Origin Danielle "Dani" Moonstar is a
Native American (specifically,
Cheyenne), and was born in
Boulder, Colorado to William and Peg Lonestar. As with most
mutants, Dani's powers emerge during puberty, uncontrollably creating telepathic images of people's greatest fears. Her burgeoning powers alienate her from her community and give her a vision of her parents' deaths at the claws of
a demonic bear. Shortly afterwards, her parents disappear while on a hunting trip and Dani is taken in by her grandfather, Black Eagle. Black Eagle contacts
Professor Charles Xavier, an old friend of Dani's father who fought with him in the
Vietnam War, to teach her to control her powers. Dani is opposed to leaving home, though she reluctantly agrees after she inadvertently gives her grandfather a vision of his own death in her initial anger at the idea. Before Xavier arrives, however, Black Eagle is killed by agents of the
Hellfire Club, led by
Donald Pierce. Vowing revenge, Dani joins the
New Mutants, taking the codename
Psyche. After the team defeats Pierce, Psyche enrolls at
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and remains with the New Mutants.
The New Mutants '' (Nov. 1982). Art by
Bob McLeod. Psyche is featured as a member of the eponymous team throughout
The New Mutants. She becomes the co-leader of the team alongside
Cannonball after
Karma's disappearance and develops a deep friendship with
Wolfsbane, her empathic abilities making her the only member of the team capable of communicating with Wolfsbane while in her wolf form. Psyche is plagued by nightmares of the bear she envisioned killing her parents. It soon becomes clear that this creature, known as the Demon Bear, is no mere vision, but a malevolent magical entity that is purposefully seeking her out, no longer held at bay by protective spells her grandfather had placed on her before his death. The New Mutants battle the Demon Bear and when
Magik cleaves the creature in two with her Soulsword, its corpse transforms into Dani's missing parents, who had in fact been abducted and enslaved by an evil spirit (later revealed to be the
Adversary). Though reunited with her family, Psyche opts to remain with the New Mutants and changes her codename to
Mirage. When the team becomes stranded in
Asgard, Mirage rescues a winged horse from hunters and bonds with him, naming him Brightwind. She inadvertently becomes a Valkyrie when Brightwind chooses her as his rider. This new role allows her to see the imminent deaths of others. When the New Mutants return to Earth, Brightwind accompanies Mirage. The New Mutants later develop an intense rivalry with the
Hellions, another team of young mutants formed by the
White Queen of the Hellfire Club. This rivalry is later somewhat cooled when Mirage bonds with the Hellions' leader,
Thunderbird. During a battle to save former teammate
Magma from the
High Evolutionary, Mirage is thrown into a machine intended to strip mutants of their powers. Instead, the machine (the effects of which had been reversed by two of the Evolutionary's victims) enhances her mutation, giving her the ability to make her telepathic images real. When
Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, enacts a plan to take over Asgard and uses her magic to seize control of the Valkyries, Mirage falls under her influence. The combined forces of Asgard and the rest of the New Mutants ultimately defeat Hela and Mirage chooses to stay behind in Asgard to rebuild and fully assume the responsibilities of a Valkyrie. This angers
Hotamitanio, a Cheyenne deity, who comes to Asgard to bring her back to Earth. Mirage ultimately persuades him to allow her to remain by promising that she will one day return to her tribe.
X-Force Mirage falls from grace and is exiled from Asgard back to Earth, accompanied by Brightwind (renamed Darkwind). She joins
S.H.I.E.L.D., and infiltrates the
Mutant Liberation Front (M.L.F.) as a deep cover operative, using the name
Moonstar. Since her last appearance, she has refined her psychic ability so that she can create "psychic arrows" which incapacitate their targets. Her assignment brings her into many conflicts with old allies, primarily
X-Force (a continuation of the New Mutants), but also
Excalibur and
Moira MacTaggert. Moonstar secretly works against the M.L.F., including working with
Cable to turn
Feral over to law enforcement authorities for past crimes and sabotaging a mission in
China. Despite her opposition to the organization, Moonstar develops a genuine friendship with
Forearm. She is discovered as a double-agent by the M.L.F.'s leader,
Reignfire, and Darkwind is killed in the ensuing battle. Later, she seeks X-Force's help to stop an invasion of Asgard by the dark elf
Malekith. When most of the M.L.F. is apprehended during the 1997 "
Operation: Zero Tolerance" event, Moonstar is able to extricate herself from the organization with
X-Force's aid and joins the team. After an encounter with
Arcadia, she gains the ability to manipulate quantum energy for a short time, but this power disappears after Arcadia's defeat. Moonstar quits X-Force when the team enlists
Pete Wisdom to lead them.
New X-Men in her role as his legal guardian. After a short time as a part-time member of the
X-Men while also attending college, Dani regularly appears in both
New Mutants (vol. 2) and
New X-Men (vol. 2), in which she becomes the American history teacher at the
Xavier Institute and the mentor of the
New Mutants Squad, as well as the legal guardian of
Elixir. During this time, she reunites with former teammates Karma and Wolfsbane. She helps Wolfsbane deal with the traumatic return of her lycanthropic powers, but the discovery of an inappropriate romantic liaison between Wolfsbane (a staff member at the institute) and Elixir (a student) drives a wedge between them. During her appearances in
New Mutants (vol. 2) and
New X-Men (vol. 2), the bulk of Dani's powers appear to have reverted to their original depictions. She also retains some of her Valkyrie abilities, namely the ability to sense imminent death, though they are greatly diminished. In the wake of the 2005 "
House of M" event, however, Dani is one of the many mutants who lose their powers. She is fired from her position at the institute by
Emma Frost, who feels that, as a human, she is no longer safe nor has any right to remain at the school. She briefly reappears in
Generation M #5 (May 2006), in which she reveals that she has not dreamt since losing her powers.
The Initiative Following the "
Civil War" event, Dani is recruited by the Initiative program to serve as an instructor to the next generation of superheroes, alongside her former colleague
Beast. She is brought in to train
Trauma in the use of his powers, as they are similar in nature to hers. However, due to her belief that Trauma could and should use his powers in a therapeutic way,
Henry Peter Gyrich, who intends to use Trauma as a weapon for the Initiative, is quick to dismiss her once she provides Trauma with enough training in using his powers.
Young X-Men Dani features prominently in
Young X-Men, in which she is targeted for capture by the eponymous team, led by Donald Pierce disguised as
Cyclops. After Pierce is exposed and defeated, she moves to Utopia, the X-Men's island base off the coast of
San Francisco, and works as a trainer for the Young X-Men for the remainder of the series.
New Mutants Reunion Dani joins the X-Men's
New Mutants squad in
New Mutants (vol. 3), proving to be a capable team member despite not having powers. She eventually reclaims the codename Mirage. When
Norman Osborn's
Dark Avengers prepare to attack Utopia, Mirage makes a deal with Hela to restore her Valkyrie powers and revive Brightwind. She defeats
Ares in a brutal battle. She also serves as Hela's Valkyrie during the 2009–2010 "
Siege" event. After Cannonball resigns from the squad, Mirage takes his place as team leader. During this time, she has a brief romantic relationship with teammate
Nate Grey.
Fearless Defenders Mirage joins the cast of
The Fearless Defenders to combat the machinations of Caroline Le Fay, after which she makes sporadic appearances as a supporting character in various X-Men titles. In the aftermath of the 2013–2014 "
Infinity" event, she uses her Valkyrie powers to locate mutants suffering from the M-Pox, notably rescuing
Lady Mastermind from succumbing to the disease. Mirage later appears infrequently in
X-Men Gold (2017–2018), in which she is a mentor at the Xavier Institute. She is present at the aborted wedding of
Kitty Pryde and
Colossus.
Dead Souls and Uncanny X-Men Mirage's next major appearance is in the 2018 limited series
The New Mutants: Dead Souls. When Karma sends her to investigate an explosion in
Canterbury, Connecticut, Mirage succumbs to a
transmode virus infection after coming into contact with the remains of former New Mutants teammate
Warlock. Merging with the techno-organic alien, she becomes the gestalt entity
Moonlock and subsequently infects Magik, Wolfsbane,
Strong Guy, and later Karma. She and her infected friends are acquired by the
Office of National Emergency (O*N*E) and forced into service as
Sentinel-like mutant hunters and killers. Mirage and the other infected New Mutants are later freed from O*N*E and cured of the virus by the X-Men. The virus restores her mutant powers and she joins the X-Men, appearing regularly in
Uncanny X-Men (vol. 5) until the series' conclusion in late 2019. During her tenure with the X-Men, Mirage appears in the 2019 "
The War of the Realms" storyline as the last living Valkyrie, fighting against the invading forces of Malekith alongside her teammates. After Wolfsbane is beaten to death, Mirage's psionic rapport with her notifies her of her former teammate's death and she later attends Wolfsbane's funeral.
Krakoan Age Following the establishment of
Krakoa as a mutant nation, Mirage moves there and joins the New Mutants once more, appearing regularly throughout
New Mutants (vol. 4) and
New Mutants Lethal Legion (2023), as well as other X-Men titles published during the
Krakoan Age. She uses her powers to help other mutants with their various traumas, including Karma and the resurrected Wolfsbane, and serves as Karma's partner in the Crucible, a combat ritual allowing latter to be reborn and thus free her brother's spirit. Mirage later helps free Amahl Farouk from the lingering influence of the
Shadow King and aids Magik in transferring the throne of
Limbo to
Madelyne Pryor. Mirage also appears during the 2020–2021 "
King in Black" event as a supporting character in the
Return of the Valkyries tie-in series. During the 2023 "
Fall of X" event, Mirage is among the mutants mind-controlled by Professor X into evacuating Krakoa through a teleportation gate to escape the anti-mutant terrorist organization
Orchis. However, in
Realm of X (2023–2024), rather than joining the majority of the Krakoans in the
White Hot Room, the young mutant Curse's reality-warping powers cause herself, Mirage, Magik,
Dust, and
Typhoid Mary to instead emerge in the Asgardian realm of
Vanaheim, where they battle the sorceress
Saturnyne alongside
Thor before returning to Earth. After returning from Vanaheim, Mirage joins
X-Corps as co-leader with
Sunspot in the 2024 "External Threat" storyline of
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic and fights the
Externals to rescue kidnapped mutant children and stop
Selene's attempt to ascend to higher power.
Post-Krakoa Mirage is selected by
Apocalypse to participate in the tournament that will decide his successor in the 2024 limited series
X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse. Though she is one of the last four contestants, she is ultimately not chosen as Apocalypse's heir, the position instead going to
Cypher. Mirage next appears in
Magik (vol. 2) (2025), in which it is revealed that following the fall of Krakoa, she encountered the Society of the Eternal Dawn, a secret organization of magic users dedicated to combating apocalyptic threats. Believing that the Dawn's knowledge and resources could help create a better future for mutants, Mirage joined the organization. During her membership in the Dawn, she teams up with Magik to thwart the escape plans of a demonic threat imprisoned by the Dawn. During their journey, Mirage has a therapeutic influence on Magik, who is struggling with the resurgence of her Darkchild persona. Later, the pair discover the true corrupt intentions of the Dawn's leader, the Embodiment, and defeat her, leaving the organization in disarray. In the aftermath, Mirage contemplates assuming leadership of the Dawn, still having faith in its original mission. ==Powers and abilities==