WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for X-Factor #1, by Leah Williams, David Baldeon, Israel Silva and Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Whether in the form of cape and tights or a leather duster and a bulletproof vest, every superhero needs a costume. From the hooded navy and gold bodysuits of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby era to the pouches, shoulder pads and big guns of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, it's safe to say the X-Men have changed costumes quite a bit. Now, the launch of Leah Williams and David Baldeon’s X-Factor has added a new chapter to the sartorial history of Lorna "Polaris" Dane by drawing from her appearance on Fox's The Gifted.
Williams and Baldeon’s new incarnation of X-Factor is perhaps best described as a fusion of two of the team's most iconic prior incarnations. This new X-Factor eschews a standard superhero aesthetic in favor of operating as a team of detectives, even adopting the same name as Jamie Madrox’s X-Factor Investigations, but also has the government sanctioning of the classic '90s X-Factor team. The government in question, though, is now the mutant nation of Krakoa instead of the United States.
In that spirit, Polaris has ditched her classic green cloak and matching tiara for a decidedly casual black leather jacket with matching beanie and red plaid pants. Eagle-eyed X-Fans will recognize this costume as similar to her look in the live action X-Men series The Gifted, which ran for two seasons from 2017 to 2019 on Fox. This version of Polaris, who was also the daughter of Magneto, was fairly faithful to the character established in the comics. In the show, like in the comics, Lorna had bipolar disorder, while her mutant power gave her control over magnetism.
In The Gifted, Lorna is one of the leaders of the Mutant Underground, and she definitely does take on something of a leadership role in this new incarnation of X-Factor, bringing a veteran presence to a team of genuine misfits. She will likely, as the series goes on, find herself serving as a confidante and cooler head to the ever brusque and abrasive Northstar as he grows into the role of team leader.
That being said, there's something of a tension in X-Factor #1 as to whether Polaris or Northstar would make a better leader. While the Alpha Flight alum spends most of the story zooming around at super speed and growing impatient with the Krakoan bureaucracy involved in resurrecting his twin sister Aurora, Lorna does an excellent job of working on the problem. She recruits Daken, Prodigy, Eye-Boy and Rachel Summers to investigate the circumstances surrounding Aurora’s sudden demise. Lorna also plays an integral role in winning the new X-Factor Investigations its government mandate, even building the team’s HQ from scratch with help from the living island of Krakoa.
However, Lorna isn't one who cares much about power, explaining to Magneto that she's interested more in self-discovery. Leadership is taxing enough under the best of circumstances, and it speaks to a certain maturity on Lorna’s part that she’d understand that dividing one’s energies between leading a super-team and finding out who exactly you are could lead to less than exemplary results in both endeavors. While X-Factor's Lorna may have the costume of her The Gifted counterpart, she's not looking to be a leader in the same way as her TV counterpart was.