Amanda Sefton
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| Magik II | |
 Amanda Sefton Darick Robertson, artist |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #98 (Apr 1976) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Dave Cockrum |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Jimaine Szardos |
| Team affiliations | Ruler of Limbo, Muir Island X-Men, Excalibur |
| Notable aliases | Amanda Sefton, Daytripper, Magik |
| Abilities | Magic, Teleportation, Illusion generation, Shape-shifting, Force bolts, Hypnotism, Formerly wielded the Soulsword |
Amanda Sefton (real name Jimaine Szardos) (also known as Daytripper and the second Magik) is a fictional character, a witch in the Marvel Universe. She is the foster sister and former lover of Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men.
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[edit] Publication history
As Magik, Amanda had her own four-issue limited series. The series focused on her taking-over Limbo. The series also featured her adopted brother/lover, Nightcrawler.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Jimaine and her mother Margali are witches. When Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, Jimaine followed him, assumed the identity of Amanda Sefton, took a job as a flight attendant, and became Nightcrawler's girlfriend. When Margali attacked the X-Men, believing Nightcrawler to have been responsible for the death of Stefan Szardos, her son and Jimaine's brother, "Amanda" revealed herself as Jimaine, convinced her mother to let Kurt live and resumed her on-and-off relationship with him.
[edit] Daytripper
Years later, Jimaine having fully anglicized her name to Amanda joined an interim team of "X-Men" that was organized at Moira MacTaggert's Muir Island facility, and eventually came to join Excalibur under the codename Daytripper. During this time, she obtained the Soulsword from Shadowcat and gave the weapon to her mother, Margali Szardos. Only too late did Amanda realize that she was tricked by her own mother, who wanted the Soulsword to kill all those ahead of her on the Winding Path.
Shortly after helping to defeat her mother and the Hellfire Club, Amanda left Excalibur without even telling Nightcrawler why. Only later it was revealed in actual fact, it was not Amanda who made that decision, but Margali who had taken over her body. Upon her defeat among the Hellfire Club, Margali had been captured by Belasco, and been tortured in his realm from where she secretly switched minds with her daughter so that she could recuperate and win back her freedom and her position on the Winding Way. Eventually Margali, using Amanda’s body, made her way back to Limbo, where mother and daughter switched back and defeated Belasco with Nightcrawler’s help. Margali apologized for exposing her daughter to such danger, but then quickly left. Only after she was gone, Amanda realized that with both her and Belasco gone, there was no one left besides her capable enough to take over as Limbo’s new ruler. To leave the dimension unguarded seemed too dangerous, given that several demons could have used it’s stepping disks to invade earth.
[edit] Becoming Magik
Amanda decided not to return to earth with Kurt but instead agreed to rule Limbo Magik's Limbo (not to be confused with Immortus' Limbo) and took the title of Magik for herself.
It was during this time that Amanda was forced to thwart Belasco and the N’Garai’s take over of Limbo, and Earth, where she was forced to conceal her identity from her closest friends, until the end of the battle where those who had not already worked out that she was not Illyana, learned of Amanda’s new role. Following that, Amanda rallied together the rulers of all other various dimensions of Hell to unite them in a common goal – the preservation of Hell.
Amanda has also mastered the ability to magically control the stepping disks of Limbo, just like Belasco did before her, and practiced to wield the Soul Sword. So far she seems to be doing a better job as Limbo’s guardian than her namesake. During one of Nightcrawler's trips to Limbo, Amanda secretly hid the powerful Soulsword in Kurt’s body, thinking it was safe there since his soul was the purest that she could find. There was a shift in the cosmic balance, powerful forces at work, and one thing they were after was the Soulsword, and indeed not much later, Amanda was attacked and overpowered by Nightmare. She was rescued by the timely arrival of her mother Margali, and together, mother and daughter found out that Nightmare had been manipulated into attacking them by someone else. Amanda and Margali immediately sought out Nightcrawler to warn him, but upon their arrival the demon Hive revealed himself and took over the body of Nightcrawler’s teammate, Wolverine. Eventually, the demon’s essence was disrupted by the Soulsword, though not before he revealed that there is a major war coming, one that has been brewing for a millennia, and that the entire Szardos family factor very importantly into it.
[edit] Driven out of Limbo
Amanda resurfaced in New X-Men when she plunged out of a dimensional portal in a blast of flaming energy and landed in a small German village. She was quoted as saying "Help me...someone please...He's back." Amanda was driven out of Limbo after being overwhelmed by an invasion led by Belasco and no longer possessed the Soulsword[1]. She assisted New X-Men Hellion and Surge as well as O*N*E Sentinel operative (and former mutant) Lex in finding students that were kidnapped by Belasco. The students were saved due to Illyana Rasputin usurping control of Limbo. Once the heroes were teleported back to Xavier's school though, Amanda found Limbo to be sealed off.[2]. Pixie also states that she has been approached by both Amanda and Doctor Strange about furthering her magical tutelage when she comes of age.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Days of Future Past
- In the Days of Future Past timeline, Amanda had a daughter Blue who inherited her father Nightcrawler's appearance, and similar teleporting powers. As seen in Uncanny X-Men #188, Amanda and Nightcrawler, along with that timeline's version of Illyana were gunned down by a government strikeforce deployed to destroy the Xavier Institute after Senator Robert Kelly was assassinated.
[edit] Marvel Mangaverse
- In the Marvel Mangaverse setting Amanda Sefton is a dark sorceress, who uses Rogue to battle the electromagnetic demon Magnus.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Television
In X-Men: Evolution, a character named Amanda Sefton appears as Nightcrawler's love interest, though she didn't have the background of her comic counterpart (her mother's name's still Margali, but the Seftons look like a normal black American family). She is portrayed as a normal human girl of African-American heritage, with knowledge and interest in Nightcrawler's powers and looks, who nevertheless accepts Kurt completely despite his mutancy. In her first episode, "Shadow Dance", Amanda asks Kurt to be her date for the school dance and tells him that she did have a crush on him for months but was too shy to tell him, and that her feelings remained after she once accidentally saw him turn off his image inducer. She was voiced by Moneca Stori.
