Summary

• Moira MacTaggert's evolution from a human ally to a mutant with reincarnation powers has made her pivotal to X-Men lore across successive era, under significantly different circumstances.
• Her complex relationships with characters, like her adopted daughter Wolfsbane, and her mutant son Proteus, highlight her positive impact on mutantkind, as well the increasingly morally complex nature of her character as time went on.
• Moira's reinventing during the Krakoan Era of X-Men storytelling has thrust her into a central role in the franchise, but she was always one of it's most essential characters, in her role as mutantkind's most vital human ally.

Moira MacTaggert is one of the Marvel Universe's pivotal mutant characters – but for yeas before she was revealed to possess an active X-gene, Moira was one of the X-Men's most integral human allies. Featuring in many iconic storylines in X-history, the original human version of Moira shaped the lives of mutants, on the small and large scale, for decades before being retconned as a mutant.

Moira was introduced by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont in X-Men (Vol. 1) #96, published in 1975. The character was quickly established as one of the world's foremost genetic scientists, a human whose primary field of study was mutation. Though primarily an ally of the X-Men, the character made some questionable choices over the years; time and again, she proved to be no less complex, or important, as a human character than in her recent revitalization as a mutant, which has positioned her at the very heart of the franchise's Krakoan Era.

In 2019, writer Jonathan Hickman rebooted the X-Men franchise with the intertwining miniseries House of X and Powers of X. In the series, Moira was revealed to be a mutant, whose power is reincarnation. Upon dying, Moira is reborn with her mind, and all her memories of her previous timeline intact.

It was further revealed that Moira will only live "ten or eleven" lives; she spends most of her lives attempting to save mutantkind from the many existential threats they face, always unsuccessfully. Finally, in her ninth life, this leads her to found the mutant nation of Krakoa, alongside Charles Xavier and Magneto.

Adopting Rahne Sinclair Helped Wolfsbane Become A Hero

Marvel Graphic Novel #4 - "The New Mutants" (Written By Chris Claremont, Art By Bob McLeod)

Throughout her early years as an X-Men character, Moira was put in the role of a parental figure, a maternal counterpart to Professor Xavier.

Even as a human, Moira played consequential roles in the history of mutantkind as a whole, as well as the personal histories of multiple X-franchise characters. One of these was Wolfsbane, from the New Mutants, also known as Rahne Sinclair. Moira saved Wolfsbane from an anti-mutant mob, and subsequently adopted her. Throughout her early years as an X-Men character, Moira was put in the role of a parental figure, a maternal counterpart to Professor Xavier. As an adoptive mother, Moira proved to be a positive influence on Wolfsbane, providing the mutant hero foundational guidance and stability.

Losing Her Secret Mutant Team Made Moira & Professor X’s Relationship Darker

X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6 (Written By Ed Brubaker, Art By Trevor Hairsine)

House of X wasn't the first time a retcon made Moira MacTaggert a more complicated character. 2006's X-Men: Deadly Genesis...revealed that Xavier caused the deaths of Moira's mutant students, redefining their relationship, while also altering long-time readers' conception of her character.

House of X wasn't the first time a retcon made Moira MacTaggert a more complicated character. 2006's X-Men: Deadly Genesis one-shot revealed she once had her own mutant team. The issue established the previously untold true story of 1975's Giant-Size X-Men #1, which revitalized the franchise, after it had been dormant following Stan Lee's original run. It was revealed that Xavier caused the deaths of Moira's students, redefining their relationship, while also altering long-time readers' conception of her character. Deadly Genesis furthered Xavier's story during that era; however, the impact on Moira herself wasn't depicted, as she was dead in-continuity at the time.

Introducing Xavier To Legion Set Future Stories In Motion

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #26 (Written By Chris Claremont, Art By Bill Sienkiewicz)

New Mutants introduced Charles Xavier's son Legion, who was under Moira MacTaggert's care at her Muir Island facility. Moira convinced the boy's mother, Gabrielle Haller, to reveal their son's existence to Xavier. Without Moira’s influence, every Legion story since might never have happened. Over time, Moira's Muir Isle facility would become pivotal during Chris Claremont’s X-Men tenure, as a place of refuge for mutants with difficult-to-handle mutants. Legion remained in Moira’s care for some time, though not without the occasional incident, as like many of her wards, he struggled to handle the manifestation of his powers.

Hickman's House of X/Powers of X used Moira's multiple lives as a way of incorporating, and remixing, different elements of X-Men lore into the rebooted continuity. Powers of X #6 revealed that Moira and Xavier actually planned for Legion’s conception, in order to create a reality-warping mutant to help to save mutantkind in the future.

Moira Was Killed By Mystique, In A Huge Blow To The X-Men

X-Men (Vol. 2) #108 (written by Chris Claremont, penciled by Leinil Francis Yu)

One of the most significant X-Men plotlines of the 1990s was the Legacy Virus, an autoimmune disease that specifically targeted mutants. Moira was an essential part of the quest to cure the Legacy Virus. In the climax of the long-running storyline, Mystique assembled a new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and attacked Muir Isle, fatally wounding Moira. Moira’s death drastically impacted many of the X-Men, from Xavier, to her adoptive daughter Rahne Sinclair, to her long-time romantic partner Banshee. The latter mutant took Moira's death particularly badly, forming a brutal mutant police force known as X-Corps to hunt down the villains responsible.

Moira's death ar Mystique's hands plays a pivotal role in several of her lives, as depicted in House of X. According to House of X #2, the events of this storyline did happen, though Moira actually faked her death here with a ‘Shi’ar Golem’, which few besides Professor X knew about.

Locking Proteus In Her Basement Was Among Moira's Worst Mistakes

X-Men (Vol. 1) #126 (Written By Chris Claremont, Art By John Byrne)

Moira’s son Kevin, aka Proteus, is an Omega-level, reality-warping mutant, whose powers are so intense that his consciousness must hope between bodies, as he burns them out. Moira imprisoned her son on Muir Island, in one of the earliest signs that Moira was not the purely ethical character she had initially seemed to be. It also signaled the darker direction the X-Men franchise was headed at the time, especially when Colossus was forced to kill Kevin. This moment, several years into Chris Claremont's X-run, introduced shades of gray to the X-Men, as they grappled with a problem with no clean solution.

As with Legion, it was revealed in Powers of X #6 that Kevin’s conception was also planned, though clearly not everything was under Moira’s control.

Experimenting On Magneto Helped Make Him A Villain Again

X-Men (Vol. 2) #2 (Written By Chris Claremont & Jim Lee, With Art By Jim Lee)

During the 1970s, Magneto was de-aged into a baby, and it was later revealed in X-Men (Vol. 2) #2 that Moira experimented on his DNA during this time, in an attempt to eliminate his megalomania. This portrayed the flip-side to Moira's parental nature, and another one of her significant moral failings as one of mutantkind's closest human alies. Magneto understandably resented Moira for this violation, and it was one of the key triggers that pushed Magneto back into villainy during the 1990s, after he’d spent much of the previous decade as an ally of the X-Men and a leader of the New Mutants.

Magneto was de-aged in 1974’s Defenders (Vol. 1) #16 – written by Len Wein, penciled by Sal Buscema. This moment takes on extra significance in the Krakoan era, as Moria suggests in Powers of X #6 that it’s a moment that split her, Xavier and Magneto apart, after they’d all been working together behind the scenes for years.

Moira Contracting The Legacy Virus Showed It Could Threaten The Entire World

Excalibur (Vol. 1) #80 (Written By Scott Lobdell & Chris Cooper, Art By Amanda Conner)

When she contracted the Legacy Virus, Moira was apparently the first human to ever be infected. This was a major development in the Virus storyline, as it signaled that the disease was spreading beyond just mutants, and could threaten the entire world.

When she contracted the Legacy Virus, Moira was apparently the first human to ever be infected. This was a major development in the Virus storyline, as it signaled that the disease was spreading beyond just mutants, and could threaten the entire world. This was a significant escalation to a plot that had been ongoing at a slow pace for years at the time, as X-Men's creative teams of that era seemed unsure how to resolve the story. While she had become a more morally complex character over the years, this moment reaffirmed Moira’s heroism and allyship, as she continued fighting to find a cure even while the disease was slowly killing her.

Finding A Cure For The Legacy Virus Saved Mutantkind

Bishop: The Last X-Man #16 (Written By Scott Lobdell, With Art Thomas Derenick)

Mystique’s attempted sabotage of Moira's research unintentionally gave the scientist the breakthrough she’d been looking for. This moment made Moira’s death all the more tragic, as she didn’t live to see her cure realized.

Mystique’s deadly attack on Moira proved the catalyst for finally creating a Legacy Virus cure, after Mystique’s attempted sabotage of Moira's research unintentionally gave the scientist the breakthrough she’d been looking for. This moment made Moira’s death all the more tragic, as she didn’t live to see her cure realized. In a way, Moira's death, and the Legacy Virus' cure, felt like a bookend for so many X-Men stories. Neither Moira nor the legacy virus would appear again until many years later, as the X-Men went through their "lost decade," before the franchise, and Moira herself, were radically reimagined in House of X/Powers of X.