Granddaughter of Agatha Harkness, the sorceress who trained Scarlet Witch, the young Aerika was a powerful witch herself. She was invited to join the Dream Team, a group of heroes who were going to become part of the new Avengers, A-Next. She donned a costume and an alias in honor of her "sister", the Scarlet Witch, and became the Crimson Curse. As the Crimson Curse, Aerika used her magic to affect the elements of nature, and strove to maintain harmony between herself and order of nature. This led to her having a very level-headed and reserved attitude. Her powers made her an invaluable ally against the many foes that they encountered. But her biggest challenge was when she was sent to aid the original Avengers in a dark parallel reality. The Red Skull's heir Doom was going to use his Cosmic Cube to send his Thunder Guard into her reality. Crimson Curse couldn't allow this and used her powers over nature to counteract the supernatural energies of the cube. She succeeded, but the price was her life. Her sacrifice was a shock to her teammates. But in the end, her death was avenged by the Avengers, who defeated Doom and his minions.