If the various battle worlds of Secret Wars were made in the image of how Doctor Doom imagined them, then does that mean the way Polaris is in Secret Wars: House of M is how he perceives her?
More specifically, Lorna is presented as very much the prodigal daughter. At a time when the rest of the family has largely dropped their defenses about potential threats, Lorna is still very sharp and watchful. She’s the only one who really raises a defense against an invasion. She reins Magneto in at times as a good influence, and is more willing at first to work with humans than Magneto is.
There’s also a tease of the idea of Lorna and Black Cat working together in burglary.
Bearing all that in mind, does this mean Doctor Doom perceives Polaris as a major and hidden threat? As a good moral influence on Magneto? As potentially the most capable and biggest obstacle anyone could face out of the entire family, with fewer obvious weaknesses to exploit than the rest of the family?
Or, perhaps does it mean he knows so little about Lorna that he had to fill in the blanks, and in filling in the blanks, he realized what he doesn’t know CAN hurt him?
Keep in mind I’m not saying the depictions of the characters show who they are normally (though I think that’s the case for Polaris’ depiction in SW:HoM).
If Polaris and Doctor Doom ran into each other, would Doctor Doom fear her more than Magneto and see her as a much greater threat than him?
This is the only Black Cat I’m willing to appreciate on Black Cat Appreciation Day until Marvel 1) undoes the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro’s parentage, and 2) makes more use of Polaris and her amazing potential.
Extremely late, but I am contractually obligated to bring you the penultimate post in my Secret Wars read through. In this installment we’ll turn the clocks back to 2005 and visit a domain based on the mega House of M event. Remember the tie-in series to the original House of M where Peter Parker was a famous actor and businessman, believed by the world to be a mutant and happily married to Gwen…
Of course, because it’s a series of summaries, it doesn’t do anything to get across the generally fun and playful tone of the Secret Wars House of M miniseries.
There are also a lot of things I disagree with this blogger on. Magneto releasing the humans shows he did learn something. Death Locket having a non-metal arrow tip that can strip mutant powers really isn’t a bizarre deus ex machina, which the blogger doesn’t say but I think was his intent based on tone/phrasing. Magneto had been in power more than long enough to warrant the creation of such a weapon, it couldn’t be a bullet, and Hawkeye was known as an opponent to Magneto’s rule. If the person can get in close, it doesn’t matter if it’s an arrow or not, so arrow makes more sense.
Now, there were certain problems with the miniseries not mentioned by the blogger. Pietro became a cowardly heel type, which was unflattering, didn’t match non-SW HoM, and I feel could’ve been passed on in favor of other options (e.g. Pietro setting up Namor the whole time). Magneto also came across not so much brash as stupid at times.
But, I feel in general and in spite of these flaws, SW HoM was an absolutely amazing ride. Each issue couldn’t come quick enough, and I felt it was among the best depiction and treatment of Lorna in the past decade.
Still, I’m glad to have read the blogger’s post and the thoughts given in it. It’s another person’s perspective on the miniseries, and each perspective can bring new insights (or if you’re the writer, areas for possible improvement).
SW HoM is probably among the best treatments of her yet. The miniseries wasn’t perfect obviously, there were issues with Pietro’s treatment, but it was great to see Lorna in excellent form.
salarta 