Amanda Sefton

History

Amanda and her mother

Jimaine is the daughter of Margali Szardos, the Gypsy sorceress who raised her own children, Jimaine and Stefan, alongside her adopted son Kurt Wagner (aka Nightcrawler of the X-Men). After Kurt left the circus where Margali worked as a fortune-teller, both Margali and Jimaine heard that a "demon" had killed Stefan. Margali was certain that the "demon" was Kurt and held him responsible for her son's death. Jimaine, however, believed there was more to the story and went to America to find Kurt and determine the truth.

In America, Jimaine took on the identity of Amanda Sefton, became a flight attendant, and eventually began dating Kurt. She did not reveal her true identity to him, wanting to find out if he truly could have been responsible for her brother's death. Eventually Margali and Amanda discovered that Kurt had killed Stefan in self-defense.

Apprentice Supreme

Later, Amanda Sefton heard a rumor that Dr. Strange needed a new apprentice, because Clea had left him. She went to Strange and asked to become his new apprentice, as did every crackpot in the world who heard about the rumor. Strange arranged for all the petitioners to meet at one spot, where he told them that he currently had no wish to take on an apprentice. Amanda's mother, Margali Szardos, appeared and attacked Strange. Margali was angered that Strange had refused to take on her daughter as an apprentice.

Dr. Strange cast a spell to force himself and Margali into the astral plane. Margali warped the spell so that all the would-be apprentices were also forced into the astral plane with them. Strange and Margali battled with all their mystic forces. Strange soon realized that Margali's powers came from her wand. Strange tricked Margali and took the wand from her. Margali immediately regained her true mortal form, that of an old woman. She explained to Strange that the wand was an evil entity that took over its owner's mind. Margali revealed that the wand had hoped to gain control over Strange. Upon returning everyone to the physical plane, Strange destroyed the wand.

Magical Moments

Amanda and Kurt shared a romantic relationship for some time; and Amanda stopped her studies in the mystic ways, becoming a stewardess and seeing Kurt between flights and his missions. When the mystical Dire Wraiths invaded Forge's skyscraper headquarters in Dallas, Amanda helped drive the Wraiths off. Amanda and Kurt's relationship continued collapsing once the X-Men were mostly massacred by the mutant hunting Marauders, and so they finally parted as friends. Amanda helped defend Muir Island from an attack by the cyborg mutant hunting Reavers. Amanda spent a brief period of time as a costumed hero under the codename Daytripper as a member of Excalibur. She has since retired from life as a super-hero, becoming the Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo.

Recent stories show the return of Illyana Rasputin and Witchfire, both formerly rulers of Limbo, who have called Amanda into question control over Limbo. Witchfire has since ascended to ruler of Limbo after Illyana Rasputin left to regain her soul. Upon Witchfire assuming control, she mentioned no one was in her way, hinting that Amanda Sefton is not in Limbo.

Supernatural Abilities

Amanda is a sorceress following the path of the Winding Way. Her power does change in its levels, it waxes and wanes over time, allowing her to summon such powers as teleportation, illusions casting, shape changing, mystical force bolts, hypnotism, and the manipulation of other complex mystical forces.

There's a range of spells Amanda is capable of casting; limited by the amount of power available, and her own personal issues with magic and using it when it's not needed. Amanda's magical repository consists of largely defensive spells and illusion casting. The other thing is that the spells she casts reflect the power source, the urban environment; there are elements of the city in the manifestations or processes. The spell-craft she knew, everything taught to her by various people—none of that applies. Spells either fail entirely or have unexpected results, often inconsistently different. Many spells from before—the levitation, the aura stuff, the spirit summoning, the potions and sleep spells are gone irretrievably. Others such as summoning the elements, for example, have been twisted to the point they've actually become more harmful than good.

Amanda can still heal, that being her family's supernatural legacy, but there are many more limits than she previously had. The first being that healing of any kind takes power directly from living things; the greater the injury the greater the power demand. So healing will require Amanda to have to decide and possibly consult with those around her as to whether they accept that cost. The second is that there are only so many times that Amanda can heal someone before it stops working. The more serious the injury healed, the shorter that time frame is.

As the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo, Magik wields much more vast magical power inside the pocket dimension she once ruled. However on Earth, Magik's abilities are limited to a different capacity, detecting magical auras, entering the astral plane, and summoning the powerful Soulsword.

Paraphernalia

Magik wields the mystically powerful Soulsword, the physical manifestation of the magical might of Limbo that can disrupt any spell and cause intense damage to any magical creature it strikes. The Soulsword has no physical effect on a non-supernatural creature or object. The Soulsword can come and go as the wielder wishes; when it comes, the wielder is surrounded by parts of mystical armor, when not in use it reappears in Limbo.

Alternate Realities

Earth-811

Days of Future Past

Amanda and Nightcrawler had a daughter named Blue. They were among the first to die when the United States outlawed mutants.

Evolution

The Evolution version of Amanda has yet to show any powers or gifts. The Amanda Sefton of X-Men Evolution was also African American.

Marvel Mangaverse

In the Marvel Mangaverse setting Amanda Sefton is a dark sorceress, who uses Rogue to battle the electromagnetic demon Magnus.

Television and other Media

In the animated television series, X-Men: Evolution, Amanda Sefton appears as Nightcrawler's love interest, though she didn't have the background of her comic counterpart. Although her mother's name was is still Margali; 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. Amanda nevertheless accepts Kurt completely despite his mutancy and the two begin a relationship. 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.