Origin
The daughter of Quicksilver and Crystal, she is named after the moon, having been born there. Luna is the first child to be born to a mutant and Inhuman, the genetic markers denoting these subgroups in humanity supposedly “canceled out” in her, leaving her a normal human.
Creation
Luna Maximoff was created by John Byrne and first appeared (as a baby) in Fantastic Four Vol.1 issue 240 (1982).
Character Evolution
While Quicksilver, aghast at the thought of having a “flatscan”, human daughter, initially sought to expose her to the Inhumans‘ mutagenic Terrigen Mists, he was talked out of this by Gorgon and Karnak, impersonating Lockjaw to make their point. As a normal human and granddaughter of Magneto, Luna was considered an abomination by mutant extremist Exodus, who sought to murder her on several occasions. Luna was protected by the High Evolutionary and his New Men, who suffered multiple casualties in their successful efforts to shield her from harm.
Major Story Arcs
Bloodties
When Luna’s mother Crystal joined the Earthbound superhero team known as the Avengers, she was taken along. There Luna had a relatively safe enviroment to grew up. This however all changed during the events of Bloodties. After Magneto’s defeat at the hands of Charles Xavier, Magneto’s Acolytes kidnapped Luna, causing great damage to the Avengers mansion in the process. Luna was taken and ended up in Genosha under the control of Fabian Cortez and the Exodus, whom had both replaced Magneto since he no longer could lead his former students. The Avengers teamed up with the X-men and together undertook a rescue mission to bring Luna back. Both teams managed to defeat Cortez and recovered her safely back to the United States.
Son of M
Years later, however, when Luna was six years old, Quicksilver was depowered by the Decimation of mutantkind. Desperate to get his powers back, he exposed himself to the Mists, and subsequently talked Luna into returning to Earth with him, where he exposed her too. Thanks to the Mists, she can now see the feelings of the people she looks at in terms of colors, as a sort of visual empathy. Having trouble dealing with this, she now must wear shades at all times. Seemingly addicted to the Mist, her continued exposure to the mutagen has apparently enhanced her new found power to the point of being a full fledged empath, able to sense, remove and alter emotions at will. After the events of Son of M, Quicksilver returned her to Crystal. Currently, the Inhumans are treating her addiction to the Mists, although it is unknown how her body will react to her addiction and if she will retain her abilities longer than baseline humans.
Silent War
In the Silent War miniseries, Luna still has her aura-sensing empathic ability, and is seen using it to defeat Karnak in a training session. She is used to track Terrigen Crystals. Maximus used her to remove the mental shackles that were placed on his ability to use his mind control powers and also free the evil eye powers of Ahura. She regrets that this has allowed Maximus to take control of the Inhumans away from Black Bolt, who appears to have lost his sanity. When asking Black Bolt what she should do about Maximus and her role in his ascendancy, Black Bolt opens his mouth to answer her.
Secret Invasion
After the Skrulls were repelled from Attilan, Luna was seen with Maximus as Medusa heads into space to look for where the Skrulls are holding Black Bolt.
All-New X-Factor
After the press conference held by Serval Industries’s X-Factor, led by Lorna Dane (aka Polaris & Luna’s aunt), Luna returned to Earth to visit her father, Quicksilver. During the press conference, he had finally admitted to all the crimes he had committed in the past, but also said that he was trying to become a better person. Luna saw the press conference, and was moved. She decided that she could finally forgive her father, and wanted to stay with him for a while. Pietro agreed, but knew that her mother, Crystal, would be unhappy. Crystal confronted Pietro, believing that he had taken Luna. Luna explained that she wanted to stay with her father and Lorna and the team, and Crystal agreed to let her remain there for a time.
Powers and Abilities
Empathy
As an Inhuman, she was exposed to the Terrigen Mists at a young age and gained the power to see peoples emotions as colours. She later developed this ability and could manipulate peoples emotions. She also displayed other mental powers that appear to mimic telepathy. She could sense Karnak’s attacks before he executed them, she used her powers to shield her mind from Maximus’ control, she released mental dampeners on Maximus’ power, and she could sense how Maximus’ abilities affected the minds of others. Magneto, her paternal granfather, suggested that Luna could shut off portions of his brain.
Terrigen Mists
She also has developed an addiction to the Terrigen Mists, and is being treated for this. As she was born human, it is unknown if she will retain her powers or preserve them as she is not of pure inhuman blood. Other humans exposed to the mists died while depowered mutants exposed to the mist regained their powers. Because of her unique heritage she may be immune to adverse effects of the Terrigen mists.
Other Versions
Earth-98
In this reality Luna calls herself Spike, and has the same powers as Medusa.
Earth-9997
On Earth-9997, Luna who was now fully grown was betrothed to Ahura Boltagon (Black Bolt and Medusa’s son) but unfortunately because it would mean becoming a King like his Father which was something he did not want to become Ahura began neglecting her and in the end ignored her altogether. Eventually the Terrigen Mists mutated her into a humanoid butterfly but even this was not enough to make Ahura want to be with her. In the end Medusa ended up marrying King Britain, thus dissolving Luna’s betrothal to Ahura completely. Luna eventually moved on and fell in love with Jack of Hearts, despite the fact that he was by now a very, very old man.