Polaris (Dr. Lorna Sally Dane) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Jim Steranko, the character first appeared in The X-Men #49 (October 1968), though she is not called Polaris until The X-Men #97 (February 1976). Dane has also been a member of the X-Men and the X-Factor, in which she is frequently paired with her on-again off-again romantic interest Havok (Alex Summers). Like the other X-Men, Lorna Dane belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. She can control magnetism in a manner similar to her father, Magneto, who served as the X-Men's main antagonist in early stories (The X-Men #1-11, published 1963–1965). Although it was speculated for decades, the fact that Magneto was her father was not revealed until a 2003 storyline, some 35 years after the character's debut. Many of Lorna's stories involve her mental instability and mental health issues, particularly her bipolar disorder, which is exacerbated by the repeated brainwashing episodes and other traumatic events. Lorna's mental health has also been a factor in storylines where she becomes evil or loses control of her abilities. The character has been known as Polaris, Malice, and Pestilence at various points in her history. The character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Lorna Dane made her live-action debut in The Gifted (2018), portrayed by Emma Dumont.
Publication history Lorna Dane debuted in The X-Men #49 (October 1968), created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Jim Steranko. Her powers manifest in The X-Men #50, and in issue #60 she joins the X-Men. Drake and Steranko's successors on the series, Roy Thomas and Neal Adams, introduced a romance between Lorna and Havok. Together with Havok, the character has a brief appearance in Hulk #150 (April 1972). Polaris and Havok later appeared briefly as captives of the Secret Empire before being freed by Captain America and the X-Men in a storyline that ran from Captain America #173 -175 (May-July 1974). She then appeared in the 1975 Giant-Size X-Men #1, but in the next appearance of the X-Men, The X-Men #94 (August 1975), she quits the team. She and Havok return in The X-Men #97 (February 1976) as villains under the mental control of Erik the Red, with Lorna calling herself Polaris for the first time. Polaris and Havok are returned to normal by The X-Men #119 (March 1979), and became regular members of the X-Men's supporting cast. Polaris joins the relaunched X-Factor in X-Factor #71 (October 1991) and remains with the group until the end of the series, X-Factor #149 (September 1998). Lorna Dane continued to appear in The X-Men, now retitled The Uncanny X-Men, as well as a new series simply titled X-Men (no "The"). In The Uncanny X-Men #431 (November 2003) a DNA test proves that she is the daughter of Magneto. She had previously been revealed to be of this parentage in The X-Men #50 (her second appearance), but most saw this as being invalidated by the revelation in The X-Men #58 (July 1979) that the Magneto who claimed to be her father was a robot. She rejoins X-Factor in X-Factor Investigations and the 2014 All-New X-Factor. She then appeared in the 2019 Captain Marvel, the 2020 X-Factor series, the 2020 X of Swords: Creation one-shot, the 2021 X-Men series, the 2021 X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic series, the 2022 Marauders series, the 2023 Scarlet Witch series, the 2024 Fall of the House of X series, and the 2024 X-Factor series. The new costume worn by Polaris in the Fall of the House of X (2024) series was designed by comic book artist Lukas Werneck. Marvel Comics requested a suit paying homage to Magneto.
Fictional character biography
Origin Lorna Dane met the original team of X-Men while still a student. When the villain Mesmero used his "psyche-generator" to summon mutants in North America with latent powers, Lorna found herself compelled to travel to San Francisco, where Mesmero was. There she encountered the X-Man Iceman, who broke her trance by causing her to slip on a patch of ice and then convinced her to come to his apartment. At the apartment, Lorna met the rest of the X-Men who soon learned that she had latent mutant powers. Mesmero and his android Demi-Men captured her and took her to their desert headquarters, with the X-Men in pursuit. The psyche-generator awakened her mutant powers and Mesmero named her "Queen of the Mutants". When the X-Men attempted to rescue her, Magneto revealed himself as the leader of the group behind her abduction—and, more importantly, claimed to be Lorna's father. Despite the X-Men's assertions that Magneto is evil, Lorna could not bring herself to fight her own father. Iceman returns from meeting with her foster parents who told him that her birth parents had died in a plane crash years earlier. This information caused Lorna to turn against Magneto but it was later revealed that she had caused the accident and Magneto had her memories of it erased with the help of Mastermind. For a while, Iceman was attracted to her, but Lorna did not truly reciprocate his feelings. She instead fell in love with their teammate Havok. Unbeknownst to Lorna, the Magneto who claimed to be her father is revealed to be an android. Shortly after, Lorna was captured by Sentinels, but was rescued by the X-Men. Lorna joined the X-Men and began living at Xavier's mansion. Lorna aided Havok and the X-Men in repelling the alien Z'Nox's attempted invasion of Earth. Lorna Dane's first "code name" was Magnetrix, but she quickly decided that she did not like this name. However, that did not keep Havok from continuing to use that name as a way to annoy and flirt with her. The two leave the X-Men to pursue their mutual interest in geophysics. They moved to the Diablo mountain range in California. Lorna, with Havok, is later seen battling the Hulk. When the old and new X-Men fought the mutant island Krakoa, Lorna displayed the full potential of her powers for the first time by disrupting the Earth's magnetic field, which sent Krakoa into deep space. They then joined Moira MacTaggert at her facility for genetic research on Muir Island.
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