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The mutant hero Polaris, whose real name is Lorna Dane, is one of the earliest members to join the X-Men. In fact, she’s the seventh member to join the team, way back in 1969. She has the power of magnetism, inherited from her biological father, Magneto. After appearing prominently in one episode of X-Men: The Animated Series in 1995, she’s now a main player in X-Men ’97. First, as a member of X-Factor, and now, as a proper X-Man once again. But her Marvel Comics history with Xavier’s students, as well as her terrorist-turned-hero father, is a strange and tangled one.
X-Men #49 from 1968 Introduces Lorna Dane
Lorna Dane was first introduced in 1968’s X-Men #49, in a story written by Arnold Drake and illustrated by Jim Steranko. They portrayed her as a teenage orphan with untapped magnetic powers, whose parents died in a plane crash years earlier. In those early stories, they said that her green hair gave away her X-gene. This being the sixties, people hadn’t taken to dying their hair unnatural colors yet. She’s pursued by the mutant villain Mesmero to be his weapon, before it’s revealed soon after by Magneto that she’s his long-lost daughter. Eventually, Lorna discovers that this version of Magneto is an android, calling into question her parentage once more.
Polaris’ First, Brief Tenure as an X-Man
She eventually joins the X-Men, where she briefly dates Iceman/Bobby Drake. But she is never really into him much romantically. (We can now chalk that up to Lorna clocking Bobby as being gay and in the closet.) She soon enters into a long-term romance with fellow X-Man Havok, who is Alex Summers, Cyclops’ younger brother. When the mutant island Krakoa abducts the original X-Men, Lorna, now going by the name Polaris, unleashes her powers to send the entire island into space by controlling Earth’s magnetic fields. This is the first flex that shows how powerful she really is. When Marvel introduced the second-generation X-Men team in 1975, she and Havok leave the team to pursue degrees in geophysics.
Polaris Goes Dark, then Joins X-Factor
For much of the ‘80s, Lorna and Alex float around the X-Men titles as guest stars, without ever truly rejoining full time. They work at Moria MacTaggart’s Muir Island research facility for a spell, and helped out the X-Men from time to time. Lorna’s life took a turn for the worse when the evil entity Malice took over her body in 1987’s Uncanny X-Men #219, leading her to become a villain. Once they exorcised Malice from her body, she lost her magnetic powers for a time, but gained super strength. Luckily, she got her magnetic powers back in time to join the new government-sanctioned version of X-Factor in 1991. She stayed with X-Factor through many different incarnations of the team.
Polaris in the Modern X-Men Era
The 2000s and 2010s were a tumultuous time for Lorna. She discovered through a blood test that Magneto was indeed her father. Her mother had an affair with Magneto, and she and the man who raised her died in the plane crash. She survived the massacre on Genosha in 2001’s New X-Men, and the trauma of that event caused much emotional instability. She leaves Alex after he has an affair, becomes a Horseman of Apocalypse as the new Pestilence. Once freed, she leaves for space as part of the Starjammers crew. She even led a new X-Factor, this time as a corporately sponsored team. Recently, during the Krakoan era, Polaris was voted by the mutant nation to be a member of the mainline X-Men again.
Lorna Dane in Outside-Comic X-Men Media
Polaris appeared once in X-Men: The Animated Series in 1995, as well as a minor character in the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series. She never appeared in the Fox X-Men films, but did appear as a main character in the Fox series The Gifted. The show was sort of Fox-universe adjacent. That series made her a founder of the Mutant Underground, and vaguely hinted at Magneto being her father. Sadly, that show, which only ran two seasons, was her most high-profile appearance outside comics media.
Polaris Becomes a Mutant Powerhouse in X-Men ’97
Polaris first appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series as a former X-Man, and Iceman’s ex-girlfriend in the episode “Cold Comfort.” We learn she left Bobby to join X-Factor, and was now dating Havok. X-Men ’97 has reintroduced her as an X-Factor member. But in the episode “Danger.EXE”, Valerie Cooper asked to leave the team after a massive power display scared many, painting her as a new Magneto. She rejoins the X-Men, and in a conversation with Professor X, confirms she knows she is the daughter of Magneto. So far, Magneto has never mentioned her as his daughter, so it may be a secret that Charles and Lorna both kept from him. And with Magneto now seemingly dead on X-Men ’97, it’s a conversation we may never see. Will Lorna become the threat her father once was? We’ll have to see how the rest of X-Men ’97 season two shakes out.
X-Men ’97 season two is currently dropping new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday.
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