Margaret Power

Margaret Power is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.

She is the wife of Dr. James Power, and with him the mother of Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power, members of Power Pack.

Publication history

Margaret Power was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman, and first appeared in Power Pack #1 (Aug 1984).

The looks of Margaret/Maggie are based upon the creator for the series, Louise Simonson.

Fictional character biography

Margaret Power was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and her father is Roy Craig. Margaret also has a sister named Pauline, who lives in the New York area.

Margaret was a professional freelance painter and illustrator. When Margaret's physicist husband developed the designs for a matter/anti-matter converter as an alternative source of energy, his work came to the attention of alien beings. James and Margaret Power were kidnapped by the aliens known as the Snarks, who hoped to extract the designs from Dr. Power to use as a weapon. The four Power children managed to escape before being captured and were given superhuman powers by a Kymellian scientist named Aelfyre Whitemane, enabling them to save their parents. They also destroyed the converter, making a strong enemy of Dr. Power's boss, Carmody, in the process.^[1]

Following their return to Earth, the Power family relocated to Manhattan, where James was hired as a professor at Columbia University and Margaret obtained a new agent and continued her art career. The Power children formed a superhero team called Power Pack. They went to great lengths to conceal the existence of their superhuman abilities from their parents.^[2]

During Secret Wars II, Margaret was critically injured by the rampaging menace known as Kurse as she was leaving an art supply store.^[3] She remained hospitalized for some time. At one point, just before Christmas, she was so close to death that one of the Valkyries came to claim her soul; she was only saved through the direct intervention of Mirage of the New Mutants, who fought back the Angel of Death.^[4] Following the intervention her condition improved; she was further helped by the healing powers of Power Pack's Kymellian ally, Lord Yrik Whitemane.^[5]

During the Inferno storyline, a demonized Carmody told Margaret and James about Power Pack's existence. The revelation caused them both to go completely mad;^[6] the situation was not ameliorated until Mirage & Gosamyr stepped in to convince the Power parents that their children were actually completely normal.^[7]

The bout of madness was explained later in the series, when Lord Yrik revealed that he had placed mental blocks on both the Power parents, in order to help the children hide their superhero identities. The blocks caused James and Maggie to accept any suggestions and deny any evidence of Power Pack's existence. However, they also caused the parents to go mad when confronted with indisputable proof of Power Pack's existence.^[8] The members of Power Pack were understandably upset when they discovered the blocks placed on their parents' minds and requested that they be removed, however, Yrik was unable to do so.^[9]

In the 2000 Power Pack miniseries, Margaret was depicted as suffering from poor health. However, the nature and severity of her illness were never revealed.

In the 2005 miniseries that debuted the Marvel superhero Gravity, Margaret Power is mentioned as part of an unnamed pop starlet's "defense team" by a newsreader.^[10]

Footnotes