Polaris was the first to discover that the X-Men were alive. The rest of the X-Men thought Cyclops and his clown crew were dead.
@pumazumba hey you little shithead, read my blog and understand this was just a humorous panel to mock Summers. This wasn’t a go at Lorna for not knowing who “Scott” is, it was a go at Summers for being so irrelevant not even Lorna recognizes him. If I wanted to have a go at Lorna, which I have numerous times before, I would have posted something like this
Now get your head out of Lorna’s vagina and think before speaking, moron.
I didn’t think the point of the original post was hard to miss, but some people are like that I guess.
As for the other Polaris images here, most of them were either when Malice was in control of her body, or when it was Claremont who had (and still has) such a passion for Storm that he decided another woman (Lorna) had to be put down and depicted poorly in order to make Storm look better.
Because you can’t have a strong dominant black woman without tearing down a strong dominant white woman, apparently, in his eyes.
Not attacking you, of course, valekementari. Just talking about the images and panels themselves.
When I talk about Polaris and her relationships, I normally talk about her family. The order tends to be Scarlet Witch, then Magneto, then Quicksilver, with the occasional other character.
I’ve decided to list some characters Lorna’s interacted with in the past that could lead to story opportunities. And, because Marvel can’t seem to give a damn about Polaris and use her at all, I’m going to talk about what could be done in her relationships with these characters. It’s not like there’s any risk that anyone at Marvel won’t write any of it due to me pointing it out.
It’s not an exhaustive list. Feel free to add other characters when reblogging if you wish.
Iceman (Bobby Drake)
Technically, this one may not count in the minds of some people. Bobby was the other potential love interest for Lorna in the love triangle with Havok way back in the late 60s, when Lorna was introduced.
Some people think the recent revelation of Bobby being gay means Lorna will never get to interact with him. I can absolutely see why some people think that. Lorna’s status as past love interest is the only way they’ve ever allowed her to interact with Bobby, e.g. Marjorie Liu’s arc. But, I think this presents a golden opportunity for Lorna to serve as young Bobby’s mentor and “older gal pal.”
She’s the only past love interest of Bobby’s that was there shortly after the time young Bobby was pulled from. She can provide fresh, unique insights into who Bobby was back then and who his present self had become, something nobody of the present or past O5 can do (most present cause they’re active elsewhere or dead). Same goes for Professor X. Teen Jean looks like an easy “replacement,” but she doesn’t have the kind of insights Lorna can bring.
Jean Grey
In the very beginning, Lorna and Jean had a slight dynamic where Jean was meeker and Lorna was more outspoken. As time went on, Marvel fleshed Jean out more, but started taking things away from Lorna. People started associating Jean more with Storm due to Claremont writing them heavily working together, then with Emma Frost via rivalry.
If Marvel really wanted to, they could have allowed Lorna to act as young Jean’s mentor. Like with Bobby, Lorna was there very shortly after the time teen Jean was taken from. Emma was only around at the time as a villain, and Storm showed up as a “dominant black goddess” type moreso than a “take-charge friend” type. Lorna’s the only woman from teen Jean’s time that knew her as a truly equal teammate, peer and friend. There is also, of course, commiserating over the Summers brothers. P.S. Madelyne Pryor.
Lastly, if we want to talk about the risk of teen Jean losing control like her older self… Lorna is the only one who can give Jean real insight. Emma’s never truly experienced that loss of control. Lorna’s lost it over and over and over, from Malice possessing her (akin to the Phoenix Force possessing Jean) to mind control. Emma may be able to “teach” Jean how to control herself, but only Lorna can help Jean understand on a personal, emotional level.
Apocalypse
Obviously, this comes from Lorna’s time as Pestilence. Apocalypse chose Lorna as one of his Horsemen. But it’s more important than some might think.
Apocalypse chose her. He had a choice between Polaris or Leper Queen, and her chose Lorna. Not only that, he chose Lorna in spite of multiple obstacles toward using her. He had to restore her powers, which required the use of Celestial technology. He had to abduct her while Havok was around to fight back. He had to brainwash her into serving his interests, which took time and effort when he could have picked someone more willing… if that’s all he wanted. With the resources he poured into her, Apocalypse picked Polaris as Pestilence for a reason that goes beyond simple convenience.
There’s also the anti-Apocalypse cult that was trying to kill Lorna – an abandoned story thread that had a lot of potential. Between those two possibilities, there’s absolutely no reason that Lorna couldn’t figure into stuff dealing with Apocalypse. She could’ve been in the recent Apocalypse event if Marvel cared about making use of opportunities.
Rachel Summers
Stuck out in space for five years our time, even Rachel raised the annoyance of their long absence from the X-Men books on the page. Rachel was present to witness how War of Kings affected the galaxy, she was there during Lorna’s Inhumans interaction, she was there when Lorna got tortured by Vulcan, and she was there while Lorna and the others were mind-controlled by Friendless.
Together, Lorna and Rachel could spearhead interactions with the Inhumans from the mutant side of the coin. Of course, Cullen Bunn’s statement about “big plans” for Havok makes me suspect he will fill that role instead despite not having the familial connections of Lorna or the Korvus and Shi’ar history of Rachel.
Crystalia Amaquelin & Luna Maximoff
By the same token as Rachel, Lorna helped Crystal in a diplomatic sense to become “The People’s Princess.” She also ribbed Crystal about marrying “Lord Ronan,” which could have been a subtle way of pushing for her and Pietro.
Meanwhile, Lorna got to have aunt-niece time with Luna, both out in space and at X-Factor’s office at Serval. Lorna could help Luna in understanding Pietro from a view other than Crystal or Pietro himself, while Luna could use her abilities to help Lorna sort through her own emotions and understand all the traumas and mind manipulation/alteration she’s endured throughout her life.
Gambit (Remy LeBeau)
Here’s one that’s both expected and unexpected, depending on who you are and how much you know. Lorna’s had a thing for Gambit at least since the Austen era (early 00s). She felt more open to express it when she was “crazy” and thus presented lowered inhibitions/self-limitations. In that case, it came in the form of a shapeshifting mutant stripper that made himself look like Gambit for Lorna’s bachelorette party.
Later, they were on the X-Factor team started by Serval and led by Lorna. Personally, I think Peter David dropped the ball on them from ANXF #2-6, but he was getting better and had some good scenes before Marvel abruptly canceled the comic.
In particular, they had a moment where Remy kissed Lorna. On some level, they have feelings for each other. They haven’t really been explored, and Gambit’s the only male character other than Iceman (who is no longer available for good and obvious reasons) that she’s had romantic overtures with.
A common thing pointed out between them is that they are both often depicted as the “lesser” of their significant others, and at times jobbed or abandoned when it’s convenient for their most common partners. Handled well, I think they could become a thing. Plus, they were both Horsemen of Apocalypse, so they have that in common.
Storm (Ororo Munroe)
In short, Lorna suffered a lot during the Claremont era as a trade-off to him promoting Storm. At some point, he seemed to think the book could only have one badass female with electrical powers and chose Storm. But, they didn’t start out that way.
In their very first interaction, Polaris and Storm worked together to hurtle Krakoa into space. Storm supercharged Lorna by sending lightning to her, and Lorna used that power to boost her magnetic abilities. In terms of powers, they could easily play off each other as allies. Storm’s powers tend to emphasize the open skies, bringing up winds, rains, snow, etc. Lorna’s powers being magnetic are more earth-based. And they both have electrical powers, just in different forms.
In the hands of a writer that cares, they could easily be two sides of the same coin; similar yet unique.
They also both have experience as royalty; Storm as Wakanda’s queen, Lorna as a Genoshan princess (and secretly standing in for Magneto while he was in bad health). They could be quite a pair in diplomatic terms.
Wolverine
Limited though they’ve been, there’s been a few interactions between Lorna and Wolverine. Their interactions tend to be with Lorna in a more dominant, clear-headed or potentially flirty position. Which kinda makes sense, if you consider she could control him via his metal if she wished.
They could also work pretty well as a romantic relationship, or as a simple battle partnership. Relationship-wise, Gambit has more of a debonair mystique approach with lots of intellect and class, while Wolverine would offer Lorna something closer to a “raw instincts” attitude. Gambit would bring out the charmer in Lorna, but Wolverine would bring out her dark and suggestive sides.
Nurse Annie
Nurse Annie is one of those many, many characters that’s introduced by a specific writer and then largely abandoned. Chuck Austen introduced her as a human nurse with a mutant son, and whose son mentally influenced Annie and Havok into entering in a relationship. This, of course, came with the consequence of Lorna getting left at the altar. Lorna and Annie then often got into moments where Lorna acted pretty damn abusive toward Annie, but this was also her post-Genosha dark phase.
More recently, Marjorie Liu had both Lorna and Annie in a story arc for Iceman about his past loves (before the reveal of him being gay)… but they never really interacted. Lorna and Annie were found frozen together and treated together in the hospital, but we never saw what, if anything, they talked about.
Aside from obviously commiserating about Havok, Lorna could go to Annie and apologize for her behavior. More importantly, I can see them building bridges by Annie becoming a medic supporting character to something featuring Lorna.
Honorable Mentions
Other characters that Lorna has interacted with and could build relationships with, but which I don’t have pictures to help make my case, include Emma Frost, Psylocke, and Rogue. Emma Frost was there during Lorna’s mental issues post-Genosha and knows what she’s been through. Psylocke restored Lorna’s powers by accident after the Shadow King incident by her psi blade going into Lorna’s head. Rogue has fought alongside Lorna on a few occasions, and headed up the team that rescued Lorna and the rest of the Starjammers out in space.
Conclusion
Across 48 years in comics, Polaris managed to build certain connections and associations even despite Marvel refusing to truly use and acknowledge her. “We only have so much panel space, we have to focus on the core characters” is no excuse, especially when Marvel creates entirely brand new characters to fill roles that Lorna could very easily fill and have much more to offer.
As always, feel free to add your own mentions in reblogs if you wish.
I’m mainly posting this for Polaris, but I tagged the other women on the list by their codenames. Here’s the blurb for Lorna though, cause I’m selfish like that.
In one of the most depressing backstories, an infant Lorna kills her
parents in a plane crash. While they were arguing about her mother’s
affair with her birth father, Magneto, she became upset and tried to
make them stop with a magnetic pulse. That pulse brought the plane down
and she miraculously survives with newly-green hair. Drawn to her major
display of power, Magneto determines that she is not ready for mutant
life and has an associate rewrite her memories. Her aunt and uncle raise
her as their own, making her believe they were her parents. And you
thought Batman had it rough as a kid.
She is detected by Cerebro
and Iceman is sent to bring her in. He reveals what really happened with
her parents and she turns against Magneto, who–in a plot twist that
would make M. Night Shyamalan envious–ends up being a robot double. She
joins the X-Men and develops a relationship with Iceman, all while
coming into her powers and fighting in a few missions. Did we mention
her dad is Magneto? That alone warrants a solo film.
In a fight against Juggernaut and Cassidy in their spacious castle
basement, Cassidy mentions the word “tomb” to the X-Men. That’s all it
took to send Storm into a claustrophobic fit that leaves her in a heap
on the floor for three straight issues. Imagine if he would have said
“Small Closet” or “Size 2 Jeans.“
The thing that makes this freakout so funny is that the X-Men become
more and more pissed at her as they fight. After uselessly punching the
invincible Juggernaut for hours, they start to take their frustrations
out on Storm, complaining that all their problems would be solved if
she’d hit him with some weather.
Unlike most of the freakouts in this list, claustrophobia is a real
thing. You know, as opposed to taking a crap in your pants when you
remember rocket accidents or not touching men because your dad had a
mustache. But this basement is large enough for eight jumping and flying
mutants to comfortably fight and still leave room for a nutjob to crawl
into the corner and cry. You can’t get claustrophobic in something as
big as a castle because you would have hung yourself in the car ride
there.
I think they were just being passive
aggressive, though; because when she does pull her shit together, her
first lightning bolt bounces off the Juggernaut and she knocks herself
out.
This leads me to two questions. One: What does it take to get fired from the X-Men? And two: You suck, Storm.
I still can’t get over it after 10 years and I’m still thinking about this issue. Claremont made Storm a useless character and had the X-men getting upset about her whining in a corner when she should help her crew. What a useless woman.
I love Storm, but there were times I started to disliked her. Thanks Claremont. But that’s not it.
He has made Storm having passion for women (EWWWW why WHY?). He humiliated her for quite some time. I didn’t like when he took her powers away. At least with Polaris he gave her a secondary mutation and didn’t left her quite a human. He turned her into a punk rock style. Rumors are she did it because she was in love with Yukio. Kitty Pryde was terrified by he awkward new look. She became such a masculine Storm that I didn’t even recognized her. I guess in the relationship, she wanted to be the bush. That’s how fucked up she was getting into. Thanks Claremont.
The panel I posted earlier where the crew are having a little party and in Storm’s arrival, she receive a platter on her face. I has to admit this was very funny. In X-Men Forever, Claremont has done some crazy shit with Storm. One of history’s greatest infamies. He turned the X-men against her, had Kitty sliced her face, she killed a few crew and wanted to rule the world where she believed she was above the law. The best part of the whole issues was when Polaris (Lorna Dane) almost killed Storm, because Storm killed Havok, the love of her life. Anyway, these are only some fucked up shit Chris Claremont did With Storm in his recent years. There are more, but for now I can leave you guys here showing why I think Claremont like to discredit her.
And people really has the balls to speak about how Claremont treated Lorna Dane? Well, the truth is, Storm was treated worst and was such infamy IMO.
Okay, so! Rebloggan!
I’m glad someone highlighted these panels where Storm was treated poorly by Claremont. I don’t know the entire history of every character; I know Lorna’s history. It’s good for me to hear about these things for my own knowledge, and also important for people in general to know. It allows people to recognize Claremont, like all writers, wasn’t perfect and did have bad moments. And it allows current writers to push themselves to do better.
I disagree with the attitude against Ororo being gay or bi, if that’s what the poster meant with “passion for women.” If it’s not, then I apologize for the assumption.
And now to the final bit: the comparison between Storm’s treatment and Lorna’s.
Storm had this bad moment, and probably a few others I don’t know about. But she also had a constant stream of great moments. Other characters deeply admired her. She became team leader. At several points, she was the character who saved the day, and Claremont gave her a HUGE showing for it. Storm becoming a household name, a core X-Men member who has been in almost every cartoon, film and video game involving the X-Men to date, is proof of this.
Lorna had no great moments with Claremont. Only bad ones. Malice had some good moments while she was in possession of Lorna’s body, but Malice is not Lorna. As Claremont’s run continued, Lorna was increasingly diminished. By the time Claremont was done with her, Lorna wasn’t a household name. She hadn’t led any teams, not even as a stand-in leader. She didn’t have an origin story. She didn’t even have her powers anymore, but more generic ones that took away a unique aspect of who she was.
X-Men Forever isn’t much better.
In X-Men Forever, Storm was put on an even higher pedestal. The evil version of her, a bio-synth clone who called herself Perfect Storm, was a force to be reckoned with. When X-Men Forever’s Lorna tried to attack this Storm by herself, she was smacked back unconscious almost immediately.
So here’s the real question: Did XMF Lorna defeat Perfect Storm? The answer: sort of, with lots of help. After fighting with other characters had already worn Perfect Storm down, XMF Lorna’s rage at Perfect Storm hurting Havok led XMF Lorna to getting the first powerful moment that’s actually Lorna’s I’d ever seen Claremont give her. BUT, she required the help of… Storm.
Young ‘Ro, to be precise. See, even with that rage, Claremont didn’t feel comfortable with letting Lorna have a victory to call her own. Despite how he has treated Storm poorly as demonstrated by the previous poster, Claremont still prizes Storm above all others, and much higher than Lorna. So naturally, the only way to beat evil Storm is with another Storm.
Storm had some bad moments with Claremont, but what he did to Lorna went far, far beyond that. It is in no way comparable. It’s like looking at a broken arm vs one that got chopped off and saying they’re the same, or that the broken arm is worse.
It took 44 years for Lorna to finally have her origin story told. It took 46 years before she got to lead her own team. That’s the damage Claremont inflicted on Lorna: he’d so completely devastated her, it took 20 years after his run for Marvel to give her something as simple as a beginning.
I understand people loving Storm. I understand wanting to protect perception of her. Ultimately, what was done to Lorna isn’t Storm’s fault at all. It’s Claremont’s fault. He chose to write these characters the way he did, when he could just as easily have written their dynamic the same way Len Wein did here.
But the fact remains that Storm was treated much, much better than Polaris ever was, and that continues to be the case. She’s starring on a book right now. She’s had a solo book, something Lorna’s never had and probably never will. And she’s led how many teams now?
Until Polaris gets her own solo book, gets included in absolutely everything X-Men and becomes a household name, there is no way Storm has it worse.
But I would absolutely love to see a day come where Lorna’s treated so well by Marvel that there would actually be room to debate which of them has it worse.
Which is very frustrating since the entire time, Lorna’s trapped within her body, yet everyone is just attacking and beating on her with little to no empathy.
This is a huge part of why I would like to see her history dealt with. Claremont did a lot of good things, but with Lorna, he was excessively cruel and offered nothing to make up for it.
Edit: Also, since I haven’t said this recently, thanks for these posts. It’s important to know the history.
okay but hear me out: Ororo, Lorna, and Jean as those cool aunts who do brunch
like I’m thinking mid/late 2000s, so they’re all in their late 30s (fudging all timelines here but w/e), and they were all inaugural Xavier students around the same time so they’re close
once a month Ororo and Jean head down to the city and they drink various breakfast alcohols and gossip while looking fun and aloof and drawing the admiring glances of passersby
they like how dramatic their different hair colors look when they’re in a group, and they like getting dressed up for brunch. as soon as Instagram pops up on the scene in late 2010 they are ALL OVER IT, and their group selfies are out of this world.
Lorna is The Cool Aunt but otherwise unattached and fine with that; she’s bi and has had several good, solid relationships that ended when they needed to, and she is friends with all of her ex’s–except the ones who were terrible, but as a rule she figures that out and drops the bad ones within a month, so they barely count
Jean is happily living that DINK lifestyle w/ Scott
Ororo was totally convinced she was going to have a Lorna-style life, but then X2!Nightcrawler comes along and oh no he’s cute. an unplanned pregnancy and whirlwind wedding follow. Kurt cheerfully becomes Mr. Munroe; Ororo is like scary-good at being pregnant. she’s just so chill and competent, like how??
every once in a while they end up talking politics. Lorna generates static electricity when she gets too aggravated.
if someone is rude to the waitstaff while the ladies are in the restaurant, Lord help them. they might find that themselves accidentally stabbing their face with the fork while trying to eat. a freak rain storm drenches their open convertible. Jean can work that slightly-unscrew-the-salt-shaker trick from up to sixty feet away.
50% of the time they do #laughingwithsalad laughs. the other 50% they snort, slam the table, and literally can’t breathe
Ororo is picky about eggs not being cooked for two long. and at one point their favorite place adds shakshouka to the menu and she just about falls out of her chair in delight
they engage in none of the “oh now that I’m getting older and getting FAT I guess I’ll just have salad lol” banter. nope. it is a 100% positive lady-love space.
sometimes Lorna orders lox, but she’s always vaguely embarrassed knowing that she’s doing so at a place that serves $15 cocktails and doesn’t make its own bagels. (she has her own favorite deli, of course, but for brunch they do fancy places)
Jean is sort of an organic girl. like she’s not obnoxious about it or anything, but she often eats, like, yogurt with granola and local berries.
one day someone suggests it would be funny to match their drinks to their hair colors, and they do it partly as a joke, but appletinis, Pina Coladas, and Bloody Marys are actually fucking delicious so it becomes a semi-standard
Fanfic alternate universes don’t need to obey timelines. 🙂
I like the static electricity bit for Lorna, and all three ladies flaunting their varying hair colors.
Also, congratulations, you just made me really want to see art of the three of them in a #laughingwithsalad photo op.
Your imagination is always so much better than mine, I am unashamedly jealous. Looking forward to more of these!
salarta 