Jimaine and her mother Margali are Manouchewitches. When Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, Jimaine eventually followed him to the US, assumed the identity of Amanda Sefton, took a job as a flight attendant, and became Nightcrawler's girlfriend.[3][4] When Margali attacked the X-Men, believing Nightcrawler to have been responsible for the death of Stefan Szardos (her son; Jimaine's brother), "Amanda" revealed herself as Jimaine, convinced her mother to let Kurt live, and resumed her on-and-off relationship with him.[5] Their relationship broke apart when Kurt suffered a severe case of self-doubt following an encounter with the Beyonder upon the latter's arrival on Earth.[6]
Daytripper
Logo of Uncanny X-Men, one of the groups Amanda belongs and the first comic which she appear
Much later, and in need of her magical abilities, Nightcrawler called his former girlfriend Amanda Sefton to aid Excalibur. For dramatic reasons she chose to adopt the codename Daytripper, playing on Kurt's codename, and presented herself in a new costume. Once familiarized with the problem at hand, Amanda did the best she could to help Meggan and Rachel Summers locate the lost Captain Britain in the time-stream, but as they made contact, they only achieved to exchange Captain Britain for Rachel, who entered the time-stream in his place to emerge in some distant future.[7]
Magik
At this moment, Amanda thrwarted Belasco N'Garai’s takeover of Limbo and Earth. She was forced to conceal her identity until of the end of the battle. Those who had not figured out that her new alias was Illyana were informed of this at the end of the battle. Following that, Amanda rallied together the rulers of all other dimensions of Hell to unite them in a common goal: The preservation of Hell.[8]
Amanda has also mastered the ability to magically control the stepping discs of Limbo, just like Belasco did before her, and practiced to wield the Soulsword.[9]
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 pleaded, "Help me...someone please...He's back." Amanda was driven out of Limbo after being overwhelmed by an invasion led by Belasco; although she had fought and defeated him in the past, Belasco now appeared more powerful and, without the Soulsword, Amanda was no match.[10]
She assisted New X-Men Hellion and Surge as well as O*N*ESentinel operative (and former mutant) Lex in finding students who 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.[11]
While Pixie has stated that she has been approached by both Amanda and Doctor Strange about furthering her magical tutelage when she comes of age, Amanda's whereabouts remained unknown for some time, but she was recently mentioned by Cyclops in the aftermath of Second Coming when he was writing her a letter of condolence over the death of Nightcrawler.[12]
Family reunion
After Nightcrawler's resurrection[13] and some period of readjustment, he sought out Amanda for a romantic reunion, but then Amanda was almost kidnapped by a villain called Trimega.[14] After Nightcrawler and his Bamfs subdued Trimega, he chose to grant Amanda and Margali sanctuary in the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning; but then an army of Trimegas descended upon the school. During the battle, it turned out that Margali was actually Trimega's creator and had orchestrated the attack in order to gain knowledge of how to cross into the Afterlife. Armed with that knowledge, Margali opened a portal, whose existence would endanger reality. In order to stop her scheme, Nightcrawler and Amanda attempted to pass the gate, but Nightcrawler's voluntary exile from Heaven barred him from entry, stranding Amanda alone in the Void.[15] They met again when Nightcrawler, fatally stabbed in combat by the Crimson Pirates, was intercepted by Amanda at an "interim station" between life and death, who successfully encouraged him—with some assistance from Wolverine and Phoenix—to return to the land of the living.[16]
Powers and abilities
Amanda is a sorceress following the path of the Winding Way. Her power changes in its levels, waxing and waning 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.[17]
When she became the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo, Amanda began wielding the powerful Soulsword. While she couldn't access the full power of the sword, she could still create and control teleportation energies in the form of "stepping discs". This allows her to absorb souls of others either permanently or to simply store and transfer, to place and store the sword in absolute nothingness and to retrieve it from whence it came with ease. Like Illyana Rasputin, the more Amanda used the Soulsword, the more mystical Eldritch armor appeared on her body in addition to demonic features such as horns and hooves. The armor deflects or limits attacks, both physical and magical. However, on Earth, Amanda's abilities are limited to a different capacity. She has since lost these abilities when Limbo was sealed to her and resumed her normal display of powers.
Reception
Critical reception
Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Amanda Sefton a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character.[18] Nitish Vashishtha of Sportskeeda ranked Amanda Sefton 7th in their "10 Strongest Marvel Witches" list.[19] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Amanda Sefton 65th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[20]
Screen Rant included Amanda Sefton in their "15 Most Powerful Marvel Magic Users (Who Aren’t Doctor Strange)" list,[17] and in their "10 Best Magical Or Supernatural Heroes Not Yet In The MCU" list.[21]Comic Book Resources ranked Amanda Sefton 6th in their "20 Fan-Favorite X-Men Who Aren't Even Mutants" list.[22]
The plot twist revealing that Amanda Sefton is really Nightcrawler's sister, Jimaine Szardos, received mixed reactions. Book Riot described the twist as "the crowning moment of creepy" in their article "The X-Men's Love Lives are Messed Up You Guys."[23]
An alternate version of Amanda Sefton appears in the Days of Future Past timeline. Amanda and Nightcrawler have a daughter Blue who inherited her father's appearance and similar teleporting powers. Amanda and Nightcrawler, along with that timeline's version of Illyana Rasputin, were gunned down by a government strike force deployed to destroy the Xavier Institute after Senator Robert Kelly was assassinated.[25]
Marvel Noir
Set in Marvel Noir, Amanda Selton as The Red Rose appears as a head of the Weapon X program. She was later killed by Kurt Wagner but not before burning his face with a torch. [26]
X-2: X-Men Unite'
A tie-in comic to the 2003 film X-2: X-Men United depicts Amanda and Kurt's past, but reveled as an illusion/flashback to persuade him to join Weapon X. [27]
In other media
A character wearing Amanda Sefton's pink costume from Uncanny X-Men Annual (vol. 1) #4 appears in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Nightcrawler".
Amanda Sefton appears in X-Men: Evolution, voiced by Moneca Stori.[28] This version is an African/Romani American teenager and student of Bayville High School who comes from a human family and gradually enters a relationship with Nightcrawler.
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