Lorna Dane (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Polaris

Gallery

Real Name

Lorna Dane

Current Alias

Polaris

Aliases

Mistress of Magnetism, M-2, Malice, Magnetrix, Pestilence

Identity

Secret

Alignment

Good

Affiliation

Starjammers, X-Men; formerly X-Factor, Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, Genoshan Cabinet

Relatives

Joseph (father's clone/paternal uncle, deceased)

Magneto (father)
Magda Lehnsherr (step-mother, deceased)
Zaladane (sister, status uncertain)
Anya Lehnsherr (paternal half-sister, deceased)
Scarlet Witch (paternal half-sister)
Quicksilver (paternal half-brother)
Nightcrawler (half-brother-in-law)
Vision (half-brother-in-law)
Crystal (half-sister-in-law)
Nocturne (half-niece)
Speed (half-nephew)
Wiccan (half-nephew)

Luna Maximoff (half-niece)

Universe

Earth-616

Base Of Operations

Xavier Institute Of Higher Learning, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York; formerly X-Factor Headquarters, Embassy Row, Washington DC; Mutant Research Center, Muir Island, Scotland

Characteristics

Gender

Female

Height

5' 7"

Weight

115 lbs (52 kg)

Eyes

Green

Hair

Green

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Adventurer; formerly U.S. government operative, Terrorist, geophysics graduate student

Origin

Origin

Lorna is a mutant, born with her amazing abilities that developed during puberty. Her parents died in a plane crash when she was an infant. She was adopted, but grew up thinking her foster parents were her aunt and uncle until she was informed of the truth when she was almost twenty years old. Her foster parents hid the truth in fear it was cause Lorna extreme stress and trauma.

First appearance

Uncanny X-Men #49 (Oct. 1968)

History

Lorna Dane's magnetic powers emerged when she was controlled by Mesmero and subjected to a 'mutant energy stimulator' device. She and Magneto were also convinced that they were father and daughter, due to the similar natures of their powers, although that was quickly disproved, and the Magneto Mesmero was working for was revealed as a robot double.

Early Years

Uncanny X-Men 50

Iceman met a young woman named Lorna Dane. She was identified as a mutant by Cerebro. Iceman discovered that she had green hair (revealed after Lorna had showered).

Iceman provided evidence that convinced Lorna that her true parents had died in a plane crash years earlier. She then turned against the fake Magneto and joined the X-Men. When Lorna first encountered the real Magneto in the Savage Land, she was surprised that he did not know who she was.

Lorna Dane's first "code name" was Magnetrix, but she quickly decided that was a bad idea. This did not keep Havok from continuing to use that name as a way to annoy her and flirt with her.

When the old and new X-Men together fought the island Krakoa, Lorna displayed her major power potential for the first time as she disrupted the Earth's magnetic field, flinging Krakoa into deep space.^[1]

For a while, Iceman had a crush on her but Lorna didn't truly reciprocate the feelings. She did however, fall in love with her teammate Havok, the brother of Cyclops. The two left the X-Men to pursue their mutual interest in geophysics. They moved to the Diablo mountain range in California.

Mind controlled by Shi'ar

Polaris in her Shi'ar design costume

Lorna received her Shi'ar design costume, when her mind came under the domination of the Shi'ar Intelligence agent Davan Shakari, also known as Erik the Red. It was he who gave Lorna the codename Polaris.^[2] At the time Shakari served D'Ken, the emperor of the Shi'ar Galaxy, later deposed in favor of his sister Lilandra. Shakari kidnapped Alex Summers and Lorna Dane and subjected them to a powerful form of mind control: they were turned against the X-Men and attempted to assassinate Xavier. A massive battle ensued at Kennedy International Airport with the duo battling the X-Men. Polaris was defeated by Storm but Shakari managed to escape with both her and Alex. Charles Xavier finally freed her from Shakari's control.

Malice

Lorna and Alex returned from time to time to assist the team. She remained in civilian life for a number of years. Polaris and Havok led a happy life. They settled down in New Mexico and completed their degrees until the Marauders ambushed her and Havok around the time of the Mutant Massacre. Lorna's mind was overtaken by an evil being known as Malice. Malice's energy matrix was very compatible with Lorna's powers and the two became grafted together, apparently inseparable.

As Malice, Lorna led the Marauders for several years. After Mister Sinister was seemingly killed, Malice's hold over Polaris weakened and Lorna was able to place a phone call to the X-Men in Australia for help, but they arrived too late: Lorna was with her alleged half-sister Zaladane, a priestess for the Savage Land's Sun People. The X-Men arrived in time to witness Zaladane's getaway, but Havok managed to infiltrate her army in disguise while the X-Men followed. There the X-Men found that Zaladane had amassed an army of Savage Land natives who were being mentally controlled for her by Worm, one of the Savage Land Mutates. Zaladane revealed that she was in fact Lorna's sister and, using the High Evolutionary's machinery, stripped Polaris of her magnetic powers and took them as her own. The process also managed to finally separate Lorna and Malice. Zaladane and her forces clashed with Ka-Zar and the X-Men who were trying to free Lorna.

Secondary Mutation

Polaris (Lorna Dane)

During the encounter, Polaris' Secondary Mutation kicked in. She grew in height (towering over Alex Summers), was invulnerable and had superhuman strength. Zaladane's army was released from Worm's control, and Lorna regained her freedom.

Having nowhere else to go, Lorna headed for Muir Island. On her way there her secondary mutation kicked in again (as was evident by her increased size). At this time, she discovered that her new mutation also affected those around her, amplifying negative emotions such as anger and hate. Upon examination even Moira MacTaggert was at a loss to explain Lorna's new mutation, although she did confirm that the only way Zaladane could have taken her powers away was if she were a biological sibling. Lorna was on hand to help Moira and Banshee defend Muir Island from the attacking Reavers (who were there looking for Wolverine).

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 during the Muir Island Saga. 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.

X-Factor

Polaris

She was then asked to join the newly formed Government X-Factor by Valerie Cooper and, tired of hiding out on Muir Island, she accepted. Lorna and Alex were set as its leaders. Her joining X-Factor offered her the chance to reunite with Alex, but their relationship remained largely unresolved. Since this time X-Factor has changed dramatically, and so had Polaris, growing stronger and more sure of herself, and more independent from Alex. They tried to maintain the relationship but they broke up and reconciled multiple times. Polaris became a mainstay of X-Factor and became the government's secret weapon against a possible attack from Magneto.

Malice returned to bother her once more but Havok and Polaris, out of their love for each other, each tried to absorb her, preventing the other from being possessed. In the end, Malice perished at the hands of Mister Sinister.

X-Factor's atmosphere changed as criminals Mystique and Sabretooth were forced by the government to join the group. 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.

When Havok finally revealed that his "terrorist" activities had been a front for his true undercover work, Lorna forgave him although she rejected him romantically. She also rejoined X-Factor only to watch as Havok was seemingly killed in the explosion of a faulty time machine constructed by the mutant from the future, Greystone.

Lorna left X-Factor to grieve and the group disbanded.

The Twelve

Months later, Nightcrawler ran into Lorna in a church, and she confided in him that she felt she was being followed, and that she was sure Alex was alive because The Living Monolith hadn't returned. Little did she know that she was right on both counts. A group of Skrulls working with Apocalypse was indeed shadowing her, and broke into her apartment to retrieve the headgear from Alex's original costume. Lorna then learned that she was one of "The Twelve"; a team of mutants supposedly destined to usher in a new golden age for mutantkind.

Lorna freaked, even after the X-Men set a trap for the Skrulls and found their base. She journeyed with the X-Men to Egypt to battle Apocalypse. Lorna was captured along with the rest of The Twelve, but when Magneto's failing power short-circuited Apocalypse's plan and the Living Monolith burst free as well, Magneto somehow tapped into Lorna's power and was able to command the magnetic field with incredible force.

Magneto

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, 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 decided to try and stop him, but was defeated and fled the country following Magneto's return to full power.

Later, when Magneto captured Professor X as the first step in a war against humanity, Polaris returned to Genosha to help evacuate the humans still living there. After Wolverine nearly crippled Magneto, Polaris stayed to help him recover and maintain order. At this time that Lorna began running genetic tests on Magneto and herself, while investigating the plane crash that killed her parents. To her shock, she discovered that all the metal on her parents' plane had been magnetized and that she was Magneto's genetic daughter! She left Genosha in a hurry.

After coming to terms with her discovery, Polaris returned to Genosha, and found out that Magneto had known of her research and its results and had proclaimed them to his people, so she was greeted as a returning princess. Lorna was still there when the Sentinels sent by Cassandra Nova decimated the island's population. Polaris fled the scene, and survived the radiation surges and power blasts. For months she struggled to contain the electromagnetic fields of the dead, nearly going crazy in the process, until the X-Men visited Genosha and found her. They managed to break through to Polaris, and rescued her from the ravaged country.

Trauma

A few weeks later, Polaris apparently heard that Havok had been located, and showed up at the Mansion to reunite with him. Finding Alex's nurse Annie Ghazakhanian yelling at his unconscious form to release her son Carter (who had become trapped in Alex's mind), Lorna attacked with scalpels, even bruising Northstar when he tried to stop her. Finally Lorna was calmed, though she blew Annie off with cruel abandon, and then launched herself at Alex when he regained consciousness moments later. Lorna was all over Alex, as if marking her territory, and then stunned everyone when she asked him to marry her. Alex accepted, and then the two of them left the Mansion to reconnect as they planned their wedding.

Unfortunately, Alex left Lorna at the altar and Lorna went nuts, manufacturing a Magneto helmet out of flatware and attempting to kill Alex, Annie and Carter. Lorna was finally brought down by Juggernaut and upon being returned to the Mansion under restraints agreed to let Professor X into her mind to unravel the cause of her recent personality shift. Lorna goaded Annie into joining the telepathic party, and revealed to them the truth about her relationship to Magneto, as well as the horrific experience of living through the Genoshan Massacre. Lorna was under guard at the Mansion, her attitude drastically changed from a sweet loving woman into a more "shoot-first, ask questions later" fighter. After the fight with 'Xorneto' she played the devil's advocate, supporting Magneto's view on humans and mutants. She even went as far to trying to convince Xavier of Magneto's view at Magneto's funeral in Genosha, by threatening to kill him just so that he would fight for his own survival and prove his own dream of peaceful coexistence wrong. However, Xavier didn't go down that line and would have rather died than kill his former student. Not being able to say anything else she showed her respect for Xavier and her father by making a statue of Magneto and Professor X out of the giant Sentinel-turned-Magneto statue that Logan had ripped down.

Decimation

During the recent X-team reorganization, Polaris was added to Havok's team, causing a significant amount of conflict because she and Iceman have become a couple. Lorna is still a little distant, and somewhat concerned for her own sanity, due to her recent traumas. After the House of M, Lorna seemed to have lost her powers, though Emma Frost's scans of the Xavier Institute should have revealed this; has Lorna really lost her powers or is it a figment of her broken mind?

After nearly being killed in combat, Lorna revealed that she had lost her powers and decided to leave the team. Havok accompanied her, but Cyclops kept Bobby Drake from going along as well. Chased by members of the Sapien League, including the ferocious and vengeful Leper Queen, Havok and Polaris encountered Doop (an alien-like creature resembling Doop). Only Lorna was able to understand the creature, ans she felt an overwhelming desire to befriend it.

Pestilence

Before Havok could protest any further, the creature grabbed Lorna and flew away with her. The creature dropped her inside Apocalypse's sphinx. (Whether the creature was in league with Apocalypse or was repelled by the ships systems, or even if the creature was real or some artificial creation of Apocalypse's Celestial technology is not entirely clear.) When Apocalypse made Lorna an offer of power as his horseman of Pestilence, she refused, but was eventually tempted to join him.

Mindwiped, she ingested viruses from the World Health Organization and was attempting to create a meta-plague. In the climatic battle between the X-Men, the Avengers, and Apocalypse, Wolverine discovered a choking Pestilence was Lorna. Havok was able to resuscitate Lorna, then given a serum to protect him from the diseases present. She was recovering in the X-Mansion when Gambit and Sunfire returned to take her away. She arose and refused to go with them. Polaris decided to leave that night to search for Apocalypse in Egypt. She went alone and was later hunted until Havok and the new Uncanny X-Men team saved her. Emma Frost has also noted that her powers seem to be mutating, and that Apocalypse fused unknown technology to Lorna's nervous system to replicate her lost magnetic powers.

Back with the X-Men

Polaris (Lorna Dane)

After being rescued from an anti-Apocalypse cult^[3] by the new team of X-Men, Polaris agreed to join Professor X, Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Warpath on their mission to stop Vulcan.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Lorna's body has been augmented by Apocalypse to replace her lost X-Factor Gene.

Magnetokinesis: ability to manipulate magnetism. Although she has the potential to exercise all of the powers that Magneto has, as yet she has only used powers involving the manipulation of magnetic, electrical, and gravitational fields. Moreover, she cannot summon as great an amount of energy as Magneto can. The exact limits on the amount weight that she can magnetically lift at present have not been measured, but they are considerably below those of Magneto. Since she has preferred not to use her powers in combat situations, she has not worked nearly as hard to develop them as Magneto has. As with Magneto, it is unknown whether Polaris's powers are purely psionic or whether they derive from her physically.

Polaris has been observed levitating metallic objects and creating force fields in which she can suspend persons or objects in the air and in which she can protect them from attacks from outside the fields. Polaris can focus her magnetic energy into powerful concussive blasts. She can also overload or short-circuit electrical systems. By concentrating, Polaris can perceive the world around herself solely as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. She can perceive the natural magnetic auras surrounding living beings, as well. Her personal polarity is opposite that of Magneto's.

Polaris has a latent Secondary Mutation. Manifesting when her powers were stripped and taken by her half-sister Zaladane.

Negative Emotion Absorption (formerly, latent again): absorb negative emotional energy to transform into a virtual powerhouse.

• Increased Size
• Increased Strength
• Increased Endurance
• Invulnerability.
• Negative Emotional Release: Her power also released the negativity back into her environment at an enhanced level, which caused others to act more violent, selfish, bloodthirsty, etc.

After the events of M-Day, Lorna found she was among the majority of mutants who had lost their powers.

Meta-Plague Manipulation (formerly): As Pestilence, Lorna had the ability to ingest and synthesize new plagues without harm, controlling the virulence and particular genetic markers. Capable of then releasing this virus or plague as a combined mutated strain or as the various separate plagues they originally were.

Abilities

Lorna has some training in geology.

Strength level

Polaris possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. When possessed by Malice, Lorna had superhuman strength with an unknown upper limit.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: Biohazard containment suit. At one point Lorna wore a metal belt with her costume that she would manipulate as a weapon or tool.
Transportation: X-Men Blackbird, formerly X-Men Stratojet, Sentinel Air Transport.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

• Lorna's green hair is an apparent quirk of her mutation.
  
  

Trivia

• No trivia.
  
  

Appearances in Other Media

Polaris - Bowen Bust

Merchandise

• There 2 bust available representing Polaris. One is by Bowen Designs and the other is made by Dynamic Forces.

See Also

• Appearances of Lorna Dane (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Lorna Dane (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Lorna Dane (Earth-616)
• Quotations by Lorna Dane (Earth-616)
• Images that include Lorna Dane (Earth-616)

Discover and Discuss

• Search News for: Polaris · Lorna Dane · Lorna Dane (Earth-616)
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• Discuss this and other characters on the forums

Links and References

• Marvel.com
• Marvel Directory
• Polaris at X-Peoples Central
• UncannyXmen.net, Spotlight feature on Polaris
• Polaris biography at mutanthigh.com
• Women of Marvel Comics Polaris Page
• Project Polaris A Polaris fansite