Storm (Marvel Comics)

Storm (Ororo Munroe^[4]) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly associated with the X-Men. The character first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975),^[5] and was created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum.

The daughter of a tribal princess from Kenya, but raised in Harlem and Cairo, Storm is a member of a fictional subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. Storm has the ability to control the weather and can fly. She is a member of the X-Men, a group of mutant heroes who fight for peace and equality between mutants and humans. Possessed of natural leadership skills and some of the most formidable powers in her team, Storm has led the X-Men from time to time, and has also been a member of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. As an adult, Storm married her fellow superhero Black Panther, and was by marriage made queen consort of the African nation of Wakanda, but lost this title when they divorced.

The character is one of the most prominent X-Men, having appeared in many X-Men incarnations. Storm appears in five installments of the live-action X-Men film series, where she is portrayed by actress Halle Berry and will be played by Alexandra Shipp in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Publication history

1975 - 1979: Origin and early stories

Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975) is Storm's first appearance. Art by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum.

Storm first appeared in 1975 in the comic book Giant-Size X-Men #1, written by Len Wein and pencilled by Dave Cockrum. In this comic, Wein uses a battle against the living island Krakoa to replace the first-generation X-Men of the 1960s with new X-Men.^[5] Storm was an amalgam of two characters Cockrum created: The Black Cat and Typhoon.^[6] The Black Cat had Storm's costume, minus the cape, and was submitted for the new X-Men's original lineup. However, during a hiatus in the new X-Men project, other female cat characters like Tigra were introduced, making the Black Cat redundant.^[7]

Since the creative team did not want the X-Men to have an all-male lineup, editor Roy Thomas suggested that Cockrum make his character Typhoon, originally designed as a male, into the woman of the group.^[6] Cockrum liked the idea, and outfitted Typhoon with The Black Cat's costume, a cape, and a new haircut with white hair. His collaborators feared that Storm’s white hair would make her look like a grandmother, but Cockrum, confident that he could consistently draw the character so that she would appear young, insisted on this aspect of her appearance.^[6][7]

Chris Claremont followed up Wein as the writer of the flagship title Uncanny X-Men in 1975, writing many notable X-Men stories, among them God Loves, Man Kills and "Dark Phoenix Saga", which served as the basis for the films X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand, respectively. In both arcs, Storm is written as a major supporting character. Claremont stayed the main writer of X-Men for the next 16 years and consequently wrote most of the publications containing Storm.

Backstory

In Uncanny X-Men #102 (December 1976), Claremont established Storm's backstory. Storm's mother, N'Dare, was the princess of a tribe in Kenya and descended from a long line of African witch-priestesses with white hair, blue eyes, and a natural gift for sorcery. N'Dare falls in love with and marries American photojournalist David Munroe. They move to Harlem in uptown New York City, where Ororo is born. They later moved to Egypt and lived there until they die during the Suez Crisis in a botched aircraft attack, leaving six-year-old Ororo as an orphan. Her violent claustrophobia is established as a result of being buried under tons of rubble after that attack. She becomes a skilled thief in Cairo under the benign Achmed el-Gibar and wanders into the Serengeti as a young woman. She is worshipped as a goddess when her powers appear before being recruited by Professor X for the X-Men.^[8]

Claremont further fleshed out Storm’s backstory in Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979). He retroactively added that Professor X, who recruits her in Giant Size X-Men #1 of 1975, had already met her as a child in Cairo. As Ororo grows up on the streets and becomes a proficient thief under the tutelage of master thief Achmed el-Gibar, one of her most notable victims was Charles Francis Xavier, later Professor X. He is able to use his mental powers to temporarily prevent her escape and recognizes the potential in her. However, when Xavier is attacked mentally by Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King, the two men are preoccupied enough with their battle to allow the girl to escape. Both Xavier and the Shadow King recognize Storm as the young girl later.^[9]

1980s: Punk look and loss of powers

In the following issues, Claremont portrayed Storm as a serene, independent character. Although Storm was initially written having trouble adjusting to Western culture, e.g. calling the obligation to wear clothing in public bath "absurd",^[10] she earns a lot of respect: in Uncanny X-Men #139 (November 1980), Claremont established her as the leader of the X-Men after Cyclops took a leave of absence,^[11] a position she holds in various incarnations. Claremont also made Storm especially harbor motherly feelings for the youngest X-Man, 13-year-old Kitty Pryde. In Marvel Team-Up #100 (December 1980), Claremont wrote a short story in which he retroactively established that Storm, then 12 years old, saves a young Black Panther from racist thugs when they both are in Kenya.^[12] This story would later become a base for later writers to establish a deeper relationship between both characters.^[13]

In the early 1980s, adventures of Storm written by Claremont included a space opera arc, in which the X-Men fight parasitic beings called the Brood. Storm is infected with a Brood egg and contemplates suicide, but then experiences a last-minute save by the benign whale-like Acanti aliens.^[14] In the following arc, Claremont further established Storm's character strength. He wrote a story in which Storm's fellow X-Man Angel is abducted by a rogue mutant group called the Morlocks. The X-Men are outnumbered, and Storm is rendered sick by the Morlock called Plague. To save Kitty's life, Storm challenges the Morlocks' leader Callisto, in a duel to the death for leadership of the Morlocks. Despite being violently sick, she defeats Callisto by stabbing her with a knife. Callisto is saved through the efforts of a Morlock healer, and Storm offers the Morlocks refuge at the Xavier Mansion, but they decline.^[15]

Storm's debut in her punk look and attitude. Art by Paul Smith, who called it "a bad joke".^[16]

In Uncanny X-Men #173, October 1983, writer Claremont and artist Paul Smith created a new look for Storm, abandoning her old costume for black leather top and pants, and changing her former veil of white hair into a punk Mohawk.^[17] In a 2008 interview, Smith regretted the change as "a bad joke gone too far". Smith explained:

"Storm had just lost most of her hair and she needed a hairstyle out of what was left. I did a number of portraits, all quite lovely and feminine. As a joke, I included a shot of her as Mr. T. You know, the kind of shot where they HAVE to go the other way. (X-Men editor Louise Simonson)'s response? 'They’re going to hang us whichever way we go. Let's commit the murder.' I argued it was a joke and a monstrously bad idea but, given my departure following 175 was set prior to beginning my run, my vote didn’t count. So I did what I could with what I had left... So we went with the Mohawk ...But once you get into the whole leather and stud thing it was a bad joke that got way out of hand."^[16][18]

In the story, Storm's outlook on life darkens after her struggles with the Brood. These changes alienate her from Kitty for a time. Storm is influenced in this by Yukio, a friend of Wolverine, and the two become fast friends.^[19] Claremont wrote an arc in which fellow mutant Forge develops a mutant power neutralizing gun. The intended target is another X-Man, Rogue, but Storm is hit instead, taking away her powers. Forge takes her back to his home in Dallas, Texas to recover. They fall in love, but when she learns that Forge built the weapon that took her powers, she is heartbroken and leaves him.^[20]

By 1986, the question arose of whether the X-Men would be led by Storm or by Cyclops, who was now married to Madelyne Pryor and an expectant husband. The two settled the matter in a duel in the Danger Room that saw Storm victorious.^[21] It was later revealed during the "Inferno" storyline that Madelyne's nascent psychic abilities had emerged during that duel, unbeknownst to her or anyone, and that she had subconsciously used those abilities to influence the duel.^[22] During the 1988 "Fall of the Mutants" storyline, Storm is trapped in another dimension with Forge, who restores her elemental powers. Following her rejoining the X-Men, they defeat a demonic enemy called the Adversary, in a battle in which the public believes the X-Men have died. They survive, with the help of the celestial being known as Roma. Using a spell Roma has cast upon them to be invisible to electronic equipment,^[23] the X-Men set up new headquarters in a small frontier village in the Australian Outback, after expelling a group of mutant-hunting cyborgs called Reavers who had been living there. Storm is captured by the cyborg Nanny.^[24] Although believed slain in that encounter, she resurfaced, having become amnesiac as a result of being physically regressed to childhood by Nanny. She is hunted by the evil telepath Shadow King and framed for murder,^[25] and finally returns to thieving. While she slowly starts to regain her memories, she meets with Gambit and they return to the X-Men together.^[26][27] In the following arc, "The X-Tinction Agenda", she is kidnapped by the mutant-exploiting nation of Genosha and is temporarily transformed into a brainwashed slave, but in the is restored physically and mentally to her adult prime.^[28]

1990s

In October 1991, the X-Men franchise was re-launched, centering on the new eponymous X-Men (vol. 2) comic. Claremont wrote Storm as the leader of the X-Men's Gold Team. The other team, Blue, was led by her colleague Cyclops, the X-Man she once succeeded as leader. In the sister title Uncanny X-Men, now under Scott Lobdell, Lobdell continued on the romance between Storm and Forge, which culminated in Forge's proposal to wed in 1992. Storm's slight hesitation, however, is misinterpreted by Forge, who then rescinds his offer before it can be accepted.^[29] Lobdell waited until November 1993 before he wrote a reconciliation between the deeply pained Storm and Forge.^[30] In 1995, Lobdell continued an arc again pitting the X-Men against the Morlocks. As Claremont did with Callisto in 1983, Lobdell has Storm ending the battle by wounding her opponent in the heart. Here, Storm rips out one heart of the two-hearted Morlock girl Marrow, which has a bomb affixed to it.^[31] In February 1996, Storm got her first miniseries, the eponymous Storm. In the first arc of the series, Warren Ellis writes a story in which Storm is sucked into a alternate dimension and pitted against villain Mikhail Rasputin.^[32]

2000s

In X-Treme X-Men, conceived by a newly reinstated Chris Claremont in July 2001, Storm was written as the leader of this team, and the central character of the book, until its end in issue #46 (June 2004). During this time, Storm enjoys a brief flirtation with younger fellow X-Man Slipstream and is kidnapped by the intergalactic warlord Khan. In the series, Storm also becomes leader of the X-Treme Sanctions Executive, a special police task force of mutants policing mutants given worldwide authority.^[33]

During the 2005 "Decimation" storyline, in which 90% of the mutants lose their powers, Storm is among the 198 mutants who retain their powers.^[34] Also that year, the miniseries Ororo: Before the Storm by writer Mark Sumerak retold her backstory in greater detail, concentrating on her relationship with surrogate father figure Achmed el-Gibar during her childhood.^[35]

The marriage of Storm and the Black Panther. Front cover for Black Panther #18 (2006), by Frank Cho.

The following year, Marvel Comics announced that Ororo would marry fellow African super hero Black Panther. Collaborating writer Eric Jerome Dickey explained that it was a move to explicitly target the female and African American audience.^[36] Storm's history with Black Panther, including the initial meeting of the characters, was retconned by Marvel during the lead up to their marriage. Initially, in Marvel Team-Up #100 (1980), Storm is seen at age twelve rescuing Black Panther from a white racist called Andreas de Ruyter,^[12] but in Dickey's miniseries, T'Challa saves Ororo (who is still twelve) from de Ruyter and his brother. A Black Panther #24 (2006) flashback is ambiguous when it comes to the physical aspect of their first meeting, while the miniseries depicts Ororo losing her virginity to T'Challa a few days after they meet.^[37] Collaborating writer Axel Alonso, editor of Black Panther, has stated: "Eric's story, for all intents and purposes (...) is Ororo's origin story."^[13] The relationship led to the marriage of the two most prominent black African Marvel Comics heroes in Black Panther #18 by writer Reginald Hudlin, July 2006, as a tie-in to the "Civil War" storyline.^[38] Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada was highly supportive of this marriage, stating it was the Marvel Comics equivalent of the marriage of "Lady Diana and Prince Charles", and he expected both characters to emerge strengthened.^[39] Shawn Dudley, the Emmy-Award Winning Costume Designer for TV's Guiding Light designed Storm's wedding dress, which was revealed in the April 17 issue of TV Guide, though the design was greatly altered for the comic event.^[40] In 2007, when Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman taking time off from the Fantastic Four to work on their marriage in the aftermath of the "Civil War" storyline, Storm and Black Panther become temporary members of the Fantastic Four.^[41] Storm later returned to the Uncanny X-Men.^[42]

Storm joins the reformed Astonishing X-Men (#25) because, she explains, Wakanda is a supporter of Mutantes Sans Frontieres and she believes she should be on the front line, however she is also somewhat bored of her life as queen. The reemergence of the Shadow King later forces Storm to choose between her role as queen and her role as an X-Man. Confronting the Panther God Bast, Storm asserts that she is not limited to being one or the other or anything else and that she is unafraid to do whatever is necessary to fulfill those responsibilities. Regaining Bast's favor, the two defeat the Shadow King and Storm decides that she will remain Queen of Wakanda and remain with the X-Men, refusing to choose between them.^[43] Seeking to re-learn his limitations, T'Challa later leaves Africa and takes a new role as the guardian of Hell's Kitchen following the events of Shadowland; Though the two remain a couple, Storm sadly but respectfully accepts T'Challa's request for temporary isolation so that he can find himself.

2010s

After the 2011 revamp of the X-Men related comic books Storm appears as the leader of a defensive, reconnaissance based team of X-Men in the ongoing X-Men title. In November that year, Storm joined the Avengers in Avengers Vol. 4 #19.^[44] She leaves the team to fight alongside the X-Men during the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, which has her facing off against T'Challa when he sides with the Avengers.^[45] When a Phoenix-empowered Namor destroys Wakanda,^[46] Storm realizes the Phoenix Five are out of control and returns to help the Avengers. However, she is stunned when T'Challa tells her he has annulled their marriage.^[47]

In April 2013, Marvel debuted a new all-female series simply named X-Men. Written by Brian Wood with art by Olivier Coipel, X-Men features a roster of Storm, Jubilee, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey and Psylocke.^[48]

In late 2013, Marvel debuted Amazing X-Men by writer Jason Aaron, which featured Storm as member of the team.

July 2014 saw the debut of a Storm solo series written by Greg Pak with art by Victor Inanez.^[49]

Historical significance

Storm was one of the first black comic book characters, and the first black female, to play either a major or supporting role in the big two comic book houses, Marvel Comics and DC Comics.^[50] Within these two companies, her 1975 debut was only preceded by a few male black characters. In Marvel Comics, preceding characters were Gabe Jones (debuted in 1963), Black Panther (1966), Bill Foster (1966), Spider-Man supporting characters Joe Robertson (1967), his son Randy (1968), Hobie Brown (the Prowler) & The Falcon (1969), Luke Cage (1972), Blade (1973) and Abe Brown (1974). In DC Comics, she was preceded by Teen Titans member Mal Duncan who debuted in 1970, Green Lantern wielder John Stewart (1971), and Mister Miracle protégé Shilo Norman (1973); she preceded DC's other black heroes, Legion of Super-Heroes member Tyroc (who debuted in 1976), Black Lightning (1977), Bumblebee (1977), Cyborg (1980), Vixen (1981) and Amazing Man (1983). While not the first black character to be introduced, since her creation Storm has remained the most successful and recognizable black superhero.

Gladys L. Knight, author of Female Action Heroes: A Guide to Women in Comics, Video games, Film, and Television (2010) wrote that "two defining aspects of her persona are her racial identity and her social status as a mutant."^[50] The X-Men have symbolically represented marginalized minorities and the debut of the X-Men series coincided with the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968), in which their plight as mutants mirrored that of African Americans.^[50] Storm's creation in particular "was during the heyday of blaxploitation films, which featured, among others, Pam Grier, an African American actress who is considered a pioneer in female action hero films."^[50]

Fictional character biography

Ever since her inception in 1975, Storm's biography has largely stayed the same. The framework was laid first by Chris Claremont, who fleshed out her backstory in Uncanny X-Men #102 (1976)^[8] and Uncanny X-Men #117 (1979).^[9] Some reinterpretations were made in 2005 and 2006, where writers Mark Sumerak and Eric Jerome Dickey, respectively, rewrote part of her early history in the miniseries Ororo: Before the Storm^[35] and Storm (vol. 2).^[51]

According to established Marvel canon, Ororo Munroe is born in New York City as the child of Kenyan tribal princess N’Dare and American photographer David Munroe. When Ororo is six months old, she and her parents move to the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Five years later, during the Suez Crisis, a fighter jet crashes into her parents’ house, killing them. Buried under tons of rubble, Ororo survives but is orphaned and left with intense claustrophobia. Her fear was once so intense that she was known to revert to a fetal position and approach a catatonic state.^[8] (In recent years, Storm has more or less conquered her claustrophobia,^[52] and can freely move in tight spaces, even over long periods of time.^[53]) After the death of her parents, Ororo wanders Cairo's back-alleys for a few weeks, until she is picked up by the benign street lord Achmed el-Gibar and becomes a prolific thief;^[35] among her victims is her future mentor Professor X who is there to meet the Shadow King.^[9] Following an inner urge, she wanders into the Serengeti as a teenager and meets T’Challa, who would become her future husband. Despite strong mutual feelings, the two part ways.^[12][51]

In the Serengeti, Ororo first displays her mutant ability to control the weather. Sometime after this, she met the witch-priestess, Ainet, who took her in and became her surrogate mother. Once, when their village was going through a terrible drought, Storm commanded rain for days just to help them. By doing this, she threw off the natural order of nature, and droughts were formed over numerous villages, and hundreds of animals were killed. Sensing the damage she had done, Ainet told Storm of her kind but ill-thought-out gesture, and of the damage she caused. Ainet took this opportunity to explain to Ororo how her powers worked with nature, and how she could fix the problem by properly distributing rain.^[54]

For a time, she is worshiped as a rain goddess to an African tribe, practicing nudism and tribal spirituality, before being recruited by Professor X into the X-Men. Ororo receives the code name “Storm” and is established as a strong, serene character.^[5] In her early career with the X-Men, she suffers a major claustrophobic attack, which prompts a revelation of her origin to her teammates.^[55] When Magneto captures the team, Storm frees the X-Men from captivity.^[56] Storm is later captured by the White Queen,^[57] leading up to the X-Men's clash with Dark Phoenix.^[58] She becomes deputy leader of the X-Men,^[59] and supplants her colleague Cyclops as leader of the X-Men,^[11] a role she fills out during most of her time as a superhero. She briefly became "Rogue Storm",^[60] and even switched bodies with the White Queen.^[61] She is attacked by Dracula,^[62] and defeats Callisto, becoming the new leader of the Morlocks.^[63] Following her leadership of the Morlocks through combat with Callisto, Storm begins to develop a darker side. Eventually, the X-Men are invited to Japan for Wolverine's wedding to Mariko Yashida. It is here that she meets Wolverine's old friend Yukio, and the two become fast friends. Storm is inspired by Yukio, who encourages Storm to embrace her emerging darker side. This leads Storm to drastically change her outward appearance to match her inner self and thus don her iconic punk drab.^[64]

Storm is eventually deprived of her superhuman powers by a gun fired by Henry Peter Gyrich; unknown to her, this device was designed by the mutant inventor Forge.^[65] The depowered Ororo then first meets and falls in love with Forge, although he does not initially tell her that he is responsible for her power loss.^[66] She helps Forge battle Dire Wraiths,^[67] before leaving him to rejoin the X-Men. She aids the New Mutants against the Shadow King Amahl Farouk.^[68] She next journeys to Asgard with the X-Men, where she is briefly enslaved by Loki.^[69] She is nearly killed in a confrontation with Andreas von Strucker.^[70] She defeats Cyclops in a competition to become the X-Men's leader.^[71] Not long after that, she is reunited with Forge,^[72] regains her superhuman powers,^[73] and dies with the X-Men in giving her life force to defeat the Adversary; she is resurrected by Roma.^[74] She is reverted to childhood by the mutant Nanny,^[75] meets Gambit,^[76] and is finally returned to adulthood - however, she is enslaved by the Genoshans, but regains her free will and escapes captivity.^[77] Concerning her personal life, she is for a long time romantically involved with fellow X-Man Forge, and even considers marrying him before breaking up.^[29]

After 90% of the mutants of the world lose their powers, Storm leaves the X-Men to go to Africa; rekindles her relationship with T’Challa, now a superhero known as Black Panther; marries him; and becomes the queen of the kingdom of Wakanda^[38] and joins the new Fantastic Four alongside her husband when Reed and Sue take a vacation.^[78] On a mission in space, the Watcher told Black Panther and Storm that their children would have a special destiny.^[79] Upon Reed and Sue's return to the Fantastic Four, Storm and the Black Panther leave, with Storm returning to the Uncanny X-Men to help out with events in Messiah Complex. After joining with the X-Men again, Storm is confronted by Cyclops over her position as an X-Man and a Queen. Cyclops reminds her that she made him choose between family and duty before, and she needs to make the same decision. Storm reacts by returning to Wakanda to face a despondent Black Panther, with the two seemingly falling out with each other, although it is later revealed that the Black Panther has been possessed by the Shadow King. After incapacitating the possessed T'Challa, Storm battled Cyclops, who had been mentally enthralled by the Shadow King to kill the other X-Men. After being forced to drive him out by striking Cyclops through the chest with a massive lightning bolt, the Shadow King then took control of Storm, only to be devoured in vengeance by Bast, the Panther God, who had agreed to hide inside of Storm's mind in order to take revenge on the Shadow King for possessing T'Challa.^[80]

Powers and abilities

Weather control

Storm is one of the most powerful mutants on Earth and has demonstrated a plethora of abilities, most of which are facets of her power to manipulate the weather.^[81] Storm possesses the psionic ability to control all forms of weather over vast areas. She has been able to control both Earthly and extraterrestrial ecosystems. She can modify the temperature of the environment, control all forms of precipitation, humidity and moisture (at a molecular level), generate lightning and other electromagnetic atmospheric phenomena, and has demonstrated excellent control over atmospheric pressure. She can incite all forms of meteorological tempests, such as tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards, and hurricanes,^[82] as well as mist. She can dissipate such weather to form clear skies as well.

Her precise control over the atmosphere allows her to create special weather effects. She can create precipitation at higher or lower altitudes than normal, make whirlwinds travel pointing lengthwise in any direction, channel ambient electromagnetism through her body to generate electric blasts, flash freeze objects and people, coalesce atmospheric pollutants into acid rain or toxic fog, and, along with her natural ability of flight, summon wind currents strong enough to support her weight to elevate herself (or others) to fly at high altitudes and speeds. Her control is so great that she can even manipulate the air in a person's lungs. She can also control the pressure inside the human inner ear, an ability she uses to cause intense pain. She can also bend light using moisture in the air and her manipulation of mist and fog to appear partially transparent, and in later comics, nearly invisible.

Storm has also demonstrated the ability to control natural forces that include cosmic storms, solar wind, ocean currents, and the electromagnetic field. She has demonstrated the ability to separate water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen via electrolysis, allowing her to breathe underwater.^[83] While in outer space, she is able to affect and manipulate the interstellar and intergalactic media. Storm can alter her visual perceptions so as to see the universe in terms of energy patterns, detecting the flow of kinetic, thermal and electromagnetic energy behind weather phenomena and can bend this energy to her will.

Storm has been shown to be sensitive to the dynamics of the natural world, and her psionic powers over weather are affected by her emotions. One consequence of this connection to nature is that she often suppresses extreme feelings to prevent her emotional state from resulting in violent weather. She has once sensed a diseased and dying tree on the X-Mansion grounds, detected objects within various atmospheric mediums—including water, and sensed the incorrect motion of a hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere and the gravitational stress on the tides by the Moon and Sun as well as the distortion of a planet's magnetosphere.^[84] Storm can view the Earth as weather patterns, and is able to precisely recognize her geographic position through interpretations of these patterns.^[85] Storm's mutant abilities are limited by her willpower and the strength of her body. Sentinels have considered Storm an Omega-level mutant on one occasion.^[86]

Magical potential

Storm's ancestry supports the use of magic and witchcraft.^[87] Many of her ancestors were sorceresses and priestesses. Storm's matrilineal powers have even been linked to the real-world Rain Queens of Balobedu, the region from which her Sorceress Supreme ancestor, Ayesha, hails. The Mystic Arcana series deals with Storm's ancestor Ashake, who worships the Egyptian goddess Ma'at, also known as Oshtur — the mother of Agamotto.^[88] Oshtur appears to have strong favor for the bloodline of Ororo. For some unknown reason, since the dawn of Atlantis, this line of African women has been given distinguishing features of white hair, blue eyes, and powerful magic potential. Although Storm has not developed her magical potential, it has been hinted at.^[87] The Mystic Arcana series lists the characters with magic potential according to the Marvel Tarot deck. The Tarot asserts Storm as being "High Priestess", the First Tarot's choice one-third of the time. The other draws were the Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness. These three characters split the High Priestess card equally. A timeline-divergent Storm became the sorceress who taught sorcery to Magik and some of Storm's alternate universe selves possess considerable magical talent.^[89] On a separate note, it has been stated that Storm's spirit is so strong that she was able to host the consciousness of an avatar (or "manifestation body"^[90]) of Eternity; in a gathering consisting of herself, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Silver Surfer and the Fantastic Four, she and Doctor Strange were the only viable candidates.^[91]

Combat and thievery

Storm is an expert thief, and a skilled, cunning and gifted hand-to-hand fighter, trained by Achmed el-Gibar, Professor X, Wolverine and T'Challa, the Black Panther. By using superior strategy, Storm has overcome physically stronger foes like Callisto and the Crimson Commando in hand-to-hand combat. Storm is an excellent marksman with handguns, and is proficient in the use of knives. Storm is also fluent in Russian, Arabic and Swahili. As part of her paraphernalia, Storm carries a set of lock-picks (with which she has an extraordinary ability at picking locks, in an early appearance she was able to pick a lock with her teeth while her physical coordination was reduced to the level of an infant^[92]) and her ancestral ruby, which allows inter-dimensional transportation with the help of her lightning.^[81]

Physical abilities and traits

Storm's weather powers allow her body to compensate for climate extremes; on one occasion as she was trying to control an unnatural storm she becomes overwhelmed as her body temperature rises too high.^[93] In The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - X-Men (2004), it is stated that her powers enable her to breathe while moving at any speed and protect her from air friction, while granting her protection from temperature extremes of heat and cold; the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update #1 (2007) states that Storm's body changes temperature in opposition to her environment so that the colder the environment the warmer her body gets, and the warmer the environment the colder her body gets.

Her body compensates for rapid decreases or increases in atmospheric pressure.^[94] She can see in near-complete darkness and has superb dexterity.^[95][96] Storm has been described as having one of the strongest wills among the X-Men, making her highly resistant to psychic attacks especially in tandem with electrical fields she creates around herself. Telepaths have found it difficult to track her down and probe her thoughts. Several of these traits are independent of her mutant status and are a result of her ancestry. Also, when utilizing her powers, Storm's eyes turn solid white.^[81]

Storm has been stated to be a possible Omega-Level Mutant.^[97][98] Her potential is as of yet unrealized, and on one occasion the Super Giant stated that Storm was an "Omega-Level Mutate", grouping and targeting her with Omega-Level mutants such as Iceman and Rachel Grey.^[99]

Storm's real name "Ororo" is translated in her language as "Beauty".

Other versions

In other media

Storm has made numerous appearances in other media, including the X-Men animated television series, X-Men: Evolution and the Wolverine and the X-Men. She has also appeared in four live-action X-Men films, where she is portrayed by actress Halle Berry, and a large number of video games—making a guest appearance in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and is a playable character in every game in the X-Men Legends/Marvel: Ultimate Alliance/Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 series.^[100][101]

Collected editions

Reception

In the 2007 Glyph Comics Awards, the Fan Award for Best Comic was won by Storm, by Eric Jerome Dickey, David Yardin & Lan Medina, and Jay Leisten & Sean Parsons.

Storm was ranked as the 89th greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine.^[102] IGN also ranked her as the 42nd greatest comic book hero of all time quoting that "fans have seen Storm as a thief, an X-Man, a fighter, and even a queen. Through it all, she remains one of the most relatable mutant heroes",^[103] #8 on their list of "The Top 25 X-Men" opining that "even though Cyclops may be the default leader of the X-Men, in particular because of his allegiance to The Dream, Storm is the better choice to be in charge",^[104] and 37th in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers".^[105] Marvel.com ranked her as the 3rd greatest X-Men member while defining her as one of the strongest female and strongest black characters not just in the history of the X-Men but in all of comics.^[106] Storm was ranked 30th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list in 2011.^[107]

References

External links

• World of Black Heroes: Storm Biography
• Storm at the Comic Book DB
• Storm at the Internet Movie Database
• Storm at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Storm profile at Marvel Database Project
• UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Storm
• Storm profile at Comicvine