Danielle Moonstar
Danielle "Dani" Moonstar is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in the graphic novel The New Mutants, created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod. The character is usually depicted as associated with the New Mutants, but has also served as a member of the Valkyries of Asgard.
A mutant, Mirage originally possessed the psionic/psychic ability to telepathically create illusions of her opponents' fears or wishes. She later developed a wide range of psionic and energy manipulation powers, and gained magical abilities after a series of adventures in Asgard. She was a member of the New Mutants and, after a long absence, its reincarnation as X-Force. She was also a member of the Fearless Defenders and the X-Men. She was depowered after the "Decimation" storyline, but later regained her mutant powers after being infected with and then cured of Warlock's transmode virus.
Blu Hunt portrayed Danielle Moonstar in the 2020 film The New Mutants.
Publication history
Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, Mirage first appeared in The New Mutants, part of the line Marvel Graphic Novel, and appeared as a feature character in The New Mutants, New Mutants , New X-Men , Young X-Men, and New Mutants . She also appeared for a portion of the initial run of X-Force, first as an infiltrator to the Mutant Liberation Front and later as a regular X-Force team member. She was briefly a supporting character in Avengers: The Initiative and can be seen sporadically as a background character in Uncanny X-Men and other X-Men titles throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. She appeared as a regular team member in the 2013 series The Fearless Defenders. After several years as an infrequent supporting character, Mirage was again featured prominently in Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants .Fictional character biography
Origin
Danielle "Dani" Moonstar is a Native American, and was born in Boulder, Colorado to William and Peg Lonestar. As with most mutants, Dani's powers emerge during puberty, uncontrollably creating telepathic images of people's greatest fears. Her burgeoning powers alienate her from her community and give her a vision of her parents' deaths at the claws of a demonic bear. Shortly afterwards, her parents disappear while on a hunting trip and Dani is taken in by her grandfather, Black Eagle. Black Eagle contacts Professor Charles Xavier, an old friend of Dani's father who fought with him in the Vietnam War, to teach her to control her powers. Dani is opposed to leaving home, though she reluctantly agrees after she inadvertently gives her grandfather a vision of his own death in her initial anger at the idea. Before Xavier arrives, however, Black Eagle is killed by agents of the Hellfire Club, led by Donald Pierce. Vowing revenge, Dani joins the New Mutants, taking the codename Psyche. After the team defeats Pierce, Psyche enrolls at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and remains with the New Mutants.The New Mutants
Psyche is featured as a member of the eponymous team throughout The New Mutants. She becomes the co-leader of the team alongside Cannonball after Karma's disappearance and develops a deep friendship with Wolfsbane, her empathic abilities making her the only member of the team capable of communicating with Wolfsbane while in her wolf form.Psyche is plagued by nightmares of the bear she envisioned killing her parents. It soon becomes clear that this creature, known as the Demon Bear, is no mere vision, but a malevolent magical entity that is purposefully seeking her out, no longer held at bay by protective spells her grandfather had placed on her before his death. The New Mutants battle the Demon Bear and when Magik cleaves the creature in two with her Soulsword, its corpse transforms into Dani's missing parents, who had in fact been abducted and enslaved by an evil spirit. Though reunited with her family, Psyche opts to remain with the New Mutants and changes her codename to Mirage.
When the team becomes stranded in Asgard, Mirage rescues a winged horse from hunters and bonds with him, naming him Brightwind. She inadvertently becomes a Valkyrie when Brightwind chooses her as his rider. This new role allows her to see the imminent deaths of others. When the New Mutants return to Earth, Brightwind accompanies Mirage. The New Mutants later develop an intense rivalry with the Hellions, another team of young mutants formed by the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. This rivalry is later somewhat cooled when Mirage bonds with the Hellions' leader, Thunderbird.
During a battle to save former teammate Magma from the High Evolutionary, Mirage is thrown into a machine intended to strip mutants of their powers. Instead, the machine enhances her mutation, giving her the ability to make her telepathic images real.
When Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, enacts a plan to take over Asgard and uses her magic to seize control of the Valkyries, Mirage falls under her influence. The combined forces of Asgard and the rest of the New Mutants ultimately defeat Hela and Mirage chooses to stay behind in Asgard to rebuild and fully assume the responsibilities of a Valkyrie. This angers Hotamitanio, a Cheyenne deity, who comes to Asgard to bring her back to Earth. Mirage ultimately persuades him to allow her to remain by promising that she will one day return to her tribe.
X-Force
Mirage falls from grace and is exiled from Asgard back to Earth, accompanied by Brightwind. She joins S.H.I.E.L.D., and infiltrates the Mutant Liberation Front as a deep cover operative, using the name Moonstar. Since her last appearance, she has refined her psychic ability so that she can create "psychic arrows" which incapacitate their targets. Her assignment brings her into many conflicts with old allies, primarily X-Force, but also Excalibur and Moira MacTaggert. Moonstar secretly works against the M.L.F., including working with Cable to turn Feral over to law enforcement authorities for past crimes and sabotaging a mission in China. Despite her opposition to the organization, Moonstar develops a genuine friendship with Forearm. She is discovered as a double-agent by the M.L.F.'s leader, Reignfire, and Darkwind is killed in the ensuing battle.Later, she seeks X-Force's help to stop an invasion of Asgard by the dark elf Malekith. When most of the M.L.F. is apprehended during the 1997 "Operation: Zero Tolerance" event, Moonstar is able to extricate herself from the organization with X-Force's aid and joins the team. After an encounter with Arcadia, she gains the ability to manipulate quantum energy for a short time, but this power disappears after Arcadia's defeat. Moonstar quits X-Force when the team enlists Pete Wisdom to lead them.
New X-Men
After a short time as a part-time member of the X-Men while also attending college, Dani regularly appears in both New Mutants and New X-Men, in which she becomes the American history teacher at the Xavier Institute and the mentor of the New Mutants Squad, as well as the legal guardian of Elixir. During this time, she reunites with former teammates Karma and Wolfsbane. She helps Wolfsbane deal with the traumatic return of her lycanthropic powers, but the discovery of an inappropriate romantic liaison between Wolfsbane and Elixir drives a wedge between them.During her appearances in New Mutants and New X-Men, the bulk of Dani's powers appear to have reverted to their original depictions. She also retains some of her Valkyrie abilities, namely the ability to sense imminent death, though they are greatly diminished. In the wake of the 2005 "House of M" event, however, Dani is one of the many mutants who lose their powers. She is fired from her position at the institute by Emma Frost, who feels that, as a human, she is no longer safe nor has any right to remain at the school. She briefly reappears in Generation M #5, in which she reveals that she has not dreamt since losing her powers.