Morgan Le Fay (Earth-96173)

Morgan le Fay was a female witch, known by several grandiloquent names. She had been worshipped by the Voucald and waged an evil attack against forces of good in centuries past. Finally, in 1478,^[2] le Fay failed in his attempt and was exiled to a different dimension. Trapped there for five centuries, le Fay obtained control over some of the inhabitants, such as the riding monster Balzaroth who could move through the higher astral planes; but she in turn fell in thrall to an unnamed, powerful creature. Le Fay artificially kept the appearance of a young, beautiful woman, but this was simply a spell that this "Nameless One" could retire at any moment. In 1978, the barrier between the prison dimension and Earth weakened enough for the Nameless One to attempt a quest. The Nameless One decided to send le Fay to Earth for three days so that she could kill Thomas Lindmer, Sorcerer Supreme and champion of the light, and deal with Lindmer's successor. Le Fay agreed, although she did not know how to find the successor at that point. Besides, Lindmer discovered that le Fay was being sent to Earth and he recruited his former pupil Wong to find the successor—the forces of light already knew his name, Dr. Stephen Strange. Wong was sent to find Strange while Lindmer himself went to challenge le Fay. Reaching Earth, le Fay obtained normal-looking clothes and a chauffeured car so she could go unnoticed as a rich woman. She then noticed a young woman, Clea Lake, and recognized her as an innocent soul. Le Fay used her powers to possess Lake, thus being able to control her actions. Le Fay then went to a local, urban bridge, and found Lindmer, defiant and standing in her way. Le Fay decided to disappear or turn invisible, and then Lake, apparently a mere passerby, walked next to Lindmer. Lake then pushed Lindmer through the bridge rail, taking him completely unaware and making him crash in the road. Lake then recovered her senses and started screaming. Le Fay, appearing suddenly next to her, asked Lake whether Lindmer had survived or not. Lake ran away from her, seized with panic. The event was so stressful that it was perceived by Dr. Strange as a vivid dream.

Lindmer survived thanks to his magic, and he regrouped with Wong at his Mansion. The Sorcerer Supreme, seriously weakened after the showdown with le Fay, charged Wong with the task of finding Lake; Lindmer correctly assumed that le Fay would go to Lake again. Indeed, le Fay appeared ominously in Lake's dreams, affecting her state. Lake woke up and tried to escape from her own home - but she constantly saw le Fay's face ubiquitously. After almost causing an accident, a driver helped her and, as Lake could not remember her own name, she was sent to a hospital - where the crowd prevented le Fay from being so overt in her attacks. Strange was assigned as Lake's psychiatrist, and le Fay tried to affect him with a spell. However, Strange had inherited a ring with the symbol of light, and it protected him from le Fay's attack.

Wong also found Lake, and reported to Lindmer. Partly recovered, Lindmer went to the hospital, but he used a spell to seal his mansion so that le Fay could not enter. Le Fay saw it and she tried sending a cat to the door. She saw that Lindmer's power prevented the pet from penetrating. Although Lindmer met with Strange to discuss ways to help Lake, the doctor was unconvinced about the sorcerer's non-rational approach; they remained friendly to each other nonetheless. Le Fay intended to capture Lake in the dangerous, higher astral planes. To do so, she simply had to attack while Lake was sleeping, because sleepers visited the harmless, lower astral planes, which were communicated with the higher ones - however, Lake was so scared of dreaming of le Fay again, that she refused to sleep; and Strange had agreed to not give him medication to do so. Unfortunately, behind his back, Chief of Psychiatry Dr. Frank Taylor overrode Strange's decision and gave Lake a tranquilizer. Le Fay took her chance and captured Lake. In the tangible world, Lake seemed to have fallen into a comma, and only Strange's medical ability and mental speed stabilized her physical body.

Strange decided to meet again with Lindmer. Le Fay tried to stop him by causing a traffic accident with a bus and a bike-riding boy, but Strange was able to stop it, to her surprise. Le Fay also noticed that she felt attracted to Strange.

Once in the Mansion, Strange finally agreed to Lindmer's plan: Strange would travel to the astral plane and rescue Lake, using the power of his ring, his mental focus and a spell that Lindmer taught him—Lindmer would have done it himself, but he was weakened by his duel with le Fay. Strange started his quest, but not without le Fay noticing: She sent the riding Balzaroth to prevent Strange from rescuing Lake—but with orders to only capture, and not kill, Strange. Strange defeated Balzaroth using the spell, and he escaped the astral plane with Lake. Lake woke up in the hospital, remembering her ordeal as a dream—but also remembering Strange's courageous move to save her life.

Empty-handed, Balzaroth returned to le Fay. She intended to punish him, but she was interrupted by the Nameless One, who reprimanded le Fay for her repeated failures. Le Fay admitted to him that she was infatuated with Strange. The Nameless One threatened to remove the youthful spell from le Fay, giving her the appearance of an old hag—and he did so, provisionally, to demonstrate his power. Le Fay found this situation unbearable and she agreed to move against Strange. Le Fay waited her chance to enter Lindmer's Mansion, and to do so she metamorphosed into a cat and stood next to its door. Strange visited Lindmer again to tell him that he did not want any other deal with magic and, when leaving, he saw a cat under the rain trying to enter. Strange naïvely thought it was Lindmer's pet and helped it in; by doing so, Strange's aura covered le Fay's from the protection.

Once inside the Mansion, the cat transformed into le Fay next to Wong. Wong used magical bolts to attack le Fay, but she resisted those, and reacted with more powerful bolts. Wong was knocked down, apparently dead, and le Fay's attack set fire to the floor, wall and door around Wong.

Le Fay then went to Lindmer's studio. Lindmer was waiting her there, in full regalia, and attacked le Fay with similar bolts. She not only withstood those, but she laughed at him and deflected the attack. Lindmer fell them, and le Fay send fire bolts later. She called on Asmodeus, a supernatural creature, to help her move Lindmer to her domain—were Lindmer was retained, tied and tortured. Le Fay discovered that Strange was visiting Lake for a date, so le Fay appeared in the mirror to Lake, and caused her to suffer a breakdown. Le Fay then appeared to Strange and offered to leave Lake alone, if he accompanied le Fay to her domain. Strange agreed, and le Fay teleported them both. Once there, le Fay offered riches and power to Strange and, to underline her point, she created golden collars on Strange's neck and taught him how to create mystical bolts. Noticing that Strange was an intellectual, she offered to share the secrets of the universe with him. She created mystical-looking robes for him, and kissed Strange, revealing her attraction. Strange found her lips to be initially cold, but they quickly overcame that problem and continued their fondling.

Le Fay asked Strange to remove his ring for her, and Strange told her that only Lindmer was able to do so. Le Fay mocked of Lindmer and revealed that he was being kept powerless right there. Strange was appalled at this, and rejected le Fay. The witch warned to not vex her and, as Strange literally sided with Lindmer, she finally attacked: Le Fay moved the branches of a tree to tie Strange. Strange tried his Raggadorr plea, but it was useless and le Fay laughed at him. However, the ring repelled the rope, releasing him. Le Fay then tried to bolt Strange, but Strange used his ring as a shield and then returned le Fay's own bolt. She was momentarily stunned at that attack, but Strange only needed a moment: By recognizing Lindmer as his master by own will, Strange released him and both Lindmer and Strange reappeared in the Mansion.

The Nameless One was unhappy at le Fay's failure: Not only he removed her youthful spell, but he also promised that le Fay would eventually beseech him to let her die. He then abandoned her, leaving her alone and stranded in her exile. Le Fay shouted for his help, promising to do anything for him in exchange for her youth, but the Nameless One did not answer.

However, Morgan le Fay reappeared on Earth soon afterward, with her youthful appearance. She had just released a self-help method to "release the inner power" of each person in a different, secret way; and, as her project had attracted a crowd, especially of young people, she gave an interview in TV. This program was casually seen by Strange (who had accepted to train under Lindmer as a wizard) and his date Lake (who did not remember her previous encounters with le Fay); Lake found that le Fay's method was probably a dumb thing.^[3]

• Morgan le Fay's power are magical in nature. As of now, she has shown the following skills:
  • Animal Control: Le Fay can control small animals, such as a cats, to perform easy tasks for her, such as going to a certain place and activate any trap. Apparently the animal must be within the range of her sight to be affected.
  • Bolts (of Eldritch?): Le Fay can generate and attack with red, magic bolts. Victims of her attack fall unconscious and sometimes glowed. As her bolts included magic fire, they could light combustible materials in the environment. Her bolts are so powerful that, if deflected to her, they overcame her own resistance.
  • Invisibility/Disappearance: Le Fay can disappear at will.
  • Longevity/Immortality: Le Fay has survived at least for five centuries after her exile in other dimensions.
  • Matter Generation: At least in her own domain, le Fay could generate several kinds of matter, including clothes and golden jewelry. In Earth, she was seen with normal clothes, although it is unclear whether she created those herself or not.
  • Monster Control: Either by magic or by persuasion, le Fay controlled the monster Balzaroth and could send him to track her targets through the higher astral planes. Le Fay also summoned Asmodeus to the Earth to help her carrying the unconscious Thomas Lindmer to her extradimensional lair.
  • Omnipresence: Le Fay can affect a single person, especially if she has possessed that victim beforehand, so that the person can see le Fay everywhere, in mirrors, in the street. This can lead the victim to a panic crisis.
  • Possession/People Control: Le Fay can possess innocent souls, taking control of their actions. A possessed person does not necessarily seem suspicious even to the Sorcerer Supreme, but is still a separate person from le Fay. The control is usually broken as soon as the victim performs an important act for le Fay, which is shockingly against the victim's normal actions. It may cause long-term effects to the poor victim.
  • Resistance to Magic: Le Fay resisted the magic bolts thrown by Wong and by Thomas Lindmer; she cannot resist, however, her own bolts when deflected to her. Le Fay was also immune to a protective plea to Raggadorr.
  • Sleeper Trapping: As sleepers' souls are visiting the lower astral plane, le Fay can trap those and take them to the higher astral plane, with the following consequences: In the higher astral planes, the victim can be attacked by the hostile locals. The sleeper body meanwhile goes into a comma and, if the soul is destroyed, the body dies.
  • Vegetable Control: At least within her own lair, le Fay can control the branches of tree to tie people in an unnatural way. However, this spell is specially vulnerable to the ring with the symbol of light.

• Morgan le Fay has demonstrated several unusual abilities, including finding people, mixing within a civilization she was supposedly unfamiliar with, writing self-help books and using her personal charisma and appeal to attract the crowds, especially young people. She has also claimed to know the secrets of the universe.

• There are several limitations to Morgan le Fay's power, including:
  • When exiled in another dimension, her ability to influence the Earth is very limited.
  • Her appearance of youth was due to a spell cast on her, not due to her own magic. Because of this, the Nameless One could take the spell from her, turning her into an old, ugly woman - something she could not stand.
  • The ring with the symbol of light, currently owned and used by Dr. Strange, could be used to block some of her spells.
  • Thomas Lindmer, Sorcerer Supreme, knew a spell that protected his Mansion against le Fay: As long as the spell was in use, le Fay could not enter the Mansion by her own means.
  • Le Fay's lips were cold and strange to kiss, unless she made a conscious effort to prevent it.
  • Le Fay's attraction for Stephen Strange can also be considered a weakness, because it influenced her actions for worse.

• She was seeing using a car, with a chauffeur, while visiting Earth.

• In the movie Dr. Strange, Morgan le Fay is portrayed by actress Jessica Walter. Among her epithets, she is called Enchantress, although she is apparently not connected to Amora, the Asgardian Enchantress from mainstream Marvel continuity.

• The movie does not confirm whether this character is related to the mythical Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend or not.

• Morgan le Fay made her first appearance in Marvel Continuity in Black Knight #1 (1955), published by Atlas Comics, but, except for a dream sequence in Son of Satan #8 (1977), she was not introduced within the Earth-616 continuity until Spider-Woman #2 (May 1978) - published just months before the movie Dr. Strange aired (September 6, 1978). Even then, le Fay would not encounter Strange until Avengers #240 (1984). IMDB explains this situation, and also suggests that the inspiration for the movie's le Fay may have been another of Strange's enemies, Umar.