Danielle Moonstar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Danielle Moonstar |
|
|---|---|
Dani Moonstar on the variant cover for The Fearless Defenders #4.
|
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The New Mutants (September 1982) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Bob McLeod |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Danielle "Dani" Moonstar |
| Species | Human mutant |
| Team affiliations | Hellions The Initiative Mutant Liberation Front New Mutants S.H.I.E.L.D. Valkyrior Xavier Institute X-Force X-Men Young X-Men Defenders |
| Notable aliases | Psyche Mirage Moonstar Spellbinder Dark Raider |
| Abilities | Valkyrie Abilities:
Mutant psi abilities:
|
Danielle "Dani" Moonstar is a fictional Northern Cheyenne superhero from Marvel Comics. She was first called Psyche and later Mirage. Dani first appeared in the graphic novel The New Mutants in September 1982. She was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod. Dani is often shown as a member of the New Mutants team.
Dani is a mutant. She started with the power to create illusions based on people's fears or wishes. Later, she gained many other psionic and energy powers. She also learned some magic after adventures in Asgard. Dani was part of the X-Men's junior team, the New Mutants. She also joined X-Force, the X-Men, Young X-Men, and the Fearless Defenders. She lost her powers for a time but got them back. She also regained her special Valkyrie powers after making a deal with Hela.
Blu Hunt played Danielle Moonstar in The New Mutants movie in 2020.
How Danielle Moonstar Was Created
Danielle Moonstar, also known as Mirage, was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod. Her first appearance was in The New Mutants in September 1982. She became a main character in the The New Mutants comic series, which started in 1983.
Dani also appeared in later comic series like New Mutants vol. 2 (2003) and Young X-Men (2008). She was part of X-Force (1991), first working secretly and then as a team member. She also appeared in Avengers: The Initiative (2007) and sometimes in The Uncanny X-Men. In 2013, she was a regular member of the all-female team in The Fearless Defenders. More recently, she has been a main character again in The Uncanny X-Men vol. 5 (2019) and New Mutants vol. 4 (2019).
Danielle Moonstar's Story
Early Life and Powers
Danielle Moonstar is a teenage Native American girl from the Cheyenne tribe. She was born in Boulder, Colorado. Like many mutants, Dani's powers appeared when she was a teenager. One of her first powers was seeing a vision of her parents dying from a demonic bear. Soon after, her parents vanished. Dani's grandfather, Black Eagle, took care of her.
The Hellfire Club tried to capture Dani, and her grandfather was killed trying to protect her. He had already contacted Professor X to help Dani. Professor X, who was a friend of Dani's father, offered to teach Dani how to control her powers. She joined his new group of students called the New Mutants. Dani quickly became a co-leader of the team, along with Cannonball. She also became very good friends with Wolfsbane.
Adventures with the New Mutants
While with the New Mutants, Dani started having nightmares about the Demon Bear again. Her grandfather's magic had kept it away before. One night, she fought the bear and ended up in the hospital. The other New Mutants waited for her, but the Demon Bear found them. Its magic pulled the team into another dimension. Magik hurt the Demon Bear with her magic sword. It then turned back into Dani's parents, William and Peg Lonestar. Dani was reunited with her parents but chose to stay at Xavier's school.
The New Mutants had a big rivalry with the Hellions, another team of young mutants led by the White Queen. This rivalry became less intense when Dani became friends with the Hellions' leader, Thunderbird.
While stuck in Asgard, Dani found a winged horse trapped in mud. She freed the horse and named it Brightwind. Dani didn't know that by doing this, she accidentally became a Valkyrie. This new power allowed her to see when someone was about to die.
Later, Dani helped the Power Pack fight some demonic creatures. The Power Pack's mother was very sick. Dani fought off Death itself outside the hospital window, which gave the mother more time to live. On a trip home, Dani met an old friend who had become very sick. He died when he didn't take his medicine.
Dani and the New Mutants tried to save their former teammate Magma. During a fight, Dani was thrown into a machine meant to take away mutant powers. Instead, the machine made her powers stronger. She gained the ability to make her telepathic images real. She could only make one image real at a time. To make old images disappear, she started summoning a spear.
For a while, the team was looked after by X-Factor. Dani started getting bad headaches, but many events interrupted the team.
Hela, the goddess of death in Asgard, planned to take over Asgard and kill Odin. Hela's magic made Dani very confused, and her friends had to hold her back. The battle moved to Asgard. The New Mutants, along with the wolf-prince Hrimhari and the Valkyrie Krista, defeated Hela. Dani seemed to lose her winged horse Brightwind in the battle. In the end, she chose to stay in Asgard. This angered Hotamitanio, one of her Cheyenne gods, who came to Asgard to bring her back. Dani convinced him to let her stay, promising to return to her tribe later.
Joining X-Force
When Dani returned, she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and secretly went undercover with the Mutant Liberation Front. She improved her psychic powers to create "psychic arrows" that could stop targets. She rode Darkwind, a dark version of her horse Brightwind. Her mission led to many fights with her old friends, especially X-Force. Dani secretly worked against the Mutant Liberation Front. She helped Cable turn Feral over to the police and stopped a mission in China. Her horse, Brightwind (who became Darkwind), was killed.
Later, Dani asked X-Force for help in Asgard to stop the dark elf Malekith. When most of the Mutant Liberation Front was caught, Dani escaped with X-Force's help. She joined X-Force on a long road trip. After meeting Arcadia Deville, she briefly gained the power to control quantum energy, but this power soon disappeared. She left X-Force when they changed their focus.
Becoming a Mentor
After being a part-time member of the X-Men, Dani Moonstar became a mentor for a new New Mutants team at the Xavier Institute. She also became the American History teacher and the legal guardian of Elixir. During this time, she reunited with Karma and Wolfsbane. She helped Wolfsbane with her powers, but a complicated relationship between Wolfsbane and Elixir caused problems between Dani and Wolfsbane.
During this time, Dani's powers mostly went back to their original form. She still had some Valkyrie abilities, like sensing death, but they were not as strong.
Losing and Regaining Powers
After the House of M event, the Scarlet Witch caused many mutants to lose their powers. Dani was one of them. Emma Frost fired her from the school, saying it was no longer safe for a human. Dani later appeared in Generation M #5, where she said she hadn't dreamed since losing her powers.
After the Civil War among superheroes, Dani was asked to join the Initiative program. She became an instructor for new superheroes, working with Beast. She trained Trauma, whose powers were also fear-based. Trauma transformed into the Demon Bear, but Dani calmly helped him. However, because Dani wanted Trauma to use his powers for healing, she was dismissed from Camp Hammond.
Dani later joined a new version of the Hellfire Club. She moved to San Francisco with the X-Men. Cyclops told her that she and Sunspot would train the Young X-Men. She convinced Anole to join the Young X-Men.
New Mutants Reunite
Dani and Xi'an were sent to Colorado to investigate a young mutant. While they were there, Magik returned to the X-Men's base. Magik told Sam and Roberto that Dani and Xi'an were in danger. Sam gathered a team to rescue them. Dani was saved from Legion, who wanted to kill her. Dani was upset that Sam was willing to leave her behind because she didn't have powers. She got guns to go after Legion. Even though Dani defeated Legion, Sam still treated her differently, so she left.
Return of Valkyrie Powers
Dani helped Cyclops prepare for a fight against Norman Osborn's forces. Cyclops sent her to Las Vegas, where she asked the Norse death goddess Hela for a special favor. Hela warned her that the price would be high, but Dani accepted. She asked for "a new ride home and a big ol' sword." Later, she arrived for the final battle with her Valkyrie powers fully restored. She fought Ares and defeated him.
After the battle, Cyclops asked Dani to teach the X-Men again. Dani wanted to join Sam's team, but Sam hadn't included her. Dani challenged Sam to a duel in the Danger Room. They understood each other during the fight, and Sam let Dani rejoin his team. He promised to treat her as an equal. Dani and Sam became romantically involved. When Sam stepped down as leader of the New Mutants, Dani took his place.
Later Adventures
Hela called on Dani to gather the spirits of Asgardians who died fighting Norman Osborn. Dani's sword could not harm living Asgardians but was deadly against the Disir, who wanted to feed on the spirits.
Dani and the New Mutants were also captured by Project Purgatory and fought the Inferno Babies. During the Age of X reality, Dani was a tracker and leader of the Moonstar Cadre, a team of elite hunters.
The New Mutants lost some members due to events in Limbo and Age of X. Cyclops asked Dani's team to tie up loose ends, including rescuing Nate Grey, who became her new love interest. They also dealt with the Sugar Man and a techno-organic virus.
Dani later joined Brunnhilde's team, the Fearless Defenders. She used her Valkyrie death sense to find mutants suffering from the M-Pox disease. She continued to support the X-Men and served as a teacher for Jubilee's class. She also helped during the Secret Empire event.
Dani was infected by the techno-organic virus from Warlock. This virus spread to other New Mutants. They were captured and forced to become mutant hunter-killers. Dani and her friends were later freed by the X-Men.
After their rescue, Dani and the X-Men hunted down enemies. They fought a new Brotherhood of Mutants. Dani's psychic link with Wolfsbane told her that her best friend had died. Dani gave a eulogy at Rahne's funeral.
The X-Men debated whether to stay hidden from the world. Dani and many others did not want to hide. They destroyed the Cerebro unit that had erased mutants from everyone's minds, revealing themselves again.
War of the Realms
During the War of the Realms, Dani was called to fight when Malekith the Accursed attacked Earth. She was the last of the Valkyries. Dani and the X-Men helped survivors in New York City. They fought frost giants and other enemies. Dani tracked their missing friends by sensing Sabretooth's involvement.
The X-Men fought to protect humans. Sunspot sacrificed himself to break a curse. Mirage and Karma used their powers to create an illusion, tricking enemies into Limbo. Wolfsbane and Magik defeated Victor, but Wolfsbane's lover and son were sent back to Hel. Dani paid her respects to her fallen sisters. As the war ended, Dani was there when Loki defeated the frost giant king.
Danielle Moonstar's Powers
Mutant Powers
Mirage is a mutant with empathic psi abilities. She can talk with animals and people. She can also create 3D images of fears or wishes from her own mind or others. Her main power was showing people's worst nightmares or their deepest desires as realistic illusions. She lost her mutant powers for a time but got them back.
At first, Dani could not control her illusions. She would create images without meaning to. With training, she learned to control them. She can also project images from the minds of animals. This lets her communicate with animals, like Wolfsbane in her wolf form.
For a while, Dani could make her telepathic images real, turning them into solid energy. She could only keep one illusion real at a time. She often carried a "dream spear" to make old illusions disappear. Sometimes, her powers gave her bad headaches. She can temporarily make solid illusions when she is in Otherworld.
Mirage can also focus her powers into energy arrows. These arrows can stun an opponent or make them relive a bad memory. In newer comics, her psi arrows seem more physical and can draw blood.
Even though she is not a traditional telepath, her mental abilities allowed her to use Cerebro, a machine usually only for telepaths. She also has a "danger sense" that warns her of trouble.
Valkyrie Abilities
When Mirage rescued Brightwind, she became a valkyrie. This gave her the power to sense when Death was coming. She could see a "deathglow" around people who were about to die. She could also see Death itself and fight it to save someone for a short time. She created a "Cheyenne ghost-staff" illusion and used it against Death and the goddess Hela.
She lost these powers when Asgard fell, but she got them back after making a deal with Hela. Dani gained great superhuman strength from Hela. She could even knock Ares off his feet. She also uses a powerful magic sword that can hurt gods and cut through curses. Her Valkyrie powers are now much stronger than before. She can call on them whenever she wants.
Physical Skills
Dani is very fit and a great fighter. This is because of her training at Xavier's school, her time as a Valkyrie, and growing up in the Rocky Mountains. She is skilled with many simple weapons, like the bow and arrow, spear, knife, and sword. She is also a good rider, swimmer, and archer.
Other Stories of Danielle Moonstar
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, Moonstar followed Apocalypse and joined his team of assassins, the Pale Riders. She was very tough. She was killed by her team leader, Damask, after she tortured another team member. In this timeline, Dani had a sister named Dana Moonstar who had similar powers.
Days of Future Past
In one possible future, where Sentinels had destroyed most mutants, Mirage, Cannonball, and Lila Cheney helped mutants escape to safety.
House of M
In the House of M reality, Dani was a teacher for S.H.I.E.L.D. She trained new soldiers. She had lost her left eye to anti-mutant terrorists. She helped her students and other young mutants stop Project Genesis.
Marvel Mangaverse
In the Marvel Mangaverse, Mirage was a mutant sorceress and a member of the X-Men. In this version, she could summon small monsters and was from India.
X-Men: The End
In the future shown in X-Men: The End, Dani was held in a mutant prison camp. After sensing her friend Rahne's death, Dani used a mix of Norse and Cheyenne words. She was thought to be killed, but she actually became stronger than death. She said the powers of the Cheyenne and Asgardian gods lived in her. She left to rebuild the rainbow bridge.
What If?
In "What If? the X-Men Had Stayed In Asgard?", Dani and other X-Men stayed in Asgard. Dani eventually replaced Hela as the ruler of Hel.
Age of X-Man: Prisoner X
In a special universe created by X-Man, Dani Moonstar was a prisoner in a facility for mutants who broke the rules of that world.
Danielle Moonstar in Other Media
- Danielle Moonstar appeared in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Ghost of a Chance". She could project dreams and nightmares. She lacked control at first, causing her village to leave. After being trapped, she was found and rescued by Shadowcat. They developed a special mental link and became close friends.
- Danielle Moonstar was mentioned in the novelization of X-Men: The Last Stand as a student.
- Danielle Moonstar appeared in the video game Marvel Heroes.
- Danielle "Dani" Moonstar / Mirage was played by Blu Hunt in The New Mutants movie. In the film, she forms a relationship with Rahne Sinclair.
Images for kids
-
Dani Moonstar on the variant cover for The Fearless Defenders #4.
-
Dani Moonstar in her first appearance. Art by Bob McLeod (Marvel Graphic Novel #4).
-
Moonstar showing care for Elixir as his guardian.
See also
In Spanish: Danielle Moonstar para niños
