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MOIRA MACTAGGERT
Earth-161

Real Name: Moira Kinross-MacTaggert

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-161) human mutant

Occupation: Mutant researcher, geneticist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Avengers (Crystal/Crystalia Amaquelin, Henry Pym, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Scarlet Witch/Wana Maximoff, Janet van Dyne, Vision, Sean Cassidy, Corsair (Christopher Summers), Daisy Dugan, Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Forge, Nick Fury, Mystique (Raven Darkholme), New Mutants (Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Mirage/Dani Moonstar, Sunspot/Roberto DaCosta, Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair), Wolverine (Logan), X-Men (Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Gambit/Remy Picard, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Professor X/Charles Xavier, 'Ro/Ororo Munroe, Rogue/Anna Marie Raven, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde)

Enemies: The Consortium, Morlocks (Caliban, Healer, Masque, unnamed others)

Known Relatives: Kevin MacTaggert (son, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Westchester, New York;
                                  formerly Muir Island.

First Appearance: X-Men Forever II#10 (October, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: Moira MacTaggert is a mutant who possesses the ability to reincarnate herself upon death, reverting to her moment of conception while retaining all her memories and experiences gained from her previous lifetime(s). Through unrevealed ways Moira's X-gene is undetectable, even the most advanced biological and technological mutant detectors read her as baseline human (see comments). Moira is a genius level scientist, a multidisciplinary expert in biology, mutant genetics and evolution.  

Height: 5'
Weight: 124 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Light brown

closeup

History:

(X-Men Forever II#10) - Moira MacTaggert traveled to the Xavier Institute to attend the funeral of Wolverine (Logan) along with Sean Cassidy, Nick Fury and members of the Avengers and Fantastic Four.

(X-Men Forever II#12) - Moira MacTaggert returned to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to advise Charles Xavier on a possible remedy for mutant burn out. Moira's initial findings were less than promising: the human frame is finite and mutant abilities ultimately prove too strenuous for the body and mind to cope with. Sensing Charles' growing despair, Moira assured him they would continue to look for a cure.

(X-Men Forever II#13) - Discussing the repercussions of mutant burnout with Nick Fury, Moira and Xavier presented their plan to keep only eight X-Men active while having the other students use their powers sparingly to prevent early burnout. They would also keep a low profile, with Archangel tasked to shepherd them. Fury applauded the notion of self regulation, but warned about the chaos that would ensue once the mutant population learned they were doomed to die young because of burnout. To him, it was only a matter of time before all hell will break loose.

(X-Men Forever II#16) - Moira had to break up an argument between Beast and Charles Xavier. Hank remained furious at the professor for having kept the existence of mutant burn out under wraps for years. Moira tried to calm both men down, but the conflict only ended when Beast decided to blow off some steam in the Danger Room.

(X-Men Forever II#17) - Taking a break from her research, Moira had tea with Jean Grey to discuss the recent romantic developments in her life, especially her feelings for Hank McCoy. Jean denied they were anything more than good friends, but Moira assured her he loved her.

(X-Men Forever II#19) - Moira was on hand to aid professor Xavier and Beast in their examination of Rogue and Nightcrawler who for unknown reasons had permanently shifted powers and appearance. Testing a theory, Xavier touched Kurt's hand and instantly had his telepathy transferred to the German X-Man. As a result, Kurt inadvertently picked up Moira's thoughts. MacTaggert couldn't help but find Nightcrawler quite attractive in his human form, a realization that made Wagner blush.

(X-Men Forever II#24) - After attending the memorial service and funeral of Hank McCoy, Moira returned with the X-Men to the school. She examined Sabretooth's recent injuries and concluded she could stimulate his natural healing factor to help him regrow his right hand. However, she found she could not restore his eyesight in a similar way. The lightning strike that blinded him had fried the neural pathways, leaving nothing left to heal, not even on a sub-molecular level. Resigned to his fate, Sabretooth agreed to start the painful restoration process.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#1) - Moira was right in the middle of starting Sabretooth's regeneration process in the school's sub basement when he was telepathically summoned topside by Jean Grey to help defend the school against the Avengers who had come to take the X-Men into custody.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#3) - Moira continued her work to boost Sabretooth's healing factor in an attempt to prevent him succumbing to the inevitable effects of mutant burn out.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Masque learned of Moira MacTaggert's efforts to reverse and stave off mutant burn out by using Sabretooth's healing factor as basis for a cure. Eager to be the first to get his hands on the cure, he led a band of Morlocks to kidnap both Moira and Sabretooth.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#4) - Moira and Sabretooth were taken back to the Morlock's underground hideout the Alley where Masque mocked and tortured Sabretooth as payback for his time as a Marauder, slaughtering so many innocent Morlocks in the tunnels. Moira begged them to stop and explained they were nowhere near a cure yet. Masque didn't care: if she didn't produce results that would save them, he would use his powers to permanently disfigure her. Moira used the Morlock's very basic facilities to come up with an untested vaccine that caused the Morlocks immense pain. At around that time, a team of X-Men arrived in the tunnels to save them. But the furious Masque got the drop on them and disfigured Cyclops and Gambit, sending them against their teammates.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#5) - Moira kept herself away from the fighting that only ended after Kitty Pryde talked some sense into Masque: burn out was too serious an issue to allow for petty arguments and squabbles. Moira offered to help Masque and the Morlocks if they would agree to come to the school in peace. As a gesture of good will, Masque restored Cyclops and Gambit to their proper form. But before they could leave, a contingent of SHIELD agents showed up. The Morlocks offered to keep them busy, allowing the X-Men to get away safely. Back at the school, Moira learned that Mystique appeared to be immune to burn out, as well as Rogue (who has gained Mystique's son Nightcrawler's powers). MacTaggert immediately wanted to start studying their family genome to see whether or not this resistancy could be adapted into a vaccine. 

(X-Men Forever 2 I#6 - BTS) - Using Mystique's genetic make up as a template, Moira MacTaggert came up with a gene therapy designed to kickstart Sabretooth's healing factor.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#6) - Moira was pleased to see the initial results of her gene therapy: Sabretooth's hand was slowly healing while the other wounds the Morlocks inflicted had all but closed. To help protect Sabretooth's regenerating stump, Kitty and Moira fitted him with a temporary mechanical hand of Shi'ar design. Just as he was trying out his new claw, Moira, Kitty and Creed were shocked to find Corsair teleporting in from Alaska. Without explanation, he immediately pointed his weapons at Sabretooth (Corsair had just been attacked by clones of Creed and the other Marauders).

(X-Men Forever 2 I#7) - Moira, Nick Fury and Daisy Dugan stayed at the X-Mansion to monitor the X-Men's fight against the cloned Marauders in Alaska. At one point, Fury's scanners picked up an anomalous genetic reading reminiscent of Wolverine. They initially figured might be Kitty Pryde. Moira concluded it couldn't be Kitty: even though she'd recently picked up a claw and some genetic traits of Wolverine, she was still herself.

(X-Men Forever 2 I#16) - After absorbing Thor's power and memory, the gravely wounded Kurt Wagner started calling out to Hela, Norse goddess of death. Unsure what to do, Vision of the Avengers contacted Moira MacTaggert at the X-Mansion who ordered them to bring Wagner to Muir Isle where she would join them along with Dani Moonstar. Moira planned to have Dani, who moonlighted as a valkyrie, take them to Hela's realm so they could plead for Kurt's life (see comments).

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Paul Smith, Terry Austin.

The conceit of X-Men Forever is that the divergence point for Earth-161 happened shortly after the events of X-Men II#3. This would retroactively mean that Moira MacTaggert is also a mutant in this reality, even though that plotpoint from Jonathan Hickman's 2019 run on the X-books obviously wasn't known about the character back in 2009.

X-Men Forever ended with #16, so we never learn the final fate of Nightcrawler or if Moira ever cured burn out.

This profile was completed 8/07/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Moira MacTaggert has no known connections to

images: (without ads)
X-Men Forever II#12 p10, pan2 (main image)
X-Men Forever II#12 p10, pan3 (closeup)
X-Men Forever II#13, p11, pan3 (on burnout)
X-Men Forever II#19, p15, pan5 (thinks Kurt is delicious)
X-Men Forever 2 I#4, p12, pan6 (threatened by Masque)
X-Men Forever II#16, p4, pan3&4 (gets a call from Vision)

Appearances:
X-Men Forever II#10 (December, 2009) - Chris Claremont (writer), Paul Smith (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever II#12 (January, 2010) -  Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever II#13 (February, 2010) -  Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever II#16 (March, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Graham Nolan (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever II#17 (April, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Graham Nolan (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever II#19 (May, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Graham Nolan (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever II#24 (July, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#1 (August, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#3 (September, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#4 (September, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Rodney Buchemi (pencils), Greg Adams (inks), Charles Beckerman (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#5 (October, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer), Rodney Buchemi (pencils), Greg Adams (inks), Charles Beckerman (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#6 (October, 2010) - Chris Claremont (writer),Tom Grummett (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Michael Horwitz (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#7 (November, 2010) -  Chris Claremont (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), Michael Horwitz (editor)
X-Men Forever 2 I#16 (March, 2011) - Chris Claremont (writer), Ramón Rosanas (pencils & inks), Michael Horwitz (editor)

First Posted: 09/24/2021
Last updated: 09/23/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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