The Most Important X-Men Character of the 21st Century Isn’t Who You Think

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Moira MacTaggert was a long-serving X-Men side character. She was essentially their biggest human ally, or at least, that is what we thought. House of X and Powers of X, by writer Jonathan Hickman, completely recontextualizes the character. The comics revealed that Moira was actually a secret mutant this whole time, working behind the scenes. Moira has had a rollercoaster of development in the millennium. She would fall, rise, and fall once more into villainy, only to end the Krakoa era on an ambiguous note. Not every fan vibed with Moira being a mutant retcon, and even fewer enjoyed her heel turn in the latter half of the Krakoa era. Nevertheless, the impact the character had on the X-Men comics should never be understated. She truly is the most important X-Men character of the 2000s.

Moira MacTaggert Was Great Before the 21st Century

Moira was always secretly one of the best characters in the X-Men comics. A Scottish scientist and former flame of Xavier, she was initially introduced as a housekeeper for the X-Mansion, responsible for keeping track of the X-Men. Created by the all-star team of Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, Moira would quickly evolve and have a complicated backstory. She had an omnipotent son named Kevin, who manipulated his surroundings to his whims. She would also have a longstanding romance with Banshee, an aspect of the character that would be greatly underplayed in recent years.

From her first appearance, she was great even before it was revealed that she was a mutant. She represented the ideal ally for mutants with her own complex history and lore. She had a spunky personality, yet was very warm and welcoming to others. The X-Men franchise wasn’t the same when the character was killed off in X-Men vol. 2 #108 in 2001. She received injuries in a conflict with Mystique, setting up an antagonistic relationship between the two that wouldn’t receive pay-off until Moira’s return in House of X. She would remain dead in the comics for nearly eighteen years, with her passing haunting the franchise in many story arcs.

House of X Established Moira As The World’s Most Important X-Men

Rarely has a reinvention of a classic character been done as well as it was in House of X. Not only did Hickman resurrect the character, but reintroduced her as a mutant who resets back to the beginning of her life after every death. She would reset the Marvel timeline, gifting her the ability to change history. She would attempt to help mutantkind in various ways, yet each life ended with the mutants losing, either against humanity or against machines. She decided to break all the rules in her tenth life, helping set up Krakoa, a new mutant nation where the X-Men can rule and be recognized as a global power. After the bombshell of a revelation in House of X, Moira essentially disappeared from the X-Men comics for the next few years, minus a few cameos.

Moira’s short reappearance in House of X had already reestablished the character as a vital member of the X-Men mythos. That alone would warrant Moira as one of the most important X-Men of the millennium. However, Marvel took the character in an interesting direction with 2021’s Inferno comic, where it’s revealed that Moira planned to depower the entire mutant population on Krakoa to prevent the species’ fate of losing against the machines. She would soon be depowered by Mystique and Destiny and forced on the run. In her desperation, she would side with Orchis, the organization against mutants, and become a human-cyborg. She would be a major enemy for the X-Men in the remainder of the Krakoa era.

This heel turn for Moira didn’t sit well with fans, especially given the character’s history. Nevertheless, her turn as a supervillain demonstrates how focal she became within the X-Men mythos. Villain Moira continued to define the X-Men comics, as she took part in the assault on Krakoa and killed Jean Grey. Fortunately, her better angels got the best of her, and after one last conversation with Charles Xavier, she sacrificed her life to help a resurrected Jean Grey as Phoenix to find and defeat the omnipresent Enigma. Moira reset once more, yet this time her mutant powers don’t activate, freeing her of the burden. Moira has not been seen since the end of Krakoa, with fans anticipating her potential return. When fans are anxiously awaiting a character to show up again, you know that character has become a key figure in the mythology.