Polaris: Queen of Mutants/Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2024

[jmc247]

Claremont might have been a Jem fan. Sadly we never got to hear her field leader or teammate say “Showtime, Synergy!”

Claremont came around eventually and didn’t try to force his old vision on Lorna the way others reverted back to older versions so I can give him props for that.

A new character existed in the role Lorna had on the X-Men in the 60s so in the Claremont era he was in search for a new position for Lorna and revamping her powers was a part of that. He came around in 2000 to accepting a new path forward for her which was a positive yes.

Did Claremont wanted to confirm Laura as Magneto's daughter? My understanding was that even after Austen confirmed it, Claremont NEVER acknowledged it.

He did refer to it in his X-Men the End AU story at one point.

[whitecrown]

Did Claremont wanted to confirm Laura as Magneto's daughter? My understanding was that even after Austen confirmed it, Claremont NEVER acknowledged it. Him changing her powers might have been an attempt to kill the possibility in a period were those two connection was tenuous.

Also, Marvelous is a bit like ScreenRant's YT channel speaking about fantasy shows (their wheel of time video is infamous).
A video a day, so the research is... spotty. I also feel they base themselves a lot on wikis and not on the actual comics, to be quicker.

A fan said they wrote to him in the 90s about Lorna and Zaladane and CC said he planned to reveal Lorna's father was a white-haired man with a magnetic personality.

The whole Zaladane plot only works if Magneto is at least Lorna's father based on how CC wrote it. It's one of those lingering questions of parentage, like Logan's, Kurt's and Rachel's, where CC knew it in his head and alluded to it several times but never outright confirmed it on-panel.

[marhawkman]

Did Claremont wanted to confirm Laura as Magneto's daughter? My understanding was that even after Austen confirmed it, Claremont NEVER acknowledged it. Him changing her powers might have been an attempt to kill the possibility in a period were those two connection was tenuous.

Also, Marvelous is a bit like ScreenRant's YT channel speaking about fantasy shows (their wheel of time video is infamous).
A video a day, so the research is... spotty. I also feel they base themselves a lot on wikis and not on the actual comics, to be quicker.

I have to give him props for covering a wide variety of topics though. Most of what I know is from watching a vid he did on Thundarr. Most of what he said was right... most. So yeah... researched, but not with any real deep knowledge. One thing in particular, certain phrases he used, and ways he described things made it obvious he'd read the wiki me and Malcadon worked on.... and some of the stuff he got wrong was things the wiki has right.

[Will Evans]

A fan said they wrote to him in the 90s about Lorna and Zaladane and CC said he planned to reveal Lorna's father was a white-haired man with a magnetic personality.

The whole Zaladane plot only works if Magneto is at least Lorna's father based on how CC wrote it. It's one of those lingering questions of parentage, like Logan's, Kurt's and Rachel's, where CC knew it in his head and alluded to it several times but never outright confirmed it on-panel.

So Mags ironically killed his own daughter Zala?

[whitecrown]

So Mags ironically killed his own daughter Zala?

Presumably, although I've also heard some people say that Zala wasn't Magneto's daughter. Only Lorna was. Zala was Lorna's half-sister from the Dane side of the family (hence the name Dane) and this is why she wasn't a mutant because Lorna inherited the latent x-gene from Magneto. The machine Zala used to steal powers from a blood relative worked on Lorna because they were sisters, but then worked again on Magneto because at this point, Zala had Lorna's powers, so she was a relation of Magneto via Lorna's powers. If she hadn't taken Lorna's powers first, the machine wouldn't have worked on her with Magneto.

But there is something intrinsically tragic about Zala also being a daughter of Magneto and Magneto ultimately kills her because she poses a threat to the greater good, paternal affection aside. A bit like Wolverine's choice to stab Rachel in order to prevent her from killing Selene and becoming a new Dark Phoenix. The comparisons between Wolverine and Magneto (also made by Beau DeMayo in the last episode of '97) indicate that they're willing to do what others won't even if it means striking down their nearest and dearest.

[kcekada]

Presumably, although I've also heard some people say that Zala wasn't Magneto's daughter. Only Lorna was. Zala was Lorna's half-sister from the Dane side of the family (hence the name Dane) and this is why she wasn't a mutant because Lorna inherited the latent x-gene from Magneto. The machine Zala used to steal powers from a blood relative worked on Lorna because they were sisters, but then worked again on Magneto because at this point, Zala had Lorna's powers, so she was a relation of Magneto via Lorna's powers. If she hadn't taken Lorna's powers first, the machine wouldn't have worked on her with Magneto.

That story is a hot mess. Lorna isn't even a 'Dane' now, so the biological connection seems lost unless Zala is the daughter of Magneto -- which seems ludicrous since Claremont was using the Dan connection. Regardless, I don't think he envisioned Zala as Mag's daughter. Seems a waste that she was killed off.

[whitecrown]

That story is a hot mess. Lorna isn't even a 'Dane' now, so the biological connection seems lost unless Zala is the daughter of Magneto -- which seems ludicrous since Claremont was using the Dan connection. Regardless, I don't think he envisioned Zala as Mag's daughter. Seems a waste that she was killed off.

Claremont was planning on resurrecting Zala in the 2000s when he returned to the X-Books. However the "dead is dead" rule that Marvel somewhat made an attempt to enforce back then stopped him from doing so. She was supposed to come back with new mutant powers of her own, based on manipulating the earth. What's most interesting is that Claremont would have had Zala be responsible for the genocide of Genosha. So Lorna would have had the extra trauma of knowing her half-sister was behind this and Magneto would have to reckon with the fact that someone who could potentially be his daughter (although I'm with you that I don't think he was meant to be Zala's father) destroyed his entire nation and people. Genosha and its destruction would have been a family affair.

https://secretsbehindthexmen.blogspot.com/2012/03/

In Uncanny X-Men #249 from 1989, the villain Zaladane surprised Lorna Dane (Polaris) by calling her sister. It appeared as if their family relation would never be explained following the death of Zaladane in Uncanny X-Men #275 in 1991, but it is possible that Chris Claremont had intended to revive Zaladane and resolve the issue. Certainly, Amazing Heroes #192 featured a design sketch by Jim Lee of Zaladane along with some for Omega Red, who at the time was set to debut in X-Men vol.2 #3 in 1991. With Claremont’s departure, the resurrection of Zaladane just ended up not happening.

Ten years later, in 2001, when Claremont left Uncanny X-Men for the second time to write X-Treme X-Men, Zaladane’s resurrection ended up not happening again: “Also lost in the shuffle: (…) a story in the Savage Land reintroducing Zaladane as a vengeful earth-oriented character, who manipulates tectonic plates the way her sister, Lorna, does magnetism, and her desire to avenge herself against Magneto (who “killed” her in Uncanny X-Men #275) by destroying Genosha (an island nation which Magneto ruled at the time),” Claremont revealed to Cinescape.com.

At the time, Marvel instituted an editorial policy against resurrecting dead characters, which may explain why Zaladane’s resurrection didn’t happen in the 2001-2002 X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land mini-series either, but Genosha did end up getting destroyed, although by Sentinels, in New X-Men #115 in 2001, written by Grant Morrison.

[whitecrown]

Lorna makes a brief cameo in the series finale. She's acknowledged as one of Magneto's children along with Wanda and Pietro.

[juan678]

Lorna makes a brief cameo in the series finale. She's acknowledged as one of Magneto's children along with Wanda and Pietro.

https://twitter.com/ScarletWitchUpd/...69916116250859

Pic With Wanda and Pietro

[juan678]

or

Thanks Jmc247

TAS97

[jmc247]

Thanks Jmc247

And that is a rap for the season.

While it was nice to see the dreamscape and it confirmed my sense season one was finished as HoM due to Wandavision became a massive hit during COVID and that would influence the show my opinion hasn't changed that Lorna's possible future storytelling is in crisis on the show.

What happens when you snip all Lorna's storytelling between 1996 and 2006? You get a functionally different character so different its very difficult to imagine how to move up her story at this point. Her being a Horseman? That would be garbage and do nothing for her.

If anyone has any ideas on how one leaps over a decade of storytelling and gets to any modern version of the character I am all ears.

[Lucyinthesky]

I would love to see Lorna as a survivor of Genosha and maybe becoming part of the new X-men team Forge is going to need to deal with Apocalypse in the present but until we see talking dialogue from her I don´t know how she will be tackled but I liked to see her green uniform and the fact Magneto is completely aware she is his daughter, given most people of the audience don´t know this, my guess is that they are going to tackle her story with Magneto.

[Thirteen]

While it's important to give credit to those who give their time to come up with such things alot there was bad.

First Lorna's power is only different from Magneto in so far as she is less experienced. Magneto is a hundred and she is less than a third that.

They mangled the whole negative energy eater super strong She-Hulk concept. Claremont wanted to turn her into that and change her code name to Synergy.

Interesting, this is the first time I've heard her new codename that Claremont planned for her confirmed to be Synergy. Never understood why Claremont was so against Lorna having magnetic powers and the Polaris codename (especially since he's the one who gave her the codename). It especially doesn't make sense considering he wanted to confirm that Lorna was Magneto's daughter.

THAT'S who "Synergy" was supposed to be? I'd heard the name floating around fan circles from the X-plot manifest (there was a printed booklet teasing line direction and artwork that I think was intended for bts folks etc) for the Outback era and beyond - it teased the introduction of Jubilee and Synergy during that period. I always thought that Synergy would turn out to be the living computers in the Reavers base that the X-men had coopted during that time. But it was going to be Lorna...that I didn't see at all...

[jmc247]

Link from 1991 discussions.

[Soulsword323]

Ah! Loved that Polaris/Magneto parentage tease! Really hope that future seasons will finally explore, and confirm their connection.