

 

 

 

Now, it’s interesting that Agatha thought she was in a cop show as at the end of WandaVision, in one of the most cruel twists of fate, Wanda casts her in the role she chose as Agnes making her believe that is who she truly is.

In many aspects, I think that’s crueler than anything Agatha did. She was stuck under this curse with no power for years. And AAA found a way to make all of her WandaVision looks work as a sense of body horror as she remembered who she truly is.

 

 

 

Personality

Again, she presents herself as a nosy neighbor to get close to Wanda but it’s a facade. As we see after the reveal and in her show, she is very snarky and sassy. Part of me believes this is a defense mechanism after how her mother and her coven treated her. Consider what she told Billy about not to be ashamed of using his power to survive. Agatha is power hungry and that imo isn’t always a bad thing.

Agatha is someone who is very confident in who she is and that’s a good thing. Having a sense of confidence is a strength and well when you were the inspiration for Jolene, I get it.

Agatha says something in the latest episode of her show (at the time of this writing)

“Want a straight answer, ask a straight lady”

 

The most open an MCU thing has been about queerness and I guess this makes Agatha a queer elder. Agatha is not just confident in herself as a witch but also her identity. I’ve discussed this before but there is a crossroads of queer history and the history of witches. Both queer people and people accused of witchcraft often faced the burden of being othered. Being shunned for who they are while people spread wild lies about them to flame the fire of hatred.

Grand Desire

I feel like I’ve been clear on this one for a while, power. Agatha craves power. Power is what drives her. In WandaVision, she wants to know how Wanda had the power to do what she did. Agatha doesn’t believe someone like Wanda should be that powerful. It just doesn’t make sense to her.  She elaborates on this point, it is inconceivable to her how someone who was never properly trained is able to pull off what Wanda did in WestView.

In her own show, the reason she agrees to travel The Witches’ Road is because the road can give you what you want and in her case, she wants her power back.

She thrives off power and we see this in the episode when Alice dies, she absorbs all of Alice’s powers. Yes, one can argue that Agatha was possessed by the ghost of her mom but I’m with Billy in that she could’ve stopped sooner. I believe part of Agatha was so tempted by her desire for power, she chose to not let go.

 

There’s also a smaller desire that is lightly touched upon but is dashed. We know Agatha traded her son, Nicholas Scratch for power and she is hoping that Billy when we only know him as Teen is her son. Those hopes are quickly dashed by Rio.

 

This adds another layer to Agatha as it shows her as a mother with regret for what she did to her child. We know she doesn’t want to be like her mom, I’ve already discussed this with how she tells Billy to be proud of using his power. I believe when she only knew Billy as Teen, she was hoping for a second chance to make amends to what she did with Nicholas.  This shows there is more to Agatha then just the sass and snark she puts on display. She’d never admit it but what she did with Nicholas is her greatest regret.

Lackey

Ralph Bohner

I feel a little bad even describing him as a lackey considering he was under Agatha’s influence and made him do things he wouldn’t do otherwise including pretending to be Pietro as a means to get close to Wanda.

At first, he seems like a silly fun guy but when Billy and his boyfriend go to meet him in his flashback episode of AAA, he’s a broken man who warns Billy to stay away from WestView. And this is where things go from bad to worse. You know the iconic moment of

 

Turns out, Agatha made Ralph kill Sparky. I find this interesting as while AAA isn’t justifying her actions but explaining her actions and in many ways, building upon WandaVision makes Agatha seem worse than we were originally led to believe. You may have noticed I’ve skipped Most Evil Deed and that’s because Agatha has done so much to so many people that it can’t be pinned down.

Songs

Agatha All Along

 

The moment that made people fall in love with the character. An iconic villain song and it sells how great Agatha is as we look at the strings she pulled in WestView. Do not misunderstand, Wanda is responsible for the Hex but Agatha pushed her along to figure out how Wanda did it.

The Ballad of the Witches’ Road

 

While there are many different versions of this song featured in the show, I only want to focus on the Sacred Chant version. The first version feels less personal and the version by Lorna is more connected to Alice then it is Agatha. This song serves as a guide to the road warning of the dangers they’re going to face. It’s a sharp contrast to Agatha’s song from WandaVision which was a fun villain song. This song is warning you of road and making sure you are up for what lies ahead. The Ballad is very important to the history of the MCU’s version of witches and to the story. Each episode of AAA is named after a lyric in the Ballad.

Fate

We don’t know Agatha’s ultimate fate as her journey on the road isn’t done yet but I am hoping she isn’t redeemed completely. She’s a bad bitch and that is why I love her so much. Let villains be evil.

Is Agatha a Good Villain

I think you know my answer to this question but uh yeah. She’s one of my all time favorites villains and my favorite MCU Villain. She’s just so much fun and I love her much. She’s like if Cruella had magic.

No, not like that. Yeesh, she’s like if Cruella had magic done well and was plopped into the world of the MCU. She enjoys being bad and I love watching her be bad. Give me more villains like her please.

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