Polaris's History
Early Years
Lorna Dane is a mutant, born of an affair between her mother Suzanna and Magneto. Her mother's husband, Arnold, later learned of this affair and confronted his wife while he was flying her and Lorna on his plane. An argument erupted, upsetting the infant Lorna whose desperation to make her parents stop fighting caused an early manifestation of her immense magnetic abilities, which caused a magnetic pulse that destroyed the plane and killed her parents, as well as giving her hair its iconic green colour. Lorna survived the crash and was found by her true father, Magneto, who had been drawn to the location by her magnetic pulse. Believing that she was not ready for her abilities or the life he could offer her, he had his associate Mastermind use his illusionary powers to re-write Lorna's memories of that day, leaving her to believe that her parents died in a plane crash when she was an infant. Lorna was raised by Arnold's sister and her husband, and grew up thinking that they are her real parents until she was informed of the truth when she was almost twenty years old - Lorna's foster parents had feared it would cause her extreme stress and trauma if they told her before.
X-Men
Iceman met the young Lorna Dane after she was identified as a mutant by Cerebro and discovered that she had green hair after Lorna stepped out of the shower. Lorna's magnetic powers emerged when she was controlled by Mesmero and subjected to a 'mutant energy stimulator' device. Lorna and Magneto were convinced that they were father and daughter, due to the similar natures of their powers. Iceman provided evidence that convinced Lorna that her true parents had died in a plane crash years earlier and she turned against Magneto, who was revealed to be a robot double. Lorna returned home with the X-Men and, eventually, joined the team. In the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the X-Men were tutored by Professor Charles Xavier and trained in the use of their powers in the Danger Room. For a while, Iceman had a crush on her, but Lorna didn't truly reciprocate the feelings. Lorna did, however, fall in love with her teammate Havok, the brother of Cyclops. They both served for a time as active X-Men and helped Professor X repel an invasion by the alien Z'Nox. Later with the X-Men, they met Ka-Zar in the Savage Land, where Lorna invented her first "code name" Magnetrix. Even though she quickly dropped the name, Havok continued to use it as a way to annoy and flirt with her. When Lorna first encountered the real Magneto in the Savage Land, she was surprised that he did not know who she was. They were, later, targeted by the Promise, and met the Hulk. Later, the X-Men and a number of mutants were kidnapped, by the Secret Empire, to harness their energy to power an "Electorn-Gyro". After Number One landed the saucer on the White House lawn and defeated Moonstone, the Secret Empire was defeated by Cyclops, Captain America, the Falcon, and Marvel Girl.
When the old and new X-Men together fought the island Krakoa, it seemed Lorna displayed her major power potential for the first time as she disrupted the Earth's magnetic field, flinging Krakoa into deep space. Years later, it was revealed that Prof. Xavier actually altered the minds of everyone to cover-up the fact that his second team of X-Men were all slaughtered attempting to save them. Following the X-Men's battle against the island Krakoa, the two, Lorna and Alex, left the X-Men to pursue their mutual interest in geophysics, attending graduate school in Nevada.
Mind controlled by Shi'ar
Lorna received her Shi'ar designed 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 code name Polaris. At the time, Shakari served D'Ken Neramani, the emperor of the Shi'ar Galaxy, later deposed in favor of his sister, Lilandra Neramani. Shakari kidnapped Alex and Lorna and subjected them to a powerful form of mind control: they were turned against the X-Men and attempted to assassinate Prof. 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. Eventually, Prof. Xavier freed Lorna and Alex from Shakari's control and they stayed at Muir Island for their recovery. While there, Lorna and Alex were attacked by henchmen of The Living Pharaoh and Lorna attempted to contact the X-Men, but received no answer and contacted Beast in the Avengers. After arriving in New York, Spider-Man came to their aid and accidentally knocked The Living Pharaoh into a containment unit, that was to be used to make Alex a living battery to magnify the Pharaoh's powers a million fold, and he was transformed into the Living Monolith again. Lorna was swept out to sea and later rescued, by Thor. After returning to Muir Island, Lorna and Alex aided the X-Men battling Proteus. Afterward, they settled in New Mexico, where they completed their advanced degrees. Lorna and Alex returned from time to time to assist the team, but they led a happy civilian life for a number of years. Professor X called on Alex and Lorna for help in the rescue of the friends and family of the X-Men from Arcade's henchman Miss Locke in Murderworld. While living in the Rio Diablo Mountains of Northern Mexico, Alex and Lorna stumbled upon a Brood Star-shark and Alex left Lorna for New York.
Malice
Later, the Marauders ambushed Lorna and her mind was overtaken by an evil being, known as Malice, while Lorna saw Alex off to check on the X-Men. As Malice, Lorna led the Marauders for a few months, first attempting to kill Cyclops' wife, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, while she was lost in a hospital, and battled Alex and the X-Men. Malice's energy matrix was very compatible with Lorna's powers and the two became grafted together, apparently inseparable. When Malice attempted to leave Lorna, Mister Sinister informed them that he was aware of the connection and that was why he suggested their union. Later, Havok tracked the Marauders, in The Alley, and the X-Men ambushed them. The Marauders fled and Polaris, controlled by Malice, returned to Mr. Sinister. Mr. Sinister was attempting to learn all he could from the X-Men and X-Factor and, thoroughly went-through the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Following Mr. Sinister's psychic trail, Marvel Girl tracked him to the school and the X-Men and X-Factor were ambushed by the Marauders. While interrogating Polaris/Malice, Mr. Sinister destroyed the school. While the X-Men and X-Factor battled Sinister and Malice, Sinister attempted to claim Marvel Girl, but Cyclops seemingly killed Sinister with an unchecked optic blast.
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. During the encounter, Polaris' Secondary Mutation kicked in and she grew in height, (towering over Alex), 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 evidenced by her increased size). 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. 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
Lorna 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. Joining X-Factor offered her the chance to reunite with Alex, but their relationship remained largely unresolved. Since this time X-Factor had 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, where 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 were indeed shadowing her, and broke into her apartment to retrieve the headgear from Alex's original costume. Lorna learned that she was one of "The Twelve"; a team of mutants supposedly destined to usher in a new golden age for mutant-kind.
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, 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 mad, 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. While 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 as attempting to convince Prof. 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, Prof. 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 Prof. 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 a reorganization of the X-Men, Polaris was added to Havok's team, causing a significant amount of conflict because she and Iceman had become a couple. Lorna was still a little distant, and somewhat concerned for her own sanity, due to her recent traumas. After the House of M incident, Lorna seemed to have lost her powers, though initially she went into denial and tried to hide her power loss from her teammates.
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 Daap (an alien-like creature resembling Doop). Only Lorna was able to understand the creature, and 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 was 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.
Mind-wiped, 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 the choking Pestilence was Lorna. Havok was able to resuscitate Lorna, having been 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 X-Men team saved her. Emma Frost noted that her powers seemed to be mutating, and that Apocalypse fused unknown technology to Lorna's nervous system to replicate her lost magnetic powers.
Starjammers
After being rescued from an anti-Apocalypse cult by a new team of X-Men, Polaris agreed to join Professor X, Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Warpath on their mission to stop Vulcan from attacking the Shi'ar Empire.
At first, Apocalypse's adjustment to Lorna appeared more dangerous and difficult to control compared to her natural abilities. Throughout the journey through space, Lorna learned to master these adjustments as if they were her own. During various battles with Vulcan's forces, Polaris managed to stop Gladiator to a stand-still, though he ended up being too powerful to be contained by metallic bonding. During the final battle with all the X-Men and Vulcan's forces, Corsair was killed. Darwin saved Prof. Xavier from the M'Krann Crystal (which had the effect of re-powering his lost X-Gene). Nightcrawler took them back to their ship, and Lilandra did not wait for Polaris, Havok, or Marvel Girl to send Prof. Xavier, Nightcrawler, Darwin, Warpath, and Hepzibah back to Earth by teleportation. Meanwhile, Polaris had successfully caused major damage to Vulcan by crushing him with his own metallic armor, but it wasn't enough to win the battle.
Polaris, Havok, and Marvel Girl joined the ranks of the Starjammers, as did Korvus, Marvel Girl's romantic interest. Although Havok made it the Starjammer's only interest to kill Vulcan and end his rule as Emperor of the Shi'ar Empire, a new arrival, the Scy'ar Tal added new pressure. They arrived, claiming the Shi'ar ejected them from their home world. The Starjammers and Vulcan's forces temporarily united to deal with the impending threat, one so great it managed to destroy an entire planet in Shi'ar space that Rachel was unable to stop.
After the battle with the Scy'ar Tal, Vulcan betrayed Havok by flinging him into the vacuum of space, where Havok crashed into a star. Unbeknownst to Vulcan, Havok's ability allowed him to absorb some of the star, giving him a massive temporary power boost. Meanwhile, Polaris led the rest of the Starjammers, first against the Scy'ar Tal, and then against the Shi'ar Warbirds ten-times the size of the Starjammers. When they lost contact with Havok, Polaris unleashed and began destroying whole Shi'ar Warbirds.
Vulcan sent his entire Imperial Guard for Polaris and the Starjammers, and Polaris sent Rachel and Korvus after a tracking device sent by Vulcan that would lead a star to destroy the M'krann crystal. Gladiator attacked them before anything could be done to stop the tracking device. Polaris led the team remaining on the Starjammer (Raza and Ch'od) against the Imperial Guard, and although they were able to hold their own for some time, the trio were eventually overcome by the sheer numbers of the Guard. Ch'od gave Havok Polaris' message that 'this can only end one way." Havok destroyed the Finality, the device using stars as planet destroying bombs, and was captured himself.
At the end of the battle, Vulcan had won, and planned to expand the Shi'ar Empire while keeping Havok, Ch'od, and Raza as prisoners. Marvel Girl, Korvus, and Lilandra all escaped. Polaris and the others were tortured in a prison under water on an oceanous planet. Despite ploys such as telling Havok that his teammates were dead and it was all Alex's fault, Havok remained defiant. Alex had at least some power left. He allowed some time to go by, with moments of exposure continuing, before killing his guards and escaping. Alex then liberated his teammates from captivity. As he rescued Polaris, she gave him a thank-you kiss. Havok surprised his team as he informed them of his true plan. Instead of running they would wait, Gabriel would be coming to them to defeat them, and Havok planned to kill him when he did. This caused her to be worried about Alex's safety and well-being.
Pursued by a Shi'ar superdestroyer after escaping, Lorna used the fact that she was Crystal's sister in law to allow the Starjammers through the Kree's defensive shield. After the Shi'ar Imperial Guard's attack on Crystal and Ronan's wedding, Lorna played a minor but pivotal role in regaining Kree popular support for the Inhumans by making sure that Crystal's humanitarian acts towards the injured Kree civilians were broadcast all over the Kree networks. After this, she once again joined the Starjammers on their mission to rescue Lilandra. They promptly commandeered a Shi'ar Ironclad (which she helped capture by magnetizing the Starjammer to its hull) which they then used to join the main Shi'ar fleet until their cover was blown when they rescued Rocket Raccoon and his Guardians of the Galaxy.
X-Factor Investigations
Polaris joined X-Factor Investigations after the X-Men underwent their Schism on behalf of Wolverine. After Jamie's apparent death, Lorna and Havok agreed to take over leadership of x-Factor Investigations. Jamie returned from the dead however and agreed to share leadership with them, with Havok taking the lead on missions from Valerie Cooper and Wolverine and Jamie taking the lead on other missions.
After Rahne fell into a deep depression regarding her actions toward her child, Lorna and Banshee took her out on a road trip to cheer her up. Their first stop was visiting Father John Maddox for some spiritual counseling.
When Lorna was building a shrine to commemorate the death of her parents, she handed an old photo of them to Longshot. Touching the photo gave Longshot a vision of what happened to them. Lorna tried to force him to tell her and eventually he relented. Lorna didn't trust him however, and forced Monet to use her telepathic abilities and show her what Longshot saw. She was shown a vision of her father taking her mother up in an airplane and confronting her with the fact that he knew that Lorna wasn't his daughter. Their argument became heated and woke the sleeping Lorna. Lorna begged them to stop fighting, but after being yelled at by her parents, her powers manifested and in a tantrum she released a magnetic pulse that tore the plane apart and killed her parents.
Magneto was drawn to the magnetic pulse she sent out and declared that she wasn't ready for a life with him yet and that she needed to grow up in a normal environment. He asked his associate, Mastermind to use his illusionary powers to wipe the memory of this event from Lorna's mind until she was ready to join Magneto. The knowledge that she had killed her parents rendered her catatonic. Fellow team member Banshee made a deal to become the Morrigan, an ancient god, in order to gain the power to help Lorna. She succeeded, and Lorna emerged from her catatonic state.
Hell on Earth War
With the birth of the 7 billionth human being on Earth, Rahne's son Tier, the various Hell Lords commenced their war for dominance of hell and Earth. Polaris and X-Factor were embroiled in the conflict, attempting to stop the Hell Lords from killing Tier. Mephisto managed to circumvent the conditions of the war by incapacitating the other Hell Lords, and claiming dominance over Earth. However, after Guido killed Tier and became the supreme Lord of Hell, he set everything back to its natural state.
Polaris found herself returned to New York, with no sign of any of her team mates. Deeply depressed, Polaris found a bar and proceeded to get heavily intoxicated, and started causing a scene after the bartender tried to cut her off. This attracted the attentions of both the local law enforcement, and her half-brother Quicksilver. The mix of her depression, anger and intoxication caused her to engage the police in an attempt to commit suicide-by-cop and to fire bullets at her half-brother. Quicksilver managed to subdue her, but before he could bring her into Avengers custody in order to help her, she was taken away by the police.
Polaris awoke to find herself in a cell, lamenting what she had just done. Before getting her bearings, she was approached by a figure who claimed she was not in jail and was free to go, but that he had come to make her an offer to lead a super hero initiative called X-Factor on behalf of his company. Polaris agreed to hear him out.
Corporate X-Factor
This mysterious figure was Harrison Snow, CEO of Serval Industries, who offered Lorna the opportunity to lead his corporation's superhero team, X-Factor. Lorna accepted, and went about recruiting Gambit as well. Upon returning to headquarters, she found her half-brother Quicksilver waiting for her, having tracked her to Serval out of worry. Claiming that he had had a falling out with the Avengers, he volunteered to join the team, and Lorna accepted. Lorna led them on their first mission, to rescue a mutant captured by A.I.M.
