Danielle "Dani" Moonstar (also known as Psyche, Mirage, and Moonstar) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in the graphic novel The New Mutants (Sept. 1982), created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod. The character is usually depicted as associated with the New Mutants, but has also served as a member of the Valkyries of Asgard.
A mutant, Mirage originally possessed the psionic/psychic ability to telepathically create illusions of her opponents' fears or wishes. She later developed a wide range of psionic and energy manipulation powers, and gained magical abilities after a series of adventures in Asgard. She was a member of the New Mutants and, after a long absence, its reincarnation as X-Force. She was also a member of the Fearless Defenders and the X-Men. She was depowered after the "Decimation" storyline, but later regained her mutant powers after being infected with and then cured of Warlock's transmode virus.
Blu Hunt portrayed Danielle Moonstar in the 2020 film The New Mutants.
Publication history Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, Mirage first appeared in The New Mutants (November 1982), part of the line Marvel Graphic Novel, and appeared as a feature character in The New Mutants (1983), New Mutants (vol. 2) (2003), New X-Men (vol. 2) (2004), Young X-Men (2008), and New Mutants (vol. 3) (2009). She also appeared for a portion of the initial run of X-Force (1991), first as an infiltrator to the Mutant Liberation Front and later as a regular X-Force team member. She was briefly a supporting character in Avengers: The Initiative (2007) and can be seen sporadically as a background character in Uncanny X-Men and other X-Men titles throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. She appeared as a regular team member in the 2013 series The Fearless Defenders. After several years as an infrequent supporting character, Mirage was again featured prominently in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 5) (2019) and New Mutants (vol. 4) (2020–2023). After the end of the Krakoan Age, she appeared as a supporting character in Magik (vol. 2) (2025) and starred in her own solo series, Moonstar (2026).
Fictional character biography Origin Danielle "Dani" Moonstar is a Native American (specifically, Cheyenne), and was born in Boulder, Colorado to William and Peg Lonestar. As with most mutants, Dani's powers emerge during puberty, uncontrollably creating telepathic images of people's greatest fears. Her burgeoning powers alienate her from her community and give her a vision of her parents' deaths at the claws of a demonic bear. Shortly afterwards, her parents disappear while on a hunting trip and Dani is taken in by her grandfather, Black Eagle. Black Eagle contacts Professor Charles Xavier, an old friend of Dani's father who fought with him in the Vietnam War, to teach her to control her powers. Dani is opposed to leaving home, though she reluctantly agrees after she inadvertently gives her grandfather a vision of his own death in her initial anger at the idea. Before Xavier arrives, however, Black Eagle is killed by agents of the Hellfire Club, led by Donald Pierce. Vowing revenge, Dani joins the New Mutants, taking the codename Psyche. After the team defeats Pierce, Psyche enrolls at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and remains with the New Mutants.
The New Mutants
Psyche is featured as a member of the eponymous team throughout The New Mutants. She becomes the co-leader of the team alongside Cannonball after Karma's disappearance and develops a deep friendship with Wolfsbane, her empathic abilities making her the only member of the team capable of communicating with Wolfsbane while in her wolf form.
Psyche is plagued by nightmares of the bear she envisioned killing her parents. It soon becomes clear that this creature, known as the Demon Bear, is no mere vision, but a malevolent magical entity that is purposefully seeking her out, no longer held at bay by protective spells her grandfather had placed on her before his death. The New Mutants battle the Demon Bear and when Magik cleaves the creature in two with her Soulsword, its corpse transforms into Dani's missing parents, who had in fact been abducted and enslaved by an evil spirit (later revealed to be the Adversary). Though reunited with her family, Psyche opts to remain with the New Mutants and changes her codename to Mirage.
When the team becomes stranded in Asgard, Mirage rescues a winged horse from hunters and bonds with him, naming him Brightwind. She inadvertently becomes a Valkyrie when Brightwind chooses her as his rider. This new role allows her to see the imminent deaths of others. When the New Mutants return to Earth, Brightwind accompanies Mirage. The New Mutants later develop an intense rivalry with the Hellions, another team of young mutants formed by the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. This rivalry is later somewhat cooled when Mirage bonds with the Hellions' leader, Thunderbird.
During a battle to save former teammate Magma from the High Evolutionary, Mirage is thrown into a machine intended to strip mutants of their powers. Instead, the machine (the effects of which had been reversed by two of the Evolutionary's victims) enhances her mutation, giving her the ability to make her telepathic images real.
When Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, enacts a plan to take over Asgard and uses her magic to seize control of the Valkyries, Mirage falls under her influence. The combined forces of Asgard and the rest of the New Mutants ultimately defeat Hela and Mirage chooses to stay behind in Asgard to rebuild and fully assume the responsibilities of a Valkyrie. This angers Hotamitanio, a Cheyenne deity, who comes to Asgard to bring her back to Earth. Mirage ultimately persuades him to allow her to remain by promising that she will one day return to her tribe.
X-Force Mirage falls from grace and is exiled from Asgard back to Earth, accompanied by Brightwind (renamed Darkwind). She joins S.H.I.E.L.D., and infiltrates the Mutant Liberation Front (M.L.F.) as a deep cover operative, using the name Moonstar. Since her last appearance, she has refined her psychic ability so that she can create "psychic arrows" which incapacitate their targets. Her assignment brings her into many conflicts with old allies, primarily X-Force (a continuation of the New Mutants), but also Excalibur and Moira MacTaggert. Moonstar secretly works against the M.L.F., including working with Cable to turn Feral over to law enforcement authorities for past crimes and sabotaging a mission in China. Despite her opposition to the organization, Moonstar develops a genuine friendship with Forearm. She is discovered as a double-agent by the M.L.F.'s leader, Reignfire, and Darkwind is killed in the ensuing battle.
Later, she seeks X-Force's help to stop an invasion of Asgard by the dark elf Malekith. When most of the M.L.F. is apprehended during the 1997 "Operation: Zero Tolerance" event, Moonstar is able to extricate herself from the organization with X-Force's aid and joins the team. After an encounter with Arcadia, she gains the ability to manipulate quantum energy for a short time, but this power disappears after Arcadia's defeat. Moonstar quits X-Force when the team enlists Pete Wisdom to lead them.
New X-Men
After a short time as a part-time member of the X-Men while also attending college, Dani regularly appears in both New Mutants (vol. 2) and New X-Men (vol. 2), in which she becomes the American history teacher at the Xavier Institute and the mentor of the New Mutants Squad, as well as the legal guardian of Elixir. During this time, she reunites with former teammates Karma and Wolfsbane. She helps Wolfsbane deal with the traumatic return of her lycanthropic powers, but the discovery of an inappropriate romantic liaison between Wolfsbane (a staff member at the institute) and Elixir (a student) drives a wedge between them.
During her appearances in New Mutants (vol. 2) and New X-Men (vol. 2), the bulk of Dani's powers appear to have reverted to their original depictions. She also retains some of her Valkyrie abilities, namely the ability to sense imminent death, though they are greatly diminished. In the wake of the 2005 "House of M" event, however, Dani is one of the many mutants who lose their powers. She is fired from her position at the institute by Emma Frost, who feels that, as a human, she is no longer safe nor has any right to remain at the school. She briefly reappears in Generation M #5 (May 2006), in which she reveals that she has not dreamt since losing her powers.
The Initiative Following the "Civil War" event, Dani is recruited by the Initiative program to serve as an instructor to the next generation of superheroes, alongside her former colleague Beast. She is brought in to train Trauma in the use of his powers, as they are similar in nature to hers. However, due to her belief that Trauma could and should use his powers in a therapeutic way, Henry Peter Gyrich, who intends to use Trauma as a weapon for the Initiative, is quick to dismiss her once she provides Trauma with enough training in using his powers.
Young X-Men Dani features prominently in Young X-Men, in which she is targeted for capture by the eponymous team, led by Donald Pierce disguised as Cyclops. After Pierce is exposed and defeated, she moves to Utopia, the X-Men's island base off the coast of San Francisco, and works as a trainer for the Young X-Men for the remainder of the series.
New Mutants Reunion
Dani joins the X-Men's New Mutants squad in New Mutants (vol. 3), proving to be a capable team member despite not having powers. She eventually reclaims the codename Mirage. When Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers prepare to attack Utopia, Mirage makes a deal with Hela to restore her Valkyrie powers and revive Brightwind. She defeats Ares in a brutal battle. She also serves as Hela's Valkyrie during the 2009–2010 "Siege" event. After Cannonball resigns from the squad, Mirage takes his place as team leader. During this time, she has a brief romantic relationship with teammate Nate Grey.
Fearless Defenders Mirage joins the cast of The Fearless Defenders to combat the machinations of Caroline Le Fay, after which she makes sporadic appearances as a supporting character in various X-Men titles. In the aftermath of the 2013–2014 "Infinity" event, she uses her Valkyrie powers to locate mutants suffering from the M-Pox, notably rescuing Lady Mastermind from succumbing to the disease. Mirage later appears infrequently in X-Men Gold (2017–2018), in which she is a mentor at the Xavier Institute. She is present at the aborted wedding of Kitty Pryde and Colossus.
Dead Souls and Uncanny X-Men Mirage's next major appearance is in the 2018 limited series The New Mutants: Dead Souls. When Karma sends her to investigate an explosion in Canterbury, Connecticut, Mirage succumbs to a transmode virus infection after coming into contact with the remains of former New Mutants teammate Warlock. Merging with the techno-organic alien, she becomes the gestalt entity Moonlock and subsequently infects Magik, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy, and later Karma. She and her infected friends are acquired by the Office of National Emergency (O*N*E) and forced into service as Sentinel-like mutant hunters and killers.
Mirage and the other infected New Mutants are later freed from O*N*E and cured of the virus by the X-Men. The virus restores her mutant powers and she joins the X-Men, appearing regularly in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 5) until the series' conclusion in late 2019.
During her tenure with the X-Men, Mirage appears in the 2019 "The War of the Realms" storyline as the last living Valkyrie, fighting against the invading forces of Malekith alongside her teammates. After Wolfsbane is beaten to death, Mirage's psionic rapport with her notifies her of her former teammate's death and she later attends Wolfsbane's funeral.