Danielle Moonstar
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Danielle Moonstar, originally codenamed Psyche and later Mirage, is a fictional Marvel Comics superheroine associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, she first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982).
A mutant, Moonstar originally possessed the ability to create illusions of her opponents’ fears. She later developed a wide range of psionic and energy manipulation powers. She was a member of the X-Men’s 1980s junior team The New Mutants and, after a long absence, its reincarnation X-Force.
One of the few Native American superheroes, Moonstar is very in touch with her Cheyenne heritage.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Danielle Moonstar is a Native American (specifically, Cheyenne), and was born in Boulder, Colorado. As with most mutants, Dani's mutant powers manifested during puberty. One of her first manifestations was a vision of her parents' death, killed by a demonic bear. Shortly afterwards her parents disappeared and Dani was taken in by her grandfather, Black Eagle. The Hellfire Club attempted to capture her, and in the melee, her grandfather was killed. Luckily, he had already contacted Professor X to take care of Dani. Xavier, who had been a close friend of Moonstar's father, offered to teach Dani control over her powers. She joined his group of students called the New Mutants and shortly afterwards became the co-leader of the group together with Cannonball. There she developed a deep friendship with Wolfsbane.
Moonstar started to have nightmares again about the Demon Bear, who until then had been kept from her due to Black Eagle's protective spells. One night she was attacked by it and taken to hospital. The other New Mutants battled the Demon Bear. The New Mutant Magik managed to pierce the Demon Bear with her magical sword and the Demon Bear returned to his original form: William and Peg Lonestar. Dani was reunited with her parents, but decided to stay at the Xavier's school.
Moonstar and her teammates found themselves abducted by Loki and spirited away to Asgard, soon after they had rescued their teammate, Karma, from the Shadow King. While in Asgard, Moonstar rescued a flying horse named Brightwind from a trap that would have likely killed him. Her bond that was forged with Brightwind obliged her to assume the mantle of a Valkyrie, even though she was mortal. She reluctantly joined the Valkyries, and obtained the ability to sense the presence of death.
Shortly after becoming a Valkyrie, she and the other New Mutants attempted to save former teammate Magma from the High Evolutionary. During the fight, Moonstar was thrown into a machine intended to strip mutants of their powers. Instead, the machine - which had been reset by two other victims of the Evolutionary's plan, enhanced her mutation, giving her the ability to make the telepathic images manifest in reality, becoming solid. This ability was limited in that Danielle could only sustain one illusion at a time. She often carried around a "dream spear", in order to destroy previous illusions. At a later point, she refined her psychic ability so that she could cast "psychic arrows," which incapacitated their targets. She once had the ability to manipulate quantum energy as concussive blasts, but this power is apparently gone now.
Moonstar was a member of the New Mutants for several years. A second adventure in Asgard resulted in much emotional trauma as the death goddess of that realm had brainwashed her and the other Valkyries. Her friends helped her but she still decided to stay behind in Asgard. After a return to Earth, she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and infiltrated the Mutant Liberation Front. This brought her into many conflicts with old allies. Later, X-Force helped with a third foray into Asgard. Once that ended, she joined up with X-Force for an extensive road-trip, that ended with the creation of a new base of operations. She left X-Force when the team contacted Pete Wisdom, hoping that he would help them become more pro-active, a direction she disagreed with.
After a short time as part-time X-man, Moonstar became the mentor of the new New Mutants squad at the Xavier Institute (and the legal guardian of Elixir), and the Institute's American History teacher. It was there she enjoyed a reunion with Karma and then later, Wolfsbane. The bulk of her powers appear to have reverted to their original form.
In the wake of the House of M crossover, the Scarlet Witch caused many mutants to lose their powers. Moonstar was one of the many who lost their powers, and was fired by Emma Frost who felt that as a human, she no longer had any right to remain at the school. She briefly reappeared in Generation M #5, in which she revealed she hadn't dreamt since M-Day.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Moonstar formerly had an empathic psi talent that allows her to manifest people's emotions as realistic illusions. It began as manifesting people's worst fears, many times in an uncontrollable fashion, against the will of both involved. Soon she gained the abillity to control this and to manifest their deepest desires. She can even create illusions by channeling residual thought and emotional impressions in an area (such as showing Wolverine a battle scene between Mr. Sinister and unknown assailants, simply by entering the area where the battle had recently taken place). She also had for a time the ability to make the telepathic images manifest as psionic energy, becoming solid. This ability was limited in that Danielle could only sustain one illusion at a time. She often carried around a "dream spear", in order to destroy previous illusions. Many times, her powers caused her to experience sharp, blinding headaches.
Danielle later gained the abillity to focus her psionic powers into energy arrows which can stun an opponent by disrupting their central nervous system, or force them to relive a traumatic memory. Moonstar has a telepathic talent that allows her to communicate with animals. This has proven to be a very useful abillity, as it enabled her to communicate with Wolfsbane when she, Wolfsbane, had switched to her full wolf form. She has also been able to exist peacefully with wild animals.
For a short time, a young mutant girl[1] with reality warping abilities gave Moonstar the ability to manipulate quantum energies to affect energy and matter on a subatomic level and fire powerful energy blasts (but these powers were only temporary).
When Moonstar rescued Brightwind, she became a Valkyrie. As such, Moonstar could see a dark cloud or graphic visual image over people who were in mortal peril. This allowed her to save many lives. This mystical ability was seemingly lost when she left the Valkyries.
Because of the Scarlet Witch's powers and actions, Moonstar has lost her powers.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Moonstar became one of Apocalypse's followers and a member of the Pale Riders, one of the Dark Lord's team of assassins, a position she earned due to her sadism and ruthlessness. Due to her origins, she was capable of infiltrating John Proudstar's Ghost Dance, learning that Nightcrawler was seeking a way to reach Avalon.
Apocalypse sent the Pale Riders to follow Nightcrawler and destroy Avalon, however, during the journey, the sadistic Moonstar began to torture Dead Man Wade for fun, as his healing factor would regenerate any kind of wound. This angered Damask, the Pale Riders leader, who killed Moonstar after she refused to stop.
[edit] Marvel Mangaverse
In the Marvel Mangaverse, Mirage is a mutant sorceress and a member of the X-men along with Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops, and formerly Rogue. In this universe, she apparently has the ability to summon small monsters, and is Indian instead of Native American.
[edit] In other media
In the X-Men Evolution animated TV series, Moonstar appeared in the episode, "Ghost of Chance". In the episode, Moonstar repeatedly calls Kitty Pryde in her dreams to save her after she is lost for almost two years in a cavern. She was voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.
In the film X-Men, Moonstar can be seen sitting between Jubilee and Pyro in Professor Xavier's physics class, which Wolverine disrupts.
In the film X2: X-Men United, her name appears on a list of names Mystique scrolls through on Stryker's computer while looking for Magneto's file. You can also see her in the deleted Jubilee Museum scene.
In the Novel version of X3: The Last Stand, Dani is recruited as a future X-Man, alongside Cannonball, Sage, Gambit, and others.
