POLARIS
Real Name: Lorna Dane (last name since adoption, birth name unknown)
Former Aliases: M-2, Magnetrix, Malice IV (while possessed by a psychic entity)
Height: 5 7
Weight: 115 lbs.
Hair color: Light Green
Eyes: Dark Green
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #49
Joined the X-Men in: Uncanny X-Men #60
Currently in: Uncanny X-Men
Known Relatives: Zaladane (claimed to be her sister), Magneto (Father)
Profession: degree in Geophysics
Group Affiliation: formerly X-Men, X-Factor, The Twelve, Acolytes, Genoshan Cabinet
formerly Marauders (while possessed by Malice)
Powers:
[list]
- conduct magnetic energy as pulse bolts, force fields, flight, and the manipulation of ferrous materials, absorb electricity to supercharge her own electromagnetic fields
- when her magnetic powers were disabled, a latent secondary mutation kicked in. It allowed her to absorb negative emotional energy to transform into a virtual powerhouse, with increased size, strength, endurance, and invulnerability; she also released the negativity back into her environment at an enhanced level, inducing others to act more violent, selfish, bloodthirsty, etc.
[/list]
BIOGRAPHY
Lorna Dane’s childhood history remains incompletely disclosed, including her place of birth and the names of her parents. Her birth parents died in a plane crash and, so, Lorna was adopted by her father’s sister and her husband, taking their last name “Dane” as well. Lorna grew up unaware of her true parentage and led a relatively normal life, except for the naturally green hair she was born with. To avoid unwanted attention, her parents forced her to dye it brown at all times.
She was one of many mutants who responded to a technical summons call to San Francisco. There, they were enthralled by the mutant hypnotist, Mesmero, who was recruiting an army for Magneto (in actuality, a robot duplicate of Magneto, built by the Machinesmith). Lorna actually would never have reached her destination, as she failed to notice the traffic in enthralled state.
Thankfully, Iceman rescued her from being run over by an approaching car and the shock of nearly dying snaped Lorna out of the hypnosis. Bobby took her to the mansion, where the girl was revealed to have green hair after having taken a shower, washing out the dye. Additionally, Cerebro reacted to her, so she was a mutant. While the other X-Men investigated the happenings in San Francisco, Iceman and Lorna were kidnapped by Mesmeros forces.
In the villains base, Lorna was placed in an energy stimulator, which caused her mutant powers of magnetism to first manifest. She was then manipulated into believing that she was Magneto`s daughter and Mesmero called her M 2 (Magneto the Second).
When the X-Men arrived, Lorna was torn between friendly people she just met and a father she never knew. Uncertain, she sided with Magneto and the X-Men fled, as they had no chance to defeat Mesmeros army. Later, Cyclops disguised himself as Eric the Red and infiltrated the organization, while Iceman researched the truth about Lornas heritage.
Turned out, that she was adopted by her uncle and aunt after her real parents had died in a plane crash. She was not Magneto`s daughter. Hearing this news, Lorna was relieved and helped the X-Men to overcome Mesmeros organization. [X-Men (1st series) #49-52]
Iceman had romantic feelings for the green haired mutant and, at first, Lorna seemed to return his affections. However, not before long, she and Havok were captured by the reactivated Sentinels. Inside their base, Havok agreed to help Larry Trask, the Sentinels commander, in order to spare Lorna from unpleasant torture. [X-Men (1st series) #57-58]
After being rescued by the X-Men, she joined the team and found herself becoming attracted to Havok. [X-Men (1st series) #60-61]
Bobby had trouble accepting this and, more often than not, would cause fights with Alex over Lorna.
When the senior members had troubles in the Savage Land, Xavier sent Havok and Lorna after them. There, they met Ka-Zar and Lorna realized that she had no codename to introduce herself with. She came up with Magnetrix, but had to confess that it sounded ridiculous. Havok teased her with calling her by that name a few times, before she dropped it again. [X-Men Hidden Years #3, 6]
Shortly afterwards, the X-Men encountered a group called the Promise. They wanted to wait for the time after the final confrontation between humans and mutants and only stepped out of their cryogenic chambers every ten years to check on the worlds status and to recruit more members. In one of these occasions, they targeted Lorna and Alex, as they had not yet been fully indoctrinated by Xavier and could easier be influenced. Under control of the Promise, Lorna first used her magnetic powers to fly, much to the surprise of her teammates. Not all within the group agreed with the ways of leader, Thomas Messenger, and he was killed by Lucy Robinson, who also helped to free Lorna from the chamber that would have put her in suspended animation for ten years. [X-Men Hidden Years #18, 22]
Some time later, Havok left the team after accidentally injuring Iceman in a fight over Lorna and, as he did not return for months, Xavier sent Lorna after him to ask him to come back. On her way to the south-western deserts of the United States, Lorna was recognized by the Hulk, who mistook her for his former green haired lover, Jarella. Once he saw his error, the Hulk felt deceived and grew angry. Before things became serious, Havok intervened and battled the Hulk, demostrating 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 (2nd series) #150]
On their way back to rejoin the X-Men, the pair were captured by the Secret Empire. The X-Men did not investigate, as Xavier assumed that Lorna had not suceeded in making Alex return and, instead, had chosen to retire with her lover together. Only long weeks later, the X-Men became aware that more and more mutants disappeared. Finally, they rescued their friends with the help of the Falcon and Captain America. [Captain America (1st series) #173-175]
When the old and new X-Men together fought the island Krakoa, Lorna displayed her major power potential for the first time. Jean telepathically removed Lornas inner blocks of insecurity and Lorna absorbed the electric energy of Storms lighting and the 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 gravimetral forces kicked backed it, it had an effect like wet soap being squished through a hand and the island was hurled into space. [Giant-Size X-Men #1]
In the aftermath of that battle, Lorna and Havok left the X-Men to spent time alone together and to pursue their degrees in geophysics [X-Men (1st series) #94] but, soon after, the pair were mind-controlled by the Shiar agent, Eric the Red, who gave Lorna the codename Polaris.
The ShiAr Empire wanted to prevent the meeting of Professor Xavier and Princess Lilandra, so Eric the Red used his pawns to battle their former teammates various times [X-Men (1st series) #97]. In the end, the X-Men defeated them and Professor X was able to free Havok and Polaris from Eric the Red`s control.
To recover, they stayed on Muir Island for some time [mentioned in X-Men (1st series) #109] and later, when Phoenix arrived, believing the X-Men dead, they helped her deal with the loss. [X-Men (1st series) #119]
Not before long, the dangerous mutant Proteus escaped and, to fight him, the X-Men reunited. [X-Men (1st series) #125-128]
Shortly after the X-Men departed from Scotland, Alex and Lorna too left Muir Island and went back to New Mexico to complete their degrees. For a time, Polaris and Havok led a happy life, only to be interrupted by the X-Men asking them to help, as they were blackmailed by Arcade into battling Dr. Doom. Only reluctantly, the couple followed their request and, immediatly after they had freed the hostages from Arcade, returned to New Mexico. [Uncanny X-Men #145-146]
However, their idyllic existence was not to last, as, months later, Polaris was ambushed by the Marauders while Havok was away, visiting the X-Men. Sabretooth, Arclight and Scalphunter chased her through the desert but, finally, they were all three defeated by Lorna only it wasnt Lorna anymore, but the psychic entity Malice, who had been ordered by Sinister to take over Polaris and, in her body, become the Marauders leader. [Uncanny X-Men #219]
As Malice, she battled Havok and the X-Men several times and not even Psylockes telepathy could overcome the mental hold over Lorna. Malice toyed around with the X-Men, knowing that they would not dare to harm Lornas body, but she herself had no problems and used her magnetic powers without hesitation. [Uncanny X-Men #221-222]
Weeks later, Malice stormed into Sinisters room, as she had discovered that she was permanently bonded to Lornas body. Much to her surprise, Sinister had predicted this effect, as their individual energy matrixes were of such frequencies that could interact with each other. Malice was quite angry, but calmed a bit down when Sinister explained that she was priceless to him. She was now unique and not cloneable. Yet, at the same time, he dismissed her to never speak to him in such tone again. [Uncanny X-Men #239]
After Mister Sinister was seemingly killed during Inferno, Malices hold over Polaris weakened and she was able to contact the X-Men for help. However, in the Australian base, there was nobody present to pick up the call, besides Jubilee, who lived there secretly. She answered the phone and left Havok a note, which was only discovered somewhat later. When the X-Men finally arrived in South America, where Malice had fled to, it was too late, as Lorna had been captured by the Savage Land Mutates and Zaladane, who claimed to be her sister.
Even though Havok followed them to the Savage Land, he could not prevent Zaladane from using a device to transfer the magnetic powers from Lorna to herself. As an unexpected side-effect, the psychic entity Malice was finally purged of Polaris body.
Lorna and Alex were put into a prison cell within Zaladanes citadel. There, the Savage Land Mutates started to act wilder than usual and, strangely, Lorna grew a few inches and developed super-strength and nigh-invulnerability. With ease, she could break the chains that were holding her and she helped the invading X-Men against Zaladanes troops. Yet, when the fight was over, the X-Men were teleported away to Australia, leaving Lorna behind. [Uncanny X-Men #249-250]
Having nowhere else to go, Lorna headed for Muir Island and, aboard the freighter leaving Antarctica, it became clear that she drew her strength from being a nexus for negative emotional energies. Everyone aboard the ship started to act weird and crazy. Finally, they battled each other and Lorna was even shot at. Yet, once more she grew in size and the bullets bounced off her skin. She radioed Banshee for help and he picked her up somewhere in the Atlantic, while the sailors aboard had caused the ships destruction. On Muir Island, Lorna was examined by Moira MacTaggert, whose tests confirmed not only that Malice was no longer in her head, but also that her magnetic powers were now dormant and could not be accessed. [Uncanny X-Men #253-254]
Lorna helped to defend the island against an attack by the Reavers but, soon, the people on Muir Island started to act supicious too. Lorna understood that it was somehow herself who was inducing this behavior. Before she could alarm anybody to her discovery, she was captured by Legion and placed in a secure holding cell of the complex. [Uncanny X-Men #257-258]
However, as it turned out, it was not actually the mentally imbalanced boy who was responsible for her imprisonment, but the Shadow King, who was manipulating him. The old archenemy of Professor Xavier had perceived Lorna`s new status as a nexus and, no longer having a physical body, he used her as a gateway to allow him access to the mortal realm from the astral plane. [Uncanny X-Men #269]
The Shadow King caused waves of extreme hatred all around the world and, using Polaris as a nexus between the different planes of existence, he fueled his own power to near unlimited level, with her absorbing the negative emotional energy. It took the combined might of the X-Men and X-Factor to battle the Shadow King from two sides, one-half fighting him on the astral plane, the others keeping his physical host Legion busy. In the end, Forge pushed Psylockes psychic blade into Polaris head, disrupting the Nexus and the Shadow Kings power source. Though Legion was rendered comatose, and Xavier severly injured the heroes saved the world once more. After she was freed from the Shadow Kings device, Lorna shrunk back to her usual size and had her magnetic powers back. [Uncanny X-Men #279, X-Factor #69, Uncanny X-Men #280] The exact circumstances of how Psylockes blade could have caused this effect were never fully examined, though it might be important to mention that shortly before, Zaladane, the thief of the magnetic powers, had been killed by Magneto in the Savage Land. [Uncanny X-Men #275]
In the aftermath of the Muir Island Saga, X-Factor rejoined Xaviers X-Men and Valerie Cooper recruited a new government-sponsored team. She invited Polaris to join and, in their new headquarters in Washington, Lorna was finally reunited with her lover, Havok. [X-Factor #70-71]
It seemed that Lorna was quite fine, but the team’s sessions with superhero psychiatrist Leonard Samson revealed that she was not. She did not want Samson to get into her head, fearing to be possessed or manipulated again. When Samson stated that Lorna was 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 repelling the people close to her.
Yet Samson, reaching the core of her problem, helped Lorna to catalyze her anger, resulting in designing a new, very revealing costume for herself more or less a reaction of defience. [X-Factor #87]
The government soon asked her to change uniform, as it was too provocative, and Lorna agreed. In fact, she now focused more on Xaviers dream and became the teams moral backbone. Havok once described her as being 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, she made a hearty, political statement upon their release from prison against Forges direct orders. [X-Factor #94]
Around the same time, Random 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 Lornas magnetic powers, as the government wanted to use her as secret weapon against Magneto, should he ever attack the United States again. [X-Factor #95]
Not much later, Havok and Lorna were targeted by Malice again. She was on the run from Mr. Sinister, who wanted to make her possess Polaris once more. However, she 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. Yet Sinister and Nasty Boys intercepted sooner than anticipated and quickly took control of the situation. Sinister threatened to kill Havok if Lorna would not allow Malice to take over and, despite the long months of being controlled before, Polaris accepted. Yet while the transfer took part, Havok realized what was happening. Not wanting his lover to be controlled by the psychic entity again, he tried to pull Malice back inside and, in the end, the discorporated form left both of them in agony. Sinister was angered by his Marauders 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 #104-105]
Their happiness didnt last. A few weeks later, Havok’s powers went haywire and he was once again forced to wear his containment suit, which constantly to monitor his energy output. Alex began to withdraw into himself so, when he was kidnapped by Dark Beast’s agents and Fatale planted a faked note in Lorna’ room, telling her that he needed to get away and sort out his life, she believed it. [X-Factor #118] Lorna felt betrayed and abandoned and did not suspect Randoms involvement in her lover’s departure, so when he showed up at Falls Edge, Lorna turned to him for a shoulder to cry on.
She only felt more betrayed when the secret was finally exposed during a battle between the Brotherhood and X-Factor. Lorna was shocked to see Alex, apparently under the villains control, and that Random had lied to her. When both had been captured, she tried to reach out to Alex, who pretended to respond. Once free of the power dampening shackles, Havok blasted at her full force and 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 #125-126]
The government soon asked her to change uniform, as it was too provocative, and Lorna agreed. In fact, she now focused more on Xaviers dream and became the teams moral backbone. Havok once described her as being 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, she made a hearty, political statement upon their release from prison against Forges direct orders. [X-Factor #94]
Around the same time, Random 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 Lornas magnetic powers, as the government wanted to use her as secret weapon against Magneto, should he ever attack the United States again. [X-Factor #95]
Not much later, Havok and Lorna were targeted by Malice again. She was on the run from Mr. Sinister, who wanted to make her possess Polaris once more. However, she 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. Yet Sinister and Nasty Boys intercepted sooner than anticipated and quickly took control of the situation. Sinister threatened to kill Havok if Lorna would not allow Malice to take over and, despite the long months of being controlled before, Polaris accepted. Yet while the transfer took part, Havok realized what was happening. Not wanting his lover to be controlled by the psychic entity again, he tried to pull Malice back inside and, in the end, the discorporated form left both of them in agony. Sinister was angered by his Marauders 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 #104-105]
Their happiness didnt last. A few weeks later, Havok’s powers went haywire and he was once again forced to wear his containment suit, which constantly to monitor his energy output. Alex began to withdraw into himself so, when he was kidnapped by Dark Beast’s agents and Fatale planted a faked note in Lorna’ room, telling her that he needed to get away and sort out his life, she believed it. [X-Factor #118] Lorna felt betrayed and abandoned and did not suspect Randoms involvement in her lover’s departure, so when he showed up at Falls Edge, Lorna turned to him for a shoulder to cry on.
She only felt more betrayed when the secret was finally exposed during a battle between the Brotherhood and X-Factor. Lorna was shocked to see Alex, apparently under the villains control, and that Random had lied to her. When both had been captured, she tried to reach out to Alex, who pretended to respond. Once free of the power dampening shackles, Havok blasted at her full force and 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 #125-126]
X-Factor`s atmosphere changed as renowned criminals, Mystique and Sabretooth, were forced by the government to join. 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 #136]. With Zero Tolerance troops trying to use X-Factors diminished status to their advantage, Val Coopers only option was to hand over the wounded to Havoks Brotherhood, thinking that this was the lesser of two evils. While recovering in their care, Lorna started to act strangely out of character. Not before long, it became clear that this was not Lorna speaking, but the depixilated form of Shard, which had been magnetically drawn into her body when Sabretooth had assaulted both of them. Once the problem was discovered, it was easily corrected and Shards photon based lightform was pulled out of Polaris. [X-Factor #138,141]
When Havok finally revealed that his “terrorist” activities had been a front for his true undercover work to expose the Dark Beasts secret machinations, Lorna forgave him, although she rejected him romantically. She also rejoined X-Factor, only to watch as Havok was blown up in a faulty time machine constructed by Greystone. [X-Factor #148-149]
Weeks later, Nightcrawler encountered 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 (2nd series) #93-94] 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 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.
However, the Twelve broke free and, during the encounter, Magneto discovered that he could use Lorna to tap into the Earths magnetic field with incredible force, effectively hiding his current reduced-power state. [X-Men (2nd series) #97]
After Apocalypse was defeated, Lorna returned to Genosha with Magneto to supply him with power and help him keep order. She believed she was doing it for the greater good, being able to influence Magneto’s rule of the island nation, but also knew that she enjoyed the education in her powers that she was receiving. In the end, Magneto launched a full-scale assault on Carrion Cove, the last city opposing his rule, in order to gain access to technology that would restore his full abilities. Polaris attempted to stop him, but was defeated and left the country with the Avengers. She later snuck back in with Quicksilver, to help oppose Magnetos tyrannical rule. [Magneto: Dark Seduction #1-4]
Not before long, Quicksilver was discovered and forced to leave the country again, but Lorna managed to keep a low profile and helped to transport refugees to supportive African nations, like Wakanda. [X-Men (2nd series) #113, Uncanny X-Men #393] In the following months, Genosha was leveled by a new breed of Sentinels. Apparently, Lorna was not actually present during the attack, but she did return to the island and was caught in a residual magnetic field effect left in the wake of Magneto’s death. This energy signature unhinged her mind so much so that she began crying out for “her father, Magneto.” A team of X-Men and X-Corp members managed to break her free from the magnetic energy, but her mind still needed to recover. [New X-Men #132]
Upon hearing that Alex was alive and recuperating in a comatose state, Lorna returned to the mansion but, uncharacteristically, assaulted the Institute’s staff nurse, Annie Ghazikhanian–cruelly tormenting her with a horde of surgical knives. The reasons behind Lorna’s bizarre new attitude have yet to be revealed. [Uncanny X-Men #418]
Author : Peter Luzifer
Last Modified : Mar 17, 2003