Pixie (X-Men)

Pixie debuted in New X-Men: Academy X #5 (November 2004), created by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, and Michael Ryan.[8] She appeared in the 2008 X-Men: Pixies and Demons one-shot, her first solo comic book one-shot.[9] She appeared in the 2010 X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back series, her first solo comic book series.[10][11] She appeared in the 2010 Avengers vs. X-Men anthology series.[12][13] She appeared in the 2019 Age of X-Man: Nextgen series.[14][15]

Pixie appeared in the 2020 Cable series.[16][17] She appeared in the 2021 Children of the Atom series.[18][19] She appeared in the 2022 Legion of X series.[20][21]

Following the events of House of M, almost all of the Institute's students are depowered, which leads to the dissolution of the school's training squad system. Gwynn is one of only twenty-seven students, including her fellow Paragons Trance, Wolf Cub, and Match, not to have lost her mutant abilities.

She participates in Emma Frost's battle royal, which determines who will train to be an X-Man, but does not make the team. She remains at the school, appearing occasionally as a side character. Later, forty-two of Gwynn's former classmates are killed when their bus is blown up by a missile sent by William Stryker, an anti-mutant crusader. Among the confirmed deaths are Gwynn's fellow Paragon, DJ.[25]

Gwynn, alongside Anole, Loa, Wolf Cub, Rockslide, and Match, are told a frightening ghost story by fellow student Blindfold one night at the school. However, they discover that the story is not fictitious, but rather a prophecy. Telling Gwynn that she is "sorry for [her] loss," Blindfold and her classmates are sucked into the realm of Limbo, where they are immediately attacked by a mob of demons.[26]

Gwynn stays by Blindfold's side during the fight, who cautions Gwynn and the others that Gwynn must not "fall to darkness." Gwynn uses her powers on-panel for the first time during the fight, incapacitating several demons with her "pixie dust."[27] After Darkchilde saves the small group, she asks N'astirh to bring Gwynn to her, recognizing that her soul is the most innocent and therefore the most powerful in Limbo. Despite her friends' pleas, Gwynn submits to Magik's request to use her soul to create a Soulsword and Bloodstones, magical stones forged from an innocent soul that grant great power to their owners, but is freed from the process by Anole. His intervention saves her, but leaves the spell unfinished, resulting in the creation of only one Bloodstone and a "Souldagger" instead. Magik then explains that the Souldagger is actually a portion of Gwynn's own soul and that black magic has now filled the hole left behind in the knife's creation, leaving Gwynn no longer an innocent. This is represented graphically by a great portion of her pink hair changing to black.[28]

Magik teaches Gwynn a teleportation spell and she uses it to teleport herself and her friends to Belasco to prevent him from torturing the rest of the students. She saves the students and ultimately kills Belasco by stabbing him with the Souldagger.[29] After defeating Belasco, Magik wants to use more of Gwynn's soul to create more Bloodstones to gain more power, but becomes disgusted with herself when her brother calls out to her. She instead sends Gwynn and the others back to the Xavier Institute and seals all entrances to Limbo. Gwynn and Anole are then made official members of the New X-Men for their bravery in Limbo at the insistence of Rockslide.[30] Gwynn later reveals that Doctor Strange will tutor her in magic when she comes of age and begins receiving additional training.[31][32]

When the first new mutant since M-Day appears, Gwynn joins X-23, Hellion, Anole, Surge, Armor, and Rockslide in attacking the Washington, D.C., base of the ant-mutant Purifiers by teleporting them there. They are confronted by Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers with Hellion receiving a near mortal injury.[33] Outnumbered Gwynn panics and cannot teleport the team out until Rictor, who infiltrated the Purifiers as a spy, helps her concentrate. She manages to cast a hazardous "blind teleport," which scatters the New X-Men between Washington, D.C., and the Xavier Institute.[34] The students are then recovered and taken back to the Institute by Iceman, and the wounded sent to the infirmary.[35] However, Predator X later attacks the Institute, going after the weaker, wounded students in the infirmary. Gwynn, realizing that X-23 had killed this type of creature before, attempts to teleport Predator X to X-23's location. However, she mistakenly takes the majority of the students and Beast alongside her and the creature, dropping them in the middle of the X-Men's fight for the mutant baby with the Marauders on Muir Island.[36] During the fight, Gwynn is brutally beaten by the Malice-possessed Omega Sentinel, who taunts her, until Gwynn manages to defeat her by unexpectedly stabbing her with the Souldagger, exorcising Malice from Omega Sentinel's body.[37]

Gwynn returns to her hometown after the X-Men disband following the conclusion of Messiah Complex. However, she finds the demonic N'Garai are plaguing the town and are kidnapping people to feed Kierrok the Damned, their leader. She calls in the X-Men to help defeat the N'Garai, and Gwynn has to face her fear of the mine in which her father was killed in order to defeat the demons. After defeating Kierrok, Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men take her back to America and she joins the newly reformed X-Men in San Francisco.[38]

After leaving one of Dazzler's gigs, Gwynn is ambushed by a group of masked anti-mutant men calling themselves the Hellfire Cult. She is overpowered by the attackers and is subjected to beatings that leave her incapacitated. She manages to make her way back to the X-Men's new base and is immediately taken care of by Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Karma, and Beast.[39] The attack and the events of the previous year cause her to question whether or not she wants to continue as part of the X-Men, but a discussion with Wolverine causes her to stay and assist them against Empath, whose powers have grown out of control. After beating him up, she stabs him in the head with her Souldagger, leaving him blind and his powers weakened.[40] She decides to remain with the X-Men, assisting them in various other missions, including the Skrull invasion of San Francisco.[41] According to writer Matt Fraction, her role is that of Kitty Pryde and Jubilee when they first joined the X-Men.[42] Her strong magical ability as a teleporter with nearly unlimited distance and capacity also causes Nightcrawler, who is much more limited and traditionally serves as the X-Men's primary teleporter, to question his future usefulness to the team, though he later comes to terms with his own abilities.[43]

Despite her cheerful persona, Gwynn begins to reveal her anger and bitterness over her initial experience in Limbo and her incomplete soul, feeling that she is less than human. During a training session, Nightcrawler points out that her personality changes when she uses the Souldagger. This causes her to summon it and her personality turns sinister. She stabs him in the chest, causing him to pass out. Upon regaining her senses and removing the dagger, she finds that it has freed the Soulsword housed within Kurt's body. Sensing the Soulsword, Magik teleports to Earth to reclaim it.[44] However, Gwynn engages her in a fight, demanding to have the stolen portion of her soul returned, and refuses to hand over the sword. Magik defeats her and regains her Soulsword, teleporting away and leaving Colossus distraught. The X-Men learn that they are now able to enter Limbo through Gwynn's teleportation spell, and a team consisting of Colossus, Wolverine, Mercury, Rockslide, Gwynn, and Nightcrawler is formed to reclaim Magik. Nightcrawler is put in charge due to Gwynn's and Colossus' personal stakes in the mission.[45]

While the X-Men battle various demons in Limbo, Belasco's daughter, Witchfire defeats Magik and adds Gwynn's Bloodstone to her amulet, causing her to lose control and teleport herself to Belasco's castle. There, Witchfire forces her to become her new apprentice and begins forging a final new Bloodstone from Gwynn's soul, causing her to nightmarishly transform completely into a demon.[46] Witchfire uses the Bloodstones to summon the Elder Gods to her aid. Gwynn is reluctantly forced to work together with Magik to defeat Witchfire. While the X-Men battle the Elder Gods, Illyana fights Witchfire and strips her of the amulet containing the Bloodstones. Illyana and Gwynn use their blades to destroy the amulet, but Witchfire escapes the crumbling castle into the Elder Gods' dimension, claiming to return for her "apprentice." Gwynn is despondent over losing more of her soul and tries to attack Magik with her Souldagger, but the glowing stone in its blade indicates that the additional stolen piece of her soul is inside it. She flies away in tears into the wilds of Limbo, upset over the additional loss of her soul.[47]

Gwynn returns to the X-Men, but demonstrating noticeably improved fighting ability and greater anger when she hears about "Proposition X," a piece of anti-mutant legislation seeking to control mutant reproduction.[48] She continues to work with the X-Men, using her abilities to defeat enemies such as Empath and rescue several students and team members, such as when the Sisterhood, a team of mutant villainesses led by a revived Madelyne Pryor, attack the X-Men's headquarters.[49] During the protests between anti-mutant and pro-mutant movements about mutant reproductive rights, Gwynn is injured when a riot breaks out.[50] Later, she teleports Rogue, Gambit and Danger to San Francisco for assistance.[51] She is later made a part of a team to battle Emma Frost's Dark X-Men.[52] After Emma Frost, Namor and Cloak and Dagger betray the Dark X-Men and Norman Osborn and relocate to Utopia, Gwynn and Magik begin teleporting everyone to their new island base.[53] During the final battle, Gwynn joins Armor and X-23 in fighting Daken.[54]

Gwynn finds herself and several of her teenage teammates under a spell, causing them to live under the impression that they are ordinary high school girls. However, the illusion begins to fade, with Gwynn finding herself in confrontation with the demon Saturnyne. Meanwhile, a woman arrives on Utopia claiming to be her mother, demanding to see her.[55] Later, her mother shows up in the Wyngarde mansion, where Lady Mastermind is fighting with Martinique. She tells them to stop acting like the babies of the family and that they have been usurped while Gwynn is seen in the next panel, revealing that Jason Wyngarde is her biological father, and the Mastermind sisters are her siblings.[22][56]

When Cable and Hope Summers return from the future, Bastion starts putting his plans into action in taking her out. He first begins by taking out the X-Men's teleporters with Magik the first to fall, sending her to Limbo with a weaponized spell.[57] After Ariel is taken out, Gwynn requests to take her place only to be refused by Cyclops.[58] She is then placed on a rescue team to get Magik back from Limbo where she encounters N'Astirh who tries to convince her to kill Magik and in exchange he will give her back the rest of her soul. After Gwynn turns on him and frees Magik, they assist Anole and Cannonball against Gambit and the corrupted Dazzler and Northstar. After the battle is over the two girls come to understand each other better.[59]

Following the events of Second Coming, like the New Mutants, Gwynn goes for a holiday to relax. Magik comes to request her help in her own personal war but she dismisses her, claiming that the last time she helped Magik, she ripped out a piece of her soul and she just rescued her from Limbo. She is then ambushed and captured by Project Purgatory who steal her Souldagger.[60] After Project Purgatory capture the New Mutants, they use Magik's Soulsword to separate the bloodstone from Gwynn's Souldagger.[61] Escaping with Magik and Karma, Gwynn is returned to Utopia, where she recovers while the rest of the X-Men begin to battle the Elder Gods. Once the Elder Gods and Project Purgatory have been defeated, Magik comes to Gwynn with a golden box containing her Souldagger and both her bloodstones.[62]

Gwynn, along with a few other X-Men, is summoned to a town by Danielle Moonstar, where an attack decades earlier by some demons led to them becoming trapped in one of the town's residents to protect them all. Now that she is dying they need to figure out how to deal with the demons. Gwynn demonstrates she has some knowledge in sealing spells and entrapment wards. After the arrival of the new Ghost Rider, the demons are released and a battle ensues. Working together with Ghost Rider, they send the demons back to Hell with Gwynn reciting a spell, sealing them for good.[63]

During the events of Schism, Gwynn has been teleporting various teams of X-Men around the world to combat all the sentinels. During one fight she injures her hands and has to sit out as she can no longer teleport. According to her, without painkillers, it hurts too much to concentrate, and with them, she cannot think straight enough but will still stand by her fellow students to help take on the giant sentinel approaching Utopia.[64]

Recovering from the events of Schism, Gwynn approaches Velocidad at first to get help with her medication but when they start talking, things become quite flirty between them and eventually start kissing. Hope walks in and catches them in the act and storms out. Gwynn then slaps Velocidad and leaves. She is later packing to return to Westchester when Hope approaches and begs her to join her team, as they need a teleporter.[1]

After a training exercise, Hope finds a new light on Cerebra and has Gwynn teleport the group to Pakistan to locate the mutant. The group splits up with Pixie teamed with Velocidad. They are ambushed by soldiers and separated.[65] Gwynn ends up captured by them and after being rescued, teleports the team and an amnesic Sebastian Shaw back to Utopia.[66]

Gwynn graduated from the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning and became an official X-Man in the final issue of Wolverine and the X-Men.[67][68]

Mike Fugere of Comic Book Resources wrote, "Megan Gwynn, the adorably cheerful mutant with rainbow fairy wings known as Pixie, was created by husband and wife writing team Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir along with artist Michael Ryan (Mystique, New Excalibur). Pixie made her first appearance in New X-Men: Academy X #5 back in 2004. Her exuberant attitude towards her fellow classmates at the Xavier Institute earned the title of Xavier's “Friendliest Student.” Considering Pixie’s effervescent attitude and pink haired, iridescent-winged exterior, there's really no better candidate for the superlative. Even Jubilee, at her most jovial, was never as warm and welcoming as Pixie. But don't let her adorable veneer lead you astray. Megan Gwynn packs quite a punch."[81] Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Pixie a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character.[82] Chris Condry of Looper stated, "Pixie, whose real name is Megan Gwynn, is just as fun and fascinating as her older, bluer counterpart and has far more potential in the coming decades. Unlike Nightcrawler, Gwynn is far from a one-trick pony. In addition to teleportation, Gwynn's powers include flight, emitting hallucinogenic pixie dust, daggers made from her own soul, and most importantly, spell-casting. As a budding sorcerer, Gwynn's potential is almost limitless. During the "Dark Reign" event, she was even considered as a candidate to replace Doctor Strange as the next Sorcerer Supreme. Both mutant and magic, Pixie has a rare place in multiple Marvel arenas and could slot into the MCU in a few different ways. Though Pixie has mostly been relegated to the kids' table and considered a "Young X-Men" or "New Mutant," her power, personality, and promise are starting to make her too big for her highchair."[83]

Timothy Adams of ComicBook.com called Pixie a "fan-favorite."[84] Robert Mclaughlin of Den of Geek said, "While Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Gambit and some of the more popular characters have already made their screen debut, there’s still over one hundred-and-ninety-eight mutants for the filmmakers to play with, and if Riptide and Azazel can be made to look cool, then some more of these more obscure, yet visually exciting mutants can too. Megan Gwynn is a Welsh mutant with a visually fun physical mutation. Sporting pink hair, large fairy wings and pointy ears, her mutant power is the ability to teleport and to sprinkle hallucination-based pixie dust on her opponents. A current fan favourite, she’s a relatively recent addition to the X-Men team, having originally appeared in the continually re-titled X-Men Academy/New X-Men. The addition of a bright, visually appealing and fun character with a jovial light-hearted ‘bubble gum pop’ personality would replace the flying character of Angel from the first movie. And having an upbeat, positive member of the team would make a break from the angst of the rest of the team,"[85] while Marc Buxton included her in their "40 X-Men Characters Who Haven’t Appeared in the Movies But Should" list.[86] George Marston of Newsarama included Pixie in their "20 X-Men Characters That Should Make The Jump From Marvel Comics To The MCU" list and said, "Marvel Studios is doubling down on its magical wing as one of the tentpoles of its current era, and there are few better mutants to connect a new X-Men team to that corner of the MCU than the ethereal, effervescent Pixie—whose fae codename is a perfect indicator of her powers, which include a pair of gossamer wings, teleportation, and a natural aptitude for magical skill. And not for nothing, if the MCU needs some youthful mutants for a younger-skewing X-Men team—or even some students in some capacity—Pixie makes for a spot-on addition as an ingenue for a team that always has at least one young, impressionable mutant in its ranks."[76] ComicsAlliance gave Pixie a score of 38 out of 50 in their "100 X-Men: How Do Sunspot, Pixie, Leech, Revanche And Quicksilver Rate As Great X-Men?" list.[87]

Trudy Graham of Zavvi included Pixie in their "10 Characters From Marvel Comics We Want To See In The MCU" list, writing, "There are several X-Men that act as a supportive glue for teams, and she’s one of them. Her powers are also a lot of fun"[88] Andrew Ceco of Sideshow included Pixie in their "Marvel’s Most Masterful Witches" list.[89] John Tibbetts of WhatCulture ranked Pixie 2nd in their "Marvel Phase 4: 10 Mutants Who Should Be MCU X-Men" list and said, "Pixie is one of those characters that you have to actually be dead inside to not absolutely love. She's bubbly, friendly, has boundless optimism, but is also the first one to kick your ass six ways from Sunday if you cause trouble. Her pixie wings give her the ability to fly, almost twice as fast as Angel when she sets her mind to it, she can release "pixie dust" that gives anyone it hits powerful hallucinations, and also she's a witch. Like a straight up candidate for sorcerer supreme should Doctor Strange ever bite it. Sure right now she can just barely conjure up a sleeping spell and the ability to teleport, but all of this alone makes her a natural fit for the X-Men should Marvel be smart enough to realize the money printer Pixie could prove to be in marketing if they pull her off right."[80] Anya Crittenton of Gay Star News ranked Pixie 3rd in their "7 LGBTI Heroes We Want to See in Marvel’s New All-Female TV Series" list.[90] Alyssa Gawaran of MovieWeb ranked Pixie 8th in their "8 LGBTQ+ Marvel Comics Characters That Need to Be in the MCU" list.[91] Matthew Perpetua of BuzzFeed ranked Pixie 41st in their "95 X-Men Members Ranked From Worst To Best" list, saying, "Pixie is basically like a mashup of Magik and Jubilee—she's got the former's teleportation and magical powers, but has the spunky, sarcastic qualities of the latter. For a while it seemed like she was brought into the cast to fill the obligatory "teenage girl" role, but she's developed into a more nuanced character over time despite having an increasingly smaller role in the franchise."[92] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Pixie 64th in their "Let's Rank Every X-Man Ever" list.[93]

Screen Rant ranked Pixie 6th in their "15 Most Powerful X-Men Members Who Joined in the 2000s (Ranked)" list.[94] Comic Book Resources ranked Pixie 9th in their "10 Best Fights From Avengers Vs X-Men" list,[95] 20th in their "20 Most Powerful Supernatural Marvel Characters" list,[75] 20th in their "20 X-Men Who Are Much More Powerful Than They Look" list,[81] and 25th in their "25 Most Powerful Young X-Men" list.[96]

According to Diamond Comic Distributors, X-Men: Pixies and Demons #1 was the 123rd best selling comic book in November 2008.[97][98][99]

According to Diamond Comic Distributors, X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #1 was the 114th best selling comic book in February 2010.[100][101]

James Hunt of Comic Book Resources called X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #1 an "interesting spin on the character," saying, "One of the reasons Pixie has been steadily growing in popularity is that the character's visual is rather more striking than many of her peers. The fairy wings, pink hair and dark eyes make her as iconic as any of the "classic" X-Men, and Sara Pichelli does the character justice with her artwork. Indeed, all the characters. In Immonen and Pichelli, Marvel have managed to find a fantastic creative team (and, letterer aside, an all-female at that) with a distinctive and original take on the X-Men. Compared to the rather dour and homogenous feeling most of the line has at the moment, this can't help but stand out. It might not have an event to piggyback on, but it is, undoubtedly, a worthwhile purchase for all current X-fans."[102] Bryan Joel of IGN gave X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #1 a grade of 7.2 out of 10, writing, "All signs point to Pixie Strikes Back veering more into traditional territory down the line, but as far as this issue's concerned, it's a welcomed alternate take on the junior team with some unexpected wit from Immonen and more than a few charming qualities. Basically, if you were put off by the idea of a mini-series called Pixie Strikes Back, issue #1 is probably not going to change your tune. If you can get past that, however, it's a cool little X-curio."[103]

According to Diamond Comic Distributors, X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #2 was the 154th best selling comic book in March 2010.[104][105]

Greg McElhatton of Comic Book Resources described X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #2 as an "enticing read," asserting, "X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back! may look like another disposable mutant mini-series, but Immonen's snappy script is strong enough that it's quietly beating the odds. If all mini-series and one-offs were this strong, I think we'd have a lot more happy customers in the store buying them."[106] Dan Iverson of IGN ranked the cover of the comic book X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #2 78th in their "Top 100 Comic Book Covers of 2010" list, writing, "Our picks for best cover of the year were chosen based on artistic quality, representation of the content within, entertainment value, and our editors' personal leanings."[107]

An alternate version of Megan Gwynn appears in the "Age of X" reality. She is known as "Nightmare" and her "pixie dust" causes frightening hallucinations. Her appearance is different as well, with her skin tone lavender and her wings having a bat-like appearance. Her personality is also more sassy and unreserved.[108]

An alternate version of Megan Gwynn appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe. Her wings and hair share a similar rainbow coloration, her main power is her teleportation, which is natural to her rather than a mystical spell. She requires recharging to teleport, and each teleportation confers a natural high to her. She helps Kitty Pryde to make a final stand against Jean Grey and her nation of Tian.[109] Gwynn is knocked unconscious during the destruction of Tian.[110] The X-Men find her and a group of survivors she managed to save in the ruins of Tian. A mutant named Amp, who can amplify others' powers, gives Gwynn a boost and she attempts to teleport everyone back to Utopia, only to accidentally teleport them into a barren dimension filled with the Gah Lak Tus drone swarm. She manages to save an infected Jimmy Hudson by teleporting the individual infected cells out of his body. The X-Men and Rick Jones (Captain Marvel) hold off the swarm until Gwynn can recharge, but she is stabbed by a drone before she can teleport the group away.

An alternate version of Megan Gwynn appears in a bonus story of Avengers vs. X-Men: Versus #6. She is depicted competing against Squirrel Girl in a game resembling HeroClix, where the toys are based on various superheroes. Thing walks in, stopping the game to reveal that the figurines actually belong to the Puppet Master and are made out of his Mind Control Clay. The next day, Squirrel Girl and Gwynn read in the Daily Bugle that the clash between the Avengers and X-Men has occurred, and have been mirroring the results from their game, jokingly implying that they were the cause of the feud.[111]

An alternate version of Megan Gwynn appears in the Secret Wars crossover event. She is a member of the Runaways, and is a high school student at the Victor Von Doom Institute for Gifted Youths. She is best friends and exes with Jubilee, and is established to be bisexual.[112] She is paired up with the other characters for their Institute's final exam.[113] During the Institute's battle examination, Gwynn is killed by a rival team. It was believed by the school's students that the exam was only virtual, and those dead in it were swiftly expelled, but her team discovers her body by accident, and decide to run away from the institute.[114]

Pixie appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Kate Higgins.[115][116]

• Pixie appears in X-Men: Destiny, voiced by Aileen Ong Casas.[117] This version is an associate of Caliban in rescuing mutants until she is captured by the Purifiers, who seek to acquire her teleportation powers. She attempts to escape them, but is ultimately killed.
• Pixie appears as a playable character in Marvel Super War.[118][119]