Danielle Moonstar (Earth-7045)


 * This article refers to the mutant superhero and member of the New Mutant. For the Autobot outlier, see Mirage (Outlier). For the Autobot Mini-Con, see Mirage (Mini-Con). For the Vehicon general, see Mirage (Vehicon). For the human supervillain, see Desmond Charne.

Dani Moonstar is a tribal Cheyenne girl raised by her mutant grandfather after her parents were apparently killed by a giant demonic bear (no, really). She was taken in by Xavier after her grandfather's death. Initially, her powers were creating illusions (often using a person's greatest fears or desires as a template, but not always) and animal telepathy, but these have grown over the years. She is currently is a relationship with fellow teammate Wolfsbane.

History
to be added

Powers

 * Empathic Illusion Casting: Mirage 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. 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." 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. 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. Most recently, 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.

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 his or her greatest fear, or that it was the image of his or her ideal customer, or whatever) until its image actually appeared in three-dimensional form before her.

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.

Moonstar could use her power to derive and project mental images on several people at once. 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 his or her greatest fear, probably each person in the group would see an image of a different person or thing. Probably if she caused each member of the New Mutants to see an image of Professor Xavier, each member would see a subtly different image, according to his or her own perception of Xavier's personality, handsomeness, and so forth. However, even though each "victim" in such a group would see only one image, Moonstar herself and anyone else in the vicinity would see each of the images drawn from the minds of each of the "victims."

At first Moonstar could not control her image projecting powers, and she would draw and project images without consciously willing to do so. 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. Moonstar's ultimate potential was to be able to cause her three-dimensional images to become tangible entities of psionic force. She was only able to make use of this full potential temporarily when her abilities were briefly augmented psionically by Charles Xavier when he was mentally possessed by a member of the alien Brood.

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.
 * Neural Arrows: Dani can focus her psionic powers into energy arrows which can stun an opponent by disrupting their central nervous system, or force them to relive a traumatic memory.
 * Animal Empathy: Moonstar can achieve a quasi-telepathic rapport with higher animals including primates (but not humans), members of the dog and cat families (including wolves and mountain lions, for example), and birds. She could sense their feelings, consciously perceive images in their minds, and even see through their eyes. However, since other animals' ability to conceptualize is highly limited, she was limited as to what she telepathically could learn from an animal.

This ability extended 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.

Abilities
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 peak durability, and is a particularly good horseback rider and swimmer.

Transportation

 * Magik

Weapons

 * Bow & Arrows

Trivia

 * Dani & Rahne's relationship is based on their mainstream counterparts' during Chris Claremont era of the X-Men franchise.