Morgan le Fay (Marvel Comics)

Morgan le Fay is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character, created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely, is loosely based on the Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend. In this version of the character, she is the half-faerie half-sister of the mythic Arthur. Her elven heritage granted her immortality, and she used this time to master the mystic arts. She occasionally tries to take over the world. She has been an opponent of The Avengers, and in the 1970s, she was the major villain in the original Spider-Woman comic, and was opposed by a reincarnation of her "ancient foe" and former lover of Magnus and Doctor Doom. She was a member of the Darkholders for a time.

Publication history

Morgan le Fay first appeared in Atlas Comics in Black Knight #1 (May 1955), written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Joe Maneely. She was introduced into Marvel Comics in Spider-Woman #2 (May 1978).

Fictional character biography

Medieval times

Morgan Le Fay was born in Tintagel Castle, in Cornwall, England, in the days of Camelot, in the Sixth Century A.D. She became a high priestess, and the leader of the Sixth Century cult of the Darkhold, as well as Queen of Gorre (a section of Britain). She and the rest of the cult used the Darkhold to summon its author, Chthon. When they found they could not control him, they sealed the dark god away in Wundagore Mountain.^[1] By this time - convinced that Morgan was thoroughly corrupted by evil - her apprentice and lover Magnus the Sorcerer stole the Darkhold from her.^[2] She, along with her lover, Mordred, was a nemesis for the original Black Knight.

During this time, Morgan Le Fay was visited by a supervillain from the future named Doctor Doom to enlist her in helping wrest his mother Cynthia Von Doom's soul from Hell. Le Fay agreed on the condition that Doom become the general of her army, undead warriors of those slain by the sword Excalibur against her half-brother King Arthur. Iron Man defeated Le Fay causing her to flee to another realm. Doom swore vengeance on Iron Man for this, vowing to see the hero dead.^[3]

Conflict with the modern era

Morgan Le Fay first projected her astral form from her physical body in the Sixth Century A.D. to the present day. She mentally dominated "Slapper" Struthers, transforming him into the superhuman Excaliber, and directed him to retrieve the Darkhold from Magnus.^[4] When he failed, she sent her astral form to get the Darkhold from the Werewolf, and was defeated by Spider-Woman and Magnus.^[5] Impressed by her mettle in battle, Morgan attempted to enlist Spider-Woman into her eternal servitude, but was denied.^[6] Seeking revenge, she began tormenting Spider-Woman with hallucinations, but Magnus came to her aid, and Le Fay's physical body was destroyed in combat with Spider-Woman's astral form. However, she was able to lock out Spider-Woman's astral form from her physical body,^[7] and attempted to possess it for herself. She was thwarted by the Avengers, Magnus, Doctor Strange and the Shroud in a battle on the astral plane.^[8]

Morgan then attempted to possess the body of Lisa Russell, but was repulsed by Iron Man.^[9] Morgan then allied with Mordred the Evil. She dispatched Dreadknight, Balor, and other Celtic netherworld monsters against the Black Knight and Doctor Strange. She attempted to turn Earth into a dimension ruled by black magic.^[10]

Avengers assemble again

Using the monsters of Norse mythology, she and Mordred lured the Scarlet Witch (and a team of Avengers) to Tintagel in Cornwall. There, she kidnapped the Scarlet Witch and used her reality-warping powers to 'bridge the gap' between her elven magic and an Asgardian doomsday device known as the Twilight Sword.^[11] Using the Sword, she remade reality: the world was now a Middle Ages equivalent of itself, except that she ruled the world, and had done so for some time.^[12] However, the Avengers stepped in and freed the Scarlet Witch, thus negating the original spell the others were based on, and restoring reality.^[13]

Doctor Doom is revealed to be in a sexual/romantic relationship with Le Fay, traveling back to the past in order to carry on liaisons with her. Le Fay has told Doom to bring her back something "of value" as a gift the next time he comes to her time or not come back at all. He later returns, asking for her help in creating an army of loyal in-human warriors. She asks what she gets in return, to which Doom asks her what she wants, to which her response is currently unknown as Doom reappears in the present with his army of Mindless Ones. Later, Le Fay is seen sadly looking out her window for the return of Doom, who has been defeated and incarcerated by the Mighty Avengers.^[14]

Dark Reign

During the Dark Reign storyline, Morgan appears in Dark Avengers as the team's first nemesis.^[15] She used a spell to peer into the future and witnessed the formation of the Cabal. She traveled into the future with an army of demons.^[16] At first, she attempted to kill Doom when he was a child, but then decided to go ahead several decades, so that Doom could fully know why she was going to kill him, choosing after the Skrull invasion and engaged Doom in magical combat. As Doom begins to lose, a HAMMER soldier calls Osborn, and the Dark Avengers arrive to rescue Doom. The Sentry tears off her head, but she subsequently violently reappeared in his place, and took control over the new Spider-Man, who attacked Ares.^[17] She is killed again by the new Hawkeye, but she reappears again. She and her demons are seen fighting the Dark Avengers, while Doom and Iron Patriot travel back in time to kill her in her own time.^[18] However, when they arrive, after an unsuccessful magical assault on the two men (due to the considerable amount of iron in their armor suits, the one substance her faerie enchantments cannot affect), she reveals to Osborn her knowledge that Doom plans to betray her and that if they kill her, it will affect Doom's own lifeline, claiming Doom will fall to his nature and betray Osborn; Doom responds by chanting a spell of a language that even she possesses no knowledge to forcibly send the sorceress into her own enchanted cauldron, despite her screams and pleas. Though Morgan lives, she is sent to 1,000,000 BC where she runs from a tribe of cavemen fighting a Tyrannosaurus. Doctor Doom magically restores Latveria and the revived Dark Avengers head back to America.^[19]

Avengers World

In the pages of Avengers World, Morgan le Fay appears as the ruler of the souls that are haunting Velletai, Italy.^[20]

Powers and abilities

Morgan le Fay possesses a natural affinity for magical forces which is a result of her half-faerie genetic structure. She possesses a gifted intellect, and as a former pupil of Merlin with centuries of study, she is considered one of the greatest sorceresses in Earth's history. Her magical powers are derived from three major sources. Due to her faerie heritage she possesses innate personal powers such as the ability to control minds; she also possesses abilities all humans potentially have, such as the ability to engage in astral projection. She also has the faerie ability to manipulate mystical energy, often through spells and enchantments of ancient Celtic origin, an ability she has honed through practice. Finally, she has abilities as a high priestess of the Earth goddess (Gaea) by invoking her Celtic name, Danu.

Not all of Morgan’s powers have been documented as yet. It is known that she can mystically manipulate both the natural environment of Earth and the environment of the astral plane in which she once existed. She can cast illusions, project mystical bolts (which can affect physical beings and objects even when she is in astral form), create mystical force shields and remove spirits from their bodies and place those spirits under her control. When in physical form, she can fly and change her shape into other people or animals (both real and mythical). She also has healing powers which she might have used on her former foe King Arthur on transporting him to Otherworld.

Morgan can also tap into and manipulate powerful magical energies for powerful feats of magic without having to tax upon her normal magical abilities, such as when she used the power of the Norn Stones and the Twilight Sword to restructure reality, but needed the Scarlet Witch to bridge her Faerie heritage to the Asgardian magic.^[21] Morgan has utilized the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind Doctor Strange and Balor. She is also able to time travel.

Morgan is virtually immortal. Her spirit has restored her physical body at the various times it has been destroyed.

Due to her hybrid nature (half-human and half-faerie), Morgan Le Fay has the faerie's vulnerability to "cold iron" or steel. These materials can cause her harm both in her physical and astral form.

In New Avengers #53, The Eye of Agamotto appeared to Morgan as it considered her a possible replacement for Doctor Strange as Sorcerer Supreme.

Other versions

Age of Ultron

During the Age of Ultron storyline, Wolverine and Invisible Woman's plans to kill Hank Pym to prevent the creation of Ultron caused an alternate reality in which Morgan le Fay had conquered half the world following a war between Asgard and Latveria and magic has overcome technology. Morgan le Fey later attacks with a swarm of magically-powered Doombots. The Defenders fight them with Iron Man controlling hundreds of drones and accusing Morgan le Fey of having sent the time travelers back in time. She claims innocence and then points out to Iron Man how a pair of Helicarriers are crashing into the heart of New York City.^[22]

In other media

Film

• Morgan Le Fay appeared in the Doctor Strange TV movie, played by Jessica Walter.

Television

• An elderly version of Morgan le Fay appeared in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Mother of Doom!". She was seen in Chthon's dimension talking with Cynthia "Coco" Von Doom and Galactus' mother.
• Morgan le Fay appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Halloween Night at the Museum"^[23] (which was a crossover with Jessie) voiced by Grey DeLisle.^[24] She is accidentally freed from her armor imprisonment at her museum by Jesse Prescott during the Ross Kids visit to the museum as she plans to claim the sword and cause the end of the world. Spider-Man comes to their aid as Morgan le Fay brings the exhibits (consisting of a skeleton, the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, a Triceratops skeleton, two wax caveman statues, a giant earthworm statue) to life while placing a jack-o'-lantern on a security guard turning him into Jack O'Lantern. Following the fight with Jack O'Lantern and the evasion of some exhibits, Morgan le Fay makes another attempt at the sword where she transforms Mrs. Kipling into a dragon. Morgan le Fay then attacks Jessie as she uses the sword to combat Morgan le Fay. After blasting the sword out of Jessie's hands, Morgan le Fay grabs the sword in order to blot out the sun and become the true heir of Camelot. After Ravi regained control of Mrs. Kipling, Jessie places the sword back onto the armor as Morgan le Fay is reimprisoned.

See also

• Morgan le Fay in popular culture

References

External links

• Morgan le Fay at Marvel.com
• A brief overview, with links to more detailed treatments, at Camelot in Four Colors
• Morgan le Fay at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe