X-Men '97 Brings Back Magneto's Long-Lost Daughter (And It's Not Scarlet Witch)

By Eammon Parks Jacobs
Magneto wearing his purple and dark blue costume, including his helmet. There is an arc of blue light on the right side of the frame depicting his powers. Disney+/YouTube

There might be flashy powers, classic costumes, and time-traveling chaos, but "X-Men '97" Season 2 also manages to be a superhero melodrama about families and lost siblings. While much of the focus this season is on Cable's (Chris Potter) backstory and the fight against Apocalypse (Ross Marquand), Episode 2, "A Force to Be Reckoned With," also brings back Magneto's (Matthew Waterson) long-lost daughter.

Magneto had more official children before a dubious mid-2010s comics retcon; these days, he just has one canonical daughter: Lorna Dane, aka Polaris. The green-haired mutant has magnetic powers similar to her father's. According to the comics, Lorna's mother, Suzanna Dane, had an affair with Magneto, and when her husband confronted her about it in front of Lorna, the anxiety triggered her powers and crashed the plane they all happened to be traveling on. Magneto used another mutant to wipe his daughter's mind of the incident, so she wasn't aware of her heritage until much later.

Polaris (Carolina Ravassa) appears in the second episode of "X-Men '97" Season 2 as part of X-Factor, the government team in charge of policing mutants. This puts X-Factor at odds with Cable and X-Force, and Polaris starts to question whether she wants to fight on behalf of gene-based authoritarianism.  

All things considered, Polaris has been on TV a lot

An image of four people on a boat in a storm. On the right, there is a woman with long curly hair in a red outfit and crown with a man in a blue outfit with white hair, their faces are both hidden in shadow. In the middle is a woman peering overboard wearing a green jacket with a yellow and green costume underneath. She has white and brown hair. On the right is a woman with green hair dressed in a green outfit and a cape who is also hidden by shadow. Disney+

For an "X-Men" second-stringer, Lorna Dane has spent a substantial amount of time on our TV screens. Emma Dumont played her in one of the central roles on Fox's "The Gifted" for two seasons in the late 2010s. This season's second episode, "A Force to be Reckoned With," isn't even Polaris' first appearance on "X-Men '97." Season 1 alludes to her parentage when Professor X (Marquand) probes Magneto's mind in Episode 10.

The scene shows Rogue (Lenore Zann) on a boat in stormy waters — an unsubtle metaphor for Magneto's tortured psyche — and alongside her are three other figures in shadow. On the right is a woman with green hair sporting a green crown and outfit: That's Polaris. The other two are Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who may or may not be Magneto's children depending on how "X-Men '97" handles that aspect of their respective backstories. In any case, the image indicates that Magneto cares for his children and feels guilt over his questionable track record as a father.

Polaris and the X-Factor team also appear in Fox Kids' original "X-Men: The Animated Series" but that show doesn't really acknowledge her connection to Magneto. Her relationship to the Master of Magnetism gets much more emphasis in 2008's underrated one-season wonder "Wolverine & The X-Men" from Nicktoons.

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