MAGIK (EXILES)

BIOGRAPHY

Magik of Earth-4210 was recruited by the mysterious Timebroker to join the Exiles. As with all recruits, she was told that, if she refused to co-operate, something horrific would happen to her or her loved ones. In Magik's case, it was actually both, as she was told not only would her entire family die but she would be the murderer. Terrified, Magik agreed. She was tasked with replacing original Exiles member, Blink, who the team was told had just completed her mission and returned home. [Exiles (1st series) #22, 43]

Magik immediately clashed with the team. They were all bonafide heroes, whereas Magik really only cared about her own family and was willing to do whatever it took to get home. On one of the team's more disturbing missions, they were tasked with killing the Avengers to prevent them from stopping Moses Magnum from destroying Japan. Her teammate Sunfire convinced the other Exiles' that this was immoral and they agreed to act against their instructions. Magik decided to play along and offered to meet the Avengers herself, while the others tried to defeat Moses forces. Magik waved to the heroes from a bridge in Toyko, playing the damsel before she blew up the ship, presumably using her teleportation powers. Magik went on to slaughter the Avengers but was stopped in her tracks when she saw that, on this world, Colossus was part of their number. Magik tried honesty; explaining who she was and her purpose to the surviving Avengers, even asking them to take their own lives so she didn't have to do it. Iron Fist and Luke Cage were hardly agreeable and engaged Magik. During the melee, she injured Colossus. This startled her and the others got the jump on her, taking her soulsword. Seeing any version of his sister being beaten was too much for this Colossus, who killed Luke Cage and allowed Iron Fist to fatally injure him before he snapped his neck. There was only one Avenger left: Black Knight. Magik killed him too, completing the team's mission. [Exiles (1st series) #26-27]

The team were transported by the Timebroker for an audience after the mission. Before he could speak, Mimic started shouting at Magik, realizing immediately that she had killed the Avengers. She denied it, claiming it was a plane crash, and punched him. Their spat was broken up by the Timebroker, who prepped them for their new mission. They were to travel to Earth-616 to stop Alex Summers from being possessed by his alternate reality counterpart from the Mutant X reality (who had become trapped in his body) and prevent the deaths of Wolf Cub and Carter Ghazikhanian.

The Exiles teleported to the X-Mansion just after Havok was injured by Wolf Cub during an argument. The Tallus delivered the Exiles a new message that it was too late to save Havok and that they now needed to protect the children from him. Strangely, Juggernaut, who was also present, took great offense to this and started a fight with Mimic. While this was going on, the “evil” Havok asserted himself and hurt Carter. With the little boy injured and the threat now clear, the assembled X-Men and Exiles united. Mimic and Sasquatch remained to fight Havok, while Magik and Sunfire went searching for Angel and his healing blood to heal the injured Carter.

Ever the diplomat, when Magik found Angel, she told him she was going to get his blood with or without his consent, and then there was a reference on her part to finding a bucket. Sunfire tried to get her to calm down but to no avail. When Angel didn't respond the way she wanted, she attacked him. Fortunately for him, he managed to deck her first and take her soulsworld. While Magik was unconscious, the other Exiles managed to defeat the evil Havok and finish the mission. Before they left, Magik tried to get her soulsword back but Angel refused, backed up by the other X-Men. It didn't matter, though, as Magik could make another one with ease. [Exiles (1st series) #28-30]

Over the next couple of weeks, Magik's brutality continued to be a problem for the team, with her nearly killing a Moira MacTaggert, crippling the son of Black Panther and somehow taking actions that led to several Morlock children remaining lost, possibly forever. Mimic again confronted her over this when they arrived on Earth-3931 to stop a vampirized Captain America from enslaving San Francisco. Magik instantly jumped to the conclusion that they needed to kill Cap, much to the irritation of Mimic. When her argument failed, Magik attempted to seduce Mimic but that only annoyed him further. With him disinterested, she tried her chances with Sunfire, who similarly rebuffed her, though with the admission that she sometimes gets bored. Regardless of the personality clashes, Magik was a very valuable asset to the team taking out the vampirized Polaris and later Captain America himself using her soulsword. Unbeknownst to the Exiles, their ally on this world, Union Jack, was also a vampire and, after a failed siring of Magik, he was set aflame by Sunfire. As he was dying, he cursed the Exiles as they were moving onto a new world. [Exiles (1st series) #31-32]

Union Jack's magicks separated the team across reality. For Magik, she had the shortest time away from them, spending only ten minutes in an ocean. After a quick catch up, they were dispatched on their next mission to save the nascent Fantastic Four from dying on their initial shuffle launch through cosmic rays. Magik proved essential on the mission, casting a spell of absorption to take in some of the rays to protect the craft from excessive radiation. It was somewhat of a success, as the FF did survive, though the Thing became feral. After a knock down brawl with Mimic and being shot with a new invention by Reed Richards, Thing regained his senses. Unfortunately, a greater threat now revealed itself. Mimic had been implanted by a Brood egg while separated from the others. His healing factor having been weakened by his fight with the Thing, he could no longer fight the Brood egg, which now took control. The new FF joined up with the Exiles and fought Mimic and eventually cured him but not before he had killed Sunfire. With an Exile now dead, they were due a new member. Surprisingly, Blink was returned to the team. [Exiles (1st series) #35-37]

The group were teleported to the Morlock tunnels on the next world. The team was now very much in turmoil, with Morph being furious with Mimic, as he had been in love with Sunfire. When they arrived, he quickly stormed off by himself, pursued by Magik. Chasing after the shapeshifter, she told him she was sorry for his loss. Morph was disgusted by Magik and told her as much. This finally prompted her to confess why she had been so brutal; she had been told she was going to kill her whole family. She would do anything to not do that. Morph embraced her and told her everything was going to be okay. Magik quickly defaulted back to her seductress persona and attempted to entice Morph too. He was put off given the timing but the two continued to embrace each other in their grief and loneliness. Magik confessed to Morph that this was the first time she felt normal since being enlisted to the Exiles and asked him to remain with her until the others came and got them. Morph complied. The Exiles had been transported to a reality where their counterparts, Weapon X, had rebelled under the leadership of King Hyperion. Deciding that having two teams was a mistake, the instructions were that the Exiles and their counterparts, Weapon X, needed to kill each other and compress their numbers down to six before they could move to their next world. Magik still needed to believe if she agreed to play the Timebroker's games she could go home. From behind, she delivered a near fatal blow to her teammate Sasquatch before teleporting in front of Hyperion. She told Hyperion of the Tallus’ instruction. This proved to be a fatal mistake on her part; she was desperate to go home, whereas Hyperion was desperate not to return to his world. He wanted a new homeworld to conquer and rule as a king. Hyperion decided to test Magik's information and snapped her neck. [Exiles (1st series) #43-44]After she died, her body was returned to the Crystal Palace, current home of a race of bug like creatures. These creatures were actually the Timebroker… or rather there was no “timebroker.” It was a ruse created by the creatures to compel superhumans to try to correct realities they had inadvertently damaged. When Magik's former teammates later discovered the deception, they assumed control of the operation and started to return their fallen teammates to their home realities. Magik was buried by her parents and her brother. [Exiles (1st series) #83] By this point, the Exiles had also punished her murderer by imprisoning him in his empty home reality; completely alone. [Exiles (1st series) #65] He did manage to escape to Earth-616 but was killed by their Thunderbolts in quite a brutal fashion, finally getting his comeuppance at the hands of other monsters like him. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #151] Given Magik's own brutal methods, it seems she would have approved of methods of Hyperion's demise.