Moira X The X-Men's cinematic future is still unclear, but could the link to bringing the mutants to the MCU be Moira X?

Moira MacTaggert has long been a part of the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe. Introduced in X-Men #96 back in 1975, she would be Charles Xavier's on-again/off-again love interest and generally didn't make big waves in the grand scheme. Then came Moira X.

Moira X In Jonathan Hickman's X-Men run that began with House of X in 2019, Moira MacTaggert was given an upgrade. While she used to be a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist and expert on mutant research, he wrote her as Moira X. If you've read the series, you understand the "X" in her name is the Roman numeral 10 and signifies her tenth life.

THE LIVES OF MOIRA X

Hickman gave Moira serious mutant powers. Not only could she be reincarnated, but she retained a perfect memory of her previous lives. It took her from being a mostly-background minor character and elevated her to the level of a tragic hero. In each life she lives, the mutants always die. No matter who she sides with - from Xavier to Magneto and even Apocalypse - the mutants don't survive.

From a storytelling perspective, this gave Hickman the opening he needed to both rewrite X-history and keep past incarnations intact. Basically, all those other X-Men runs - from Stan Lee to Chris Claremont and beyond - happened in Moira's past lives. The X-Men we see starting with House of X is from Moira's tenth life. Powers of X then flashed to the future with her as the linchpin between both series.

Moira X THE MCU CONNECTION

How does this all relate to the MCU? Moira's upgraded power gives Marvel Studios a storytelling device that would allow for different timelines in which mutants have and have not existed.

Maybe in one of Moira's lives, there were no mutants and the current MCU continued without them. Maybe in another, mutants were present but they chose to stay secret. That opens the door to another timeline in which the X-Men are the only super-powered beings. This option would allow Marvel to acknowledge the Fox films if Kevin Feige and company wanted to go that route (although very unlikely).

MOIRA X KEYS

Moira played a supporting role in X-Men: Last Stand (which was basically forgotten in the Fox X-verse) and X-Men: Apocalypse. While Marvel shies away from characters other studios have used (at least in the Sony-verse), Moira may slip under the radar, especially since Moira X is such a radical take on the character.

With her potential to be included in the MCU, there are two issues you'll want on your shopping list.

Moira X X-MEN #96 (1975)

Although it's a Bronze Age comic, the price isn't too high for Moira's debut, at least not yet.

Across the board, this issue is on the rise. Still, collectors can keep their budgets under $400 for everything up to a 9.6. If you want that pristine 9.8, one sold in March for $900. Considering the age of the issue, and its status as a minor key, that's not a bad price.

If you're a fan just wanting a piece of the character's history, anything from a 6.5 and below isn't averaging more than $100 over the past 90 days.

Moira X HOUSE OF X #2 (2019)

This isn't so much the first appearance as it is a re-imagining of her as the mutant scientist, Moira X.

When this issue hit comic shops last year, there were eight different covers to choose from. The standard edition at a 9.8 sold for $71 last month, and it has averaged $63 in the past three months. Most of the other numerous variants stay in the same ballpark with prices ranging from $42 to as much as $74 for the Sara Pichelli flower variant.

The most coveted variant is the virgin edition. Graded at a 9.8, one sold for $320 in May, and its 90-day fair market value sits at $244.