Lorna Dane's biological 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 mothers 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 first her foster parents and then she herself always kept dyed brown so that she would not be though 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 robotics genius now known as the MachineSmith altered the normal course her life would have led. 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 a means to accumulate vast wealth and power, while deceiving the world into believing them to be just another example of evil mutants, who at the time just as they are now 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 orders through the Magneto robot. First Saxon had the robot Magneto recruit
Mesmero to serve as his second in command. Then Saxon decide 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 mutant detecting machine Cerebro. Mesmero used the psyche-generator to summon mutants in North America with latent magnetic powers. Being the nearest latent mutant to fit the profile, and was drawn 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 access to her latent mutant powers.

At the same time Mesmero used his hypnotic powers upon her to alter her personality so that she would sympathize with the fake Magneto, and his cause. Told that that she was the daughter of Magneto, and that she had inherited her powers from him.

Shortly afterwards, however, Mesmero dropped control over Dane, overconfident that Dane would follow any commands her supposed father gave her. On the contrary. When the X-Men told Dane that she was not daughter of Magneto, and that her real parents had died in a plane crash and her adoption, she turned on Mesmero, and the fake Magneto. During the battle Mesmero, and the robot Magneto escaped, and the Demi-Men were destroyed, and Saxon gave up on the plan and went back to being a assassin who used robots to kill.

For a time Dane was romantically involved with Robert (Bobby) Drake , the Iceman, but eventually fell in love with Alex Summers, a.k.a. Havok . Neither Dane nor Summers were interested in the life an adventurer wished to lead, but discovered they both had a mutual interest in geophysics, and left the X-Men to do doctoral research in the Diablo mountain range. Living away from the public eye, Dane quit bothering to dye her hair brown and let it grow it's natural green. Still connected to the X-Men she decided to take the name Polaris, for those few missions she went on.

Later on Lorna had her mind dominated again by the Shi'ar intelligence agent Davan Shakari a.k.a. Eric the Red, who served D'ken, Lilandra's mad brother, who was out to take control of the M'Kraan crystal.

After being freed from his control by Professor X she and Havok went back to their studies, only to be dragged into the X-Men's adventures time and time again. On one such adventure, Lorna's mind and body were taken over by Malice, the leader of Marauders, servants of Mister Sinister. After an extended time of separation with Havok as a full time member of the X-Men and Dane under mental domination by Malice, she eventually managed to break free of Malice's control, and contacted Havok and the rest of the X-Men. Unfortunately she was captured at this time by the Savage Land Mutants under the orders of her supposed sister Zaladane.

During this time, through an unknown process, she was stripped of her powers and put in confinement with the rest of the X-Men who had come to rescue her. During this time in captivity she began to grow getting about a foot taller, at first, and growing superhumanly strong and invulnerable. After their escape from Zaladane and her mutates, the X-Men were teleported home by the mutant know as Gateway, separating her and Havok once again. In search of Havok she went to Muir Island, and joined Banshee in the formation of a new team of X-Men out to find the others who had gone through the Siege Portal and lost their memories, and teleported to different points around the world, with the exception of Wolverine who was not with them at the time.

Eventually, Muir Island was attacked by the Shadow King who said that he was attracted to some by product of Lorna's new powers that made people more aggressive around her, and made her a focal point of negative energy. Eventually the reunited X-Men , and members of X-Factor led by Professor X, defeated the Shadow king and freed Polaris and the rest of the mentally controlled residents of Muir Island. After being defeated the Shadow King took the new powers that Polaris acquired, and gave her back her old ones. After the Shadow King affair the X-Men and X-Factor changed group alignments making two X-Men teams the Gold and the Blue, and leaving X-Factor non-existent. After talking to Valerie Cooper the head of the mutant resource section of the government asked Havok to become the new leader of X-Factor and Polaris joined, and the two were once again reunited. The new team consisting of Havok the field leader, Polaris the second in command, Wolfsbane, Madrox the Multiple Man, Strong Guy, and Quicksilver . During one encounter Malice returned and took possession of Havok's body, in attempt to make Polaris give Malice control of hers if she released Summers.

Fortunately for the both of them, Mister Sinister intervened for his own reasons and tricked Malice out of Havok's body, and on her way into Polaris's body she was supposedly killed by Mister Sinister and is now believed dead.