- "I scare people."
Characteristics[]
- Height- 5'6
- Weight- 123 lbs
- Eyes- Brown
- Hair- Black
Biography[]
Origin[]
Danielle Moonstar was born in Colorado to members of the Cheyenne Nation. The first time Dani's powers manifested, she saw the image of her parents dying. She saw a huge bear standing over the bodies of a horse and an eagle; representing her mother came (from the horse clan) and her father (of the eagle clan). Shortly thereafter, her parents took a trip into the mountains and they disappeared, presumed to be dead. Prior to her parents disappearance Dani was sent to live with some neighbors, but she did not have control over her mutant ability to create illusions based on primal fears or deepest desires resulting in much resentment toward her in the community. To escape the malice of her community she went to live with her Grandfather, Black Eagle, a recluse in the mountains. Black Eagle was an old friend of Charles Xavier and contacted him to help his granddaughter upon learning of her mutant abilities. He told Dani of Xavier and his wish for her to go and study with him at his school. However, the news angered her. She did not wish to be being sent away with a "white", and accidentally lashed out with her power creating an image of her grandfather's death. Before Xavier could arrive, Black Eagle was killed by Donald Pierce's henchmen from the Hellfire Club. In her ensuing quest for vengeance, Dani freed X'ian Coy Mahn from Pierce's imprisonment, and encountered Xavier and the other young mutants whom Pierce would threaten with his genocidal anti-mutant agenda. After Peirce was defeated Dani stayed with Xavier to honor her grandfather's wishes. At first she took the codename Psyche, but shortly thereafter became better known as Mirage, and she soon came to see the New Mutants as not only close friends but her family.
Mystical Adventures[]
When the Demon Bear, who had claimed her parents came for her, Dani went out to face it. It mauled her severely, nearly killing her. She would have been paralyzed had it not been for the lifesaving powers of the Morlocks' Healer. The New Mutants fought the Bear on a magical plane, defeating it and freeing Dani’s parents from its clutches. In one adventure, the New Mutants and Storm were kidnapped by the Enchantress of Asgard at Loki’s request. When Illyana Rasputin attempted to teleport them all away, the New Mutants found themselves scattered through Asgard. Dani found herself in a grassy plain where she spotted a fully white, winged horse that had been trapped by hunters and began to attempt to free it. While trying to set the winged horse free, an army began to charge at her. Unwilling to leave the horse helpless and not willing to run, Dani chose to fight back, which led her to using her telepathic abilities to draw forth the image that the oncoming warriors feared most, Hela Asgardian Goddess of Death. The enemies froze in fear and left immediately, without a backwards glance. Dani not recognizing who the image was, cared less and returned to the winged-horse and freed it. The horse instantly began to trust and bonded with Dani. The horse was one of the winged-steeds of the Valkyor who had chosen her to be a Valkyrie; one of the choosers of the slain. It is possible that Dani’s moments of seeing her parents and grandfather’s deaths may have indicated a previously existing mystical ability in this area. The New Mutants joined forces with the X-Men to defeat Loki. The steed, which Dani named Brightwind returned to Earth with her. Upon her connection with Brightwind Dani was very different though, in powers as well as responsibilities. Dani was no longer just a human mutant but a Valkyrie. This title gifted her with the ability to "see" death, or an aura of death around individuals who were to die soon. This gift also allowed Dani the ability to fight Death itself. On a couple of occasions, Dani attempted to fight Death to save the lives of those around her, though she was not always successful and learned that Death was a natural process of life not always to be feared. Later, when Hela attempted to take over Asgard, Dani found herself trapped under the sway of Hela along with the rest of the Valkyor. She attempted to kill Odin, but the New Mutants combined with the Asgardians defeated Hela’s forces, freeing the Valkyor and Dani. Dani then chose to remain behind in Asgard to help repair the damage she had done.
Mutant Liberation Front[]
Eventually, Dani returned to earth and unbeknownst to any of her friends she joined SHIELD. As a SHIELD operative, she took on a mission to go undercover in the Mutant Liberation Front (MLF), using the code name Moonstar. Purposefully withholding information of her recent past, she would use her powers against her old team-mates, while serving as an informant for Cable. Dani was forced to take on a harder, darker persona, almost changing herself completely, including her mutant powers. Dani was able to refine her psychic abilities to the point were she focus he mental energies to create "Psychic Arrows". These same "arrows" once connected with there intended target would incapacitate them, by either knocking them unconscious, temporarily paralysing or befuddle them and they would begin to make incoherent noise; completely taking the out of a fight. Not only did Dani take on a darker appearance in mind and body, but it also changed Brightwind. No longer bright at all, her pegasus was not white, but completely black and now call Darkwind. While apart of the MLF Dani struggled with her "undercover status" as it put her at odds with herself. An unfortunate side affect to her "deep cover" was that it brought her into many conflicts with old allies X-Force which was largely comprised of former New Mutants. Additionally she began to get to know the members of the MLF a lot better, resulting in a genuine friendship with the mutant named Forearm. Her job became more of a struggle as she began to feel guilt by her actions, and as Reignfire, the MLF's leader, began to suspect her loyalties. After the MLF and X-Force battled Operation: Zero Tolerance, Dani left SHIELD (and therefore the MLF too) to rejoin her friends in X-force.
Teacher[]
Later, Dani joined the X-Men as an affiliate member, recruiting and teaching/ training students at the Xavier Institute, even becoming a guardian for Elixir when his parents completely rejected him. She eventually took over the training of the New Mutant Squad. Dani was one of the many Mutants whose powers were removed by the Decimation. Emma Frost made Dani leave the school along with all the other mutants who had been depowered. She was working with the Government as part of The Initiative to train young people with super-powers, though sometimes her wishes run counter to her supervisors. She became the primary instructor for Trauma, who has similar emotion/fear-based powers that she had previously had. It appears she has been fired by Henry Gyrich for teaching Trauma liberal, anti-militaristic beliefs.
Re-Union[]
In the wake of the Messiah Complex, the X-Men disbanded and Cyclops closed the Xavier Institute. Shortly After he seeks out six former students and recruits them as the last team of X-Men ever. Once gathered together at their headquarters he explains that their enemy is a new incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil. He displays a hologram of the new Botherhood's members, including five of the original New Mutants; Cannonball, Karma, Magma, Sunspot and Danielle Moonstar. Cyclops explicitly stated that the new team's orders were to kill their predecessors. However, after the confrontation between old and new New Mutants, it was revealed that Donald Pierce had deceived the new team and sent them to destroy the original New Mutants. After his defeat, Cyclops asked Dani and Sunspot to help train the Young X-Men.
Rejoining the New Mutants[]
Some time after the X-Men had set up the Graymalkin Institute in San Francisco, thanks to a warning by Illyana, both Dani and Xian were discovered to have gone to a town in Colorado to seek out a possible mutant problem. When Illyana, Amara, Sam and Bobby investigate, they find out that the mutant is really Legion. Xian is found to be in a comatose state after having gone into Legion's mind, and Dani is found imprisoned in a local jail. As one of the beings who previously tried to "fix" David Haller's mind, Dani becomes the target of Legion. When Sam and Bobby knock Legion away from Dani's cell, Sam leaves her inside, thinking that she was safer inside than exposed to Legion if she were free. Sam realizes his mistake when Legion uses another of his powers to manipulate the earth in Dani's cell in a second attempt to kill her. That attempt is stopped when Magma melts the earth golem Legion created. Furious at Sam, Dani punches him, then arms herself with various weapons in order to be useful when they bring the fight back to the insane mutant. Despite her efforts, Sam still tries to get her to escape by commandeering a vehicle for her. Furious, Dani drives away. Cannonball, Magma and Sunspot then attempt to fight Legion while Illyana tries to salvage the situation from within Legion's own mind. One by one, Legion takes down the three mutants using the different abilities of his hostile personalities. When Legion finally shifts to a werewolf-like form to regenerate his wounds and finish off a helpless Cannonball, Dani returns in time to ram Legion with her vehicle and prevent Sam from being killed. Despite ramming Legion into a wall and stabbing him with her knife, the omega level mutant still gains the upper hand. Before he can kill Dani, Illyana succeeds in freeing Shan and David Haller's base personality from within Legion's mind, and ending the ordeal. Later, as the rest of the X-Men arrive for cleanup and recovery, Dani is seen to angrily spurn Sam's attempts at an apology.
Utopia[]
During the battle with the Dark X-Men and Dark Avengers, Cyclops sends Dani to Las Vegas, there she approaches the Norse goddess of death, Hela for a 'boon'. Hela warns her that the price of the 'boon' is a heavy one, but Dani accepts, requesting "a ride home and a big ol' sword". It is presumed that Dani has asked for her Valkyrie powers back. During the battle against Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers on the new mutant haven, Utopia, the invulnerable God Ares arrives closely followed by Dani returning as a Valkyrie to stop him. Dani easily overcomes Ares and brings him down to his knees. Ares states that he was not prepared to battle a Valkyrie. Danielle Moonstar alongside her fellow New Mutants, were ready to battle. Dani states that she is not just a Valkyrie but "was made to stop gods". With Ares badly wounded, and with the entire mutant populace ganging up on him, Osborn abandons his efforts, leaving the mutant island.
Siege[]
The New Mutants are spending a weekend in Las Vegas, as Hela is calling in the favor Dani Moonstar owes her. She empowers Dani as her own Valkyrie and explains that Asgard (currently on Earth) is under Siege and Dani’s job is to escort the souls of the dead gods to her. Dani is reluctant, fearing Hela is planning some awful scheme. When she reaches Asgard, she quickly finds the Asgardian souls, led by the war god Tyr. But when the Valkyries ask her to join them fighting, she tells the souls to wait for her as nothing bad can happen to them anymore. However, when she is gone, horrible soul-eating monsters, the D’siri, attack and devour several of the souls, despite Tyr’s attempt to protect them. When she realizes what is happening, Dani returns and chases away the D’siri, but too late for some of the souls. She tells Tyr that he is wounded but still alive and has him rejoin the living. She then brings the remaining souls to Hela, ashamed that she was wrong and Hela was actually trying to save them.
Second Coming[]
During Second Coming, Cyclops sanctions Dani and the New Mutants (minus Illyana) in a holding pattern over the Midwest aboard the Blackbird. He then sends them to St. Louis to shut down Cameron Hodge's facility where he's producing Anti-Mutant weaponry. They are ordered not to let Hodge send his team to help the Purifiers. The team engage the soldiers in battle. Dani takes part in the battle, regardless of being powerless, using her fighting abilities to engage the soldiers in battle. The team are forced to retreat after Karma's leg is mutilated by Hodge, while Warlock kills him and his forces with his powers. Back on the plane Dani tries to help Karma with her wound. After they return, Dani attends Nightcrawler's funeral. At the mess hall, Moonstar confronts Cable, telling him that her team took it rough covering for him and wonders if his new 'hobby' is worth it. Hope takes it personally, and she punches Dani in the face. Both end up fighting. Cyclops orders them to break it up, however Cable thinks Scott should stop keeping Hope in a bubble, as she makes her own way now. Later, during a meeting, Cyclops assigns Cypher to join X-Force on their mission to the future. Wolverine replies by commenting on Doug's 'one weakness', "bullets". Moonstar reacts angrily, calling him a "son of a bitch" getting up ready to attack him, but she's stopped by Psylocke. Dani then joins the fight on the Golden Gate Bridge and witnesses Hope defeating Bastion and her possession of the Phoenix. After the fight is over, Moonstar attends Cable's funeral.
Schism[]
Dani chooses to remain on Utopia with Cyclops during the events of Schism.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Mutant Powers[]
Empathic Illusion Casting: To create three-dimensional images of certain visual concepts from thoughts and emotional impressions within the minds of herself and others. Originally, Moonstar could only create images of other people's greatest fears. Later, she learned how to reach into another person's subconscious and project an image of the object of that person's "heart's desire." Still later, under Charles Xavier's further training, Moonstar learned to use her power to derive and project more specific images from another person's mind that were unrelated to such strong emotional states. Moreover, she learned how to project such images around herself and others in order to alter the appearance of herself and others. For example, once she and her teammate Cannonball, neither dressed impressively at the time, had to find Wolfsbane at a stylish hotel. In order that she and Cannonball would look as if they belonged in the hotel, Moonstar made herself and Cannonball look like the desk clerk's mental image of the ideal wealthy guests for the hotel. Most recently, Moonstar learned to project three-dimensional versions of images from her own mind, such as life-size images of the New Mutants training in the use of their powers.
Despite the fact that Moonstar had to probe a person's subconscious in order to discover the mental image she wished to project, she wasn't a true telepath. Although she could consciously initiate the mental probing in order to find and project an image, the probing process itself wasn't governed by her conscious mind. Hence, Moonstar did not consciously know what the image she sought in another person's mind was (in any more detail than that it was the image of the object of his or her greatest fear, or that it was the image of his or her ideal customer, or whatever) until its image actually appeared in three-dimensional form before her.
The three-dimensional images that Moonstar caused to appear were similar to holograms, although they were created by psionic energy rather than by lasers, and could be seen by anyone in their vicinity. However, only the people from whom Moonstar derived the images would perceive them as "real," indistinguishable from the real persons or objects they portrayed. To other people, the images were recognizable as immaterial illusions. Moonstar could use her power to derive and project mental images on several people at once. Each "victim" would see a different image, corresponding to his or her own individual concept of the kind of image that Moonstar sought. If, for example, she sought to make a group of people each see the object of his or her greatest fear, probably each person in the group would see an image of a different person or thing. Probably if she caused each member of the New Mutants to see an image of Professor Xavier, each member would see a subtly different image, according to his or her own perception of Xavier's personality, handsomeness, and so forth. However, even though each "victim" in such a group would see only one image, Moonstar herself and anyone else in the vicinity would see each of the images drawn from the minds of each of the "victims".
The seeming materialization of the object of his or her greatest fear of desire invariably had immediate emotional impact on the person from whom Moonstar had drawn the image she projected. Moonstar's images dissolved and ceased to exist as soon as she ceased to maintain sufficient concentration to keep them visible.
Moonstar was limited in the use of her power by her need to see the person from whose consciousness she derived her images. She could use her power on a person even if he or she could only be seen by Moonstar through binoculars. However, she couldn't draw images from a person who was standing only a few feet from her, but behind something she couldn't see through. Nor could she derive images from a person whom she saw via live television but who wasn't actually within her vicinity.
At first Moonstar could not control her image projecting powers, and she would draw and project images without consciously willing to do so. However, she learned to control her power due to Charles Xavier's guidance and her own growing maturity, so that her power operated only when she willed it to do so. Moonstar, like the other New Mutants, was killed and then resurrected by the alien Beyonder. When the Beyonder recreated the New Mutants, somehow their proficiency in utilizing their powers was greatly reduced. Hence, although Moonstar could still perform all the feats listed above, it was now more difficult for her to do so. Also, her ability to keep her power under her conscious control was lessened as a result.
Moonstar's ultimate potential was to be able to cause her three-dimensional images to become tangible entities of psionic force. She was only able to make use of this full potential temporarily when her abilities were briefly augmented psionically by Charles Xavier when he was mentally possessed by a member of the alien Brood.
Moonstar could also use her power to derive and project images of the objects of fear or desire from the minds of animals. The only difference was that the animal from which she derived the image would be the only being to see it. She could even use this power on fish and certain insects, although not on animals with intelligence any lower than these creatures. Moonstar could derive mental images of her winged horse Brightwind's objects of fear and love even if Brightwind was beyond the range of her sight, and project such images to him over a great distance. The limits of her powers with regard to Brightwind are unknown. She summoned him in the past by projecting an image of herself, whom he loved, to him, even though he was out of her range of sights.
Asgardian Powers[]
Neural Arrows: She could 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.
Animal Empathy: Moonstar could achieve a quasi-telepathic rapport with higher animals including primates (but not including human beings), members of the dog and cat families (including wolves and mountain lions, for example), and birds. She could sense their feelings, consciously perceive images in their minds, and even see through their eyes. However, since an animal's ability to conceptualize is highly limited, she was limited as to what she telepathically could learn from an animal.
This ability extended to Wolfsbane's lupine form. However, since Wolfsbane retains her human mind as a wolf, it was more difficult for Moonstar to sort out the mental impressions she received from her than it was for Moonstar to deal with those of a real wolf. Moonstar's telepathic rapport with Wolfsbane was originally sometimes painful to Moonstar because of this fact, but it stopped after a period of time.
Moonstar also had a quasi-telepathic rapport with her winged horse Brightwind; possibly Brightwind had psychic abilities of his own that made the rapport easier. Though highly intelligent, Brightwind has an animal's mind, so Moonstar couldn't communicate with him telepathically in quite the same way she could with Wolfsbane when she is in her lupine form.
Death Sense: ability to perceive and sense the coming of Death. She could perceive a "deathglow" surrounding a person who was in serious danger of dying. Moreover, Moonstar could perceive Death incarnate, in whatever form it took to claim the person with the deathglow. A person surrounded by the deathglow was in danger of death, but might still be saved from dying (until he or she met his or her inevitable end at some later time under different circumstances).
Resist Death: Moonstar could challenge Death itself and death gods using a "Cheyenne ghost-shaft" made from her image powers. She succeeded in driving away Hela when she attempted to claim the soul of Wolverine, and in driving away Death itself when it came for Margaret Power.
Quantum Energy Manipulation: the ability to manipulate quantum energies to affect energy and matter on a subatomic level and fire powerful energy blasts.
Abilities[]
Moonstar is a better than average athlete for her age, in large part because of all the times she has spent on her own in the wilderness. She has a fair knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, has enhanced durability, and is a particularly good horseback rider and swimmer. She also has great knowledge of weapons use spears, archery, knives, swords, clubs and axes.
Paraphernalia[]
Transportation[]
As Mirage, she had a winged, Asgardian horse, Brightwind (now known as Darkwind), who is capable of flight. His top speed is unknown.
Affliations[]
- New Mutants
- X-Force formerly
- New Mutants Squad formerly
- Mutant Resistance (earth-11326)
- Alpha Flight (earth-1610)
- X-Men formerly
Alternate Realities[]
Earth #161[]
X-Men Forever
Earth #295[]
In the Age of Apocalypse reality Danielle Moonstar It is an agent of Apocalypse. Cruel and sadistic Danielle is a member of Damask's Pale Rider's. Danielle would sadistically torture by cutting and slicing Dead Man Wade's face over and over again. Dead Man Wade had a healing ability that would take care of the wounds but it would still be an excruciating experience. Danielle was told numerous times to stop by Damask, and didn't listen. Eventually, Damask had enough of Moonstar’s disobedience and killed her.
Earth #58163[]
In the House of M reality Danielle Moonstar is an agent of the SHIELD and agent appointed to the Hellions, who are the training unit in SHIELD. In this reality there are two schooling options for young mutants to decide from: either the New Mutant Leadership Institute (similar to Xavier's Institute) for the future diplomats and leader's of the nation, or become a trainee of S.H.I.E.L.D. (joining their Hellions training squad) for a spy and covert ops/military type training. In the House of M, Danielle chose S.H.I.E.L.D. and is the field agent in charge of training the Hellions training squad, although an agent she actively participates in missions. Unlike in the regular 616 reality, Karma and Moonstar are not friends, and often bump heads as Karma is the leader of the New Mutants. She also appears to be without powers in this reality. Whether that's true or she doesn't use them is unknown.
Earth #904[]
ValkyrieIn the X-Men: The End it chronicles the end of the X-Men 20 years in the future. In this reality, Danielle is capture and placed in a coma in a newly created Neverland Ranch located on the blue side of the moon. Whilst she is in a coma many of her friends in the X-Men whom she has known for years are killed, and she was unable to help. During an attack on Xavier Institute, Wolfsbane was caught in an explosion while attempting to save the lives of the students. In her last dying thoughts she called out to Dani for help. Through Dani's telepathic connection to Rahne while in her lupine form, Wolfsbane provided her with enough energy to try to break out of her coma. She began to chant spells and mystical runes manifested above & around her body. The scientists on the moon were unnerved and decided to kill her. After her death Dani awoke as someone who was no longer a mutant or even a human being. Danielle Moonstar transformed into a Valkyrie, finally reaching her potential. She destroys Neverland Ranch as her final help to her allies on Earth, but then leaves Earth never to return. Thereafter, she later helped destroy Hela and took her place as the Norse Goddess of Death and ruler of Hel.
New Mutants #49-50[]
Most of the X-Men, if not all, and the New Mutants were killed by Sentinels in their initial attack. The New Mutants were reduced to a trio consisting of an aged Cannonball, his lover Lila Cheney and a very embittered & war-torn Danielle Moonstar. They devised a plan to gather the remaining mutants together and use Lila's intergalactic teleportation powers to safely leave Earth and head to another planet. They appear to have been successful, as they are shown teleporting away in one of the final panels.
Earth #1081[]
Homeworld of Morph, ex-member of the Exiles
The New Mutants of this reality were/are very similar to the mainstream counterpart of Earth #616 with an exception to the members of the team. The team consisted of Cannonball, Sunspot, Moonstar, Wolfsbane and Morph.
Earth #1610[]
In Ultimate X-Men Dani is Snowbird a member of Alpha Flight.
Earth #904[]
What If... The X-Men Stayed In Asgard?
An offer is made to the X-Men and New Mutants giving them the choice of whether to stay or leave Asgard. Though only a few X-Men accept and stay, all but three of the New Mutants remain in Asgard effectively putting an end to the group as a whole. Those that remained in Asgard dramatically change history there and most take on important roles. Danielle Moonstar battles and defeats Hela the Goddess of Death and takes her role becoming the new Goddess of Death, ruling over her domain of Hel.
Earth #11326[]
Danielle Moonstar one of the many surviving mutants who is a member of the Mutant Resistance.
Earth #2301[]
Marvel Mangaverse
In this reality Danielle Moonstar uses the codename Mirage and is a member of the X-Men. Her powers are quite different in this reality as she is a sorceress and has the ability to summon monsters that battle for her. One other significant difference from her mainstream counterpart is that here is from India and as such is not a Native American.
Media[]
Television[]
X-men Evolution
Danielle Moonstar was pertained as the Ghost of a Chance. During the accident of Shadowcat, she believed that she have survived uninjured by phasing and befriended a girl who introduced herself as Danielle. She confessed that she is also a mutant and she admires Kitty for the powers that she have. By this reason, she convinced her to join the Institute. She had a hard time adjusting with other mutants. She also do not have control of her powers causing her to traumatize everyone with fearful illusions even in their sleep.
As Kitty wakes up the next day, she looked for Danielle in the Institute but no one remembers her. Kitty blames Professor X to have deleted their memories but the reality is that no one who was named Danielle Moonstar have been existing in the Institute. Kitty still believes that Dani was real and was not a part of her imagination. She asked assistance from Nightcrawler to teleport to Dani's hometown.
As Nightcrawler and Kitty explores the town, a mysterious call from a phone booth captured Kitty's attention and answered it. It was Dani asking help. With the help of a directory, she found out Dani's address and followed it. There they met Black Eagle and told them that Danielle was missing for two years and was presumed dead. Nightcrawler believed that a Dani Moonstar existed but it is unknown to him how she was met by Kitty. Kitty did not lose hope and went to where she exactly met Dani. Kitty heard and followed Dani's voice even without Kurt's permission. She phases under and saw Danielle unconscious. Kitty was surprised and was happy to prove herself Dani was real. With Kurt worried, he asked help from the X-Men. The X-Men worked together to create a passageway for them to enter where Kitty phased. Meanwhile, Kitty awakened Danielle but she confessed that she can't phase out because it was too high for her. Kitty then heard the X-Men. Kurt teleported in and saved the two girls. As the situation gets calm, Dani was brought to the Institute. Professor X told everyone that Dani have projected herself to Kitty's dream while she is under recovery from the accident by using a ghost shaft. Black Eagle then came to bring Dani back home.
Film[]
X2 : X-Men United
Her name appears on a list of names that Mystique scrolls through on Stryker's computer while looking for Magneto's file. She can be seen in the deleted museum scene, which involves Jubilee
X-Men : The Last Stand Novel
Moonstar is recruited as a future X-Man, alongside Cannonball, Gambit, Sage amongst others.
Video Games[]
Marvel Heroes