Danielle Moonstar (Earth-616) (original) (raw)

Origin[]

Danielle Moonstar was a Native American of the Cheyenne Nation. After her mutant powers emerged at puberty, she could not control her ability to create visible images of people's greatest fears. Manifesting the images at unexpected moments alienated her from everyone in her community, except for her parents William and Peg Lonestar, and her grandfather, the chief and shaman Black Eagle.[18]

One night, Dani created a vision of her parents' deaths, and, shortly thereafter, her parents disappeared during a trip to the mountains. Moonstar though they had been killed and began having nightmares of a demonic bear, whom she believed to be responsible for their deaths. In fact, Moonstar's parents had been transformed into the demonic bear. This bear intended to work the same transformation upon Moonstar, but the spells of Black Eagle kept the demonic bear away from her.[19]

After her parents' disappearance, Moonstar was taken in by their friends, the Roberts. Danielle became close friends with their son, Pat. After she had been at the Roberts' home a week, Moonstar was at Sunday dinner with them, when Pat said something to her that provoked her. Moonstar lashed out at him with her psychic power and the images of the objects of Pat's greatest fear and desire appeared before Pat and his family. Moonstar then fled to the mountains, where Black Eagle raised her over the following years.[20][18]

Looking to help his granddaughter, Black Eagle sent a letter to Professor Charles Xavier asking him to provide Moonstar with the training she needed to utilize her powers. Xavier was an army friend of Danielle's father and had become acquainted with Black Eagle. When Black Eagle asked Moonstar to go with Xavier, she angrily refused, believing all Caucasians to be her enemies. In her anger, Moonstar unintentionally created an image of Black Eagle's death as he had foreseen it in a prophetic dream. Black Eagle ordered her to go with Xavier and she agreed.[1]

Before Xavier arrived, Black Eagle was murdered by agents of Donald Pierce, a member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club who intended to overthrow its leader, Sebastian Shaw. Pierce was determined to kill Professor Xavier, as well as other superhuman mutants. Moonstar, unaware of Pierce's involvement, vowed to take vengeance for her grandfather's death.[1]

Moonstar soon found herself hunted by Pierce's agents, but she was saved by the mutant Karma, who arrived along with Prof. Xavier. Dani agreed to work with Professor Xavier to get her revenge on Pierce.[1]

New Mutants[]

After Moonstar helped Xavier and other young mutants he had enlisted in defeating Pierce, she and the other young mutants became members of his new team, the New Mutants, whom Prof. Xavier would train in the control and use of their powers at the School for Gifted Youngsters. Moonstar decided to remain with them to honor her grandfather's request, despite some initial reluctance.[1] Dani became especial close to Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), in part due to the psychic rapport they shared when Wolfsbane was in non-human form.[21][22][23] Moonstar originally took the code name Psyche,[21] but later changed it to Mirage.[24]

Despite her power, Dani was a valuable member of the team in her own right, being the only one to pass the team's first test in the Danger Room. Although the team was originally created because the Professor was possessed by the Brood Queen egg inside of him for future embryos, they stayed together. The team battled the powers of the Brood Queen inside of Professor Xavier that was using Dani's powers to create a horrific landscape.[25]

Under Prof. Xavier's guidance, Moonstar not only learned how to keep her powers under control, so that she only used them when she so desired, but also learned how to use her powers to create images other than those of the objects of people's fears. Following the departure of Karma, Dani and Cannonball became the team's leaders.[26]

Sometime afterwards, Kitty Pryde was captured by the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, who was unaware the young X-Man shared a rapport with Magik. Sensing her friend was in danger, Illyana enlisted the help of the New Mutants and they charged to her rescue. Still, they were all captured and forced to attend the Massachusetts Academy, where the White Queen taught. There, a rivalry started between the New Mutants and the other young team of the Academy, the Hellions, which led them to secretly compete in a challenge and, if the New Mutants won, the Hellions would allow them to escape. During the match, however, the White Queen appeared and chaos ensued. Nevertheless, the New Mutants managed to get away safely and return to Xavier's.[27]

With Black Eagle dead, the demonic bear was no longer prevented from seeking out Moonstar and she fought it outside the mansion, where it nearly killed her. Upon discovering Dani hideously mauled, the New Mutants rushed her to the Mid-County Medical Center. The Demon Bear was not through with Danielle and he infiltrated the hospital, thinking to finish the job and possess Danielle's soul. The Bear transported the team to the Badlands, presumably his dimension, where the New Mutants battled the bear. Her teammate Magik used her Soulsword to release Moonstar's parents from the spell they were under, returning them to their human forms. During this skirmish, the Demon Bear had possessed Sharon Friedlander and Officer Tom Corsi and turned them into demonic Native American warriors under his control. They reverted back to normal humans, but Sharon and Tom still kept the appearance of Native Americans. Moonstar was reunited with her parents and she eventually recovered completely from her injuries, thanks to the Morlock Healer.[28]

Valkyrie[]

Later, Amora the Enchantress kidnapped the New Mutants to Asgard. Dani found herself on Valhalla, where she rescued a winged horse from a group of hunters. The winged horse was one of a herd of such creatures belonging to Odin, ruler of Asgard. The horses were ridden by the female warriors called the Valkyries who guided the spirits of the recently deceased to the Afterlife. Mirage forged an immediate psychic rapport with the horse, whom she named Brightwind after her pony on Earth, and the horse selected her to be his rider. This "bonding" bestowed part of the Odin power upon Mirage, and thus she became endowed with the Valkyries' power to perceive the coming of death. When the New Mutants returned to Earth, Brightwind came with Mirage.[29][30]

As a Valkyrie

Soon thereafter, Professor Xavier left Earth for an indefinite period of time, leaving his school and the New Mutants in the charge of his former enemy, Magneto. While with her parents, Moonstar ran into her old friend, Pat Roberts, who still hated her. When Pat was injured and stuck in a blizzard, Moonstar saw the death mark on him and fought Death, in the form of an old gunfighter. Moonstar defeated Death, but Pat remained in a coma. The next day, Death returned in the form of an old Indian woman who convinced Dani that Pat would live, but in an irreversible diabetic coma. Dani agreed to let him go.[20]

Following an adventure with Mojo,[31] Dani and the New Mutants ended up coming to the X-Men's aid when Mojo de-aged the team along with Psylocke and Longshot into children and briefly mind controlled the de-aged heroes.[32]

Once, Magneto was invited to attend a Hellfire Club event and decided to bring the New Mutants as well. That night, Dani spent a long time hanging out with the leader of the Hellions, a fellow native american named James Proudstar. The two got along quite well and seemed to think highly of each other, despite their differences. However, the event turned sour for the young mutants after finding Cypher drunk in a bed with Roulette, leading Cannonball to suggest another contest between the two teams. The contest was for both teams to hunt down the person responsible for selling a member of the Hellfire Club a forged statue of Selene and the losers were to apologize, publicly, for any insults and take the rap for any trouble with their teachers before sunrise. After having Illyana Rasputin spy on the Hellions through a scrying glass in Limbo, the New Mutants learned that Viper and the Silver Samurai were behind the forgery and decided to intercept the villains, before the Hellions. Unknown to the New Mutants, Proudstar assumed that they would spy on the Hellions and led them to the henchmen of the villains, while the Hellions captured Viper and Silver Samurai, winning the competition. Upon returning to the Hellfire Club, James and Dani settled their differences and were about to kiss, but were interrupted by Sage.[33]

Lance Necklace

In Nova Roma, Dani was thrown under the High Evolutionary's de-powering machine. Two mutants, Bulk and Glow Worm, had just been de-powered and, with their dying breath, reversed the machine on Dani. After being taken off the machine, Moonstar acquired the ability to make her spirit images real, but the images would not go away until a new image was made. Later, Dani also manifested a Spirit Lance, which she carried as a weapon. Dani went on a ride with Brightwind and, after falling into a pond, created a Porsche to return home. Dani was pulled-over and, after she manifested a fake license, the car vanished. Brightwind returned and she fled home, vanishing her fake license for her Spirit Lance. After thinking it was too big, Dani made her Spirit Lance into a necklace, which she constantly wore, as she needed to maintain at least one mirage at all times. Dani decided to keep her new powers and the origin of her necklace a secret from Magneto.[34]

Dani was also among the New Mutants successfully captured by a demon posing as Baba Yaga, alongside Sam, Warlock, Rahne and Roberto. Following their capture, the demon decided to feed the five captives, hoping to cook and eat them. After a few days, Dani and the others had been fed to the point where they'd become enormously fat and were almost eaten, only for Colossus to arrive and rescue them, with Magik restoring the bloated NMs to normal.[35]

The mutants did not stay under the care of Magneto, as Mirage and Cannonball decided to move the team out from under Magneto's thumb, especially after the death of teammate Cypher. Magneto revealed that he had joined the X-Men, led the New Mutants, and entered the Hellfire Club to build a foundation for control and peace among mutant kind. The teams were to be his army against the coming war between humans and mutants. Magneto allowed the New Mutants to leave, stating that, in time, they would find his ways right. After initially deciding to go home and live normal lives, the New Mutants were introduced to X-Factor and began to live on Ship, merging with the X-Terminators.[36]

Hela, the death goddess of Asgard, attempted to take over Asgard, and infected Dani and the other Valkyrior with a mystical fever, surrounding both Mirage and Brightwind in flame. Hela planned to use Moonstar to gather humans to her forces to defeat Thor, but Dani tried to fight off her influence for as long as she could. The New Mutants went to Doctor Strange to help her. Dr. Strange pulled Dani's astral form onto the Astral Plane to calm her pain. Dani's body continued to battle the New Mutants and the surrounding area, until her astral self saw Rahne save a young girl from her body and she returned and asserted control, creating a machine to cover her in ice while Dr. Strange returned everything she had damaged to normal.[37]

When the New Mutants were attacked by Freedom Force Dr. Strange teleported the remaining New Mutants to Asgard. Moonstar fell under the sway of Hela and nearly killed Odin. Hela was defeated by the combined forces of the New Mutants and the Asgardians, and the New Mutants were returned to Earth; all except Moonstar who chose to stay behind, hoping to repair the damage as a Valkyrie.[38]

This angered Hotamintanio, one of her Cheyenne deities, who came to Asgard himself to bring her back. Danielle ultimately persuaded him to leave her to her own devices by promising to eventually return to her tribe.[39]

Mutant Liberation Front[]

Moonstar was eventually exiled from Asgard, and her winged horse Brightwind was renamed Darkwind. Dani was contacted by the international law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and asked to infiltrate the Mutant Liberation Front (M.L.F.) as a deep cover operative and betray the group from within.[40]

Undercover

While she was away in Asgard, The New Mutants had turned into the strike team called X-Force. To maintain her cover, Moonstar was forced to battle her old friends in X-Force alongside other members of the M.L.F. Dani also secretly became an informant for Cable, at one time assisting him when he was tracking down Feral. She also helped the other mutants who were captured during the Younghunt when they were attempting escape from the Gamesmaster's prison. After the M.L.F. and X-Force battled Prime Sentinels during Operation: Zero Tolerance, Moonstar left the M.L.F. and joined X-Force.[41]

X-Force[]

During their encounter with the Damocles Foundation, Dani was transmorphed for a short time by Arcadia, giving her the ability to channel quantum energies, which allowed her to affect matter at a subatomic level.[42]

Undercover

Dani could see these quantum energies as interconnected particles and waves, and she could affect those connections, changing the physical nature of all things, including an electromagnetic field such as the one generated by Magneto during X-Force's encounter with him in Genosha.[43]

When Dani and Arcadia met up again, in San Francisco, Dani's powers were removed from her and a dimensional rift was formed, also causing four alternate Moonstar's to be created. Each of these Moonstar's represented a different aspect of Dani - New Mutant, Valkyrie, M.L.F. member, and quantum-powered. With the help of the quantum-powered incarnation, Moonstar was able to stop Arcadia and after the rift was sealed, Dani was returned to normal.[citation needed]

When X-Force decided to bring Pete Wisdom into the group to train them Dani quit X-Force.[44] After that, Moonstar joined the X-Men part-time while she attended college and functioned as a part of the X-Men's support team along with Forge.[45][46]

Xavier Institute[]

When Professor Xavier was outed as a mutant and the Xavier Institute was made public, Dani returned. Professor X asked her help in finding several mutant children and bringing them to the school, and also asked her to become a teacher. Dani was hesitant to take him up on his offer, but agreed to bring in the potential students, recruiting Sofia Mantega, David Alleyne, Kevin Ford, and Josh Foley.[47]

During a confrontation with the Reavers, Kevin attempted to kill Donald Pierce, and Dani was forced to use her powers to stop him. This caused Kevin to quit the school, making Dani question her place at the institute. Initially deciding to leave the institute again, she agreed to stay and teach after all the kids she had recruited asked for her personally to become their advisor.[48] Dani even signed legal papers to become Josh Foley's legal guardian after his family abandoned him.[49][50] A brief New Mutants reunion occurred when Donald Pierce attacked the school, and Dani joined her old friends to defeat him.[51]

With the school rebuilt after an impostor Magneto had attacked it, older students were assigned to squads to better hone their abilities. Moonstar became the adviser to the New Mutants Squad, made up of the youths she had recruited previously.[52] However, after the events of M-Day, Dani lost her powers and was sent home along with all the other depowered students and faculty.[53]

Post-M-Day[]

Dani was hired by Henry Gyrich to help Trauma to learn control of his powers for the 50-State Initiative. Trauma demonstrated that he couldn't control his powers by turning into everyone's worst fear. He turned into the Demon Bear but Dani showed him that she conquered her fear long ago. However, because she taught Trauma to use his powers in a therapeutic matter, Gyrich sent her away, for he wanted to use Trauma as a weapon.[54]

When the X-Men were temporarily disbanded, Donald Pierce posed as Cyclops and gathered some of the younger students as a hit squad. He claimed the New Mutants had become a "New Brotherhood" and turned the kids loose on them. Danielle and her teammates fought back and revealed Pierce's duplicity to the kids.[55]

After Pierce was imprisoned, Moonstar and Sunspot remained on at Utopia as teaching instructors for the Young X-Men squad.[56]

New Mutants X-Men Squad[]

Magik later returned, stating that she was from the not too distant future and that the world and New Mutants would die without her intervention. Cyclops allowed Cannonball to reorganize the original New Mutants squad. Sam originally decided against Dani until she fought him in the Graymalkin Industries Danger Room and proved that she was still useful to the team. Their first mission was to subdue a recently returned Legion.[57]

Depowered but still fighting

During Norman Osborn's attack on the X-Men in San Francisco, Dani was sent by Cyclops to Las Vegas to make a deal with Hela to gain back her Valkyrie powers, in order to fight Ares, the Dark X-Men, and the Dark Avengers.[58]

As her part of the deal, Dani was convinced by Hela to be her Valkyrie during the Siege.[59]

The New Mutants battled the Inferno Babies, where Dani's arm was broken by Loca. After being beaten, Dani was further beaten by Timothy and other members of Project Purgatory, while Sam was made to watch. Dani was freed by attacking demons and killed Loca.[60]

Fear Itself[]

When Kuurth attacked San Francisco, Cyclops sent Dani to meet with Asgardian death-goddess Hela in the hopes that she could explain what happened. However, on the way to Las Vegas, Dani was forcibly moved to Hel.[citation needed]

Dani and Brightwind explored Hel and met with hordes of dead, who fled in fear from the Draumar, the bad dreams of the Serpent who was buried in Hel eons ago. Dani arrived and the New Mutants joined Hela's dead army in battle with the Draumar. To frighten and defeat them, Hela showed the Draumar Nate's memories about his life and a world about which they knew nothing. After the Draumar were gone, the team returned to Utopia.[citation needed]

Fearless Defenders[]

Dani was targeted by the henchmen of Caroline Le Fay, who believed her to be an easy target. However, Dani was prepared for her unwanted guests, and unleashed a volley of arrows on the closest attackers, taking them out with ease. She was able to take down many of the henchmen before finally being taken to le Fay's base of operations. Le Fay intended to use Dani as a conduit to awaken the Dísir. Dani was freed by Valkyrie, Misty Knight, and Hippolyta (Hela's chosen champion). Dani joined the women and resumed her position as Hel's Valkyrie. After battling the Dísir, Valkyrie became aware that she was once one of them, but her memory of this time had been erased.[10]

Brunnhilde allowed herself to become the Maiden of Rage once again, and attacked, killing the other Disir. Eventually, Valkyrie, Misty Knight, Hippolyta, Dani, Elsa Bloodstone, Clea, and others banded together to form the Fearless Defenders.[citation needed]

All-New, All-Different[]

Following the revelation that the Terrigen Cloud that was covering Earth was poisonous to mutants, Storm's team began using Dani's death-tracking abilities to track down those who were afflicted with the M-Pox and get them to Storm's X-Haven located in the Limbo dimension.

Magik teleported Dani to a nightclub in Los Angeles where the specter of death loomed large. It was so large, Dani learned, because a lot of people were about to die -- way more than just the mutant suffering from the M-Pox. It turned out the densely populated club was actually in the thrall of a sick mutant, a powerful psychic that was forcing all of the club-goers to party as if nothing was wrong. And then Dani Moonstar met her target: The daughter of the long dead villain Mastermind, Lady Mastermind. Dani and Regan engaged in a psychic battle as they both realized they had similar issues with fear and anxiety. Dani got through to Lady Mastermind, who finally relented and let her guard down, thus breaking her control over the club-goers. Letting her own facade down, she even asked Dani to put her out of her misery. But Magik and Dani instead teleported Lady Mastermind back to X-Haven, where she got treatment for her M-Pox fever and her symptoms started to go away.[61]

Krakoa[]

Some time later, Moonstar joined the mutant nation of Krakoa alongside most of her old teammates, and the New Mutants were reformed once more.[14] During this time, Dani started using her powers to help mutants deal with their traumas, Rahne and Karma being some of the people she helped.[62]

After a trip to Otherworld, Karma asked Dani to be her partner in the Crucible in order to allow her brother a chance at resurrection.[63] She accepted and, after a difficult fight, Dani was able to fatally wound Karma. She was then present to welcome Karma after her resurrection.[64]

Fall of X[]

During the third Hellfire Gala, there was an attack by the anti-mutant terrorist group Orchis, and Mirage was one of the numerous mutants mind-controlled by Professor X into stepping through a teleportation gateway, which Orchis had stipulated to be the only way for mutant lives to be spared.[65] However, instead of finding herself in the White Hot Room with most other mutants, Dani and a few others (including Magik, Dust, Typhoid Mary, and Marrow) would instead emerge in Vanaheim due to the young mutant Curse's inability to control her reality warping powers. While there, Marrow and her fellow Mutants would fight against the evil sorceress Saturnyne alongside Vanir warriors and Asgardian heroes such as Thor, Sif, and Angela before returning to Earth.[66]

Danielle Moonstar is a mutant who was depowered as a result of M-Day.[53] She was granted a portion of the Valkyries power when Brightwind chose her as his rider,[29] but lost that power and her connection to the Valkyrior when Old Asgard fell.[9] Later Hela restored her Valkyrie powers,[67] then Danielle was exposed to the Transmode Virus,[68] and was subsequently cured by Dark Beast, which resulted in her mutant powers being restored.[69]

• Telepathy: In Dani Moonstar's first appearance, she heard the "death cry" of her grandfather telepathically.[1] Over the span of her life Dani and those familiar with her psionic abilities have referred to them as forms of telepathy,[70][71][72] despite there being an initial distinction, and this remains true based on the telepathic nature of all of her powers that allows her to read and manipulate minds. Even while depowered, Danielle appeared to retain some semblance of her telepathic abilities, such as when confronted by Regan Wyngarde the two engaged in psychic combat. Dani appeared to still be strong enough telepathically to hold her down long enough to talk Regan down.[61] Dani read the minds of multiple people, including a hive mind; She read their memories and thoughts which allowed her to see their fears and desires in her mind's eye.[73]
• Illusory Emotion Manifestation: She has the power to create three-dimensional images of certain visual concepts from thoughts and emotional impressions within the minds of herself and others. Originally, Moonstar could only create images of the objects of other people's greatest fears.[74] Later, she learned how to reach into another person's subconscious and project an image of the object of that person's "heart's desire."[75][76] Still later, under Charles Xavier's further training, Moonstar learned to use her power to derive and project more specific images from another person's mind that were unrelated to such strong emotional states.[77] Moreover, she learned how to project such images around herself and others in order to alter the appearance of herself and others. For example, once she and her teammate Cannonball, neither dressed impressively at the time, had to find Wolfsbane at a stylish hotel. In order that she and Cannonball would look as if they belonged in the hotel, Moonstar made herself and Cannonball look like the desk clerk's mental image of the ideal wealthy guests for the hotel.[78] With time, Moonstar learned to project three-dimensional versions of images from her own mind, such as life-size images of the New Mutants training in the use of their powers.[79]

Initially, despite the fact that Moonstar had to probe a person's subconscious in order to discover the mental image she wished to project, she wasn't a true telepath. Although she could consciously initiate the mental probing in order to find and project an image, the probing process itself wasn't governed by her conscious mind. Hence, Moonstar did not consciously know what the image she sought in another person's mind was (in any more detail than that it was the image of the object of their greatest fear, or that it was the image of his or her ideal customer, or whatever) until its image actually appeared in the three-dimensional form before her.[citation needed]

The three-dimensional images that Moonstar caused to appear were similar to holograms, although they were created by psionic energy rather than by lasers, and could be seen by anyone in their vicinity. However, only the people from whom Moonstar derived the images would perceive them as "real," indistinguishable from the real persons or objects they portrayed. To other people, the images were recognizable as immaterial illusions.[80]

Moonstar could use her power to derive and project mental images on several people at once.[80] Each "victim" would see a different image, corresponding to his or her own individual concept of the kind of image that Moonstar sought. If, for example, she sought to make a group of people each see the object of their greatest fear, probably each person in the group would see an image of a different person or thing.[81]

The seeming materialization of the object of his or her greatest fear of desire invariably had immediate emotional impact on the person from whom Moonstar had drawn the image she projected. Moonstar's images dissolved and ceased to exist as soon as she ceased to maintain sufficient concentration to keep them visible.[citation needed]

Moonstar was limited in the use of her power by her need to see the person from whose consciousness she derived her images.[80] She could use her power on a person even if he or she could only be seen by Moonstar through binoculars. However, she couldn't draw images from a person who was standing only a few feet from her, but behind something, she couldn't see through. Nor could she derive images from a person whom she saw via live television but who wasn't actually within her vicinity.[citation needed]

At first, Moonstar could not control her image projecting powers, and she would draw and project images without consciously willing to do so.[1] However, she learned to control her power due to Charles Xavier's guidance and her own growing maturity so that her power operated only when she willed it to do so.[77] Moonstar, like the other New Mutants, was killed and then resurrected by the alien Beyonder. When the Beyonder recreated the New Mutants, somehow their proficiency in utilizing their powers was greatly reduced.[11][12] Hence, although Moonstar could still perform all the feats listed above, it was now more difficult for her to do so. Also, her ability to keep her power under her conscious control was lessened as a result.[20]

• Materialized Mental Projection: Moonstar's ultimate potential is to be able to cause her three-dimensional images to become tangible entities of psionic force,[34] this gives her the ability to project the emotions, thoughts, conscious, and the subconscious as tangible constructs. She was able to make use of this full potential temporarily multiple times, the first being when her abilities were briefly augmented psionically by Charles Xavier while he was mentally possessed by a member of the alien Brood.[25] The second occurrence was in an attempt to depower her in captivity, but the experiment actually augmented her abilities to their full potential, allowing Dani to materialize her mental projections on her own.[34] During this time, Dani projected monsters conjured from her opponents' fears,[82] a car out of her own desire,[34] shields for protection,[83] diving equipment out of urgency,[84] and flame in addition to chains to restrain someone.[39] This power to materialize her mental projections eventually receded. However, while traveling in Otherworld, Dani began creating tangible manifestations once again.[63] Dani projected the memories and thoughts of her culture and homeland on the physical landscape, younger versions of the New Mutants in a heated argument, monsters of her opponents' fears, and the consciousness of Karma's brother, Tran, who was embedded in his sister's mind.[85][63]

Moonstar could also use her power to derive and project images of the objects of fear or desire from the minds of animals. The only difference was that the animal from which she derived the image would be the only being to see it. She could even use this power on fish and certain insects, although not on animals with intelligence any lower than these creatures. Moonstar could derive mental images of her winged horse Brightwind's objects of fear and love even if Brightwind was beyond the range of her sight, and project such images to him over a great distance. The limits of her powers with regard to Brightwind are unknown. She summoned him in the past by projecting an image of herself, whom he loved, to him, even though he was out of her range of sights.[citation needed]

• Neural Arrows: She can focus her psionic powers into energy arrows which can stun an opponent by disrupting their central nervous system, force them to relive a traumatic memory or nightmares of their fears,[86] or kill.[87] Dani can utilize her psionic arrows to telepathically connect to her targets,[88] and once exorcised the Shadow King from Gambit's body and mind.[89] Later, she learnt to materialize her arrows in order to affect tangible matter with them.[90][91][92]
• Zoopathy: Moonstar can achieve a quasi-telepathic rapport with higher animals including primates (but not including human beings), members of the dog and cat families (including wolves and mountain lions, for example), and birds. She can sense their feelings, consciously perceive images in their minds, and even see through their eyes. However, since an animal's ability to conceptualize is highly limited, she was limited as to what she telepathically could learn from an animal.[1]

This ability extends to Wolfsbane's lupine form. However, since Wolfsbane retains her human mind as a wolf, it was more difficult for Moonstar to sort out the mental impressions she received from her than it was for Moonstar to deal with those of a real wolf. Moonstar's telepathic rapport with Wolfsbane was originally sometimes painful to Moonstar because of this fact, but it stopped after a period of time.[87]

Moonstar also has a quasi-telepathic rapport with her winged horse Brightwind; possibly Brightwind has psychic abilities of his own that made the rapport easier. Though highly intelligent, Brightwind has an animal's mind, so Moonstar can't communicate with him telepathically in quite the same way she can with Wolfsbane while she is in her lupine form.[34]

Valkyrie Powers

• Superhuman Strength and Durability: Being one of the shield maidens of Valhalla, Dani possessed the supernatural capabilities predominant in all Valkyrie's.[29][30] Such as the typical Asgardian physical superiority; enabling her to challenge the likes of Ares in physical combat without fear of serious injury.[58] The abilities seem to come on and off again whenever she is around the dead.[93] But lately she has been gaining greater control over calling her Valkyrie powers at will instead of when the need demands it.[10][94]
• Death Perception: As one of the Valkyrior Danielle has the natural ability to perceive and sense the coming of Death. She could perceive a "deathglow" surrounding a person who was in serious danger of dying. Moreover, Moonstar could perceive Death incarnate, in whatever form it took to claim the person with the deathglow. A person surrounded by the deathglow was in danger of death, but might still be saved from dying (until he or she met his or her inevitable end at some later time under different circumstances).[11][95][20]
• Resist Death: Moonstar could challenge Death itself and death gods using a "Cheyenne ghost-shaft" made from her image powers.[95] She succeeded in driving away Hela when she attempted to claim the soul of Wolverine,[96] and in driving away Death itself when it came for Margaret Power.[95]
• Mount Summoning: Through the unique brand of Odin-powered magic that the Valkyrie, Dani can call forth her celestial mount Brightwind to her wherever and whenever she pleases at will.[94]

Former Powers

• Quantum Energy Manipulation and Energy Projection: She had the ability to manipulate quantum energies to affect energy and matter on a subatomic level and fire powerful energy blasts.[97]

A group of MLF members including Moonstar, Dragoness, Forearm, Locus, Tempo, and Wildside were stated to include Alpha Class Mutants.[98] It is unknown if all or only part of them were included in the statement, or if it was even a true statement and not a pretext for Operation: Zero Tolerance to step in.[citation needed]

Moonstar is a better than average athlete for her age, in large part because of all the times she has spent on her own in the wilderness. She has a fair knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, has enhanced durability, and is a particularly good horseback rider and swimmer.[citation needed]