Meggan
Encyclopedia
Meggan Puceanu is a fictional character
, a mutant
superhero
in the . She first appeared in Mighty World of Marvel #7, (December 1983), and was created by Alan Moore
and Alan Davis
.
She eventually chose the codename Gloriana, a name of victory coined by the demons of Hell.
's Mighty World of Marvel #7 (December, 1983), and was created by Alan Moore
and Alan Davis
.
Her origin story is told in Captain Britain (vol. 2) #8 (Aug. 1985); this story is later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback in the U.S.
Meggan's first American appearance is in New Mutants Annual (vol. 1) #2 (1986).
Her original family name
is recorded for the first time in 2008 in Captain Britain and MI13 #7, and again in Captain Britain and MI13 Annual #1 (2009).
. The belief that she was some sort of monster was also affected by the fact that Meggan's birth took place near an ancient British fortress that was rumoured to be the site of dark magics. Meggan's family hid her away in their camper, where she watched television incessantly, totally immersing herself in the fantasy of the various British TV shows of the time (such as Gerry Anderson
fare, Quatermass
, Doctor Who
and many more). Eventually, she met Captain Britain
and fought him, but then befriended him. She fell in love with him, joining him as an adventurer. With him, she first encountered Gatecrasher
's Technet. After having been told by a telepath that her inner soul looked as beautiful "as an iridescent butterfly", during combat against a commando of R.C.X.
-controlled "Warpies
", she stabilized her powers on an attractive form that pleased Brian (and thus pleased her). Captain Britain fell in love right back, and the two began a romantic relationship. Together, they defeated Baba Yaga. The two had a long and stormy courtship, marred by events both cosmic and mundane.
, Phoenix
, and Shadowcat
, and with them became a founding member of Excalibur
. Meggan was later reunited with Courtney Ross
. Meggan became attracted to Nightcrawler before long. Excalibur clashed with Arcade
and the Crazy Gang, and Meggan temporarily switched bodies with the Crazy Gang's Knave. Brian could not deal with Nightcrawler's attraction toward Meggan (which was strongly reciprocated) and Meggan later developed a crush on Piotr "Peter" Rasputin, the X-Man Colossus
.
Meggan and Brian wed, with the celebration attended by all their friends (and some enemies) in the 125th issue of Excalibur.
Due to her odd upbringing, for many years, Meggan was naive in many of the aspects of culture, obsessed with television and functionally illiterate. For example, she did not know that Doctor Doom
was such a horrific threat, though she soon learned when he attacked the entire team and attempted to destroy England.
Her Excalibur teammates, over the years, brought her up to speed with Earthly life and knowledge. Douglock took a personal effort in being her teacher after he joined the team. In the latter part of the Excalibur series, Meggan became much more self-confident, taking more of a leadership role, changing her costume and being much more threatening. She used the minimum of force needed, but did not hesitate to scare her adversaries.
stepped down and let Captain Britain become the Omniversal Guardian of the Otherworld, Meggan came to rule beside him as his queen. They supervised the origin of another Captain Britain
, who became associated with the Avengers.
caused a hole in reality when she altered it to create the House of M
. This set off a multidimensional tidal wave, threatening Otherworld and the other parallel realities of the Omniverse. Meggan and Captain Britain were sent to fix the hole, given only a short amount of time before Saturnyne
would destroy the 616 reality to prevent it from hurting the other realities. Working with Psylocke
and Rachel Summers
, Meggan and Captain Britain located the hole in reality through which the tidal chaos wave was about to spread. Allowing the others to seal the gap, Meggan ventured into the void beyond and sacrificed herself to briefly slow the progress of the impacting chaotic energies to give Psylocke, Rachel, and Captain Britain time to sew the reality tear.
When reality was restored, only a few remembered what had gone on during the House of M. Captain Britain and the others were among the many who didn't, having only vague memories of the ordeal and believing it to be a dream. As a result, Brian doesn't know about Meggan's sacrifice and has no idea where she is, leaving him in distress.
invasion in England, Plokta, a Lord of Hell, tries to make a deal with Captain Britain and reveals what appears to be Meggan in his collection of otherworldly realms. Captain Britain, knowing it might be merely an illusion states that he can't take the chance of it being real and plunges through the dimensional gate. After sealing it shut, Plokta informs his underlings that this was merely a dream world and he was delighted that Captain Britain allowed himself to be sealed within it. Within the dream world, Meggan and Captain Britain live at least several weeks believing it to be reality, though Brian expresses doubts about inconsistencies of the world. His train of thought on the subject, however, is disrupted when he and Meggan's quiet lunch in Braddock's pub is attacked by his deceased brother Jamie Braddock
.
Meggan is eventually revealed to still be alive, but lost between dimensions.
). They forge an alliance and he restores Meggan to her usual self.
She spends the following months leading her army of demon followers in waging a war against the Lords of Hell, very successfully since her empathy overwhelms the enemy armies, causing them to turn on their respective lords (most noticeably Blackheart
). During one such battle she feels nostalgic and reminisces about her husband Brian. This causes her army to feel happiness, something that they haven't experienced in a while—if at all. The demons name her Gloriana in honor of this feat, and idolize her further. After a while she forms a kingdom, "Elysium", to serve as a sanctuary for souls to escape torment, and gives Pluto part of her conquests in payment.
Following that, she left in hope of searching for a way home. After having wandered through a large part of Hell, she finally finds a crack through which moonlight pours through. Quickly she passes through the crack, only to be greeted by Doctor Doom
on the other side, within Dracula
's ship departing from the moon.
The defining foundation of her abilities are: empathy
, an elemental link to nature and mystical energies
, and shapeshifting
, with aspects of each talent blending together, or affecting, the others.
Meggan's empathy
enables her to sense the emotions and feelings of living creatures (from people, to animals, to plants), and including the ability to psionically perceive an object's or person's psychic, natural, and mystical energy aura
. Meggan's empathy has also given her an affinity toward learning both human language and animal communication systems.
However, her empathic powers also used to make her sensitive to surrounding moods, making her change appearance depending on themselves, their needs, or perceptions, and make her vulnerable to certain telepathic manipulation; or rather do so when she herself was either in a vulnerable emotional state, was distracted, or focused on the person in question, or her powers were in a minor flux from lack of mystical sustenance.
She eventually overcame most of this limitation, and rather learned to broadcast her own feelings to influence other people's emotions to the extent that she incited a rebellion in the part of hell
ruled by Blackheart
, and disrupted Dracula's control of his vampires by "broadcasting rebellion".
Meggan's empathy creates a psionic link to the natural forces of the Earth. By "speaking" to the elements, Meggan can command the environment around her, and her emotional state can affect the local ecosystems. Through thought alone, Meggan can extinguish forest fires, summon gale force winds, and part the waters of a lake or cause earthquakes in a flash of anger. Meggan has even been observed causing electromagnetic pulse
s by commanding the magnetic fields around her, freezing opponents by rapidly dropping the air temperature around them, or increasing the powers of elemental mutants (such as increasing the temperature of Pete Wisdom's heat blasts). Meggan has used her elemental powers to affect man-made objects, such as making the atoms in a building's roof move apart, creating a hole in the roof that resealed itself once Meggan passed through (which suggests that Meggan's elemental powers may have a psychokinetic
quality.) Meggan can focus the elemental energies around her into devastating energy blasts, and draw energy from the Earth and project it in bursts of concussive force. She has also been observed controlling mystical
energies. Meggan can also hover and fly; she once commented during a case where she was working undercover that her feet hurt, because she was unused to walking anywhere at all, not seeing the point when she could more easily fly.
By combining her powers with Rachel Summers
on an alternate Earth filled with magic, Meggan succeeded in bringing the dead back to life.
Meggan can alter her form at will and can assume the form of any creature, even those who only exist in legends. Initially, she changed forms unconsciously. As a newborn infant, she instinctively adopted a fur-covered, somewhat animal-like form in response to the cold weather around her. Her empathic powers made her vulnerable to the superstitions of her people and their fear of her powers caused her to shapeshift into an increasingly hideous form. It was not until she began adventuring with Captain Britain and working with psychic Alison Double that she came to understand the extent of her powers. Currently, Meggan's usual form is a blond woman with pointed ears (some texts indicate that this form is based, subconsciously, on Captain Britain's expectations). It took several more years, however, for Meggan to discover her natural form: taller than a normal human, with longer platinum blond hair, pointed ears, and black eyes.
Meggan can add to her mass and shed this additional mass at will. Meggan adopts the special abilities, superhuman powers, and even aspects of the internal anatomy of whatever being she uses her metamorphic powers to imitate. She once became a Godzilla
-like fire-breathing dragon, and on another occasion she became a werewolf
that had all of a wolf's natural abilities. Meggan can assume the form of other people as well. Her facial features and overall physical appearance often change to a degree with her mood. Although she retains better control of her form as an adult, Meggan may consciously or unconsciously alter her appearance to resemble people or even animals she is with at the time and still occasionally changes form in response to the emotions around her: becoming beautiful when she feels loved, or hideous when she feels fear or anger, or she might become considerably less attractive when deeply depressed. Usually, this happens when she is under stress or spends significant time away from the British Isles. Her elemental powers also cause Meggan to change in response to her surroundings, growing fur in extreme cold, or gills when she is submerged or swimming
underwater
.
She can increase the density of her muscle tissue to boost her strength to superhuman levels, shown capable of exceeding that of Captain Britain on two separate occasions. The use of this power is tied to the planet itself. During her confrontation with Galactus
, she grew in stature to match the planet-eater's size, but the taller she grew, the more she was destabilizing the environment nearby.
Meggan's most formidable talent is her ability to instantly mimic the powers of other superhumans, in one case turning into fully empowered duplicates of Dazzler
, Rogue
, Colossus
, Longshot
, Storm, Wolverine
, Rachel Summers
, and Havok in rapid succession. Given sufficient magic energy in her surroundings she has even effortlessly turned into a female copy of the Silver Surfer
. She has also transformed herself into sentient sand or water, and attained the associated properties.
Meggan is a fair hand-to-hand combatant, trained by Captain Britain. She received no formal education; she is completely self-taught about contemporary culture through television viewing, although her allies from Excalibur take the time to bring her 'up to speed'.
.
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, a mutant
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
in the . She first appeared in Mighty World of Marvel #7, (December 1983), and was created by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Alan Davis
Alan Davis
Alan Davis is an English writer and artist of comic books, known for his work on titles such as Captain Britain, The Uncanny X-Men, ClanDestine, Excalibur, JLA: The Nail and JLA: Another Nail.-UK work:...
.
She eventually chose the codename Gloriana, a name of victory coined by the demons of Hell.
Publication history
Meggan first appears in Marvel UKMarvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
's Mighty World of Marvel #7 (December, 1983), and was created by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Alan Davis
Alan Davis
Alan Davis is an English writer and artist of comic books, known for his work on titles such as Captain Britain, The Uncanny X-Men, ClanDestine, Excalibur, JLA: The Nail and JLA: Another Nail.-UK work:...
.
Her origin story is told in Captain Britain (vol. 2) #8 (Aug. 1985); this story is later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback in the U.S.
Meggan's first American appearance is in New Mutants Annual (vol. 1) #2 (1986).
Her original family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
is recorded for the first time in 2008 in Captain Britain and MI13 #7, and again in Captain Britain and MI13 Annual #1 (2009).
Fictional character biography
Born in a blizzard to a British Romanichal family near Fenborough Station in England, Meggan adapted to the cold by growing fur, to the horror of her family. Unfortunately, as an empathic metamorph, the more they saw her as a monster, the more monstrous she became, growing webbing upon her hands and feet, antennae on her head, claws, and patagiaPatagium
*In bats, the skin forming the surface of the wing. It is an extension of the skin of the abdomen that runs to the tip of each digit, uniting the forelimb with the body.*The patagium of a bat has four distinct parts:...
. The belief that she was some sort of monster was also affected by the fact that Meggan's birth took place near an ancient British fortress that was rumoured to be the site of dark magics. Meggan's family hid her away in their camper, where she watched television incessantly, totally immersing herself in the fantasy of the various British TV shows of the time (such as Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
fare, Quatermass
Quatermass
Quatermass may best be known as the surname of the title character of a British science fiction franchise of several television serials and films, and a radio production...
, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
and many more). Eventually, she met Captain Britain
Captain Britain
Captain Britain , briefly known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, he first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly, #1...
and fought him, but then befriended him. She fell in love with him, joining him as an adventurer. With him, she first encountered Gatecrasher
Gatecrasher (Marvel Comics)
Gatecrasher is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Gatecrasher was created by Jamie Delano and Alan Davis, and first appeared in the UK comic Captain Britain Vol. 2 #3 . The character made her U.S...
's Technet. After having been told by a telepath that her inner soul looked as beautiful "as an iridescent butterfly", during combat against a commando of R.C.X.
R.C.X.
The Resources Control Executive is a fictional British intelligence agency in the Marvel Comics universe. It first appeared in Captain Britain vol...
-controlled "Warpies
Jaspers' Warp
"Jaspers' Warp", also known as "Crooked World", was a Marvel UK storyline featuring primarily the character Captain Britain. It was originally published between 1982 and 1984 in Marvel Superheroes, #387-388, The Daredevils, #1-11 and The Mighty World Of Marvel, volume 2, #7-13.The story is a...
", she stabilized her powers on an attractive form that pleased Brian (and thus pleased her). Captain Britain fell in love right back, and the two began a romantic relationship. Together, they defeated Baba Yaga. The two had a long and stormy courtship, marred by events both cosmic and mundane.
Forming Excalibur
Meggan then fought Gatecrasher's Technet alongside Captain Britain, NightcrawlerNightcrawler (comics)
Nightcrawler is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
, Phoenix
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
, and Shadowcat
Kitty Pryde
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 and was created by writer-artist John Byrne....
, and with them became a founding member of Excalibur
Excalibur (comics)
Excalibur is a Marvel Comics superhero group, an off-shoot of the X-Men, usually based in the United Kingdom. Conceived by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer Alan Davis, the original Excalibur first appeared in Excalibur Special Edition , also known as Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn.The...
. Meggan was later reunited with Courtney Ross
Courtney Ross
Courtney Ross is a fictional character from Marvel Comics originating in the Captain Britain comics as Brian Braddock's college girlfriend. She was created by Chris Claremont and drawn by artists Herb Trimpe and Fred Kida...
. Meggan became attracted to Nightcrawler before long. Excalibur clashed with Arcade
Arcade (comics)
Arcade is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics Universe created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Arcade first appeared in Marvel Team-Up, vol...
and the Crazy Gang, and Meggan temporarily switched bodies with the Crazy Gang's Knave. Brian could not deal with Nightcrawler's attraction toward Meggan (which was strongly reciprocated) and Meggan later developed a crush on Piotr "Peter" Rasputin, the X-Man Colossus
Colossus (comics)
Colossus is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Len Wein and illustrator Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
.
Meggan and Brian wed, with the celebration attended by all their friends (and some enemies) in the 125th issue of Excalibur.
Due to her odd upbringing, for many years, Meggan was naive in many of the aspects of culture, obsessed with television and functionally illiterate. For example, she did not know that Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom
Victor von Doom is a fictional character who appears in Marvel Comics publications . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak...
was such a horrific threat, though she soon learned when he attacked the entire team and attempted to destroy England.
Her Excalibur teammates, over the years, brought her up to speed with Earthly life and knowledge. Douglock took a personal effort in being her teacher after he joined the team. In the latter part of the Excalibur series, Meggan became much more self-confident, taking more of a leadership role, changing her costume and being much more threatening. She used the minimum of force needed, but did not hesitate to scare her adversaries.
Ruling Otherworld
When RomaRoma (comics)
Roma is a fictional character featured in numerous Marvel Comics titles. She is the daughter of Merlyn. Roma is the Omniversal Guardian, charged with the safety of the Omniverse...
stepped down and let Captain Britain become the Omniversal Guardian of the Otherworld, Meggan came to rule beside him as his queen. They supervised the origin of another Captain Britain
Lionheart (comics)
Lionheart , formerly called Captain Britain, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero. She first appeared in The Avengers vol.3, #77 .-Fictional character biography:...
, who became associated with the Avengers.
House of M
Later, the Scarlet WitchScarlet Witch
The Scarlet Witch is a fictional comic book character that appears in books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...
caused a hole in reality when she altered it to create the House of M
House of M
House of M is an eight-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled...
. This set off a multidimensional tidal wave, threatening Otherworld and the other parallel realities of the Omniverse. Meggan and Captain Britain were sent to fix the hole, given only a short amount of time before Saturnyne
Saturnyne
Opal Luna Saturnyne is the name of a fictional comic book character created by Dave Thorpe and Alan Davis for their Captain Britain stories. She is the Omniversal Majestrix of Otherworld, and a servant of Roma, charged with the safety of the Omniverse....
would destroy the 616 reality to prevent it from hurting the other realities. Working with Psylocke
Psylocke
Psylocke is a fictional character depicted in comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably those comics featuring the superhero team the X-Men. The character has also appeared in licensed adaptations. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, she first appeared in the UK...
and Rachel Summers
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
, Meggan and Captain Britain located the hole in reality through which the tidal chaos wave was about to spread. Allowing the others to seal the gap, Meggan ventured into the void beyond and sacrificed herself to briefly slow the progress of the impacting chaotic energies to give Psylocke, Rachel, and Captain Britain time to sew the reality tear.
When reality was restored, only a few remembered what had gone on during the House of M. Captain Britain and the others were among the many who didn't, having only vague memories of the ordeal and believing it to be a dream. As a result, Brian doesn't know about Meggan's sacrifice and has no idea where she is, leaving him in distress.
Plokta's Dream World
After Wisdom releases the dark and evil magics to prevent the SkrullSkrull
The Skrulls are a fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:The Skrulls first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby....
invasion in England, Plokta, a Lord of Hell, tries to make a deal with Captain Britain and reveals what appears to be Meggan in his collection of otherworldly realms. Captain Britain, knowing it might be merely an illusion states that he can't take the chance of it being real and plunges through the dimensional gate. After sealing it shut, Plokta informs his underlings that this was merely a dream world and he was delighted that Captain Britain allowed himself to be sealed within it. Within the dream world, Meggan and Captain Britain live at least several weeks believing it to be reality, though Brian expresses doubts about inconsistencies of the world. His train of thought on the subject, however, is disrupted when he and Meggan's quiet lunch in Braddock's pub is attacked by his deceased brother Jamie Braddock
Jamie Braddock
James "Jamie" Braddock Jr. is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. The elder brother of the twin superheroes Captain Britain and Psylocke, he is a mutant possessing the ability to manipulate reality in a variety of ways. Though his mutant powers are very powerful, he is...
.
Meggan is eventually revealed to still be alive, but lost between dimensions.
Hell and back
Meggan is soon revealed to be trapped in Hell. Unlike most of its occupants, however, she is not in torment, and still senses hope reaching her from outside of Hell—a fact that disturbs the Lords of Hell greatly. During her audience with them, they trick her into using her empathy, which forces her to assume a hideous and misshapen form and trap her in it. The lords having "judged" her, quickly exile her into another portion of Hell. However an angry Meggan lashes out with her empathy, which causes all other lesser demons in her presence to rally behind her, having been affected with her anger. This catches the attention of Pluto, the Greek God of the Underworld (and old enemy of HerculesHercules (Marvel Comics)
Hercules is a fictional character that appears in publications by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Journey into Mystery Annual #1 and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby....
). They forge an alliance and he restores Meggan to her usual self.
She spends the following months leading her army of demon followers in waging a war against the Lords of Hell, very successfully since her empathy overwhelms the enemy armies, causing them to turn on their respective lords (most noticeably Blackheart
Blackheart
Blackheart is a fictional demon in the . The character was created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita, Jr., and first appeared in Daredevil #270...
). During one such battle she feels nostalgic and reminisces about her husband Brian. This causes her army to feel happiness, something that they haven't experienced in a while—if at all. The demons name her Gloriana in honor of this feat, and idolize her further. After a while she forms a kingdom, "Elysium", to serve as a sanctuary for souls to escape torment, and gives Pluto part of her conquests in payment.
Following that, she left in hope of searching for a way home. After having wandered through a large part of Hell, she finally finds a crack through which moonlight pours through. Quickly she passes through the crack, only to be greeted by Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom
Victor von Doom is a fictional character who appears in Marvel Comics publications . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak...
on the other side, within Dracula
Dracula (Marvel Comics)
Dracula is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. He is based on the vampire Count Dracula from the novel of the same name by author Bram Stoker, and is also influenced by Universal Studios' version of the character.-Publication history:A...
's ship departing from the moon.
Reunited with Brian
As Dracula begins his invasion of Britain, he is confronted with more resistance than expected, along with some of his vampires resisting him going as far as even directly disobeying him. Doctor Doom contacts him briefly telling him that he has left him a gift in his ship's hold. Located in the ship is Meggan, much to Dracula's confusion. However he soon realizes that Meggan is the reason why his mental hold on the other vampires is growing weaker, since she uses her mental powers to "broadcast rebellion". Dracula attempts to kill her but is stopped by Captain Britain who is furious at the vampire king. Meggan and Brian battle the vampires and Dracula until the ship and majority of vampires are destroyed via a spell. Once the battle is over Meggan and Brian are happily reunited.Powers and abilities
Meggan is a tremendously powerful superhuman, an "empathic metamorph" or "elemental megamorph", with the apparent ability to assume virtually any superhuman power in existence at will.The defining foundation of her abilities are: empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
, an elemental link to nature and mystical energies
Elemental
An elemental is a mythological being first appearing in the alchemical works of Paracelsus in the 16th century. Traditionally, there are four types:*gnomes, earth elementals*undines , water elementals*sylphs, air elementals...
, and shapeshifting
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
, with aspects of each talent blending together, or affecting, the others.
Meggan's empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
enables her to sense the emotions and feelings of living creatures (from people, to animals, to plants), and including the ability to psionically perceive an object's or person's psychic, natural, and mystical energy aura
Aura (paranormal)
In parapsychology and many forms of spiritual practice, an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person or object . The depiction of such an aura often connotes a person of particular power or holiness. Sometimes, however, it is said that all living things and all objects...
. Meggan's empathy has also given her an affinity toward learning both human language and animal communication systems.
However, her empathic powers also used to make her sensitive to surrounding moods, making her change appearance depending on themselves, their needs, or perceptions, and make her vulnerable to certain telepathic manipulation; or rather do so when she herself was either in a vulnerable emotional state, was distracted, or focused on the person in question, or her powers were in a minor flux from lack of mystical sustenance.
She eventually overcame most of this limitation, and rather learned to broadcast her own feelings to influence other people's emotions to the extent that she incited a rebellion in the part of hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
ruled by Blackheart
Blackheart
Blackheart is a fictional demon in the . The character was created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita, Jr., and first appeared in Daredevil #270...
, and disrupted Dracula's control of his vampires by "broadcasting rebellion".
Meggan's empathy creates a psionic link to the natural forces of the Earth. By "speaking" to the elements, Meggan can command the environment around her, and her emotional state can affect the local ecosystems. Through thought alone, Meggan can extinguish forest fires, summon gale force winds, and part the waters of a lake or cause earthquakes in a flash of anger. Meggan has even been observed causing electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
s by commanding the magnetic fields around her, freezing opponents by rapidly dropping the air temperature around them, or increasing the powers of elemental mutants (such as increasing the temperature of Pete Wisdom's heat blasts). Meggan has used her elemental powers to affect man-made objects, such as making the atoms in a building's roof move apart, creating a hole in the roof that resealed itself once Meggan passed through (which suggests that Meggan's elemental powers may have a psychokinetic
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
quality.) Meggan can focus the elemental energies around her into devastating energy blasts, and draw energy from the Earth and project it in bursts of concussive force. She has also been observed controlling mystical
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
energies. Meggan can also hover and fly; she once commented during a case where she was working undercover that her feet hurt, because she was unused to walking anywhere at all, not seeing the point when she could more easily fly.
By combining her powers with Rachel Summers
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
on an alternate Earth filled with magic, Meggan succeeded in bringing the dead back to life.
Meggan can alter her form at will and can assume the form of any creature, even those who only exist in legends. Initially, she changed forms unconsciously. As a newborn infant, she instinctively adopted a fur-covered, somewhat animal-like form in response to the cold weather around her. Her empathic powers made her vulnerable to the superstitions of her people and their fear of her powers caused her to shapeshift into an increasingly hideous form. It was not until she began adventuring with Captain Britain and working with psychic Alison Double that she came to understand the extent of her powers. Currently, Meggan's usual form is a blond woman with pointed ears (some texts indicate that this form is based, subconsciously, on Captain Britain's expectations). It took several more years, however, for Meggan to discover her natural form: taller than a normal human, with longer platinum blond hair, pointed ears, and black eyes.
Meggan can add to her mass and shed this additional mass at will. Meggan adopts the special abilities, superhuman powers, and even aspects of the internal anatomy of whatever being she uses her metamorphic powers to imitate. She once became a Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
-like fire-breathing dragon, and on another occasion she became a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
that had all of a wolf's natural abilities. Meggan can assume the form of other people as well. Her facial features and overall physical appearance often change to a degree with her mood. Although she retains better control of her form as an adult, Meggan may consciously or unconsciously alter her appearance to resemble people or even animals she is with at the time and still occasionally changes form in response to the emotions around her: becoming beautiful when she feels loved, or hideous when she feels fear or anger, or she might become considerably less attractive when deeply depressed. Usually, this happens when she is under stress or spends significant time away from the British Isles. Her elemental powers also cause Meggan to change in response to her surroundings, growing fur in extreme cold, or gills when she is submerged or swimming
Aquatic locomotion
Swimming is biologically propelled motion through a liquid medium. Swimming has evolved a number of times in a range of organisms ranging from arthropods to fish to molluscs.-Evolution of swimming:...
underwater
Underwater
Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...
.
She can increase the density of her muscle tissue to boost her strength to superhuman levels, shown capable of exceeding that of Captain Britain on two separate occasions. The use of this power is tied to the planet itself. During her confrontation with Galactus
Galactus
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in comic books and other publications published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character debuted in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue story later known as "The Galactus...
, she grew in stature to match the planet-eater's size, but the taller she grew, the more she was destabilizing the environment nearby.
Meggan's most formidable talent is her ability to instantly mimic the powers of other superhumans, in one case turning into fully empowered duplicates of Dazzler
Dazzler
Dazzler is a Marvel Comics superheroine, associated with the X-Men. She first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #130 ....
, Rogue
Rogue (comics)
Rogue was first slated to appear in Ms. Marvel #25 , but the book's abrupt cancellation left her original introduction story unpublished for over a decade, before seeing print in Marvel Super Heroes #11 in 1992. Rogue's first published appearance was in Avengers Annual #10...
, Colossus
Colossus (comics)
Colossus is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Len Wein and illustrator Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
, Longshot
Longshot
Longshot is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero best known as a member of the X-Men. He was created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist Art Adams.-Publication history:...
, Storm, Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
, Rachel Summers
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
, and Havok in rapid succession. Given sufficient magic energy in her surroundings she has even effortlessly turned into a female copy of the Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy"....
. She has also transformed herself into sentient sand or water, and attained the associated properties.
Meggan is a fair hand-to-hand combatant, trained by Captain Britain. She received no formal education; she is completely self-taught about contemporary culture through television viewing, although her allies from Excalibur take the time to bring her 'up to speed'.
Earth-597
Meggan is a member of Lightning Force (this reality's Excalibur team) in a world where the Nazis have won World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Earth-1189
The world of Earth-1189 was devastated by nuclear war. After the death of her Brian Braddock, Meggan takes over the mantle of Captain Britain and becomes a member of the CorpsCaptain Britain Corps
In Marvel Comics, the Captain Britain Corps is a league of super-heroes all known as, or appear as an alternative version of, Captain Britain. They are all essentially the same hero except they each come from an alternative reality.-Fictional team history:...
.
Earth-99746
On a world populated by humanoid dinosaurs, the Excalibur-equivalent contains an alternate version of Meggan called Megon who helps defeat the Fantastic Five before traveling to Earth-616.Awards
- 1986: Won "Favourite Supporting Character" Eagle Award.
External links
- Meggan at the Marvel Universe
- Meggan at UncannyXmen.Net
- Meggan at ComicVine.com
- illustrated biography of Meggan's discovery of her shape-shifting abilities