The Mutant Meggan is an empathic metamorph, who can shift her appearance at will, and uses her powers to protect others in England, Otherworld, and the greater multiverse alongside the Super Hero team Excalibur.
Channeling Unwanted Emotions
Meggan Puceanu hails from a family of travelers, allegedly originating from Russia, and her father William apparently possessed terrifying “crawly-dolls.” A mutant metamorph, Meggan is born near Fenborough Station, London, England in the United Kingdom. Born during a blizzard, she instinctively grows fur to protect herself from the cold. Others in the camp superstitiously speculate about the “wolf-child,” their fears molding the empathic Meggan’s form, forcing her parents to hide her from the world. She emerges only at night, but fears the full moon, which inflicts blinding rage and pain. Watching television during the day, she becomes a fan of Brian Braddock, AKA Captain Britain.
When Meggan’s 17, the reality-warping Sir James Jaspers, AKA Mad Jim Jaspers, takes over the U.K., and rounds up the country’s superhumans; caught by a roadblock, both Meggan and William are sent to concentration camps. Separated from her family, Meggan shares Cell 27 with Sue Parsons, who has a minor psychic aptitude, keeping their hopes alive by sharing rumors about Captain Britain fighting for their freedom. Eventually Jaspers is defeated, the camp fences torn down and the inmates released; memories of Jaspers’ reality warp faded, combining with Meggan’s normal lunar confusion to leave her unsure of how she lost her family.
Losing contact with Sue, Meggan is befriended by teenagers Micky and Josie Scott, who bring her food and help her stay calm during full moons; however, the unnatural scent of the tramp Sidney Crumb, unknowingly infected by the hero-killing Fury, drives a moon-maddened Meggan to attack him. Omniversal Guardian Roma required the combination of Meggan, Captain Britain and others’ powers for a mission some years hence, so perhaps not coincidentally, Roma’s pawn Captain Britain is close by and Crumb’s screams draw his attention. He and Meggan battle, accidentally dislodging scaffolding that strikes and kills Micky; regaining her senses, an anguished Meggan flees. Guilt-stricken, she secretly watches the Scott house; when she sees Captain Britain arrive after Micky’s funeral to apologize, Meggan reveals herself to do likewise. Mrs. Scott accepts her son’s death was an accident, forgiving them both. After learning of Meggan’s situation, Captain Britain offers to help her find her family, inviting her to stay at Braddock Manor in the meantime.
Empathic Metamorph
An empathic metamorph, Meggan’s form changes at will or with her moods; she can impersonate specific people, or take characteristics from other species, such as claws or fangs. Normally she cannot duplicate another superhuman’s specific powers, unless aided by an exceptional external power source. Even in her usual form she can track people by smell; she can sense all natural forces, such as imminent earthquakes, and electromagnetic and psychic energy fields; and she has a total awareness of her surroundings. With concentration, she can sense nearby life-forms.
She cannot read minds, but can sense emotions even at great distances. Her empathic abilities allow her to understand any spoken tongue, by comprehending what the speaker is trying to convey rather than understanding the actual language. She can also switch her vision to see the Alshra, or spirit plane. She is vulnerable to possession, and can be negatively affected by dark emotions, magic, pollution or other corruptions of nature, though with effort she can morph to become more resistant to these.
Meggan can fly at supersonic speeds, and possesses superhuman strength (lifting 2 tons); by absorbing nearby energy, she can increase this in excess of 100 tons or grow to gigantic size. Though her upper limits are uncertain, she once grew to nearly 30 feet to challenge Galactus; however doing so risked draining Earth to destruction and would still have yielded insufficient power for her to overcome the world devourer.
She can also manipulate natural energy and elements, commanding lava, fire, electricity, winds and light with equal ease; she can switch off electronic hardware, ignite projectile propellants and trigger highly directed earthquakes.
As the Goblin Princess, her powers are reversed, allowing her to transform others into demonic or twisted versions of themselves.
Her sheltered childhood initially leaves her with poor reading skills, but her teammate Warlock’s tutoring resolved this.
Insidious Enemies
Growing up, Meggan faces the ridicule of others as well as their projections and judgements of what they think she is and survives concentration camps led by Mad Jim Jaspers. Alongside team Excalibur, Meggan faces off Necrom, a sorcerer intent on destroying the omniverse. She grows in size when she faces the world-eater Galactus, infiltrates the London branch of the Hellfire Club, and survives living in Hell.
James Braddock Jr., AKA Jamie Braddock, teams up with Sat-Yr9 against team Excalibur though Meggan defeats Jamie and saves her teammates from his reality-warping attack. Meggan becomes Jamie’s sister-in-law after she marries his younger brother Brian. As Jamie pursues criminal activity, both Meggan and Brian abandon him but later when he reforms, they all become allies.
Trusted Teammates
Captain Britain is Meggan’s longtime partner on team Excalibur and they share a romantic relationship that undergoes several tests, but they eventually overcome their obstacles and get married. Meggan becomes sister-in-law to Brian’s twin sister Betsy Braddock, AKA Psylocke, and brother Jamie.
Meggan’s Excalibur teammates change over the years as new members join and old ones move on. Her teammates on the original Excalibur team formed by Roma include Captain Britain, Kate “Kitty” Pryde, Lockheed, Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler, Rachel Summers, AKA Phoenix (later Marvel Girl). Newer members include Cerise, Feron, and Moira MacTaggert; Katherine Anne-Pryde Rasputin, AKA Widget, from Earth-811; Piotr “Peter” Rasputin, AKA Colossus; Douglock (now Warlock); Peter Wisdom; and Rahne Sinclair, AKA Wolfsbane.