Polaris: Queen of Mutants/Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2024

[Havok83]

I said I didn’t mind Malice there. I did find it odd that was the only other bigger ‘version of Lorna’ as some might see it. But, I checked on the artist and it makes more sense as it seems that is half of the X-Men as an era focusing it looks like on the 60s-80s.

Lorna in her blue/yellow X-Factor suit is almost certainly guaranteed. I wonder if we will see her multiple times on there. I that X-Factor look represents her in the 90s, I could see her Dark Seduction or her purple costume from the Austen run being used too

[jmc247]

I don't think Lorna fans have come to grips as yet with how big a disaster the X-Men 97 situation is shaping up to be for Lorna without a major swerve. It explains the Emma Dumont and Lenore Zann team up podcast 10 months ago which if not for delays would have been close to when X-Men 97 should have come out. More than a few knew this was coming.



In terms of the Lenore Zann stuff I have loved her Rogue for alot of years. What X-Men 97 has done doesn't change anything in that regards. I will say that Emma Dumont will be at the same Comic Con as her in a week and a half.



Keep in mind the power of Lorna's story arc in the comics was not that it was inherited ideology from Magneto. It was not that she is a 'daddy's gurl'. It was not that she was a good girl breaking bad like a bazillion other storylines. It was not that she was emotionally unstable for a time.

It was about a character who had been a literal mutant cop for the US government coming on her own to a new worldview first by helping to build a mutant nation and then by seeing it destroyed before her eyes with the people there she was unable to save. For Lorna's story in the comics it can't be replaced and its attempted erasure has very meaningfully harmed her comic book storytelling over the past decade.

[Havok83]

X-Men 97 saw the aftermath of the Genosha attack this week. Sadly Polaris isnt a part of the survivors nor part of the mutant crew thats helping with the recovery. Multiple Man was on Genosha and we see Strong Guy helping out but she's not there despite being their teammate in X-Factor. Make that make sense

[jmc247]

X-Men 97 saw the aftermath of the Genosha attack this week. Sadly Polaris isnt a part of the survivors nor part of the mutant crew thats helping with the recovery. Multiple Man was on Genosha and we Strong Guy helping out but she's not there despite being their teammate in X-Factor. Make that make sense

Lorna is in a FUBAR situation as I feared when X-Men 97 was announced. I challenged the creative team at the time to prove my worries misplaced. Wanda is already Magneto’s kid there and her stories are ready and able for them to adapt. For Lorna they just gave her greatest story arc to another character and denied her any access to a story absolutely critically for the characters development.

[Magnetic]

My heart sank - it's over. Heaubag DeMayo and this creative team have ruin everything.

[GoingGreen]

It's not Dooms Day here y'all. It sucks that she wasn't shown with her Genoshan story, but it happened. Must we continue to feed into each others' negativity until the end of time, or can we move on? The show is the show, and if Polaris isn't going to be featured in it, let's look at where she might.

Positive note - there's been an unannounced X-Men book that might show some potential. I don't think they were talking about X-Factor. And there are too many "missing" high caliber mutants.

[UncannyLZ]

It's not Dooms Day here y'all. It sucks that she wasn't shown with her Genoshan story, but it happened. Must we continue to feed into each others' negativity until the end of time, or can we move on? The show is the show, and if Polaris isn't going to be featured in it, let's look at where she might.

Positive note - there's been an unannounced X-Men book that might show some potential. I don't think they were talking about X-Factor. And there are too many "missing" high caliber mutants.

I agree! The show is the show. And when it comes to the X-Men, writers are going to write and use their favorite characters. It’s frustrating but we can keep moving forward! And she still could end up being rescued! Maybe Storm will pick her up in the show similarly to the comics?

WE (Polaris stans) know how’d we include/adapt Polaris but most don’t have a story that they think Lorna HAS to be included. I’d say Genosha but I don’t think most remember Lorna there the way they remember Emma and her diamond form, like what was adapted on the show so far. Lorna still needs a story and moment that is explicitly hers and no other character could be subbed in, where she can also display her character motivations. They could also give the hero moments Magneto had on the X-Men like pulling the kitty bullet from the sky to Polaris in adaptions. Her fall of x moments have been a great start and will most likely be a part of future adaptions of Krakoa but she still needs a “X-Men” story with the A listers.

[UncannyLZ]

Here’s the link to ask Brevoort question! https://aiptcomics.com/2024/04/24/x-...-tom-brevoort/

[jmc247]

My heart sank - it's over. Heaubag DeMayo and this creative team have ruin everything.

Ultimately, they are big time Havolaris shippers. I met one at a Comic Con in 2022. Big plotlines they think are in the way of that like Maddie and Alex and Genosha for Lorna were going to be excised. But, they are very wrong to do so as its the differences between Lorna and Havok that are frankly one of their rare strong cards as a ship when writers are wise enough to play it.

The only times I ever liked them together in the 90s were about 2 or 3 issues of JM DeMatteis and Scott Lobdell when they allowed them to have different points of view on mutants. I will be frank why I turned against Havolaris and it was also why I turned on Eclaris in the shows second season after being a big fan of their ship in the first season.

Eclaris was very popular in the show's first season it even won awards including from MTV. Emma Dumont correctly pegged the popularity to the concept what if Xavier and Magneto were dating. Basically, you had two characters with very different views on mutants pushing and pulling against each other. It made for great drama that uplifted both characters.



I was a fan of the ship in the first season as all here know. Then rather than let their fight continue organically and eventually come to a comprimise to work together the writers became too cute by half. They decide to make Lorna a pawn of some character they invented and a disempowered foot soldier. Then having to apologize for her own entirely worldview tearfully in her boyfriends arms broke the basic idea of what made their season one relationship work. The show shot itself in both kneecaps and never understood why.

Ultimately writers and editors (including in the comics), but certainly X-Men 97 don't want Lorna attached to Genosha for various reasons most of which I believe comes back to Havolaris. Its wrongheaded thinking of the same sort that killed season two Eclipse and Lorna.

If someone really wants to make Havolaris work they have to be wise enough to realize that the couples' differences are strengths not weaknesses.

[salarta]

It's good to know now that the covers we saw were just the first half, not the whole X-Men history. Knowing that, the decision with Malice makes more sense. We'll have to see what the other half looks like.

X-Men 97 saw the aftermath of the Genosha attack this week. Sadly Polaris isnt a part of the survivors nor part of the mutant crew thats helping with the recovery. Multiple Man was on Genosha and we see Strong Guy helping out but she's not there despite being their teammate in X-Factor. Make that make sense

So basically X-Men 97 is as bad as most Lorna fans expected it would be. Misusing an event for a streaming version of clickbait without respecting all that matters with it.

My heart sank - it's over. Heaubag DeMayo and this creative team have ruin everything.

It's not over, we just have to fight for Lorna in the ways we can. We knew when this was coming that assholes obsessed with 90s nostalgia over progress and what actually matters would lead to these kind of problems. All they really did here was prove us right. They could have very easily incorporated Lorna and what matters to her while pushing their nostalgia. Instead, they decided their nostalgia meant they should treat Lorna like ****. This is essentially another arrow in the quiver for defeating the monster that is rose-colored glasses toward toxicity of the past.

I’d say Genosha but I don’t think most remember Lorna there the way they remember Emma and her diamond form, like what was adapted on the show so far. Lorna still needs a story and moment that is explicitly hers and no other character could be subbed in, where she can also display her character motivations.

Okay, I have to say something about this because I have a big problem with implications here - no matter how well intended.

First of all, people who don't remember Lorna on Genosha, don't remember her there because of Marvel comics completely ignoring the fact she was there. Ignoring her there went beyond simply not realizing. They bent over backwards to act like she has no history even when she showed up there with a coffee cup to help X-Men senior editor Jordan White's favorite character do a big stunt with it.

Second, people in general know Lorna's connection to it moreso than Emma's, and a hell of a lot more than any other survivors. They saw it prominently featured in Wolverine and the X-Men. And we actually do know people at Marvel are aware of it. There was a Spider-Man variant cover that acknowledged it when Jordan White was X-Men senior editor. I know because I sent a tweet thanking him for the variant cover if he was part of making it happen. Though in retrospect, thanking him was a mistake, because him knowing it matters to Lorna as her own character is probably why everything under him acted like Lorna had no part of Genosha.

Finally, Lorna being brought out of the ruins and replaying the last moments of Genosha's dead IS something explicitly hers, that no other character can be subbed in for. If any character can be subbed in for that, then other characters can be subbed in for anything, and no moment is ever safe from nostalgia and character bias dickery.



Since we're talking Havolaris stuff, I'll broach the topic. I know Havok fans hate the issue where Havok leaves Lorna at the altar. I know some Havok fans think Genosha is part of that happening. The reality is, what happened to Lorna on Genosha is an entirely separate matter from that wedding storyline. You don't need Genosha to tell that story if you want to tell it, and Genosha doesn't need Havok leaving her at the altar.

If you oh so desperately want Havok forced on Lorna, then there are still ways to do it while respecting Lorna's experiences with Genosha. That doesn't mean I wouldn't complain a hell of a lot about Havok forced on Lorna for the billionth time, but it doesn't change that it's entirely possible to still respect things that are essential for Lorna while doing that.

But that's apparently not what Havolaris shippers think. Apparently, Havolaris shippers like Jordan White and Beau DeMayo think Lorna having any semblance of her own heart and soul independent of Havok means they won't get their nostalgic fantasies fulfilled. In doing that, they're actually creating another entirely unnecessary obstacle to their desires. They're telling me and other Lorna fans that Havok being anywhere near Lorna is such a huge problem that even surviving a goddamn genocide won't be respected from her character history as long as Havok is in any way associated with her. And the same argument goes with the idea of Lorna and X-Factor. We've seen two references in X-Men 97 to Lorna on 90s X-Factor, but absolutely nothing of Lorna for Genosha.

I recognize there's a fandom for the idea of Havolaris. I realize there are possible ways to make that a good thing down the road. I have never said otherwise even though I could have very easily done so. jmc just explained Eclipse, a character with the same power set, actually worked for Lorna thanks to the show excising all the toxic baggage associated with how Lorna is typically treated around Havok.

But if the Havolaris shippers and Havok fans are committed to thinking the most essential parts of Lorna's identity and development absolutely cannot be respected because they think it gets in the way of their deepest desires? Then that changes the whole situation. If the genocide erasure keeps going like this, and it's in perceived service to Havok, then that's it. The evidence will plainly and clearly show that Havolaris is so toxic for Lorna and good writing that there's no redeeming it.

If Lorna can't even have such a pivotal moment respected, all for the sake of Havok and nostalgia, then how the hell can she have ANY progress, development, or meaningful stories in her own right so long as Havok is in the picture?

Hell, maybe a case would even need to be made that Havok needs to be killed off and never come back. It took Havok appearing to die in the comics for Lorna to FINALLY get to do something that wasn't kissing Havok's ass 24/7. Maybe the real takeaway from Jordan White and Beau DeMayo's antics is that Havok is such a toxic character to the second female character to join the X-Men, who was originally feminist leaning before decades of mistreatment changed the picture, that his very existence is a problem.

As someone who doesn't blame characters for the poor actions of creatives, I wouldn't want this to be the case. I would very much want to see each of the characters thrive, and see pursuit of actual good potential for characters and relationships. But Jordan White, Beau DeMayo, and assholes like them who keep excluding and sabotaging Lorna when she's objectively important to what's going on are making an incredibly strong case for the idea that the Havolaris relationship is too far gone to salvage and Havok himself may even be too toxic. Perhaps he too strongly embodies the blonde white cis male fantasy of yesteryear for the good of Lorna, or even the central tenet of X-Men comics as a whole.


Anyway, to wrap things up here. I'm making a very deliberate effort to avoid everything associated with Beau DeMayo going forward because of his fuckery. Here's his IMDb page. Too late for me to avoid his Strange New Worlds episodes, but Witcher and The Originals are now off my watch lists. I'm sure some things will slip by me, but I'll do my best to avoid his work at all costs. And if he gets on something I care about in the future, I'll be opposing his involvement and making clear to people why. Same as I've done with other creatives who turn out to be assholes.

[Magnetic]

Ur right. I was feel down seeing Jeans psychic distress in the ruins of Genosha - longtime fan of cartoon. Happy for Jean’s feats tho. I’ll stop thinking about Lorna when it comes to 97.

[salarta]

I said this in the X-Men 97 thread so now I'm gonna say it here.

Given the disrespect toward Lorna out of Beau DeMayo and the creative team for X-Men 97, I don't want any Lorna in X-Men 97 at all now. None. Nothing. If they can't respect something as pivotal as the Genoshan genocide for her, then they can't handle anything else about Lorna and actually do a good job of it. The best thing for Lorna and this cartoon considering the genocide erasure is for her to simply not be in it.

[GoingGreen]

Nah, Salarta, that's dumb as hell to say.

[salarta]

Nah, Salarta, that's dumb as hell to say.

Nope. Not a bit.

We already know the cartoon can’t handle Lorna. The people behind it clearly don’t respect her. That means if they use her, that usage will be extremely poor. Poor depictions beget more poor depictions. Meanwhile, if she’s not on X-Men 97, then the next people to use her have a much higher chance of treating her well and respectfully. They’re more likely to take the time to really look at and understand her.

An argument might have been made a decade ago that a “benefit” of the cartoon, even with a poor depiction, would be exposure. That argument doesn’t apply today. She was the big breakout character on Gifted, and she won the X-Men vote, as well as appearing in various games. She doesn’t need her heart and soul sacrificed for the sake of awareness. She has enough of it from things that actually show her value and interest.

So, she’s better off not appearing on X-Men 97. Let the assholes do their ******* thing and leave her out of it. Others in the future can do right by her.

[ExodusCloak]

I have a feeling she might be given a small role as a Horseman.