Comic Book Questions Answered is a feature where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com). Today, I figure out whether Polaris’ secondary mutation still exists.

This is a bit of a cheat, as no one has really specifically asked me, but I know people HAVE been wondering this, and since I like to do Polaris topics to celebrate my pal Michael’s birthday, I thought I’d just go with it (as it doesn’t quite fit into any other column, since it really is just a question).

Okay, Polaris, the Mistress of Magnetism, is Magneto’s daughter, and one of the most powerful mutants in the world. However, for a period of time, she didn’t have her magnetic powers at all, and gained a completely different power set. At the time, this was basically inexplicable, but in the years since, the concept of “secondary mutations” has become a common one, where mutants, during a time of great stress, might develop a SECONDARY mutation. The most famous one being Emma Frost discovering, during the Sentinel destruction of Genosha, that she had the ability to transform into impenetrable diamond. So, the question now is, does Polaris still have her secondary mutation powers?

How did Polaris first exhibit her secondary mutation?

For a few years, Polaris was possessed by the villainous Malice, but eventually, she broke free. Sadly, she was then kidnapped by Zaladane, who stole Polaris’ magnetic powers in Uncanny X-Men #250 (by Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri, and Steve Leialoha)…

However, while a prisoner of Zaladane, Lorna suddenly discovered brand NEW powers!

She was split from the rest of the X-Men after they escaped.

She popped up three issues later, when Banshee had to rescue her, as all of the people on the boat that she was traveling on went mad with anger…

As it turned out, Lorna’s powers came from being a sort of negative energy enhancer.

The next issue, she helped defend Muir Isle from an attack by the Reavers…

However, the Shadow King, who had already been manipulating Moria MacTaggert on Muir Isle, soon used Polaris to expand his powers, and soon, he had taken control of everyone on the island, turning them all evil.

Luckily, the X-Men came to stop the Shadow King, and in Uncanny X-Men #280 (by Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert, Steven Butler, and a bunch of inkers), Forge used Psylocke’s powers to free Polaris of the Shadow King’s control…

Zaladane had been killed a few issues earlier, so Polaris got her magnetic powers back, as seen in X-Factor #70 (by Peter David, Kirk Jarvinen, and Joe Rubinstein), as Guido is being a bit of a creep to Polaris…

Okay, so Polaris was back to having magnetic powers. But that went very wrong years later!

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How did Polaris lose her powers and get them back?

As I wrote back for Michael’s birthday in 2018, in House of M #7 (by Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel, and Mark Morales), Scarlet Witch changed everything when she those famous three words…

Doctor Strange managed to use his magic to save as many mutants from her reality-altering powers as he could, and he ended up saving roughly 1,000 or so from losing their mutant abilities. However, that still meant roughly a million or so mutants were suddenly, well, you know, NOT mutants.

It seemed as though Scarlet Witch’s powers specifically altered those closest to her, as of the people who lost their powers, Magneto, Quicksilver and Polaris were the most notable ones. Professor X was another major one. Otherwise, it was a pretty lackluster group of mutants who actually lost their abilities. Dani Moonstar, Rictor, Jubilee, Blob, not exactly a Murderer’s Row of famous characters, ya know? Heck, Iceman was specifically shown to have lost his powers in House of M #8, but that was revealed to be a mistake right away (I featured that in an old Abandoned an’ Forsaked).

Anyhow, in X-Men #177 (by Peter Milligan and Salvador Larroca), we learned that Polaris was one of the mutants who lost her powers…

Since her X-Gene was gone, then clearly, her primary AND secondary mutations were gone.

Okay, so Polaris then goes off and tries to figure out this whole power situation. She gets caught up in some strange situations with the villainous Leper Queen. Meanwhile, Apocalypse shows up and he is once again recruiting mutants to be his Four Horsemen. At the end of X-Men #185 (by Peter Milligan and Salvador Larroca), we see that his new Pestilence is Polaris!!

Okay, so the next issue, the X-Men defeat Apocalypse. The X-Men take Polaris to the X-Mansion, and she seems to be getting back to normal, but then we discover that she has powers, but specifically NOT mutant powers, but instead a version of her abilities provided by Apocalypse’s Celestial technology…

She has magnetism still…

Polaris then went off on her own, but then Pofessor X put together an X-Men team to travel into outer space to deal with Vulcan, the former X-Man who has decided to conquer the Shi’ar Empire. Xavier feels responsible for him (because he kind of is) and so wants to stop him. He recruits Polaris for his team…

Six issues later, she is mastering her new powers…

Okay, so she ends up staying in outer space with Havok, Marvel Girl and a new member of the team, Korvus, as the new Starjammers. Eventually, they come back to Earth and in X-Men Legacy #259 (by Christos Gage, Khoi Pham and Tom Palmer), we learn that the X-Gene IS present in Polaris, since Cerebra measured her X-Gene when she came back (they also brought a missing mutant back, that was the ninth X-Gene being measured)….

This proved that the Celestial technology actually kickstarted her own natural X-Gene and did not replace it with new powers. So she is still, in fact, a mutant.

So, does that mean her secondary mutation is back, too? I think it MUST be, right? If the X-Gene is back, so, too, must the secondary mutaiton be back, but it only pops up when she loses her main power, so I think it is just dormant.

Happy birthday, Michael! If anyone has a comic book question they’d like to see answered, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!