Magik is the name of two fictional characters, superheroines in the Marvel Comics universe who are associated with the X-Men.

Illyana Rasputin

The first Magik was Illyana Nikolaevna Rasputina, the younger sister of Colossus. She had the mutant ability to create "stepping discs", which allowed her to teleport via the dimension of Limbo. She was also capable of generating a magical armor and sword from her own soul; the sword, called the Soulsword, was the focus of this ability, and could break various magical effects.

Illyana was kidnapped by the extra-dimensional demons Belasco and Sym at age six. She was raised and corrupted by Belasco, who taught her black magic and sought to claim her soul. She eventually rebelled, and managed to return to Earth, years older, although no time had passed on Earth between her kidnapping and return. She subsequently joined the New Mutants. She was integral to the happenings of the "Inferno " crossover; at the end of Inferno, she was regressed back to childhood, and the Soulsword was passed on to her friend, Shadowcat. However, several years later, she died of the Legacy Virus.

Alternate universes

An Illyana from another timeline was also a member of the team know as The Exiles. Illyana replaced Blink when the Timebroker apparently sent her home. Shortly after the Timebroker returned Blink to the team, the Timebroker decreed that half the members of the combined Exiles and Weapon X group had to die. Magik was the only Exile to die, her neck snapped by King Hyperion.

Amanda Sefton

The second Magik is Jimaine Szardos, the foster sister and former lover of Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men. Both she and her mother Margali (Nightcrawler's adoptive mother) are witches. When Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, Jimaine followed him, assuming the identity of Amanda Sefton, and became his girlfriend. When Margali attacked the X-Men, believing Nightcrawler to have been responsible for the death of Stefan Szardos, her son and Jimaine's brother, "Amanda" revealed herself as Jimaine, convinced her mother to let Kurt live, and resumed her on-and-off relationship with him. Years later, Jimaine (having fully Anglicized her name to Amanda) joined an interim team of "X-Men" that was organized at Moira MacTaggert's Muir Island facility, and eventually came to join Excalibur under the codename Daytripper. During this time, she obtained the Soulsword from Shadowcat, and after Excalibur's dissolution she came to call herself Magik. She remains an ally of the X-Men, particularly Nightcrawler.

Links

UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Illyana

UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Amanda