'Runaways': Immortal witch of Arthurian legend Morgan Le Fay has fought Spiderwoman, Iron Man and the entire Avengers team
The Runaways have been defined by their opposition to their criminal parents, and, in a larger sense, it is the Gibborim who brought them together. Those enemies haven’t quite gone away, but apparently the threat of body-possessing aliens isn’t enough for the Runaways, as Season 3 will see them going up against Morgan Le Fay (Elizabeth Hurley). Springing straight out of Arthurian myth, Morgan Le Fay is a household name - but the Morgan Le Fay of the Marvel Universe has had a somewhat different existence from her more traditional counterpart.
Introduced in Marvel Comics predecessor, Atlas Comics, Morgan Le Fay appeared in ‘Black Knight’ #1 in 1955. When the series ended, the character became a major antagonist for Spider-Woman, at Marvel Comics and then moved on to become a regular villain for the Marvel Universe as a whole.
Morgan Le Fay was the leader of the Darkhold cult, a sect devoted to the dark magic found in a tome known as the Darkhold. It was Morgan Le Fay who summoned the book’s author, the chaos got Chton, binding him within Wungadore mountain - an act that would later be responsible for instilling the Scarlet Witch with chaos magic. She also took on an apprentice in her early days - a time travelling Doctor Doom, whom she also entered into a romantic relationship with before her defeat at the hands of a time-travelling Iron Man.
Her first contact with the modern era saw her projecting her mind through the astral plane, and possessing people in an attempt to retrieve the Darkhold. This brought her into direct conflict with Spider-Woman. She would later fight Iron Man again, and once attempted to turn all the Earth into a world ruled by black magic.
Her fey ancestry means that astral projection isn’t her only way of reaching the modern era. She’s done things the old fashioned way as well, and is centuries old in the present day. She’s come into conflict with the Avengers, using the Scarlet Witch’s inherent chaos magic to warp reality, until the Scarlet Witch and the Avengers were able to set things right.
She’s appeared on and off through through the years as a magic-based Marvel villain, most notably in the pages of Cullen Bunn’s ‘The Defenders’ which introduces the daugher of her and Doctor Doom - Caroline Le Fay. Most recently, however, Morgan’s fortunes appear to have fallen, as Doctor Doom finds her in an American apartment, trying to make rent as a fortune teller, having suffered one defeat too many at the hands of the Avengers.
Elizabeth Hurley’s Morgan Le Fay looks to be at the height of her powers, though, with followers galore. She seems quite fixated on Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano) - but then again, considering the powers Nico has at her disposal, any sorceress of significant power would be. Whatever her plans are for Nico, and the rest of the Runaways, are, it’s unlikely that any of them spell anything but doom for San Francisco.
Season 3 ‘Runaways’ releases on Hulu on December 13.