Marvel Studios Confirmed To Debut Scarlet Witch’s Sister In 2026

Scarlet Witch has not been seen since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Wanda Maximoff brought a mountain down on herself at Wundagore. The MCU has moved forward without her, and her absence has been one of the more noticeable empty spots in the current roster. She is one of the most powerful characters Marvel has ever put on screen, and many wonder if she'll return. For now, Marvel Studios has decided to give us another powerful character with an intriguing connection to Wanda

This character is a member of Wanda's family, and she's showing up in 2026. Polaris, the half-sister Wanda never shared a screen with, is joining X-Men '97 Season 2 as a main cast member.

 Marvel Animation confirmed her addition via the recently released Season 2 poster, the first official promotional material for the upcoming Disney+ season, which is expected to premiere in Summer 2026. It is the first time Polaris takes an active role in the X-Men '97 animated universe. 

Polaris briefly surfaced in the Season 1 finale's three-part "Tolerance Is Extinction" arc, though not as an active player. She appeared in Magneto's memories alongside Wanda and Quicksilver as Charles Xavier tried to reason with him, one face among several from his past. A separate, older version of the character also showed up in the dystopian future Cable described, where she and Rachel Summers were being used as slave labor under Bastion. Neither moment gave her dialogue or agency, but it was setting her up for a bigger role in Season 2. 

The NYCC 2025 trailer confirmed she is placed in the past-timeline group, where she will first interact with Charles Xavier. That puts her alongside Rogue, Beast, Magneto, and Nightcrawler in the team scattered to ancient Egypt in 3000 BC, the same group that will come face to face with a young En Sabah Nur before he evolves into Apocalypse. It's no surprise she's being placed in one of the show's most important arcs, given how iconic she is in the comics and her interesting family tree. 

Who Is Polaris in the Comics?

Lorna Dane first appeared in The X-Men #49 in 1968, created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Jim Steranko. She was not called Polaris until The X-Men #97 in 1976. Her powers center on magnetic manipulation, an ability she wields with a precision that rivals Magneto, who happens to be her father. She can move metal, control electromagnetic fields, and generate enough force to go toe-to-toe with some of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel universe. 

What makes her different from her father is temperament. Magneto is very ideological and doesn’t have patience for things that don’t align with his beliefs. Polaris, for most of her history, has wanted nothing more than to step away from all of it, and the comics keep pulling her back in anyway. She has been mind-controlled, turned into one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen, stripped of her powers, and manipulated into leading the Marauders against the X-Men. She tends to survive all of it and return to the side she actually belongs on. 

Magneto's role as her father was long suspected in the comics but not formally confirmed until Uncanny X-Men#431 in 2003, some 35 years after her debut. The full story is pretty grim. Lorna was born from an affair between Magneto and a woman named Suzanna. Her mother and stepfather were killed in a plane crash when Lorna was an infant, caused by the first accidental surge of her emerging powers. Magneto found her in the wreckage, had her memories altered by Mastermind, and left her to be raised by adoptive parents with no knowledge of who she really was.

Her family tree gets more complex from here. Because Magneto fathered children with more than one woman. Magneto was in a relationship with a woman named Magda, and together they had two children: Wanda and Pietro, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. So Wanda, Pietro, and Lorna all share the same father, just not the same mother. 

Beyond the family drama, Polaris has spent much of her comics career as a core member of X-Factor, often serving alongside Havok, Alex Summers, the younger brother of Cyclops, who is her recurring romantic partner. Havok is also confirmed to appear in X-Men '97 Season 2, which makes the romantic side of things just as interesting as the action.