Real name: Lorna Dane (This is her legal name since her adoption. Her given name has not been revealed).
Former aliases: M-2, Magneto the Second, Malice IV
Identity: Secret
Occupation: U.S. government operative, (formerly) Graduate student in geophysics at the University of California at Berkeley, adventurer
Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Place of birth: Unrevealed
Marital status: Single
Known relatives:Zaladane (alleged sister, possibly deceased), unnamed uncle and aunt (adoptive parents). Neither the names of Polaris' true parents nor those of her adoptive parents have yet been revealed.
Base of operations:X-Factor II Headquarters, Embassy Row, Washington, D.C.
Group affiliation: X-Factor II, (formerly) X-Men "reserve member," Marauders
First appearance: X-MEN (first series) #49

History: Lorna Dane's parents are said to have died in a plane crash only weeks after her birth. She was then adopted by the Danes, who are said to be her mother's sister and brother-in-law. The Danes never told Lorna that they were not her true parents for fear that the truth might have a traumatic effect on her. Lorna did not learn the story about the plane crash and the fact that she had been adopted until she was nearly twenty years old.

Lorna Dane had been born with green hair, which at first her foster parents and then she herself always kept dyed brown so that she would not be thought of as being "different." Dane's hair color was the only outward sign of her unusual genetic structure. She had the latent genetic potential for magnetic powers, but certain genetic factors were absent which would have allowed her to exercise those powers. In the normal course of events, Dane would never have been able to use these powers. However, the intervention of Samuel "Starr" Saxon, the master roboticist whose brain patterns were later preserved in the Machinesmith, altered the normal course of events. Saxon had constructed an android duplicate of Magneto, the mutant with great magnetic powers who was then believed to be dead, and a small army of androids with strange powers called the Demi-Men. Saxon's plans were to use these androids as his means of accumulating vast wealth and power, while deceiving the world into believing them to be examples of evil mutants, who had become objects of widespread fear.

Saxon decided that he needed some actual mutants to help lead the android army while he himself remained behind the scenes, giving directions through the Magneto robot. First, Saxon had the robot Magneto recruit Mesmero to serve as second in command. Then, Saxon decided that a mutant who was a natural source of vast magnetic power would be useful in dealing with his metal robot army. From sources still unrevealed, Saxon acquired a "psyche-generator," which has some features in common with Charles Xavier's Cerebro machine. Mesmero used the psyche-generator to summon mutants in North America with latent powers. The nearest such mutant with latent magnetic powers, Lorna Dane, found herself compelled to travel to San Francisco, the city where Mesmero was. Mesmero and his androids captured her and brought her to their desert headquarters, where they placed her inside a "genetic stimulator," which altered her genetic structure so as to allow her to exercise her previously latent powers. Meanwhile Mesmero used his hypnotic powers upon her to alter her personality so that she would sympathize with the bogus Magneto and his cause. She was told that she was the daughter of Magneto and that she had inherited her powers from him.

Shortly afterwards, however, Mesmero dropped his control over Dane, overconfidently assuming that she would obey her supposed father no matter what happened. On the contrary, after the X-Man named Iceman revealed to her that Magneto was not her father, and told her about the plane crash and her adoption, Lorna Dane joined the X-Men in battling "Magneto". Mesmero and the Magneto robot escaped, the Demi-Men were destroyed, and Saxon, his plans ruined, had to fall back on hiring himself out as an assassin who used androids to kill.

For a time Dane was romantically inclined toward Robert Drake, the Iceman, but eventually she fell in love with Alexander Summers, who is also known as Havok. Neither Dane nor Summers wished to lead lives as adventurers, but they discovered that they had a mutual interest in geophysics. Hence, they both began doing doctoral research in that subject in the Diablo mountain range in California. Since they spent most of their time away from public view, Dane did not bother to dye her hair. Neither Dane (who eventually took the code-name Polaris) nor Summers have ever been full-time X-Men, but they were always willing to help the X-Men in emergency situations, and have done so in the past.

Lorna received her current costume, which is of Shi'ar design, when her mind came under the domination of the Shi'ar Intelligence agent Davan Shakari, who served D'ken, the now deposed emperor of the Shi'ar Galaxy. Charles Xavier finally freed her from Shakari's control.

For a time Polaris was mentally possessed by Malice, one of the members of the team of assassins called the Marauders. Later, after she regained her free will, Polaris encountered her alleged sister Zaladane, a sorceress based in the prehistoric Savage Land. Zaladane temporarily stole Polaris's magnetic powers. Strangely, as a result, Polaris developed alternate powers, including superhuman strength and durability, and also grew considerably in height and mass.

Eventually Polaris regained her normal size and powers. She resumed her romantic relationship with Havok, and they both joined the United States government's new version of X-Factor. She has remained a member of X-Factor for years.

Height: 5 ft. 7 in.
Weight: 115 lbs.
Eyes: Dark green
Hair: Light green

Strength level: Polaris possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Known superhuman powers: Polaris possesses the ability to manipulate magnetism. Although she has the potential to exercise all of the powers that Magento has, as yet she has only used powers involving the manipulation of magnetic, electrical, and gravitic fields. Moreover, she cannot summon as great an amount of energy as Magneto can. The exact limits on the amount weight that she can magnetically lift at present have not been measured, but they are considerably below those of Magneto. Since she has preferred not to use her powers in combat situations, she has not worked nearly as hard to develop them as Magneto has. As with Magneto, it is unknown whether Polaris's powers are purely psionic or whether they derive from her physically.

Polaris has been observed levitating metallic objects and creating force fields in which she can suspend persons or objects in the air and in which she can protect them from attacks from outside the fields. She can also overload or short-circuit electrical systems. By concentrating, Polaris can perceive the world around herself solely as patterns of magnetic and electrical energy. She can perceive the natural magnetic auras surrounding living beings, as well.