History: Dr. Moira MacTaggart is the daughter
of the powerful Scots nobleman Lord Kinross. She proved to be a brilliant student of the biological sciences and selected
genetics as her specialty. Moira married Joseph MacTaggart, a Royal Marine Commando with political ambitions. But this marriage
proved to be a disastrous one.
As a college, student she met Charles Xavier who was working toward a doctorate at Oxford University. The two fell in love with each other immediately and their romance
lasted for years. Eventually they became engaged to be married, pending the annulment of her own marriage to Joseph MacTaggart.
But then Xavier was drafted into the military. She promised to wait until he was released from military service. However,
while he was recovering in a hospital from battlefield injuries, Xavier received a letter from Moira breaking off their engagement
with out explanation and stating that she was returning, home to Scotland.
Joseph MacTaggart had proved to be a brutal husband, and finally,
while they were in New York City, he beat and sexually assaulted her, causing her to be hospitalized for a week and leaving
her pregnant. From then on Moira lived apart from her husband, although he refused to grant her a divorce, and she kept the
fact that he had a son secret from him for twenty years.
Moira MacTaggart led a brilliant career as one of the world's
leading geneticists, earning a Nobel Prize for her work. She founded a Mutant Research Center on Muir Island off the coast
of Scotland. Eventually she renewed contact with Xavier during a period he spent in England working on a degree in psychiatry.
Xavier and MacTaggart discussed the possibility of establishing a school for training, superhuman mutants in the use of their
powers. Eventually, MacTaggart became Xavier's "silent partner" in founding this school, which trained the team of mutant adventurers known as the X-Men.
When Moira's son began to manifest destructive mutant powers,
she attempted to cure him, but her efforts were in vain, and she was forced to keep him imprisoned at her Mutant Research
Center. It was there, too, that she treated the mutant known as Legion, Xavier's illegitimate son by a former lover, Gabrielle Haller. (Xavier himself remained unaware of Legion's existence for
years.) Moira took as her ward the orphaned Scots girl Rahne Sinclair, who would herself demonstrate mutant powers in years to come. Xavier would sometimes turn over captured dangerous mutants
to Moira for study.
Moira MacTaggart finally made her presence known to the X-Men
when she arrived at their doorstep claiming to be their new housekeeper. The X-Men soon learned her true profession and visited
her Muir Isle research center. Moira fell in love with Sean Cassidy, the X-Man known as the Banshee, and their relationship persisted on.
Moira's son, Kevin, who was code-named "Mutant X" but called
himself Proteus, escaped from confinement at Muir Isle and began using his powers to possess the bodies of others and drain their life energies
and to warp people's perceptions of reality to terrorize the Scots countryside. The X-Men attempted to stop Proteus, and Moira
warned Joseph MacTaggart about him. (At this point it had been twenty years since she had left him.) Proteus took possession
of his father's body, ravaging it, and attempted to kill his mother. Instead, however, Proteus was himself apparently destroyed
by the X-Man Colossus. Joseph MacTaggart died as a result of being possessed by Proteus.
Sometime afterward, Moira discovered that Rahne Sinclair had
the mutant ability to transform herself into wolf-like form. Dr. MacTaggart brought Sinclair to Xavier and persuaded him to
establish a new team of superhuman mutant trainees who became known as the New Mutants.
Shortly before the last time Xavier left Earth for the Shi'ar Galaxy, MacTaggart and Gabrielle Haller finally revealed to him that Legion was his son.
Moira MacTaggart continued to operate her Muir Isle research
center and has proved to be a valuable ally to mutants who have trained under Xavier's guidance.
With the first human to contract the Legacy Virus, Moira was
one of many frantically working on a cure, even to the point of self-quarantining herself at one stage. Moira also assisted
Charles and the Beast in analyzing the Skrull Wolverine impostor.
Moira died as a result of internal injuries caused by the destruction
of the Muir Isle facility by Mystique and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Just prior, Moira had discovered the cure to the new
strain of the Legacy Virus that Mystique had created; one that only infected humans. Moira clung on to life long enough to
survive a trans-Atlantic flight to transfer that information to Charles, then died in his arms.
Height: 5 ft. 7 in.
Weight:
135 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
Strength Level: Moira MacTaggart possesses the
normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: None
Other Abilities: Dr. Moira MacTaggart was one
of the worlds leading geneticists and possessed special expertise in the study of superhumanly powerful mutants.
