Morgan le Fay (Marvel Comics)

For the DC Comics version, see Morgaine le Fey (DC Comics).

Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay. Art by Marko Djurdjevic.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Black Knight #1 (May 1955) modern appearance: Spider-Woman #2
Created by	Stan Lee Joe Maneely
In-story information
Alter ego	Morgan le Fay
Team affiliations	Darkholders
Notable aliases	Morganna Le Fay

Morgan le Fay is a fictional character in the

, based loosely on the Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend. In this version of the character, she is the half-elven 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.

Fictional character biography

Morgan Le Fay was born in Tintagil 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 was a nemesis for the original Black Knight.

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 kill the original Spider-Woman. She sent her astral form to get the Darkhold from the Werewolf, and battled Spider-Woman and Magnus the Sorcerer. Morgan later attempted to enlist Spider-Woman in her magical conquest of the 20th Century. She held Spider-Woman's friends' souls hostage, but her physical body was destroyed in combat with Spider-Woman.

Doom and Iron Man

Doctor Doom and Iron Man are flung back in time by the traitorous Hauptmann to the days of Camelot. During this time, Doom met with Morgan Le Fay to enlist her in helping wrest his mother'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.

Later, Morgan attempted to possess the body of Spider-Woman, and battled the Avengers, Doctor Strange, and the Shroud on the astral plane. Morgan then attempted to possess the body of Lisa Russell, but was repulsed by Iron Man. 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.

Avengers assemble again

She served as the villain that reunited the Avengers (ironically, she did so in the manner of Loki, the Norse god whose actions created the Avengers in the first place). 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. 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. However, the Avengers stepped in and freed the Scarlet Witch, thus negating the original spell the others were based on, and restoring reality.

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.

Dark Avengers

Morgan appears in Dark Avengers as the team's first nemesis. She used a spell to peer into the future and witnessed the formation of the Cabal. She somehow traveled into the future with an army of demons. 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 subsequenly violently reappeared in his place, and took control over the new Spider-Man, who attacked Ares. 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. 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 of her knowledge that Doom plans to betray her and that if they kill her, then 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 T-Rex; Doom magically restores Latveria and the revived Dark Avengers head back to America.

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 and 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. 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 other media

Television

• An elderly version of Morgan le Fay appeared in The Super Hero Squad episode "Mother of Doom." She was seen in Chthon's dimension talking with Cynthia "Coco" Von Doom and Galactus' mother.

Film

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

External links

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