A magnetic powerhouse. Daughter of a mutant supremacist. Lorna Dane is a powerful mutant, like her father, Magneto. She’s more often than not been on the side of trying to help mutant and human alike. So where did she come from and is that a cool dye job or part of her mutation? Let’s find out!
Lorna Dane was not the name she was born with, her mother Suzanna had an affair with Magneto and kept it a secret from her husband, Arnold. When she was three, her father found out while the three were flying in the family airplane. As her parents fought, the toddler wished so hard for her family to stop fighting that her mutant powers began to emerge. Her magnetic abilities were too much for such a small child and she’d rend the plane apart, this manifestation caused the child to have her hair go green. The plane’s destruction would kill her parents and leave the girl as the only survivor. Her father, Magneto would find her from the magnetic pulse and have one of his allies wipe her mind of the traumatic memories of what had just happened to her. He’d leave her with Arnold’s sister and be given the name Lorna Dane and believe her parents had died in a plane crash with nothing about her powers.
Lorna would grow up a relatively normal child, she’d dye her hair brown to hide her mutant heritage. When she was twenty years old, she’d find out the truth about her parents and become involved with the X-Men as a villain trying to collect mutants for his own use. The X-Men would rescue her and join them to be trained in combat and education. She’d begin dating her teammate Havoc and they’d be together for quite some time, even when they weren’t X-Men. Getting mind controlled by an enemy would cause Lorna and Havoc to leave the X-Men to study geophysics at grad school then go to Muir Island to be researchers. Occasionally, the two would get roped into more X-Men adventures and come out a bit worse for wear but recoverable.
On one return mission with the X-Men, Lorna would learn she has a sister, who would then steal her powers, siblings, am I right? This would cause Lorna’s secondary mutation to activate granting her physical strength and durability. She’d have to grow accustom to her new powers and would do so back on Muir Islands where she’d discover that her new powers also increased negative feelings in those around her. She’d do her best not to use these powers and she loathed being the cause of such harm to her friends. She’d help try to stop the deadly Shadow King and when this mission was over, she’d get her old powers back due to the death of her sister and she’d lose her new powers.
Back to her old powers, she happily joined X-Factor and co-lead it along with Havoc. Their relationship was strained when Havoc was possessed by an enemy force and would attack his own team. Knowing that he was under mind control made this a little easier to swallow until she learned that Havoc had joined willingly as a double agent and attacked them to keep up the front. This ended their relationship but they remained friends, the trust was shaken though. Things would end up getting worse as Havoc appeared to die during an attack, leaving Lorna devastated and quitting the team to recover.
Apocalypse would claim that Lorna was one of twelve mutants capable of ushering in a golden age but she refused to help him do so. While fighting against Apocalypse, she and Magneto would learn that when she was near him, she enhanced his own magnetic powers and were able to stop Apocalypse. Joining Magneto’s return to the mutant country of Genosha, she’d help him rebuild. She’d see that Magneto was a tyrant and tried to stop him but her ability to increase his power was not under her control so he was too powerful for a face off. She’d flee the country and eventually return with the X-Men to help save the day. She’d also discover that magnetic powers were responsible for her parent’s plane crash, thinking it was Magneto. She’d remain on Genosha until it’s destruction, where she’d be one of the only survivors.
The trauma of witnessing all those deaths nearly broke Lorna. Her behavior became more erratic, especially when Havoc’s comatose body had been discovered. She’d stay until he awoke and asked him to marry her and he agreed. At the wedding, Havoc would leave her and she’d nearly attack every guest, Xavier would step in to help her telepathically to begin her psychological healing. She was far angrier than before and ready to be flippant with her teammates. She’d lose her powers due to Scarlet Witch’s “No More Mutatants” command and hide it for some time until she couldn’t hide it anymore. Apocalypse would offer her her powers back but she refused to ever work for him, he’d have her mind wiped and give this new malleable mind enhanced magnetic powers. Wolverine would discover she was Apocalypse’s Horseman, Pestilence and the X-Men would rescue her and help her recover.
She’d go on many adventures and rebuild her personality as time went on. She’d travel to space and join then eventually lead the Stargammers, a team of rebellious misfits, including Cyclops’ father. Having saved an empire, she’d stay for a while alongside Havoc and some other mutants. Returning home to Earth, she and Havoc would lead X-Factor once more with Madrox, the Multiple Man. During this time with X-Factor she’d learn that she was responsible for her parents’ death and this would put her into a catatonic state for some time, it would take a bargain with a god to get her out of it. She’d return to a now corporate X-Factor and lead them for a time. During the Hydra take over of the country, Lorna would help break the time-tossed young first X-Men team and co-lead them with Magneto to keep him in check.
There you have it! Polaris has been animated several times and is now in live action on The Gifted television show. She has her own story on the show and is a key player. She’s always been a favorite and now she’s technically Magneto’s only child, for now anyway. She now seems to be taking up the role her dear old dad had and so that’ll be interesting to see where she goes on the show. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
The X-Men #49
Uncanny X-Men
X-Factor
All-New X-Factor
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
