Magic users in comics are some of the most formidable characters – be they good or bad. With Morgan le Fay, Stan Lee and Joe Maneely melded established lore with new twists to create a powerful villain who can carry a grudge.

Loosely based on the same character of Arthurian legend, Morgan is the half-faerie, half-sister to King Arthur. Introduced 70 years ago in Black Knight #1 (May 1955), she is an immortal who has used the many years to become a master of the mystic arts. With her initial instruction by Merlin and centuries of study, Morgan is considered one of the greatest sorceresses in all of history. She can control minds, can manipulate mystical energy, astral project, manipulate the natural environment, cast illusions, and create mystical force shields, among other astonishing abilities.

Born in the 6th century, Morgan became the leader of the Darkhold cult and Queen of Gorre. During this time, she was a nemesis of the original Black Knight and had the Darkhold stolen by Magnus the Sorcerer. She was visited by Doctor Doom, coming from the future, to request that she help get his mother out of Hell. Morgan agreed to help if Doctor Doom would become the general of her army of undead warriors to challenge her half-brother, Arthur.

In Spider-Woman #2, Morgan projected her astral body to the modern day to get the Darkhold back. Morgan tried to use the Werewolf to retrieve it, but was defeated by Spider-Woman and Magnus. Impressed by the other woman’s abilities, Morgan tried to convince Spider-Woman to become her acolyte, but was denied. Thirsting for revenge, Morgan started torturing Spider-Woman with hallucinations and during the ensuing fight, she tried to possess Spider-Woman, but was defeated by the Avengers. In retaliation, she allied with Mordred the Evil and sent villains like Dreadknight and Balor to fight the Black Knight and Doctor Strange, in the hopes of turning Earth into a dimension of black magic.

Morgan kidnapped Scarlet Witch in Avengers Vol. 3 #1 and used her ability to warp reality to connect her elven magic with the Twilight Sword, an Asgardian doomsday device. Using the sword, she remade reality to resemble the Middle Ages and inserted herself as the ruler of the world. The Avengers freed Scarlet Witch and stopped Morgan, ending the spell and restoring reality.

She became the first nemesis in the Dark Avengers storyline, “Dark Reign.” Traveling to the future with a demon army, she set about to kill Doctor Doom, who is saved by the Dark Avengers, and she is killed. Morgan reappeared and took control of Spider-Man and gets killed again, this time by Hawkeye. Then Doom and Iron Patriot go back to her time and engage her in battle. Since they are wearing suits with a lot of iron, something protected from her faerie enchantments, she loses the fight and is sent back to 1,000,000 BC.

In Avengers World, her daughter Caroline freed her of the imprisonment and Morgan took over the City of the Dead in Italy. Using the dead, she attacked places all over Europe, and were opposed by the Avengers and Euroforce, who were overpowered by the hordes. When Sebastian Druid tried to stop her, she killed him, inadvertently allowing his spirit to control the army and send them back to their homes.

In her most recent misadventure, Morgan planned to conquer Camelot on Otherworld but instead had to stop the flowers of Krakoa (which were forming a gateway) from infecting Camelot. To do this, Morgan aligned with the Coven Akkaba to defeat the Witchbreed that was responsible for the gateway.