X-Men
(Aurora) X-Men: Covert / Instinct / Ranged
(Northstar) X-Men: Covert / Instinct / Ranged / Strength
Aurora
Jeanne-Marie Beaubier’s parents died in a car crash when she was an infant. Separated from her twin brother Jean-Paul after he was adopted by the Martins, she was sent to Madame DuPont’s School for Girls in LaVelle, Quebec. Unhappy there, the introverted Beaubier attempted suicide at age thirteen by throwing herself off a roof; however, instead of falling to her death, she began to fly. Unaware of her true mutant nature, the deeply religious Beaubier believed that her flying was a divine miracle. The School’s headmistress, Soeur Anne, considered it blasphemy and had Beaubier severely disciplined. The resulting corporal punishment triggered a dissociative identity disorder in Beaubier, and a second, extroverted persona emerged. Beaubier secretly left the school that night, returning three days later with no memory of where she had been or what she had done. Subsequent discipline forced Beaubier to repress her second personality, and eventually she became a teacher at the school. Her second personality later returned, and while partying in Montreal she faced a pair of muggers. She super-swiftly subdued one while the other was defeated by the feral mutant Wolverine. He invited Beaubier to meet James MacDonald Hudson, who was forming a team of superhuman agents for the Canadian government’s Department H. Hudson accepted her as a recruit under the codename Aurora, and soon tracked down her brother, inviting him to join as Northstar. The siblings’ reunion surprised everyone: when the twins shook hands, they released a flash of intense light.
Northstar
Jean-Paul Beaubier’s parents were killed in a car crash shortly after his birth. He and his twin sister Jeanne-Marie were taken in by the Martins, cousins of their mother, but they could not afford to raise both children and so sent Jeanne-Marie to a catholic girl’s school. When Jean-Paul was six, he was placed in a foster home after his foster parents died, and the twins grew up unaware of each other. As a teenager, Jean-Paul was caught stealing by Raymonde Belmonde, who became his mentor and guardian, helping Jean-Paul cope with both his emerging mutant nature and his sexuality. Belmonde introduced Jean-Paul to skiing, which he used as a means to help control his super-speed. Jean-Paul later joined a circus and became a talented trapeze artist. He came to regard his fellow performers as the family he had never known. However, there was still much anger and frustration within him which he ultimately expressed by joining the separatist Front de Libération du Québec movement. Becoming part of the Front’s radical Cell Combattre, Jean-Paul acted as a courier. He came to disagree with the Cell’s terrorist methods after he saw himself forced to save innocent lives from a bomb. He subsequently severed all ties with the Front.
Marvel.com (Aurora)
Marvel.com (Northstar)