I’ve been thinking about Lorna’s codename of Polaris this morning.

Throughout her character history, she’s had different sorts of temporary codenames. Some of them were her own choosing, but most were forced on her by villains. Magnetrix, M-2, Malice, Pestilence.

The codename of Polaris never really sat right with me though. Don’t get me wrong. At the moment, it’s her most common, most identifiable codename and I think she needs to keep it.

But what purpose does it serve? The name references the north star, tied to the magnetic north pole, but it doesn’t really feel like a name that particularly stands out as having deep meaning. Where does the star element factor in? Why that and not some other word play on magnets?

One of my suggestions for making her existing codename more valuable is to play on the mix of how the star gives off light within the darkness, and how it’s stood throughout time as a guiding light for humans trying to find their way.

But that’s just working with the name we’ve been given. The next question is: would an entirely different name be better?

When I say this, I’m thinking about Carol Danvers. For a long time, she was called Miss Marvel. Then, very recently, she was renamed Captain Marvel while Kamala Khan became Miss Marvel. I’m sure there are many other cases out there (Monica Rambeau comes to mind), but it raises this question for me of if there might be a good name she could change to.

Which if it happened would require Marvel to do a hell of a lot more with Lorna so people grasp the name change. Same as if they radically changed most of her costume.

So I raise these questions. If anyone wants to add, what are your thoughts?

I’m just going to say some things I find extremely important insofar as Polaris/Lorna Dane, and moving toward a better future for her.

Acting like everything Marvel does with/to Polaris is perfect and they can do no wrong is a mistake. Burying things they’ve done wrong is a mistake. Making excuses for Marvel’s mistakes is a mistake. Leaving out details that make Marvel look bad is a mistake.

If there is no necessary critical voice, Marvel will have no feedback to inform them how to treat the character well. They will have no incentive to include her in stories. They will have no reason to write her as a meaningful character in her own right.

If all Marvel hears is “Every single thing you do with Lorna is perfect and you can do no wrong,” then the message Marvel hears is that they’ve done enough with her. That they are now free to use her as a prop for other characters, then throw her into limbo when she isn’t needed to make other characters like Havok look better.

The message they will get from not being critical when necessary is that her fandom is easily placated. Not committed. Free to dismiss. And then they’ll view Lorna’s value the same way.

As a Polaris fan, I want better for her. I’ve seen how Marvel has historically seen and treated her. I think a company like Marvel can and should be able to do better going forward. Especially when I’ve seen what they can do for countless other characters. Especially for Havok, at her expense. So I will insist on better for Lorna.

The company has, in fact, done several great things for her in the past decade – after I discovered for myself, in 2009, that she exists. Origin story. Leadership. Playable game appearances. It would be a lie of omission to not acknowledge Marvel took these steps and that they were good things for her.

But they’re also things that were long overdue in my eyes. They’re worth praise, but they’re also just Marvel catching up.

Other fans may truly believe Marvel’s done enough. Others may know Marvel hasn’t, but think being nice will bring change. I don’t see either approach working. And I’ll stick with the way I see things until Marvel gives me good reason to think they’re committed enough to good use and treatment of her on their own to not need such an approach.