Polaris (Marvel)

Latest revision as of 09:59, 5 February 2024

Polaris in X-Men: Blue v1 #9.

Polaris is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Lorna Dane was a female human Mutant born the daughter of Suzanna having an affair with Magneto. She returned to her husband Arnold where she tried to hide the fact that she had cheated on him. Suzanna came to be pregnant though with Magneto's child who was named Lorna Dane with Arnold initially believing the child was his own. This was until one day when he discovered the truth and as a pilot he convinced his wife to bring their daughter on a journey. Whilst on the plane, he confronted her about the truth about her infidelity and that Lorna was not his child. At the time, the young Lorna was sleeping when she woke up to a fight between her parents and asked them to stop. This caused her Mutant powers of magnetism to first manifest where she unwittingly created a magnetic pulse that caused the plane to explode thus killing her mother and 'father'. Lorna herself survived where her powers drew the attention of her biological father Magneto but he felt that she was still too young and needed a normal life. Thus, he had Mastermind Jason Wyngarde used his powers to alter her memories making her think that Magneto had destroyed the plane and killed her parents which spared her the memory of being responsible for their deaths. (X-Factor v1 #243) Weeks after the plane crash, the young Lorna was taken in by her father's sister and her husband who adopted her but kept the truth about her parentage from her. (X-Men v1 #52)

Iceman had romantic feelings for the green-haired mutant with Lorna at first seemingly returning his affections. Not sure whether she was cut out for superhero life, she decided against joining the X-Men but nevertheless moved into an apartment in Manhattan to be close by. She couldn’t have picked a worse time, though, for it was right then that the mutant-hunting Sentinels were reactivated. Lorna was among the first targets of the giant robots and, in full shock, she did not even fight back when she was captured by them and taken to the Sentinels' base. It was there that she first met Cyclops' younger brother, Alex Summers, aka Havok, who too had been captured. Alex and Lorna hit off well right from the start, a fact that Larry Trask, the Sentinels' commander, used to his advantage. By threatening to torture Lorna, he blackmailed Havok into helping him. (X-Men v1 #58) Before long, though, the X-Men came to the rescue and the Sentinel base was shut down. Having needed to be saved already for the second time, Lorna realized that she could not stand by the side-lines anymore and fully joined the X-Men. Partially, though, her decision might have been influenced by her growing attraction to Havok as well. (X-Men v1 #61)

Some time later, Havok left the team after accidentally injuring Iceman in a yet another fight over Lorna. When he did not return for months, Xavier sent Lorna after him to ask him to come back. On her way to the southwestern deserts of the United States, Lorna was noticed by the Hulk, who mistook her for his former lover, the green-haired Jarella. Once he saw his error, the Hulk felt deceived and grew angry. Before things became serious, Havok intervened and battled the Hulk, demonstrating a control over his abilities he never had before. Realizing that he could make it as a hero, Havok agreed to come back. (Incredible Hulk v2 #150)

Back with the X-Men, Alex and Lorna continued their training and went on many missions with their teammates. Eventually, the mutants encountered the mutant island, Krakoa, and ended up captured. Xavier recruited a new team of X-Men to rescue his students, but Krakoa seemed unbeatable. It was then that Lorna displayed her major power potential for the first time as Jean telepathically removed her inner mental blocks that kept her from accessing her full power. Lorna was then able to absorb the electric energy of Storm’s lighting as well as the raw energy blasts of Cyclops and Havok, building up such an intense magnetic beam that she disrupted the Earth’s magnetic field around the island. When the gravimetrical forces kicked backed in, it had an effect like wet soap being squished through a hand and the island was hurled into space. (Giant-Size X-Men v1 #1)

In the aftermath of that battle, Lorna and Havok left the X-Men to spend time alone together and to pursue their degrees in geophysics. (X-Men v1 #94) They moved to an isolated small cabin in New Mexico, and were rather happy with each other there. One day, though, someone knocked at the door and Lorna was surprised to see Erik the Red standing there. The disguise was now used by Shi’ar agent Davan Shakari, who took the two former X-Men by surprise and mind-controlled them into joining him. Their task was to prevent the meeting of Professor Xavier and Shi’ar Princess Lilandra and, in order to do so, Erik the Red used his pawns to battle their former teammates various times. Shakari was also the one who gave Lorna the codename Polaris. (X-Men v1 #97)

Later on, several loved ones of the X-Men were kidnapped by Miss Locke who held them hostage in Murderworld in order to force the superheroes to rescue her employer Arcade who was being held captive by Doctor Doom. Whilst one team went to free Arcade, another was assembled that consisted of Polaris, Havok, Banshee and Iceman who were sent to infiltrate Murderworld to rescue the hostages. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #146)

At the time it was not clear that she drew her strength from being a nexus for negative emotional energies. Lorna's new status as a nexus, however, was perceived by the villainous Shadow King. The Shadow King used Polaris as a gateway to allow him access to the mortal realm from the astral plane, causing a world-wide increase in anger, hatred, and violence in the process. Lorna was freed of his influence with the help of X-Factor and the X-Men. Upon the defeat of the Shadow King, Lorna's powers returned due to a combination of Zaladane's death a short time before and the neural-disruptive psionic blade of the X-Man Psylocke leaving no trace of her increased size, strength, or emotion control powers. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #280)

X-Factor

Shortly after Freedom Force disbanded, Valerie Cooper assembled a new government-sponsored team of mutants. She invited several former residents of Muir island to join, including Polaris, but as neither one of the new members wanted to be associated with Mystique’s group of former villains, they were christened X-Factor instead - the name now being available as the original five had re-joined Xavier’s X-Men. Polaris, Strong Guy and Multiple Man were taken to the team’s new headquarters in Washington D.C., while Cooper travelled to Genosha to recruit the new team’s leader - Havok. After all this time, Alex and Lorna were finally reunited. (X-Factor v1 #71) Joining X-Factor offered her the chance to reunite with Alex, but their relationship remained largely unresolved. (X-Factor v1 #72)

In fact, though Lorna's mind and actions were now her own, her past manipulations were not completely past her. Though on the outside it seemed that Lorna was quite fine with herself and had gotten over it, X-Factor’s session with superhero psychiatrist Leonard Samson revealed that she was not. Fearing to be possessed or manipulated again, she did not want Samson to 'get into her head' and tried to boycott the session by remaining silent. However, when Samson stated that Polaris should be intelligent enough to realize her own shortcomings, she freaked out. She had been dieting and losing weight for weeks, but she still felt fat, a certain sign that she had troubles with accepting herself as an attractive woman and therefore tended to repel the people close to her. Still, reaching the core of her problem, Samson helped Lorna to catalyse her anger, resulting in designing a new, very revealing costume for herself - more or less a reaction of defiance. (X-Factor v1 #87)

The government soon asked her to change uniform, as it was considered too provocative, and Lorna agreed. In fact, she happened to like the new suit she was given - it was a mix between X-Factor’s team look and her own design. In the weeks that followed, Polaris focused more on Xavier's dream and became the team's moral backbone. Havok once described her as being even more devoted to the dream than Xavier himself. When she and Alex were insulted by mutant haters in a restaurant and arrested for taking part in the following riot, Lorna made a hearty, political statement upon their release from prison - against direct orders of the team’s new liaison, Forge. (X-Factor v1 #94) Around the same time, the mercenary Random, whom X-Factor had previously met, was hired to try and kill her. The bounty hunter and Lorna battled all over Washington and, in the end, Random, who secretly was in love with her, let her win. The whole attack had been arranged to test the amount of Lorna’s magnetic powers, as the government wanted to use her as secret weapon against Magneto, should he ever attack the United States again. (X-Factor v1 #95)

Not much later, Havok and Lorna were targeted again by Malice, who was on the run from Mr. Sinister, who wanted to make her possess Polaris once more. However, the psychic entity did not want to become permanently bonded again, so she possessed Alex and tried to kill Lorna, thus eliminating the possibility of them ever merging again. However, Sinister and Nasty Boys intercepted sooner than she anticipated and quickly took control of the situation. Sinister threatened to kill Havok if Lorna didn't allow Malice to take over and, despite the long months of being controlled before, Polaris accepted. While the transfer took part, Havok realized what was happening. Not wanting his lover to be controlled by Malice again, he tried to pull the psychic entity back inside himself and, in the end, the discorporate Malice left them both in agony. Sinister was angered by his Marauder's performance and snapped her neck, thus killing her. Much to their surprise, Sinister did not want to fight Alex and Lorna, so they were free to go. (X-Factor v1 #105)

A few weeks later, Havok's powers went haywire and he was once again forced to wear his containment suit, which constantly monitored his energy output. Lorna tried her best to offer some comfort, but Alex began to withdraw into himself. When he was kidnapped by Dark Beast's agents and Fatale planted a faked note in Lorna's room in which Alex told Lorna that he needed to get away and sort out his life, she believed it to be true. (X-Factor v1 #118)

Lorna felt betrayed and abandoned and turned to her new teammate Random for a shoulder to cry on, never suspecting his involvement in her lover's departure. Random’s connection to the Dark Beast was eventually revealed during a battle between the Brotherhood and X-Factor. Lorna didn't have much time to think about Random’s lies, though, for Alex was among the Brotherhood's members, apparently under the villains’ control. Both Havok and Random were captured, and Polaris was assigned to guard over them while the rest of X-Factor pursued the remaining members of the Brother- hood. She tried to reach out to Alex, who pretended to respond, but once free of the power dampening shackles he blasted at her full force. Lorna barely survived by her magnetic shields deflecting the major brunt of the plasma burst. Still, she experienced cardiac arrest and needed to stay in hospital for a week. (X-Factor v1 #126)

Later on, Mystique and Sabretooth were forced by the government to join X-Factor. Lorna began to question her place on the team and finally found her suspicions to be justified after Sabretooth ran amok, almost killing the whole team. (X-Factor v1 #136)

After Lorna had fully recovered from the injuries inflicted by Sabretooth, Havok met with her to explain his recent behavior. Turned out that he was working undercover the whole time, not wanting to waste the chance of investigating the Dark Beast’s operation from within. Lorna was able to understand, though not forgive, him for betraying and even trying to kill her. Whatever they once had together, Lorna felt that it was gone and she ended their years-long relationship. (X-Factor v1 #148) She agreed to become part of the revamped X-Factor team, consisting of herself, Havok, Multiple Man, Shard, Fixx and Greystone. The new team were to act independent from the government and to become a well-respected superheroes that would not only deal with mutant issues but all threats. However, during their first meeting, Greystone developed a severe case of temporal insanity and started to construct a time machine to return to his native timeline. Despite the dangers involved, Havok tried to reason with the boy and left Lorna in charge of the team, should anything happen to him. Indeed, the malfunctioning device blew up, seemingly killing Alex Summers. (X-Factor v1 #149)

Decimation

In the aftermath, Polaris seemingly did not feel capable of holding X-Factor together after that and the team disbanded. Weeks later, Nightcrawler encountered a rather hectic Lorna in a church and she confided in him that she felt she was being followed and that she was sure Alex was still alive. (X-Men v2 #94) A group of Skrulls, working with Apocalypse, were indeed shadowing her and broke into her apartment to retrieve the headgear from Havok’s original costume. Lorna then learned that she was one of the fabled Twelve, a team of mutants destined to usher in a new golden age for mutantkind. Polaris journeyed with the X-Men to Egypt to battle Apocalypse, but it turned out that the legend of the Twelve was fake. Apocalypse himself had started the rumor of the future leaders, trying to lure these particular twelve mutants together, as he wanted to combine their energies to gain omnipotential power. Polaris and Magneto provided the opposing magnetic poles, Storm, Sunfire and Iceman stood for the extreme forces of nature, Cyclops, Phoenix and Cable represented the unison of family, while Xavier was the power of the mind, and Bishop and Mikhail Rasputin being the control over time and space. The vast energies bundled in the form of the Living Monolith, through whom Apocalypse tapped into the power. The headgear that the Skrulls had stolen was now worn by the Monolith to help him regulate the bundled energies. However, the Twelve broke free and, during the encounter, Magneto discovered that he could use Lorna to tap into the Earth’s magnetic field with incredible force, effectively hiding his current reduced-power state. (X-Men v2 #97)

Upon gaining consciousness, she came to find herself captured by Apocalypse who offered her powers back and more leading to her transformation into one of his Horsemen of Apocalypse with her becoming the new Pestilence. (X-Men v2 #185) Under her masters commands, she was sent to break into the World Health Organization where her powers allowed her to absorb samples of SARS, cholera, anthrax, bubonic plague and other fatal diseases into her body. (X-Men v2 #182)

Kingbreaker

All-New X-Factor

Afterwards, the X-Factor name was bought from Jamie Madrox by a businessman named Harrison Snow who was the CEO of Serval Industries. He seemingly wanted to establish a corporate superhero team as part of an experiment in having superhumans serve the interests of a company. To head this team, he came to recruit Polaris where he listened to her recommendations for recruits for the new corporate X-Factor. (All-New X-Factor v1 #1)

She came to rescue the time-displaced original five X-Men that were being held hostage at Utopia in the newly formed nation of New Tian. (X-Men: Blue v1 #8)

Magneto later came to request Polaris's aid in helping to train the time-displaced original five X-Men that had been brought from the past to the present. (X-Men: Blue v1 #10)

House of X

Citizen of Krakoa in X-Men v6 #1.

After the establishment of the nation of Krakoa, she was one of many Mutants that came to reside on the living island that was the home of their people. Lorna was shown to be by her father's Magneto's side as the pair became citizens of the newly formed country. This was a definitive moment for their kind as through the power of the Five they were able to bring back the dead through the Resurrection Protocols. (House of X v1 #5) Later, Northstar looked to revive his recently killed sister Aurora but lacked the necessary evidence that would allow for a resurrection. Thus, he and Polaris came to form an investigation group that looked into the death of Mutants and to streamline the information given to the Five that would allow the deceased's return through the Resurrection Protocols. (X-Factor v4 #1)

Unknown to her, Saturnyne imprinted a set of information into the Earth's electromagnetic spectrum that could only be accessed by Polaris's magnetic powers. She returned to Krakoa where she requested the use of the Resurrection Protocols to bring back Rockslide as she felt responsible for his death. This was agreed with the Five attempting to bring Santos back but instead it brought someone else who was both Rockslide and yet was not him at the same time. A seeming corruption occurred that shorted out the Resurrection Protocols thus forcing them to sever the system and destroy the affected eggs. It was then discovered that the multiversal nature of Otherworld meant that it overwrote the saved mental patterns of Rockslide thus making the Five bring a new entity in the form of Rockslide with the Santos they knew being dead. A distraught Polaris blamed herself for Rockslide's death as a result and during a meeting with the Quiet Council the imprinted information from Saturnyne activated causing her to reveal the prophecy regarding information hinting at the identity of the ten sword bearers to be chosen from Krakoa for the upcoming fight against Arrako. Meanwhile, Polaris used the dead remains of the old Rockslide to create a sanctum on Krakoa that contained 10 spots where each of the sword bearers was to gather where they would be transported to Otherworld for the tournament. (X-Factor v4 #4)

She then joined the new X-Men team as them came to operate from their headquarters at the Treehouse that was located in New York City. Polaris along with her team mates helped destroy an alien mech that was attacking the city where Lorna helped form a mech of their own that was animated using her powers. (X-Men v6 #1) Her powers were invaluable in stopping another threat when a miniature Annihilation Wave was released on Earth with Dane using her magnetism to help contain the alien insectoids to allow them to be incinerated. (X-Men v6 #2)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Mistress of Magnetism in X-Men: Kingbreaker v1 #3.

In appearance, Lorna Dane was a beautiful young woman who was born naturally with green hair though she used to dye it to avoid attracting the curious. Initially, when the Mesmero looked to recruit her they came to label her as the M-II Weapon. (X-Men v1 #49) Her abilities led to her going under the title of Mistress of Magnetism (Marvel Team-Up v1 #69) At one point, she came to be one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse where she went under the name of Pestilence. (X-Men v2 #185)

After losing her powers, she longed to gain them back which was one of the reasons she ended up accepting Apocalypse's offer and became one of his Horsemen. (X-Men v2 #185)

Her mother was a woman named Suzanna whilst her biological father was Magneto after a brief affair between them. Lorna's mother was actually married to a man named Arnold and cheated on him in secret wit Magneto but later returned to her husband. At the time, she was pregnant with Lorna but made Arnold believe that the child was his daughter though he eventually came to learn the truth. (X-Factor v1 #243) After their death, she was adopted and raised by her father's sister along with her husband who never told her that she was not their biological child. (X-Men v1 #52)

After learning about her father, she became torn in her loyalty to him as she acknowledged that he committed evil acts but that they shared the same blood. It was this reason that she had times came to serve him and felt compelled to aid him. One account claimed though that this was a deception and that he was not her actual father. (X-Men v1 #52)

Powers and abilities

Using her magnetic powers in X-Factor v4 #4.

As a Mutant, Polaris came to inherit her powers from her biological father Magneto where she had the power to manipulate magnetic fields. Her powers first manifested far earlier than normal where she generated a magnetic pulse that destroyed a plane and all its occupants except for herself. Lorna's powers activating at such an early age was said to had been unusual but not an unprecedented occurrence. (X-Factor v1 #243) Afterwards, she did not experience any use of her abilities and was labelled as a latent Mutant. (X-Men v1 #49) In terms of power, she was noted that she was an Alpha-level Mutant. (X-Men v2 #97)

Whilst working for Magneto, he came to help her in the development of her powers. (X-Men v1 #52)

Lorna was capable of conducting a magna-scan whereby she could sense the magnetic auras of people. People generated a natural magnetic aura which allowed her to potentially uncover robotic duplicates. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #146)

She was able to overload and short-circuit every electrical system in a complex though certain sites could be shielded from this power. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #146)

Magnetic force blasts were capable of literally ripping metallic targets to shreds. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #146)

To protect herself, she could form a magnetic anti-gravity force field to shield herself from attacks and to give her breathing room to decide her next move. She could erect force fields to protect herself and others from an explosion near her. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #146)

Over time, she demonstrated the power of flight through the use of her powers. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #18)

As the Horseman Pestilence, she was altered by the transformation of Apocalypse who gave her powers after she lost them on M-Day. (X-Men v2 #185) In this state, she had the power of ingesting and absorbing diseases, plagues and other viruses whilst having an immunity to their effects. (X-Men v2 #182) Exposure to them allowed her to combine them to create a powerful Meta-Plague that could wipe out entire species. ​(X-Men v2 #185) After losing these powers, she seemingly retained some abilities beyond those of her original mutation such as being able to burn through drugs that tried to keep her unconscious. (X-Men: Kingbreaker v1 #1)

Notes

• Polaris was created by Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko where she made her first appearance in X-Men v1 #49 (October, 1968).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In X-Men, Polaris guest starred in the 1990s animated television series in the episode "Cold Comfort" where she was voiced by actress Terri Hawkes.
• In Wolverine and the X-Men, Polaris appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Liza del Mundo. This version was shown as being the youngest daughter of Magneto who was fond of her father and lived with her sister Scarlet Witch on Genosha.
• In The Gifted, Polaris featured in the live-action television series where she was portrayed by actress Emma Dumont.

Video games

• In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Polaris had a cameo appearance in Magneto's ending in the setting of the crossover fighting video game where she was alongside other members of the Brotherhood.
• In Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past, Polaris appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Super War, Polaris appeared as a playable champion in the setting of the MOBA video game.

Appearances

• X-Men v1: (1968)
• X-Factor v1:
• X-Men v2:
• X-Men: Kingbreakers v1:
• All-New X-Factor v1:
• X-Men Blue v1:
• Uncanny X-Men v1:
• House of X v1:
• X-Factor v4:
• X of Swords: Creation v1: (2020)
• Hellions v1: (2021)
• X-Men v6: (2021)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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