She is none other than Morgan Le Fay, a villain, a deity, a magician, and a skilled manipulator. Morgan Le Fay is one of the most powerful sorceresses in Earth’s past, for anyone who does not know just how formidable this Marvel supervillain is. She has complete influence over people’s minds, which allows her to completely modify reality, change time, and manipulate people into being her pawns.
She is not the kind of supervillain with whom you should play with. Marvel’s superheroes simply can not help themselves, though. She has regularly faced off against Dr. Doom, Ian McNee, the Avengers, and Spider-Woman.
Origins as explored in the Runaways TV series
Originally a supervillain from Marvel Comics, Morgan Le Fay is a wicked sorceress and one of King Arthur’s most dangerous foes. In the comic books, the formidable half-human, half-fairy sorcerer Morgan Le Fay frequently engages in combat with the Avengers. In the third season of Runaways, she makes her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as the show’s main foe, played by Elizabeth Hurley.
This version of Morgan Le Fay was created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely. She has spent countless centuries imprisoned in the Dark Dimension. You might think that this penalty is too harsh for a woman this stunning, but after learning what she did to deserve it, you will undoubtedly alter your mind. Morgan Le Fay existed throughout the Middle Ages and was famous for her various battles with King Arthur, which cemented her place in Arthurian history and mythology until she became trapped in the Dark Dimension and had to survive there for decades.
During her confinement, she made contact with the sorceress Tina Minoru and befriended her. Tina was studying magic at the time. Le Fey attempted to control her from the Dark Dimension in order to obtain access to the Staff of One, a powerful magical relic that enables its wielder to modify their environment heavily. Morgan felt the Staff to be her birthright, but her evil plot ultimately failed when Tina Minoru discovered Morgan’s true intentions, seized the Staff, and left. Morgan began to pursue Tina’s daughter Nico with the same intent years later.
Le Fay was an enemy of the Runaways, and she intended to utilize Nico Minoru as a conduit to carry out her diabolical plot of global dominance. For those of you who might not know, Nico Minoru is a Wicca sorceress and one of the titular characters of the Runaway TV series. Le Fay also led a coven of witches and attempted to seize control of Nico Minoru and the Staff of One so that she could rule the world.
After manipulating Minoru into casting the perfect spell, she was able to leave the Dark Dimension, which helped further her secret plot to connect the Dark Dimension and Earth. This connection would help her reign over both worlds simultaneously, with an army of enslaved people generated by the Corvus WizPhones to assist her.
In order to ensure the success of her plan, Le Fay enslaved Robert Minoru and took over Wizard, the Minorus’ company, continually attempting to take the Staff of One from Nico. However, her aspirations for global dominance were ultimately thwarted by an alliance of both the Runaways and PRIDE, a Los Angeles based charity that consists of some of the most wealthy and influential families in the city.
Tina Minoru, Nico Minoru’s mother, managed to send Le Fay back to the Dark Dimension, where she belonged. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is Morgan Le Fay’s second live-action incarnation, after one portrayed by Jessica Walter. Morgan also appears in various Marvel animated productions, where Grey DeLisle frequently voices her.
Morgan Le Fay attempted to seize control of Nico Minoru and the Staff of One once in 2018. Morgan first emerged in a vision to a distraught Nico, who was looking for her girlfriend Karolina and offered to help look for her. After Minoru found Karolina, she attempted to destroy the Staff of One after freeing her. Before she could do that, Le Fay utilized telepathy to contact her and instigated her to gain mastery over the Staff of One with Le Fay as a tutor.
Minoru rejected her and immediately burnt the Staff of One. Le Fay later telepathically conversed with Minoru one more time, imploring her to accept the Dark Dimension’s abilities and materialize the Staff of One, without which she would be unable to protect her companions. The potency of the spell cast by Minoru on Le Fay’s counsel was ultimately sufficient for Le Fay to leave the Dark Dimension. When Le Fay arrived on Earth, she began to unfold the rest of her criminal plot to take over the globe.
The Minorus’ firm, Wizard, was in a grave dilemma due to a variety of problems orchestrated by Morgan. Le Fay immediately took advantage of the situation to become an essential part of the organization. Six months after escaping the Dark Dimension, Le Fay used her influence to put Wizard back on track, earning the firm, and herself, a very good reputation.
She became the face of Wizard’s latest product, the Corvus WizPhone, which was actually an enthralling tool that Le Fay planned on delivering all over the Earth. Later, while watching an online live stream from the Runaways, Le Fay realized that the detrimental abilities of the Corvus WizPhones had been brought to light. The live stream revealed that the Corvus WizPhones had an effect on their users, causing them to become aggressive. Because this jeopardized her operation, she used her abilities to remove the video from the internet and prevent the Runaways from filming another one.
Le Fay returned to her study in the Essex Tower Hotel after a failed sacrifice meant to activate a spell that could be used to merge the Dark Dimension with the Earthly Plane. She stood at the heart of her circle of witches, gathering the energy of the Corvus WizPhones that had been spread around California, greatly enhancing her abilities.
Because Le Fay still needed the Staff of One to rule over the world that she envisioned herself in, she teleported into their Hostel and attacked the Runaways. She was assaulted by Nico Minoru, who threw a knife at her when she questioned her. Nonetheless, Le Fay showed that the weapon would not kill her but rather strengthen her, proving her point by absorbing it into her body.
Le Fay urged the Runaways to surrender to her, stating that she could transform the world with them by her side and that she would rid it of all ills, such as poverty and corruption. But the cellphone towers were abruptly cut off just as Le Fay thought her plan was succeeding, weakening her because she could no longer rely on the Corvus users. Le Fay slowly slumped on the steps as a result of the loss of strength, yet despite this setback, she remained powerful enough to take on the Runaways alone.
While she attacked them with her black magic, they were sheltered by Nico. They were able to flee as Le Fay attempted to envelop Nico in her magic, despite the young girl being temporarily protected by Karolina Dean. Le Fay was eventually able to incapacitate Dean and seemed to overcome Nico. That was until she discovered that she had been imprisoned behind a circle of magical salt. Le Fay stated that it would not keep her for long, but Tina Minoru arrived just in time to cast a spell that exiled Le Fay back into the Dark Dimension, thus ending her reign of terror.
She has been impactful in the comic universe
Based on Arthurian folklore and legends Morgan Le Fay, Marvel’s version of Morgan was adapted by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely in Black Knight #1 in 1955, then again in Spider-Woman issue 2 (1975) by Marv Wolfman, Carmine Infantino, and Tony De Zuniga. She attempts to take over the world on occasion and has been an opponent of The Avengers and the Dark Avengers. In the 1970s, she featured as a nemesis of Jessica Drew in the original Spider-Woman comic. She was also once a member of the Darkholders and a previous lover of Doctor Doom, who later went on to become the father of her daughter, Caroline.
After Atlantis sank, some islands allegedly survived. Igraine was a sea princess on Avalon, the biggest of these islands. Igraine had a daughter called Morgan. Morgan was almost immediately transported to the House of Virgins to be taught to be Avalon’s sea princess. The ladies on the island were married off to males of the holy tribe for mystical purposes, denying Morgan the love she desired.
Myraddin, a young priest, was forewarned of an impending and long-foretold disaster. Myraddin and Igraine fled to the House of Virgins, where they seized Morgan and flew aboard a merchant ship, as the other Atlantis islands were flooded by massive tidal surges produced by a volcano’s eruption.
They arrived on the Isle of Britain, where Myraddin took the name Merlin and started his druidic cult at Stonehenge. He set up Igraine’s marriage to Gorlois, Duke of the Tin Islands, who adopted Morgan. Uther Pendragon assassinated Gorlois and took Igraine as his own queen.
Arthur, her son, was born soon after. Morgan, who grew into a lovely young lady, accompanied Merlin to Aran Island to become his apprentice in exchange for also becoming his lover, but she soon broke her promise. Morgan sought to use the Darkhold to resist her half-brother, King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, in his conversion of Great Britain to Pauline Christianity.
Merlin foiled her repeated efforts to throw Camelot to ruin, finally imprisoning her within Castle Le Fey. Morgan kept projecting her astral form into various future times, hoping to find a way out of her physical confinement. Morgan’s astral form fought Spider-Woman and the Avengers in modern times.
Doctor Doom went back in time to seek her assistance in fighting the Mighty Avengers. They became lovers during his repeated trips. She taught him magic but requested a future gift. Doom stated he couldn’t do that because it would be a disruption to the timeline.
On the other hand, Doom did not believe their affair to be disruptive because it was limited and contained. Doom wanted Morgan to teach him more about the dark arts, including conjuring an army of demons, which he successfully employed to defeat the Mighty Avengers. Morgan sent an army of demons into the future to avenge Doom’s betrayal. She attempted to murder Doom as merely a child at first but then chose to wait several decades so that Doom would completely understand why she was going to kill him and confronted Doom in Latveria.
The Sentry severed her head as the Dark Avengers came to save Doom. She then resurfaced aggressively in his place and seized control of the new Spider-Man, who was known as Mac Gargan and assaulted Ares. She was once again murdered by the new Hawkeye, who was known as Bullseye, but she was resurrected. Morgan turned Ares to stone, while Doom and the Iron Patriot went back in time to murder her in her own time.
Doom recited a spell in a language that she couldn’t understand despite her shouts and pleadings to send the sorceress into her own enchanted cauldron forcefully. Morgan survived, but she was sent to 1,000,000 BC when she fled from a tribe of cavemen fighting a T-Rex. Doom miraculously recreated Latveria, and the resurrected Dark Avengers returned to America.
Morgan Le Fay took over a City of the Dead under Velletri, Italy, after being liberated from her own magical cauldron by her daughter Caroline Le Fay, a mystical necropolis of which there are several below European towns. From here, she began a massive onslaught throughout Europe with the legions of the dead.
The Avengers and the Euroforce joined forces to stop her, but the legions of the deceased swiftly defeated them. Sebastian Druid, the son of Dr. Druid, attempted to assist the heroes but was assassinated by Le Fay immediately after arriving in the city.
However, murdering Druid worked against Morgan’s intentions. He transformed into a ghost of the town, which allowed his powers to function, drawing the troops back to their own necropolises and gravely weakening Le Fay. The Avengers and the Euroforce then beat her up, causing her to flee.
Morgan reappeared in the present, her powers significantly lessened, now living in Queens, during a time when Doom was accused of the destruction of the Antlion Project, a CO2 waste conversion facility on the dark side of the Moon. Morgan agreed to take Doom to see the Witness after he informed her about the visions of the future that he was having. But this conversation was immediately cut short due to a sudden death in front of Morgan’s very own eyes.
What makes her such a powerful sorceress?
Morgan Le Fay’s half-faerie background gives her a natural affinity for magical powers. She also has a remarkable brain, and as a former apprentice of both Merlin and the Lady of the Lake, she knows a considerable amount of magical wisdom. She is regarded as one of Earth’s best sorceresses. Although not all of Morgan’s abilities have been documented, it is known that she can mystically affect both the natural world of Earth and the celestial realm.
She has the ability to cast illusions, shoot mystical bolts that can impact people and objects even when in astral form, generate magical force shields, separate spirits from their bodies, and govern these spirits to perform acts according to her will. When she is in her human form, she can fly and transform into different humans or animals, both natural and fantastical.
She possesses healing abilities that she may have utilized on her old adversary and step brother, King Arthur while taking him to the Otherworld. Morgan can draw into and manage great magical energies to perform mighty feats of magic without expending her personal energy. Morgan is also nearly immortal. She also has the ability to time travel and can use it to return from death. Le Fay also has the ability to manipulate extra-dimensional mystical forces from the Octessence if necessary.
Conclusion
Le Fay, a crafty, manipulative, and very powerful enchantress, was utterly committed to her desire to conjoin the Dark Dimension and the Earthly Plane and dominate the emerging world, with little to no consideration for who would suffer as a consequence. She professed herself to be soulless and boldly demonstrated her seeming lack of attachment to anyone. Indeed, every time she was shown to befriend or show affection towards someone, it turned out to be a ruse.
Although Le Fay would occasionally reveal humanitarian objectives that might be achieved after fulfilling her plot, such as ridding the world of poverty, corruption, and other global ills, Le Fay indeed operated only for her own benefit. While it is easy for the casual viewer to feel bad for Le Fay and attribute all her ills as a result of the experiences she’s been through, we must be aware that Morgan is so much more than just her past.
She is cold, cruel, ruthless, and murderous to a fault, and no experience can create such a monster out of anyone unless they were a monster, to begin with. Morgan is definitely one of Marvel’s more unique supervillains and a definite blast from the past owing to her Arthurian roots. Beautiful but deadly, cold but calm, Morgan is also one of, if not the most, dangerous Marvel supervillain. Her beauty might fool the inexperienced eye, but every diehard Marvel fan knows exactly what she is capable of.