Polaris Appreciation III

[bongy]

Well what Magneto wanted, as it was put across to us was for mutants to rule he got that. If Wanda was going to give him what he really wanted I would assume his father, mother, uncle, sister and daughter wouldn't have been killed. His wife would have stayed with him etc. I would say that rather than reading Magneto's mind to find out what Magneto really wanted, Wanda assumed based on her established view of him as a genetic supremacist.

I looked it up in House of M #7. Pietro clearly states Wanda has Xavier's powers in her. I guess if he got all those other things it wouldn't make for the storyline so he didn't get those haha. I still think Susanna existing in the 616 has a strong case. Wanda pulled her from Magneto's mind is what I'm going to stick with.

[blanchett]

I looked it up in House of M #7. Pietro clearly states Wanda has Xavier's powers in her. I guess if he got all those other things it wouldn't make for the storyline so he didn't get those haha. I still think Susanna existing in the 616 has a strong case. Wanda pulled her from Magneto's mind is what I'm going to stick with.

I think it comes down to what you believe Magneto really wants. I think he wants his daughter Anya to live more than anything else, that's certainly what a claremontian Magneto would want. That's the Magneto of House of M. That's why I don't buy that Wanda read his mind to figure out what he wanted. She could have read his mind and found Susanna. He might not have known she was married and therefore Wanda wouldn't either so that's why there are inconsistencies. As she stands though, Susanna Dane just isn't particularly compelling to me. I think for Magneto to actually father a child with her she'd have to be pretty interesting and everything that was interesting about her in House of M, can't translate to 616.

My own personal view is that Wanda didn't use Xavier's powers to find out what everyone wanted. Some people had pretty shit lives in House of M. Lorna might have had a good relationship with Magneto but she had all the fun of being on her own and watching her mother die of cancer. Pietro's daughter Luna was wiped out of existence. In both of those causes you'd wonder if maybe subconsciously Wanda might have been jealous of both Lorna and Pietro and didn't want them to have the things she couldn't like children, mothers and relationships.

[Mitteloss]

Wanda messed with the timeline and made sure there was alot more mutants in the HoM universe that had their x-gene activated and condensed and altered the timeline so Magneto was a baby in 1945 instead of being a teenager in 616 reality and the main events in CW HoM happened in the 1970s as you can tell regarding it being during Nixon's Presidency.

A backstory with Susanna Dane if it was to be told in the 616 therefore would be quite different. However, from a biological prospective in order for Magneto's DNA to combine with Susanna Dane's and make Lorna in one universe and not another that would mean Lorna's mother in the 616 universe would have to have the exact same millions of strands of DNA, but yet be someone else. Wanda could change Susanna's name and circumstances that led to her personality, but not the genetic code that combined with Magneto's to make Lorna.

And that's the logic behind it. As far as we know 'Susanna Dane' is the biological mother of Lorna- there is no other evidence to suggest she isn't. Anything else would simply be a retcon. Lorna cannot exist anywhere without Susanna's and Magneto's genes. Continuity says she is their daughter.

I agree calling her Susanna 'Dane' though was a mistake... unless her mother was the sister of Mr. Dane all along which would be a little bit ridiculous. That should be retconned unless the surname is to be elaborated.

Obviously- though- this is completely pointless arguing as the counter-argument is simply illogical and based on completely hypothetical theory with no real supporting evidence. Something tells me someone just doesn't want to accept Lorna's parentage or current continuity.

If we find any other evidence to suggest otherwise though I may be willing to consider the counter-argument as valid.

[blanchett]

And that's the logic behind it. As far as we know 'Susanna Dane' is the biological mother of Lorna- there is no other evidence to suggest she isn't. Anything else would simply be a retcon. Lorna cannot exist anywhere without Susanna's and Magneto's genes. Continuity says she is their daughter.

I agree calling her Susanna 'Dane' though was a mistake... unless her mother was the sister of Mr. Dane all along which would be a little bit ridiculous. That should be retconned unless the surname is to be elaborated.

Obviously- though- this is completely pointless arguing as the counter-argument is simply illogical and based on completely hypothetical theory with no real supporting evidence. Something tells me someone just doesn't want to accept Lorna's parentage or current continuity.

If we find any other evidence to suggest otherwise though I may be willing to consider the counter-argument as valid.

It's not a retcon of 616 continuity because House of M is an alternate timeline, a personally constructed alternate reality. Just because Susanna Dane was Lorna's mother in House of M, doesn't make her her mother in 616. Just like Sabretooth isn't Wolverine father in 616 because he was in X-Men Forever. And at no point did I question her relationship to Magneto, just Susanna which has not been proven in 616 at all. My main gripe against Susanna is that her very existence contradicts current continuity of Lorna's early history with the Danes.

[jmc247]

By the way I was just reading a overview of Magneto's family which from what I have seen pretty well represents lay fans view on them.

Magneto’s Family Tree

What do you even call this particular bit of lineage? The Lensherrs? The Maximoffs? There are so many different surnames in play here, none of it will ever sound quite right. At our core, we have the X-Men’s longest running frenemy, Magneto. His two children, Pietro and Wanda (aka Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) served beside him as members of his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants well before they even knew they were his children. Eventually, like so many rebellious teens, they turned on daddy dearest and made their way to the side of the angels as part of Captain America’s new roster of Avengers. While Magneto has bounced from villain to hero and back more times than a ping pong ball, his children have remained relatively straight-laced; unless you count the time Wanda went crazy and killed her friends or the time Pietro convinced her to rewrite all of reality. Coupled with Magneto’s crazier gambits for world domination that have included such less-than-beneficent gestures as reversing the polarity of Earth’s gravitational field, you can see how this family earns its place on our list.

But we’ve only scratched the surface…

Aside from Erik and his twins, the family tree includes their half-sister Lorna Dane (aka Polaris) who has long served alongside the X-Men and X-Factor, and who has most often been romantically linked with Alex Summers (aka Havok – more on him later). Polaris herself has been a fairly unremarkable character over the years, though as the thrall of Marauder Malice, she served as a more-than-serviceable villainess for the merry mutants.

The real fun begins when we come down a generation and consider Magneto’s grandchildren, of which there are three. Billy and Tommy are the Scarlet Witch’s children (sort of), and fight crime as the Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed. The former has magic based powers, like his mother, and can literally make anything happen so long as he can maintain his focus. The latter is your run-of-the-mill speedster like his uncle and, as such, fairly unremarkable on the surface. But to truly understand Tommy’s potential as a character, remember that the same speedster uncle was partially responsible for the rise of the House of M, and is father to Magneto’s third grandchild, Luna. Luna is daughter to Crystal of the Inhumans, who is currently married to Ronan – the leader of what is left of the Kree Empire. How important is a little girl? Before she could even talk, she was the catalyst for the “Bloodties” storyline that pitted the X-Men and Avengers first against each other, and then against Magneto’s lost sheep Exodus and Cortez. As she’s grown older, she’s been given powers through exposure to the the Inhuman process of Terrigenesis and now has both empathic and precognitive powers. Not too shabby for a little girl.

One über-powerful sometimes terrorist, two magic-wielders with almost limitless power between them, and the heir apparent to one of the most powerful alien races in the entire Marvel universe. THAT is a family not to be trifled with.

http://panelsonpages.com/?p=51771

Lorna tends to be the least understood member of the group and viewed as the least interesting at least among the big four among lay fans. I honestly think it boils down to questions of her personality and what is the character for.

[alf_to_the_rescue]

Wanda altered reality and wiped out the mutant gene. Anything is possible.

[jmc247]

Wanda altered reality and wiped out the mutant gene. Anything is possible.

Its still there in mutants as reciently proved in Uncanny she simply turned it off.

[alf_to_the_rescue]

Its still there in mutants as reciently proved in Uncanny she simply turned it off.

Ok, Wanda altered reality and altered the genetic makeup of mutants. Anything is possible.

[jmc247]

Ok, Wanda altered reality and altered the genetic makeup of mutants. Anything is possible.

Yes, its possible for Wanda to create a woman who has Lorna's mother's exact same DnA, but isn't her 616 mother. I made that point, but its not possible for Lorna to be made from a mother with a different genetic structure then her 616 counterpart.

[blanchett]

Yes, its possible for Wanda to create a woman who has Lorna's mother's exact same DnA, but isn't her 616 mother. I made that point, but its not possible for Lorna to be made from a mother with a different genetic structure then her 616 counterpart.

Or even in House of M, Lorna remained a cuckhold and Wanda "placed" her in Susanna Dane's womb. Maybe she was giving Lorna her wish of having the kind of mother she always wanted?

If Susanna Dane had of appearred in say, Mutant X or the Age of Apocalypse I would think fine, and expect that she's going to the be the mother in 616. But House of M by it's very nature means she can't be taken as proof.

[Justin K.]

Am I the only one who enjoyed the codename Magnetrix?

[jmc247]

Am I the only one who enjoyed the codename Magnetrix?

It was one of the few interesting parts of Hidden Years for Lorna. Not that I don't think the name Polaris isn't far superior given it refers to the north star. But, overall it was quite annoying that Byrne couldn't conceptualize Lorna as a full X-Man in that series which she was supposed to be in that era. Thank you again nostalgia for limiting Lorna's storyline potental.

[salarta]

I'm going to just quickly note, before moving on, that some semblance of the scenario posed for Susanna Dane in HoM would be reasonable in 616. Just because the very specific form of it has issues doesn't mean there cannot be an alternate form that fits like a glove. I could also come up with ways the name Susanna Dane could work, but frankly I do keep finding problems with it every time I do find a way for it could work.

Am I the only one who enjoyed the codename Magnetrix?

At one point I was saying "she should have kept that name," but now, I see some problems with it. It does have the nice bonuses of fitting Magneto naming convention and making Lorna sound more dominant (Magnetrix, dominatrix, etc), but it hurts seeing her as her own person beyond Magneto; I can easily see a lot of people thinking of her as "female Magneto" more than they mistakenly do already. The 'trix' part MIGHT have fit over time with future development of her back when she was created, but now it would be inappropriate for her given how quickly it makes a person think of sexual and fetishistic elements.

I do think the code name coming back for specific story arcs would be nice though. If Lorna has one of those cases of a power rush making her act more domineering, or she gets possessed by something that uses her body to be more of a tease (e.g. Sue Storm and her being possessed by Malice), it might fit nicely. Lorna calling herself Magnetrix when she was left at the altar and formed Magneto's helmet would have been a good place for it.

[jmc247]

Interesting to see a review just be put out for Mutant X 10 from July 1999. This comic more then any other had a direct impact on ideas for Lorna in the 616 namely her going to Genosha and it became the basic idea behind how to depict her early interaction with Magneto. It had alot of influence for an AU comic.

I won't say it influenced Havok's depiction and feelings about Magneto in Legacy 12 years later, but they were the exact same in Legacy in that regardless of what universe we are dealing or what situation Havok let's just say will never not dislike or distrust Magneto.

The X-Men Cometh!

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Carey Nord (penciler), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Gina Going (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

Summary: Magneto and Polaris rescue Havok from the Sentinels, but they’re soon drawn into another fight with a new breed of Sentinels designed by Reed Richards and imbued with demons by the Goblin Queen. Nimrod also materializes and joins the fight. The tide begins to turn when the X-Men suddenly arrive.

“That’s Crazy Because They’re Different”: Along with Magneto and Polaris, the X-Men consist of Nightcrawler, Rogue, Mystique, and Quicksilver. Nightcrawler has a new costume but seems to be fundamentally the same. Rogue wears Ms. Marvel’s costume and has Colossus’ armored skin. Mystique appears as a giant monster. Quicksilver is covered in a bizarre armor.

Better Than X-Factor?: I suppose, if only because this is a straightforward action story that isn’t hinting at various conspiracies or vague future events. It would be charitable to say this makes perfect sense, though. Apparently, Reed Richards isn’t being brainwashed by the Goblin Queen, which is certainly an odd characterization choice. Havok also seems incredulous that Magneto is a hero on this world, ignoring the fact that Magneto did reform on his earth and was even chosen by Professor Xavier to run his school during his absence. We also have another example of Mackie misusing Mystique’s powers, although there could be an explanation for this reality’s Mystique’s new abilities. The only alternate reality twist in the issue I enjoyed was the revelation that Polaris is discreetly powering up Magneto, who’s weakened after an outer space battle. And, perhaps, Mackie can do something with Havok and this new Polaris’ relationship. Pretty much anything would have to be an improvement over the way Mackie handled it in X-Factor.

http://notblogx.blogspot.com/2012/05...-1999.html?m=1

[jmc247]

I'm going to just quickly note, before moving on, that some semblance of the scenario posed for Susanna Dane in HoM would be reasonable in 616. Just because the very specific form of it has issues doesn't mean there cannot be an alternate form that fits like a glove. I could also come up with ways the name Susanna Dane could work, but frankly I do keep finding problems with it every time I do find a way for it could work.



At one point I was saying "she should have kept that name," but now, I see some problems with it. It does have the nice bonuses of fitting Magneto naming convention and making Lorna sound more dominant (Magnetrix, dominatrix, etc), but it hurts seeing her as her own person beyond Magneto; I can easily see a lot of people thinking of her as "female Magneto" more than they mistakenly do already. The 'trix' part MIGHT have fit over time with future development of her back when she was created, but now it would be inappropriate for her given how quickly it makes a person think of sexual and fetishistic elements.

I do think the code name coming back for specific story arcs would be nice though. If Lorna has one of those cases of a power rush making her act more domineering, or she gets possessed by something that uses her body to be more of a tease (e.g. Sue Storm and her being possessed by Malice), it might fit nicely. Lorna calling herself Magnetrix when she was left at the altar and formed Magneto's helmet would have been a good place for it.

Lorna's image along with her name is a trademarked property. It actually does bring in money for Marvel thanks to statues, toys, etc. I think people need to remember that a bit more often when considering massive changes to the character. Meaning her code name and other big features of the character.

I am hoping Lorna TM the trademark grows in popularity again over the next couple years. It was growing big time from 2003-2005 and it's been downhill since then. Had Disney not killed off WATXM by cutting Marvel animations budget it would have had a shot of doing for Lorna what TAS did for characters in the 90s or better as season 3 was supposed to be HoM.

The decision to keep Lorna and Alex in space another two years was made at right about the same time WATXM was axed and I can't help other then think the two things were interlinked. Lorna was getting a big push in 2009 when WATXM was going on in the comics 616 and AU and then it just stopped.