Moira MacTaggert (X-Men Movies)

Moira MacTaggert is a supporting protagonist in X-Men: The Last Stand, the tritagonist of X-Men: First Class and a major protagonist in X-Men: Apocalypse. She is a CIA agent and member of the X-Men. She is also Professor X's love interest.
She was portrayed by Rose Byrne (who also played Grace Farrell in the 2014 adaptation of Annie and voiced Leatherhead in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), and was portrayed by Olivia Williams in The Last Stand.
==Biography==
===X-Men: First Class===
In 1962, Moira is tasked with following the U.S. Army Colonel Hendry with her partner Levene in Las Vegas, Nevada on behalf of the CIA. She manages to slip into the Hellfire Club disguised as "female entertainment", refusing advances by several men before arriving at the booth Colonel Hendry was in.
She manages to activate a passage to a secret base underneath the club. There, she sees Hellfire Club members Emma Frost and Azazel display their powers and "kidnap" Colonel Hendry. She tries to warn the CIA, but Azazel had brought Colonel Hendry back to the Pentagon, making her story unbelievable.
She soon realizes she needs the help of a person who specializes in genetic mutation. Thus, she travels to Oxford University to meet Professor Charles Xavier . After he reads her mind to find out what she saw, he agrees to help her. Xavier, Moira and Raven then travel to the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia attempt to convince top CIA officials of the existence of mutants.
The officials initially don't believe them, even after Xavier confesses he is a mutant and reads their minds. Because he reveals (through reading their minds) classified information pertaining to America's Jupiter missiles in Turkey, the officials all accuse Moira of bringing in a spy. Raven immediately shape-shifts into William Stryker Sr. - one of the officials present, shocking Moira and the others. The Man in Black, who was sitting in the background, offers to look after them at his private facility.
As Moira was having a conversation with Levene, Charles freezes the surrounding area and tells her to come down to the parking lot telepathically. The Man in Black then brings them to Division X.
Moira, Levene, Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr, and an assault team penetrate Soviet territory in an attempt to apprehend Shaw, who was supposed to meet with General Armivolkoff to discuss their plans. Instead, Emma Frost is captured.
After the Hellfire Club attacks and destroys Division X, Moira helps Xavier and Lehnsherr train the X-Men at Xavier's Mansion.
Moira accompanied the X-Men to stop the Hellfire Club during the flight to Cuba to prevent war from taking place. She tries to prevent Shaw detonating a bomb that would result in the war between Russia and the United States. After the Hellfire Club's defeat, she attempted to stop Magneto, who was deflecting the incoming missiles and shells of the American and Soviet fleets back towards them, by shooting at him. One bullet Magneto deflected struck Xavier's lower back. She was blamed by Magneto, but Xavier states that it was really him who caused it.
About a month after the Missile Crisis, Moira became Xavier's caretaker while he was bound to a wheelchair. Although she promised to never tell the location of Xavier's School to the CIA, he wipes her memory as a safeguard measure, preventing her from being effectively interviewed by her superiors.
During Moira's interrogation at the hands of John McCone and William Stryker Senior, she is unable to remember anything other than brief images of her experiences with Division X. Moira's interrogation is disrupted by Magneto raiding the lower catacombs of the CIA's headquarters to free the imprisoned Emma Frost.
===Original Timeline===
====Between X-Men: First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand====
Sometime after the events of First Class, MacTaggert left the CIA and ultimately became a medical scientist and doctor. She establishes her home and workplace on Muir Island in northern Scotland, and eventually works alongside Charles Xavier again — this time in an educational capacity.
====X-Men: The Last Stand====
Years later, as a doctor stationed on Muir Island, she is tasked with caring for P. Xavier, Charles Xavier's brain-dead twin brother.
During one of Charles Xavier's ethics lessons, he shows his students a tape sent to him, to aid in his ethics lesson, by Moira MacTaggert. In the tape, Dr. MacTaggart stands by a man in a hospital bed. She says that the man was born with no higher-level brain functions: his organs and nerves system work, but he has no consciousness to speak of, before Charles' pauses the tape.
After Xavier's death at the hands of Phoenix, a funeral is held at the mansion the next day, outside on the front yard, Ororo Munroe is eulogizing Charles Xavier in a memorial service in front of all his students: "We live in an age of darkness," she says, "a world full of fear, hate and intolerance. But in every age, there are those who fight against it. Charles Xavier was born into a world divided, a world he tried to heal – a mission he never saw accomplished. It seems the destiny of great men to see their goals unfulfilled."
At Professor Xavier's funeral, in the crowd sit Marie D'Ancanto, Bobby Drake, Kitty Pryde, Peter Rasputin, Hank McCoy, Moira MacTaggert, and many other students and friends of Xavier's. Logan isn't sitting with them, as he is standing and listening from afar, a loner as always. Rogue looks at him, as Ororo continues her eulogy: "Charles was more than a leader, more than a teacher, he was a friend. When we were afraid he gave us strength, and when we were alone he gave us a family. He may be gone, but his teachings live on through us, his students". Ororo finishes: "Wherever we may go, we must carry on his vision, and that's a vision of a world united." Logan walks away. All other people present stand up, and one walks to his memorial and puts a flower on it. Moira is one of the few humans at his funeral, and pays last respects.
After the battle at Alcatraz Island, she returns to Muir Island to check on her comatose patient. At the hospital, where the comatose man from the video that Xavier showed his students, is lying in a hospital bed. Moments later, Dr, Moira MacTaggart enters the room, says good morning to her patient and proceeds to view the vital signs on the monitor. The man then turns his head and to Moira's surprise, returns the greeting and calls her name in Charles' voice. Dr. Moira looks towards her patient in disbelief and says "Charles", confirming that Charles' consciousness survived his physical death.
===Revised Timeline===
====X-Men: Apocalypse====
Moira now a mother but still a CIA agent, has been investigating mutant cults and is sent to Cairo.
In Egypt, Moira uncovers a follower of "En Sabah Nur" and he leads her to a temple holding Apocalypse. She then discovers a hidden underground chamber that leads to the resting place of En Sabah Nur. Inside, a group of his followers recite a chant, and are able to awaken their idol in his fully powered Apocalypse form. Apocalypse's revival causes a worldwide earthquake, and the temple begins to collapse. The followers are buried by the ensuing explosion, while Moira manages to escape and return to America.
Charles Xavier feels the earthquake originally believing Jean Grey to be responsible, until Hank McCoy tells him it's been worldwide. Charles and Hank go to Cerebro to find out what happened with the earthquake. Charles uses Cerebro and locates Moira in Egypt to check on her, clearly still in love with her. Still finding Moira attractive, Charles decides to go see her with Alex Summers, and they take a trip to the CIA headquarters in Langley to visit Moira.
She doesn't remember knowing Charles since he wiped her memories, but she still knows who he is. Moira explains that she was investigating En Sabah Nur's whereabouts and history, going into detail about his motives and followers, the Horsemen, and how he would give them special powers to aid him in destroying whatever they wanted. Charles, Alex, and Moira return to the Mansion, where they reunite with Raven, who had arrived shortly after Charles and Alex left for Virginia. Raven greets them, but Moira, doesn't recognize her, due to still having her memories wiped by Charles.
Later, Charles brings Raven, Hank, Alex, and Moira down to Cerebro to locate Erik. Charles finds him as Magneto once again, now having joined Apocalypse and the Horsemen. As Magneto speaks to Charles, Apocalypse sees the opportunity to link his mind to Charles's, which also lets him get into Cerebro and connect to anyone he wants. Apocalypse manipulates officials around the globe to launch all of their nukes into space so that no one, human or mutant, can stop him. Charles is overwhelmed by Apocalypse's power. He orders Alex to destroy Cerebro, which he does. The others pull Charles out of the room, only to encounter Apocalypse and the Horsemen appearing before them. Magneto pulls Charles in his chair and takes him. Alex releases a blast that causes a powerful explosion. Outside, Quicksilver arrives in time to do a power run through the school and evacuate everyone before the entire school is destroyed. However, he failed to save Alex, which Scott finds out about just as he and his friends return.
A chopper then descends to the ground. Moira approaches them, thinking they are part of another agency, until the leader steps out and removes his sunglasses. It's William Stryker. Raven notices him and tries to warn everyone, but Stryker orders his men to fire a sonic blast that incapacitates everyone, except for Scott, Jean, and Nightcrawler. Jean manages to keep them hidden by manipulating the mind of one of Stryker's men. Stryker captures Raven, Moira, Hank, and Peter. Nightcrawler teleports himself, Scott, and Jean into their chopper, but he cannot get anyone out because of the electrical lining within.
Stryker takes everyone to his facility and traps Moira and the mutants in a room. Hank has re-mutated to Beast since he left his meds at home. Stryker then gets everyone's attention, and crudely addressed Mystique, who then addresses him as "Major Stryker", but he corrects her, saying it's "Colonel Stryker" now. Moira objects to him capturing her and the mutants, as well as pointing she's a CIA agent, but Stryker already knows this. He explains the worldwide anomalies, regarding the nukes that were released and the signs came from the X-Mansion, and demands to know where Charles Xavier is. Moira and the others tell Stryker that they don't know, and Moira informs him that their is an enemy more powerful than Xavier that Stryker needs to worry about. Stryker leaves, and Hank asks Moira about what she means by "someone more powerful". But Stryker merely ignores her warnings and walks away.
Charles, thanks to Apocalypse enhancing his telepathic powers, sends a message to everyone on the planet, but Charles manages to get a hidden message to Jean to help her find where he's located.
Jean, Nightcrawler, and Scott then reach the cell, and Scott blasts the cell door open to release Moira and the captured mutants. After escaping, the X-Men come across a war plane to escape the facility, and Raven asks Hank if he can fly it, which he confirms Scott then shows them flight suits, and Raven tells everyone to suit up, and get ready for war. Hank pilots the plane, with Moira as his co-pilot, and the X-Men fly toward Cairo to rescue Charles and defeat Apocalypse.
The team reaches Cairo for the showdown. Nightcrawler goes to find Xavier, the others prepare to battle, and Moira stays behind on the plane. Nightcrawler traps Angel and heads into the pyramid to get Charles out in the middle of the transfer process. They and the other heroes make it back into the jet, and prepare to take off, but Angel and Psylocke reach them and try to break in. Nightcrawler gets everyone out of the jet as it crashes to the ground, killing Angel while Psylocke jumps to safety.
The others are in a building for safety. Charles realizes he is still connected to Apocalypse and decides to fight him in their shared consciousness. Charles initially appears to have the upper hand, but Apocalypse overpowers him and starts trying to kill him. consciousness. Charles initially appears to have the upper hand, but Apocalypse overpowers him and starts trying to kill him. Magneto then turns on Apocalypse after realizing what side he's meant to fight on. As he holds Apocalypse off, Charles reaches Jean and gets her to tap into the fight with her mind. She manages to unleash her full Phoenix Force power to overwhelm Apocalypse. As he weakens, he tries to escape, but Storm uses her lightning to prevent him for leaving. Apocalypse's form deteriorates until he is finally disintegrated. After the battle, Psylocke quietly walks away.
In the aftermath, Moira asks if Charles is okay, and the latter responds by saying that he's on a beach in Cuba. Moira wonders what he means, and Xavier restores Moira's memories of him and their time together. After her memories are restored, Moira sheds a tear of nostalgia, with Xavier apologizing for taking her memories away, saying he never should have done so.
Later on, Moira has Stryker arrested for his recent crimes: assaulting and kidnapping her, a federal officer, and for issuing unruly punishment to minors. Stryker warns her that mutants should not be trusted, and when that day comes, she better hope he's there when it happens. Moira watches as Stryker is taken away, and nonchalantly ignores his words on how untrustworthy mutants are.
==Trivia==
*In the comics, she is Scottish.
*She is the only member of the X-Men who is human.
**She is also the first non-mutant female leading character of a film, the second being Vanessa Carysle in the Deadpool films.
==External links==
==Navigation==
Category:Female
Category:X-Men Heroes
Category:Marvel Heroes
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Live Action Heroes
Category:Action Heroes
Category:Science Fiction Heroes
Category:Spouses
Category:Parents
Category:Fighters
Category:Supporters
Category:Nurturers
Category:Selfless
Category:Lawful Good
Category:In Love
Category:Secret Agents
Category:Good Vs. Good
Category:Doctors and Scientists
Category:Friend of a Villain
Category:Adaptational Heroism