MOONDANCER

Real Name: Myla

Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (species and source of power unknown, See Comments)

Occupation: Warrior

Group Membership: Member of Shi'ar Imperial Guard

Affiliations: Arc, Commando, Electron, Fang, Flashfire, G-Type, Gladiator, Glom, Hussar, Manta, Nightside, Onslaught, Oracle, Quasar (along with other heroes from Earth 616 and Earth-New Universe), Solar Wind, Starjammers (Ch'od, Raza), Titan, Warstar, White Noise, Voyager, Stranger's prisoners;
formerly Black Light, Mentor, Neutron, Plutonia, Smasher, Starbolt

Enemies: Starblasters, Stranger, X-Men (xenoform)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe

First Appearance: Quasar#14 (BTS, behind-the-scenes), Quasar#32 (illusory image only), Quasar#33 (true form: April, 1992)

Powers/Abilities: Moondancer possesses tracking abilities enabling her to locate beings or objects across galactic distances. Due either to advanced technology of the alien Shiar Empire or by other means, she can fly and survive unaided in space. Like other members of the Imperial Guard, Moondancer was trained for combat and in Shiar legal methods. However, her specific physical and/or offensive abilities remain undefined (See Comments).

History: Moondancer's origin is unrevealed.

(Quasar#33, BTS) - She became a member of the Shiar Imperial Guard at some point.

(Quasar#14-16, BTS) - She and two of her teammates, Solar Wind and Voyager, were captured by the enigmatic being known as the Stranger, and imprisoned for experimentation on his Laboratory World. The duration of their imprisonment and the events which occurred there are unrevealed.

When the alien being known as the Overmind traveled to the Stranger's Laboratory World, he freed many inmates and sent them to attack the Stranger and any other beings that opposed him. After this, a large number of prisoners escaped.

(Quasar#16, Quasar#32, BTS; Quasar#33) - Moondancer and her allies were among the escapees, returning to active duty in the Imperial Guard shortly thereafter.

Their first recorded return to active duty was during the Kree-Shiar War, also known as "Operation: Galactic Storm." During the conflict, they actively opposed an Earth hero, the Protector of the Universe Quasar. Using her homing ability, Moondancer helped locate the weapons known as the Nega-Bands, for which they were searching.

(Quasar#46) - Moondancer and Voyager traveled to Earth a short time later to retrieve a fellow Guardsman, Neutron, who had journeyed there in search of vengeance against Quasar for stranding him in deep space.

(Starblasters#2, Quasar#55, Starblasters#3, Quasar#56, Starblasters#4) - Later, while investigating attacks made by the alien criminal conglomerate referred to as the Starblasters, a number of heroes from Earth battled the Imperial Guard's leader Gladiator and commandeered a Shiar ship. This attracted the rest of the Guard, who battled the heroes until the Shiar were convinced to take the heroes to the Stranger's Lab World, who were on the trail of the Starblasters. Moondancer, Solar Wind, and Voyager then quit the Imperial Guard in order to accompany the Earth heroes, in an effort to gain vengeance on the Stranger. However, they soon learned that the Stranger was on their side in this battle, and they joined him along with a number of heroes assembled against the Starblasters.

(Quasar#57) - Following the defeat of the Starblasters, Moondancer, Voyager, and Solar Wind were sent away by the cosmic arbitrator, the Living Tribunal, to prevent them from interacting with anyone from the Earth of the so called "New Universe." This was done to avoid any further spreading of an anomalous, extra-dimensional power source, the Star Brand, which originated in the New Universe and whose mere presence threatened the existence of Moondancer's space/time continuum. Their site of relocation was not observed.

(Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard#5 (fb)) - Gladiator had more of the Guard (Arc, Black Light, Commando, Electron, G- Type, Moondancer, Titan, Voyager, White Noise) assembled at his order, to rescue the stranded team (Fang, Flashfire, Hussar, Manta, Mentor, Neutron, Oracle, Plutonia, Warstar), with Ch'od, Raza, Talon (previously thought to be Smasher), and Quasar, from within the Fault. Voyager, with great strain, opened a gateway to within the Fault, then stayed behind while Moondancer used her powers to guide them through the debris and to the ship, which was surrounded by bizarre and deadly xenoform beings patterned after the X-Men.

(Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard#5) - The two sides of the Guard savagely attacked the aliens, killing them swiftly and decisively. Mentor soon reported to Gladiator that "an abominable universe of reciprocal otherness" was upon them from the other side of the Fault, full of cancerous aggression and new physical laws. Talon then ensured them that using his amulets would allow them to create two more Raptor beings, and Mentor and Plutonia volunteered, becoming Strel and Kyte respectively. During the battle, Black Light and Neutron were killed. The combined Guard narrowly escaped a savage telepathic attack when Ch'od and Raza launched the Symbiote (formerly of the Praetorians) at the Xavier being the attack had originated from. After they successfully escaped (guided by Moondancer at the ship's helm), Gladiator reported their success to the Inhumans, and announced the pending war with the Fault universe. While honoring their newly dead (joining the ranks of thousands of others) on the mausoleum world of Elysialla VII, the Guard stood with newly appointed members in the roles of Mentor, Neutron, Plutonia, Smasher, and Starbolt. Fang recited the Guard's oath. "I will not falter, and I will not swerve. From the rising of the suns to the setting of the stars. With Sharra and K'ythri to guide me, I will serve out the term of my duty with courage and conviction for it is the greatest honor any being of any species can know to be allowed to guard the Imperium of the Shi'ar and stand, each of us, as a light in the darkness. So I make my oath of allegiance."

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald and Greg Capullo.

I'd imagine they were all sent back to the Shiar Empire's homeworld Chandrilar, also known as the Aerie, and could have rejoined the Imperial Guard if they wanted, but they haven't been seen since.

Most, if not all, of the original batch of the Imperial Guard are directly patterned after (homage or parody) DC Comic's Legion of Super-Heroes (LSH), much like Marvel Comic's Squadron Supreme is a take-off on DC Comic's Justice League. Moondancer, who appeared much later, is likely a derivative of LSH member Dawnstar, as pointed out by Derek.

Here's another carycomix comment:

Given her blue skin, I'd say she is of Kree heritage [alien race] (while Dawnstar of the DC U[niverse] is most likely of Cree heritage [an actual Native American group]). But, given her loyalty to the Imperial Guard, at the time of the Kree-Shiar War, I'll hazard a guess that Moondancer was unjustly exiled from the Kree Empire, for some reason. At least, unjustly from her point of view. Yours truly: Carycomix@aol.com

If Moondancer is a Kree as crazy Cary concludes, then her physical abilities would be that of a female member of the Kree race who engages in intensive regular exercise, granting her: stamina greater than that of a comparable Kree female and superhuman when compared to that of an active female human, superhuman strength (classified as an enhanced human strength level, enabling her to lift/press up to one ton). As a Kree, she may also have difficulties breathing in Earth-comparable atmospheres due to concentrations of nitrogen higher than that of her native environment, requiring artificial respiratory aid in turn, such as the Shiar-provided artificial environment that allows Imperial Guardsmen to traverse the vacuum of space unharmed. Of course, Moondancer may be able to circumvent this limitation by other means yet to be revealed.--Kyle

Just because Moondancer has blue-skin doesn't mean that she is a Kree. Marvel has other blue-skinned alien races: the Levians native to the Milky Way Galaxy; the Luphomoid---Nebula, Spirit, Kraa and Zorr native to the Andromeda Galaxy; and the Saku native to the Saku Dimension.
--Gammatotem

New main image by MarvellousLuke

Profile updated/edited by Kyle Sims

images: (without ads)
Quasar#46, p16, pan3 (main image)
Quasar#33, p19, pan3 (Moondancer flying)

Appearances:
Quasar#33 (April, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rurik Tyler (pencils), Fred Fredericks (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Quasar#46 (May, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Andy Smith (pencils), Ralph Cabrera (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Starblast#2 (February, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Ralph Cabrera (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Quasar#55 (February, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), John Heebink (pencils), Aaron McClellan (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Starblast#3 (March, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Grant Miehm (pencils), Many Hands (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Quasar#56 (March, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), John Heebink (pencils), Aaron McClellan (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Starblast#4 (April, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Kong, Palant, Buckler (pencils), Don Hudson & Ernie Chan (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Quasar#57 (April, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald & Peter Sanderson (writers), John Heebink (pencils), Aaron McClellan (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard#5 (May, 2010) - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (writers), Kevin Walker (penciler/inker), Bill Rosemann (editor)

First Posted: 09/08/2001
Last updated: 06/28/2014

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