Agatha Harkness Fact — October 30, 2026

Today's Fact

Verified against three independent sources. Issues cited below.

AGATHA’S FIRST MARVEL JOB WAS BABYSITTING — FOR THE MOST POWERFUL CHILD ON EARTH!

The Featured Fact

When Agatha Harkness first appeared in Fantastic Four #94 (1970), she was not cackling over a cauldron or tutoring a witch — she was answering a childcare ad. Reed and Sue Richards, whose working lives involved cosmic rays and world-eaters, needed somebody trustworthy to watch their infant son Franklin Richards at her Whisper Hill house, and the retired governess with the impeccable references got the post.

The interview turned into an audition nobody had scheduled. The Frightful Four crashed the visit and overwhelmed the Fantastic Four, leaving the baby’s new nanny as the last line of defence — whereupon the sweet elderly sitter deployed sorcery potent enough to torment the intruders and send them packing, all without waking the child she had been hired to protect.

That afternoon settled the appointment, and the posting quietly became one of the most consequential in Marvel history. Agatha recognised early that her small charge carried reality-warping power on a scale his parents barely grasped, she warned them about what was growing inside their son, and in Fantastic Four #150 (1974) she brought the comatose boy to a battlefield in time for his awakening to obliterate Ultron outright.

Why It's Obscure

Every supervillain has a lair; Agatha’s first Marvel workplace had a nursery, a bottle warmer and a god in the crib.

The posting

Childcare, upgraded — decades of governess work had built Agatha a spotless reputation with private families, which is how a centuries-old witch ended up on the Richards family’s shortlist for the most sensitive babysitting vacancy in New York.

The audition

Villains as referees — the Frightful Four’s ambush handed Agatha an unplanned practical exam, and her magical rout of them doubled as the reference Reed and Sue trusted most.

The ward

Small boy, enormous file — Franklin’s emerging reality-warping gifts were visible to his nanny long before they were obvious to anyone else, and her early warnings to his parents read like the first page of his whole saga.

The Ultron day

Nanny knows best — teleporting a comatose Franklin into the Ultron fight in Fantastic Four #150 sounds reckless until the boy wakes up and deletes the robot, which rather settled the question of her judgement.

Gallery

Real depictions tied to this fact.

Cover of Agatha Harkness: The Saga of the Salem Witch, Agatha in purple casting a spell — **The sitter herself**Agatha on the cover of her own Saga of the Salem Witch collection, spell already mid-cast — the power Reed and Sue unknowingly installed in their nursery when they hired Franklin’s governess in Fantastic Four #94.

A youthful Agatha Harkness in modern comic art — **Not your average retiree**A younger-looking Agatha from modern comics: the Whisper Hill sitter had already lived for centuries by the time the Fantastic Four knocked on her door.

Franklin Richards, blond son of Reed and Sue Richards, comic art — **The charge**Franklin Richards, the mentioned ward at the centre of this fact — the reality-warping child whose protection was Agatha’s first Marvel assignment.

Sources

Every claim above is verified against at least two of these independent sources.

Bullpen Bulletins

WandaVision's Agatha Harkness Has a Major Omega-Level Mutant Link — CBRAgatha debuted in Fantastic Four #94 (1970) as Franklin Richards’ caretaker; the Frightful Four ambush let her prove herself, she helped Franklin control his emerging powers in #140, and in #150 she teleported the comatose boy in to destroy Ultron.
Agatha Harkness — Character Close Up Reading List — Marvel.comMarvel’s own guide confirms Reed and Sue hired the retired Agatha to look after newborn Franklin, that she defeated the Frightful Four without waking the infant, and that her care in #150 led to Franklin single-handedly destroying Ultron.
Agatha Harkness — Comic VineComic Vine’s ‘Nanny of the Fantastic Four’ history records her governess reputation, the hiring, and her role as the first to warn the Richards family about Franklin’s reality-warping power.