Warning: this article contains spoilers for X-Factor #4!
The X-Men's greatest mystery character, Moira MacTaggert, may finally be about to return. Last year, Jonathan Hickman relaunched the X-Men franchise, and it's proved a tremendous success. Hickman specializes in slow-burn plots, with his stories building up momentum over the course of years, and with the X-Men books he apparently has a plan that could cover five years or more.
One of the most tantalizing new ideas was a retcon that revealed Moira MacTaggert, a longtime human ally of the X-Men, was secretly a mutant all along. Moira possesses the power of reincarnation, meaning when she dies she begins her life again - retaining the memories of her past lives. She's been attempting to create a paradisaical timeline for the mutants, and to that end has conspired with Professor X and Magneto to found the mutant nation of Krakoa. Only those two know Moira is a mutant, and in fact, everyone else believes she's actually been dead for years.
But X-Factor #4 contains a subtle hint that Moira may be about to emerge from her seclusion. The issue sees the X-Men discover a shocking truth; that there are limits to their Resurrection Protocols, and that anyone who dies in the mystical realm of Otherworld cannot be brought back. Attempting to do so causes a malfunction in the entire Cerebro system that allows resurrection - and Moira is one of the mutants stood next to a Cerebro unit when the critical malfunction happens.
It may just be a coincidence or an attempt to remind readers that Moira still exists, but that seems unlikely; it's timed right at the start of the "X of Swords" event, when the writers are carefully setting everything up. What's more, Moira has critical information that may help in "X of Swords." She is familiar with Krakoa from other timelines, and thus may well be aware of the X-Men's enemies from Arakko as well. In one timeline, she was even intimately connected to Apocalypse, meaning she may well know about his wife Genesis and his children, the First Horsemen, who are the most prominent villains in "X of Swords."
The only problem is that the X-Men believe she's dead. If she is to really help during this crisis, when all of reality itself is at stake, Moira MacTaggert will need to step out of the shadows and reveal she is still alive. And it's unclear whether she is prepared to answer the questions she will inevitably be asked should she do so.
X-Factor #4 by Leah Williams, Carlos Gomez, and Ivan Shavrin is available now.