This week’s Danger Gal Friday profile is on Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina a.k.a Magik a character from the Marvel Comics X-Men.

Magik literally goes to Hell and back in the X-Men comics and while there she usurps the throne for herself. This is a woman in charge.

After Belasco kidnaps a young Magik and takes her to the demon dimension Limbo (pretty much like Hell, I imagine), Magik’s captor teaches her black magic. How this Lolita-Persephone motif gets turned on its head is that two female characters—Limbo’s version of Storm and Shadowcat — teach Magik white magic and swordplay.

Often in this kind of motif, it’s another man who teaches the young girl the skills she needs, so this switch to not just one but two female mentors is important.

Later, Magik rebels against Belasco and enthrones herself in Limbo as the sorceress supreme. (That kind of sounds like girl power to me…)

Magik’s mutant powers include the ability to teleport across time and space, astral projection, sense mystical presences, and cast simple spells. While in Limbo she forged Soulsword, “the ultimate embodiment of her mystical might,” and when in use her left arm is encased in mystical armor that endows her with super-strength.

I am by no means an expert on Magik, so if anyone has some additional points about how she fits the Danger Gal profile, please make it known in the comments.

Also, I found some great art galleries of Magik at Sorceress Supreme and the Marvel Database.

[Just for you, Scott B.]