Zaladane
Zala Dane
Final Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #275 (1991)
- Known Aliases: High Priestess of the Sun God
- Identity: Secret
- Occupation: Empress and conqueror, high priestess, magician
- Place of Birth: Savage Land
- Legal Status: Citizen of the Savage Land
- Marital Status: Single
- Known Relatives: Mr. Dane (adoptive father), Mrs. Dane (adoptive mother), Lorna (Polaris, adoptive sister)
- Group Affiliation: Former leader of the Savage Land Mutates, Empress of the Sun-People
- Base of Operation: Savage Land
- Education:
- Species: Human (Mutate)
- Gender: Female
- Height: 5 ft. 9 in.
- Weight: 125 lbs.
- Eyes: Blue
- Hair: Black
- Other Distinguishing Features: None
Zaladane was the high priestess of Petrified Man, the sun god worshiped by the Sun People. She led her people in a war in Garrok's name to conquer more of the Savage Land. However, an unnamed British sailor five centuries ago had visited the Savage Land and drank a strange liquid there that endowed him with immortality and superhuman powers. Over the centuries it also slowly gave him the physical appearance of the stone-like Garrok. Returning to the Savage Land, he proclaimed himself to be the god Garrok and used his powers to destroy the weapons of Zaladane's army, thereby ending the war. Shortly thereafter Garrok died after having been immersed in the liquid that had given him his powers.
Expand full history
Zaladane claimed that her real name was Zala Dane and that she was the sister of Lorna Dane, the mutant Polaris. It is not known how Zaladane came to live in the Savage Land, a prehistoric tropical jungle existing on the Antarctic continent, nor how she became queen and high priestess of the Sun People, one of the many races inhabiting the Savage Land.
Many months later, Zaladane painted the chest of a captive named Kirk Marston with oil made from the Petrified Man's ashes, causing Marston to transform into the Petrified Man, whose consciousness supplanted Marston's. Zaladane then became Garrok's principal aide as he attempted to bring peace to the Savage Land by forcing its people to live in a city he had constructed. However, the jungle lord Ka-Zar and the X-Men wrecked their plans.
Years later, Zaladane became the assistant of the superhuman being called the High Evolutionary in his successful effort to restore the Savage Land after its destruction by the alien Terminus. Zaladane allied herself with the Savage Land Mutates, Savage Land natives who had been given superhuman powers through artificially induced mutation.
Following the High Evolutionary's departure Zaladane amassed an army of Savage Land natives, who were mentally controlled for her by the Savage Land Mutate named Worm. She then had Lorna Dane abducted and brought to the Savage Land. Zaladane then stole Lorna's superhuman powers over magnetism and infused them into her own body. Ka-Zar and members of the X-Men battled and defeated Zaladane and her forces. Her army was released from Worm's control and Lorna regained her freedom. Sometime later she regained her magnetic powers.
Months later, still in command of the Savage Land Mutates, Zaladane launched an attempt to control all the magnetic forces of the planet Earth. Nick Fury, director of the international law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D., Ka-Zar, Magneto, and the X-Man Rogue joined forces to stop her. Magneto executed Zaladane despite protestations from Rogue and Fury.
Strength Level: Zaladane possesses the normal human strength of a female of her age, height and weight.
Known Superhuman Powers: Zaladane’s superhuman abilities stem primarily from mysticism and power theft, rather than innate physical enhancement. She is a highly skilled sorceress, trained in arcane rites associated with the Savage Land’s sun cults and elder mystical traditions. Through magic, she has demonstrated the ability to cast enchantments, perform complex rituals, influence or dominate minds, and project destructive mystical energies. Her sorcery also grants her a commanding presence over primitive tribes, allowing her to manipulate followers through fear, reverence, and supernatural authority.
Her most formidable powers manifested when she temporarily stole Polaris’s mutant ability to control magnetism. While wielding this power, Zaladane could manipulate magnetic and electromagnetic forces, enabling her to levitate herself and others, generate protective force fields, and control metallic objects. Though her command of magnetism was generally less refined than Polaris’s or Magneto’s, it was still potent enough to pose a serious threat, especially when amplified by Savage Land technology or geomagnetic nexus points. In some instances, her actions risked destabilizing regional or even planetary magnetic fields.
In addition to magic and stolen mutant powers, Zaladane has occasionally enhanced herself through technology and artificial mutation, particularly devices connected to the High Evolutionary or the Savage Land Mutates. These augmentations increased her overall combat effectiveness and resilience, though they were situational rather than permanent. Overall, Zaladane’s threat level derives not from raw physical strength, but from her versatility: the combination of sorcery, energy manipulation, mental domination, and temporarily acquired superhuman powers makes her a dangerous and unpredictable adversary.
Information about the weapons and paraphernalia goes here!
- First appearance (Astonishing Tales #3, 1970)
- Zaladane's death (Uncanny X-Men #275, 1991)
