History
Origin and Early Years
One of her origins is that she is a Goddess of Death and Battle, and has existed since Death itself, taking many forms and names since then.[11]
Another origin of hers is Morrigan was seemingly the daughter of Iarbonel and Gaea/Danu, and the sister to the Dagda, Leir, Nuada, Ogma, Badb and Macha.
Morrigan married the Dadga[5] and was the mother[12] of his eldest son, the war god Bodb Derg.[5] She was not the mother of his second son Lugh, mothered by Ethniu.[7]
Hyborian Age
Morrigan was one of the many deities worshiped in Hyboria, invoked notably by Cimmerians, along with Nemain and Macha,[14] as part of the "triple war goddesses".[3]
Next Incarnation
Circa 150 B.C., after the death of her father, a girl-warrior in Ireland bargained for power from the supernatural and confronted Morrigan out of vengeance. The girl-warrior was successful in besting Morrigan, who lay bleeding out on the ground before the final blow. Before dying, Morrigan offered her power and position to the girl. The girl seemingly accepted, becoming the next incarnation of Morrigan for over two thousand years.[15]
It remains unclear whether Morrigan is merely a title passed from one woman to the next along with the necessary power, or if Morrigan is a sentient spirit or consciousness that is hosted by these women, like a mystical symbiote.

The Morrigan in a former host body
Third Host
In 1000 AD, the Third Host of the Celestials occurred, during which the aliens informed they would return 1,000 years later to judge Earth's right to continue existing. While the pantheons prepared for war, Gaea planned a peaceful solution to the problem with many goddesses, among them Morrigan.
For the next thousand years, they searched for humans representing mankind's highest ideals, to be offered to the Celestials as an offering. The goddesses placed the candidates in suspended animation, with their superhuman potential, the legacy of the First Host, awakened.[16]
Modern Days
In modern times, Morrigan appeared with the Celtic trinity of Cernunnos and Taranis to bestow powers on Kyllian Boddicker.[17]
Theresa Rourke
After Theresa needed her power, the current host of the Morrigan was ready to die, and told Theresa the only way to claim her power is to kill her, which she did.[15].
Dawn of The Morrigan
A new X-Factor was created due to the influx of missing mutants and unknown deaths The Five couldn't process for the resurrection protocols. Her host Theresa was one of the first mutants on their investigation list after she let out a sonic scream as she fell to her death on a Krakoan cliff.[18]
Resurrected by the Five, her host Theresa died again 5 days later in England after The Morrigan pushed her into suicide. Upon another resurrection, X-Factor interrogated her host about her mysterious deaths, but she avoided their questions and blatantly lied to them. When Theresa left the Boneyard, she was confronted by Lorna on why she wasn't being honest, which prompted the Morrigan to use Theresa to use her powers to bewitch Lorna into sabotaging the investigation on her. As she left, a murder of crows formed in the night sky, showing Morrigan was in full control of Theresa, and not a simple influence anymore.[19]
After being "tailed" by Daken, she lured him into the Alberta wilderness in a snowstorm to kill him without having his teammates alerted due to his loner nature. What she didn't know was that after leaving him for days to die on a wooden pike, he had a healing factor. With this (and Lorna hypnosis trance being negated because of Rachel), Northstar was able to find him within the vast wilderness in 7 mins and bring him to the Boneyard.[11]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Immortality: The Morrigan is a god and therefore does not age (although she can still die through external means).[18][20]
- Superhuman Durability: Theresa was able to take a direct hit from a gun that was able to destroy Layla Miller's shield without feeling discomfort.[21] Even still, she can die from falling from very high points (as her durable has been shown at different levels). It is unknown if Morrigan is more durable or not.
- Teleportation: When Theresa first gained her godly powers, she was able to blink out of existence and appear next to Jamie Madrox while being empowered by The Morrigan.
- Prayer Locator: Theresa was able to deduce exactly where Jamie was and teleport to him simply because he was praying to her while being empowered by The Morrigan.
- Zoopathy: She has the ability to control crows.[20]
- Shapeshifting[11]
- Power-Bestowal[11]
- Power Negation[11]
- Power Removal[11]
- Healer: She can heal someone from the point of death[11]
- War Manipulation: She can affect areas of war and battle[11]
- Death Manipulation: She can affect areas of death.[11]
- Sickness Inducement: She can weaken someone to the point of death.[11]
Abilities
- Very knowledgable of matters involving war, battle, and death.
Strength level
- Presumably super-strength, in addition to the strength her current host possesses.
Weaknesses
- She needs a female host.[11]
- Her host bodies are able to die, although her durablitly with her host bodies vary. Her former host died from a sonic blast, and Siryn died falling off a building, while being able to shrug off a blast that was meant to destroy a near impenetrable shield.[15][21][19]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Her "crows" (it is unknown if the crows that loom over her are a manifestation of her powers or actual crows under her control).
Transportation
- The Morrigan can teleport
Weapons
Notes
- The Morrigan is a godly spirit that needs a host to attach itself to. While at times, it has given its host free rein of their own bodies, but other times it has influenced them to; act similar to her, driven them to a point of suicidal depression, or has completely taken over their body and soul.
Links and References
- 9 Appearances of Morrigan (Earth-616)
- Minor Appearances of Morrigan (Earth-616)
- Media Morrigan (Earth-616) was Mentioned in
- 8 Images featuring Morrigan (Earth-616)
- 1 Quotations by or about Morrigan (Earth-616)
- Character Gallery: Morrigan (Earth-616)
- Morrigan at the Guide to the Mythological Universe
- Morrigan at the Appendix to the Marvel Universe
Discover and Discuss
- Search this site for: Morrigan (Earth-616)
Footnotes
- ↑ X-Factor #238
- ↑ Black Knight Vol 2 #3
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3; Council of Godheads's entry
- ↑ Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1; Leir and Nuada's entries mentions Morrigan being their sister
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1; The Dagda's entry
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1; Leir's entry mentions Morrigan being her sister
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1; Cúchulain's entry lists Ethniu as Cúchulain's paternal grandmother (and therefore as Lugh's mother)
- ↑ Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 Bran the Blessed's entry
- ↑ Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 Caber's entry
- ↑ Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 Gwynn's entry
- ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 X-Factor Vol 4 #7
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1; The Red Lord's entry
- ↑ Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 Tuatha de Danaan's entry
- ↑ Conan the Barbarian #5
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 X-Factor #244
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1; Young Gods' entry
- ↑ Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual #3
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 X-Factor Vol 4 #5
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 X-Factor (Vol. 4) #6-7
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 X-Factor Vol 4 #6
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 X-Factor #262
- ↑ X-Factor Vol 4 #7-7
Like this? Let us know! |
- Articles Needing Citation
- Pages using DynamicPageList parser function
- Secret Identity
- Female Characters
- Tuatha de Danaan
- Deities
- True Immortals
- Death Deities
- Love Deities
- Red Hair
- Earth-616 Characters
- Geof Isherwood/Creator
- Characters
- Living Characters
- Bronze-Age Characters
- 1971 Character Debuts
- War Deities
- Morrigan Family
- Dagda Family
- Gaea Family
- Iarbonel Family
- Hyborian Age Deities
- Irish
- Cimmerian Deities