Originally Posted by
jmc247
Claremont's first run didn't look back much for ideas (outside of one early 70s Hulk story where she is in the desert with Havok) on what to do with her and as a consequence other writers after did not think much about such things until her Genosha arc which Claremont did get involved in. I sort of see that arc as the beginning of modern Lorna and the rebirth of her original themes. It was made possible by the end of 90s X-Factor, Havok leaving for the Mutant X universe, and Magneto having a country. The writers of her Genosha arc very much had her 60s story in mind and some of the same dynamics were almost transposed from it.
Austen's original plan was very simple. Write Lorna like early 90s X-Factor, have a love triangle, marry her off to Havok and dump her in limbo. Where Lorna was between Eve of Destruction when she was still living on Genosha and Morrison dropped the hammer on the island was unknown. Morrison decided in 2002 to have her be one of the survivors in a really powerful and emotional story. That left Austen feeling he should revamp his entire plan for the character. As part of that he did a lot more research then your typical writer of Lorna's runs on her early relationships and even some obscure activities like archaeology.
The real success of the era wasn't even restoring her parentage (though that certainly mattered) as much as it was giving her a semblance of a personality, core motivation and worldview. Without the core themes to go along with her who donated their genetic material to make her really doesn't matter as it doesn't spice up her relationships or character drama without it being built into the character.
Scott since Decimation has felt much more heir to Magneto’s legacy then Lorna.
You are correct that X-Men West Coast would have raised her profile and odds of getting on one of the two core 90s X-Men teams.
In terms of Lorna after Decimation she lost any semblance of a goal, direction, overarching theme, etc. Lorna should have had a lot to do in the decade of mutant extinction stories, but she was wholly divorced from all of that. I think uninspired writing that couldn’t see a way for Lorna to fit in with Magneto back to being an X-Men mainstay and the revolutionary Scott push was to blame.
I don't think we can assume anything at this point about what Disney/Marvel will do. I do think watching the Marvel/Disney promotion and merch over the next few years will tell a good story at least on their thinking in terms of their overarching role if any for the character.
My general view is if they bench Magneto for a few films it’s probably good for Lorna as they can introduce her to segway into eventually introducing him. If they make him into the big boss of a full phase with his own mutant army or nation behind him it probably helps Lorna as it did Gamora and Nebula with how big they made their father.
If they go a similar role to the Fox films from First Class to Dark Phoenix for Magneto it’s a problem for Lorna as she really doesn’t have much space to work with unless they think well outside the comic book box for the character.