Moira MacTaggert feels like a staple of the X-Men to me. She's one of those characters who can be out of the picture for a while, then show up when something has gone horribly w…

Moira MacTaggert feels like a staple of the X-Men to me. She's one of those characters who can be out of the picture for a while, then show up when something has gone horribly wrong and end up being exactly the person they need. Sometimes it's the X-Men themselves, sometimes it's Xavier, and sometimes it's one of the younger mutants who needs someone to step in for them. I'm talking about her up to where I'm reading now, just before the Muir Island Saga. I haven't read that story yet. I know the Shadow King has a lot to do with it, but I don't know how it all plays out, and I want to get there through the comics rather than read ahead about it. Moira first turns up in X-Men #96, introduced to the team as the woman who will be looking after the mansion while Xavier is away. That's a pretty modest introduction for somebody who becomes so important. Even then, when the N'Garai attack, she's willing to get involved with a gun while everyone else is dealing with a demon loose in the house. She doesn't spend much time acting intimidated by the company she's keeping. As more of her background comes out, you find out how much history she already has with Charles. She's a Scottish geneticist, an old colleague, and someone he was once engaged to. Their connection goes back well before the current team. She understands his work, but she also knows him well enough to challenge him when he's shutting down or making a decision she thinks is wrong. One example is during the period when the X-Men are missing in space. Xavier is grieving and doesn't want to take responsibility for more young mutants. Moira pushes him to help Karma anyway. She's already seen what can happen when a young person's powers become something they can't control. Charles has his reasons for being afraid, but the children still need help, and she won't let him ignore that. Muir Island becomes a huge part of her contribution. It's a research center, somewhere mutants can receive care, and a place the books keep returning to when there are questions about someone's abilities. Her work with Jean and the Phoenix is an early example. Later, there are people like Legion whose problems need far more than a quick explanation or a training session. Moira keeps getting involved in some of the most difficult situations in the X-Men's world. Then there's Proteus. Kevin is her son, and that makes the original Proteus story an enormous part of her history. His powers consume the bodies he possesses, and the danger keeps growing as he moves from one person to another. Moira has been trying to contain a situation that is both a scientific nightmare and something deeply personal. Her abusive marriage to Joe MacTaggert comes into the story too, so you learn a lot about what she's already lived through before the X-Men really understood who she was. She knows what Kevin is capable of, and she's prepared to confront him even though he's her child. By the time that story ends, you've seen a very different side of her from the woman who first walked into the mansion. A lot of the confidence she brings to helping other people exists alongside some very painful history of her own. Her relationship with Sean Cassidy gives her another long-running connection to the team. Banshee stays involved with her and Muir Island even when he isn't out there as an active X-Man. And with Rahne, Moira becomes a mother figure. She protects her when she's being hunted, takes responsibility for her, and helps get her to Xavier. That's a huge part of how Wolfsbane ends up with the New Mutants in the first place. By the later material I've read, Moira is also trying to hold things together while the X-Men are believed dead and the younger characters are scattered. She confronts Magneto over his responsibility to the New Mutants. Muir Island itself comes under attack from the Reavers. She's dealing with research, people who need protection, and threats that don't particularly care whether she wears an X-Men uniform. But the thing that's been especially interesting lately is watching her change. It's been happening a little bit at a time. A harsher reaction here, a different attitude there, and then another appearance where something feels further off. At first, it almost feels like the books are barely whispering about it. Eventually, the change is too obvious to miss. I've been noticing it as I move between the X-titles, too. It hasn't felt like one comic suddenly decided she was going to act completely differently and expected me to accept it. There's been a progression, and I think they've handled that really well. Having spent so much time with her earlier makes those differences stand out more. That's where I am with Moira right now. She's already had a huge part in the history I've read, and I believe she's going to have a big part in what's coming. I'm looking forward to getting into the Muir Island Saga and seeing where they take her from here.