Storm (Marvel Comics)

Storm
File:Uxm449.jpg Storm, as drawn by Greg Land, 2004
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975)
Created by	Len Wein Dave Cockrum
In-story information
Alter ego	Ororo Iqadi T'Challa (née Munroe)
Species	Human mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men Fantastic Four Secret Avengers Morlocks Hellfire Club X-Treme Sanctions Executive
Notable aliases	Windrider, The Weather Witch, Mistress of the Elements, 'Ro, High Priestess, Princess of N'Dare, Her Majesty The Queen of Wakanda
Abilities	Weather manipulation, Flight, Energy perception, Ecological empathy, Resistance to the effects of the weather and extreme heat and cold, Latent natural magic abilities

Storm (Ororo Munroe) is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975), and was created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum.

Publication history

Origin of Storm (1970s)

Cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1, 1975. Art by Gil Kane & Dave Cockrum. Storm is flying in the top right-hand corner.

Storm first appeared in 1975 in the famous Giant Size X-Men #1 comic, 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. Storm was an amalgamation of several characters Cockrum intended to use for the Legion of Super-Heroes. In a 1999 interview, Cockrum said that the original black female of the Legion would have been called The Black Cat. According to him, she had Storm's costume but without the cape, and a cat-like haircut with tufts for ears. However, other female cat characters like Tigra had appeared, so Cockrum redesigned his new character, giving her white hair and the cape, and created Storm. When colleagues remarked that Storm’s white hair made her look like a grandmother, and thus, presumably unpopular, he just said: “Trust me.”

Chris Claremont, who followed up Wein as the writer of the flagship title Uncanny X-Men in 1975, embraced Storm and started writing many notable X-Men stories, among them the God Loves, Man Kills and Dark Phoenix Saga arcs, which respectively served as the base for the films X2: X-Men United and X-Men 3. In both arcs, Storm is written as a major supporting character. This was a harbinger of things to come, as Claremont stayed the main writer of that comic book for the next 16 years and consequently wrote most of the publications containing Storm.

In Uncanny X-Men #102 (December 1976), Claremont established Storm’s backstory. Ororo's mother, N'Dare, is the princess of a tribe in Kenya and the descendant of a long line of Africans with white hair, blue eyes, and a natural gift for sorcery. N'Dare falls in love with and marries African American photojournalist David Munroe. They move to Harlem in uptown New York City, where she becomes pregnant with Ororo and bears her, and then to Egypt during the Suez Crisis, where they are killed in a botched aircraft attack and leave six-year-old Ororo as an orphan. There, her violent claustrophobia is also established as a result of being buried under tons of rubble after that attack. She then becomes a skilled thief in Cairo under the benign Achmed el-Gibar and wanders into the Serengeti as a young woman. There, she is worshipped as a goddess before being recruited by Professor X for the X-Men.

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.

Punk revival (1980s)

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 cover herself up in a public bath "absurd," 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, 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. This story would later become a base for later writers to establish a deeper relationship between both characters.

In X-Men Annual #5, the X-Men travel with the Fantastic Four to help Arkon the Imperion defeat lizard-like Badoon invaders who had taken over his kingdom. Storm and Arkon share a kiss at the end of the issue, as she turns down his offer to make her his queen.

In the early eighties, 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. 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 hopelessly outnumbered, and Storm is rendered sick by the Morlock called Plague. Only one solution is left; an X-Man must defeat the Morlock's leader Callisto in a duel to the death. At first, Storm's colleague, Nightcrawler, wants to battle her, but Storm states that since she leads the X-Men, she must fight Callisto. Despite being violently sick, she defeats Callisto by impaling her through the heart and nearly kills her.

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

In Uncanny X-Men #173, October 1983, a notable move was made by changing Storm's costume and appearance. Writer Claremont and artist Paul Smith created a new look, abandoning her old costume for black leather top and pants, and changing her former veil of white hair into a punk Mohawk. In a 2008 interview, Smith regretted the change as "a bad joke gone too far... I knew that they were going to cut the hair, so as a joke I put a Mr. T mohawk on her... [editor] Louise Simonson said 'We're gonna get hung no matter what we do, so let's commit the crime!' 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."

In the actual 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 lover of Wolverine who becomes one of her dearest friends. To flesh out Storm’s love life, Claremont wrote an arc in which fellow mutant Forge develops a mutant power neutralizing gun. The intended target is another X-Man, Rogue, who because of her criminal history and a recent encounter with some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, is believed to be a terrorist. When the shady U.S. government operative Henry Peter Gyrich aims at Rogue, he accidentally hits Storm, taking away her powers. Forge saves Storm from death and takes her back to his home in Dallas, Texas to recover. With his help, she adjusts to life without her powers, and they slowly fall in love. Later, Storm overhears a phone conversation between Forge and Gyrich, and discovers Forge built the weapon that took her powers. She is heartbroken and leaves him. Lobdell later recalled a certain level of fan backlash: after portraying her as vulnerable and distressed, he was accused of weakening her as a character and even having "ruined" her.

However, Claremont continued to write her as a strong character, letting a depowered Storm win against Cyclops for the leadership of the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #201 (1986). In the late eighties, Claremont wrote arcs in which Storm, again portrayed with a costume and hairstyle closer to her original, temporarily joins the shady Hellfire Club (1987), is trapped in another dimension with Forge and regains her elemental powers,and is captured by the evil cyborg Nanny. 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, and finally returns to thieving before regaining her memories back. In the following arc, The X-Tinction Agenda, she is kidnapped to the mutant-exploiting fictional nation of Genosha and is temporarily transformed into a brainwashed mutate, but is in the end restored physically and mentally to her adult prime.

Growth as a character (1990s)

In October 1991, the X-Men franchise was relaunched, centering on the new eponymous X-Men (vol. 2) comic. Claremont wrote Storm as the leader as the X-Men's Gold Team; the other team, Blue, is led by her colleague Cyclops, the X-Man she once succeeded as leader. When Claremont left the X-Men comic after 16 years since his debut in Uncanny X-Men #94 (1975), he was replaced by Jim Lee, who continued portraying her as a strong leader. In the sister title Uncanny X-Men, now under Scott Lobdell, Lobdell continued on the romance between Storm and Forge eventually having Forge propose to Storm in 1992. Storm hesitates and is about to say yes when Forge misinterprets her reaction and rescinds his offer before Storm can speak. Lobdell waited until November 1993 before he let a deeply hurt Storm and Forge make up with each other. In 1995, Lobdell continued with an arc which pitted the X-Men against the Morlocks again. As Claremont did with Callisto in 1983, Lobdell let Storm end the battle by mortally wounding her opponent at the heart. This time, Storm rips out one heart of the two-hearted Morlock girl Marrow, who had fixed a bomb to it. In February 1996, Storm got her first miniseries, the eponymous Storm. In these four issues, Ellis wrote a story in which Storm is sucked into an alternate dimension and pitted against villain Mikhail Rasputin.

Contemporary Storm (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 of more street-wise X-Men, including the former thief Gambit, former Brotherhood member Rogue, Sage, anti-hero Bishop, Psylocke, and the more tame Thunderbird. This was in contrast to its more strait-laced sister titles, Uncanny X-Men and New X-Men. In the period until its end in issue #46 (June 2004), Claremont continued to write Storm as the central character. During this time, Storm enjoys a brief flirtation with younger fellow X-Man Slipstream and is kidnapped by the intergalactic warlord Khan. Khan wants to make her his queen, but Storm defeats him. In the series, she also becomes leader of the fictional X-Treme Sanctions Executive, a special police task force of mutants policing mutants given worldwide authority.

In the aftermath of the 2005 House of M storyline (written by Brian Michael Bendis), 90% of the mutants lost their powers. Storm is among the 198 mutants who retain their powers. Also in that year, the miniseries Ororo: Before the Storm of Mark Sumerak retold her backstory in greater detail, concentrating on her relationship with surrogate father figure Achmed el-Gibar during her childhood.

File:Stormbpmarriage.PNG

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

In 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. Though the events of Storm's relationship with Black Panther were never written beforehand, the initial meeting of the characters was retconned without explanation. Initially, in Marvel Team-Up #100 (1980), Storm is seen at age twelve rescuing Black Panther from a white racist called Andreas de Ruyter, 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 has Ororo lose her virginity to T'Challa a few days after they meet. Collaborating writer Axel Alonso, editor of Black Panther, has stated: "Eric's story, for all intents and purposes (...) is Ororo's origin story.". 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. Shawn Dudley, the Emmy-Award Winning Costume Designer for TV's Guiding Light designed Storm's wedding dress, which was revealed in April 17th issue of TV Guide, though the design was greatly altered for the comic event. Quesada's prediction has begun to be born out in a Black Panther story arc that followed Storm and T'Challa's wedding where the newly married couple go on a World Tour, meeting with other known royalties such as Doctor Doom, Namor, and Black Bolt of the Inhumans. With Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman taking time off to work on their marriage in the aftermath of the Civil War, Storm and Black Panther become temporary members of the Fantastic Four alongside the Human Torch and the Thing in 2007. Storm later returned to the Uncanny X-Men.

In X-Men: Messiah Complex, Storm covers Nightcrawler when it came to attacking the Marauders. She manages to take one of Harpoon's slayspears, using the metal as a huge conductor to arc lightning though to attack the Marauders

Storm has recently joined the newly formed Astonishing X-Men (#25). Storm states that her official reason for joining the team is that Wakanda is a supporter of Mutantes Sans Frontieres and she believes she should be on the frontline, however she is also at least somewhat bored of her life as queen.

Historical significance

See also: African characters in comics

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. 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) and his son Randy (1968) and Hobie Brown, 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), and Black Lightning (who debuted in 1977). While not the first black character to be introduced, since her creation, Storm has remained the most successful and recognizable black superhero.

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) and Uncanny X-Men #117 (1979). 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 and Storm (vol. 2).

According to established Marvel canon, Ororo Munroe is the child of Kenyan tribal princess N’Dare and African-American photographer David Munroe. While stationed in Egypt 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. In Cairo, she is picked up by the benign street lord Achmed el-Gibar and becomes a prolific thief; among her victims is her future mentor Professor X who is there to meet the Shadow King. Following an inner urge, she wanders into the Serengeti as a teenager and meets T’Challa, her future husband. Despite strong mutual feelings, the two part ways.

In the Serengeti, Ororo first displays her mutant ability to control the weather. For a time, she is worshipped as a rain goddess, 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. She eventually supplants her colleague Cyclops as leader of the X-Men, a role she fills out during most of her time as a superhero. Concerning her personal life, she is for a longer time romantically involved with fellow X-Man Forge, and even considers marrying him before breaking up.

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 and joins the new Fantastic Four alongside her husband when Reed and Sue take a vacation. On a recent mission in space, the Watcher told Black Panther and Storm that their children would have a special destiny. 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.

Powers and abilities

    Storm's possesses the power to manipulate the Earth's atmosphere (or the atmosphere of any planet she is on) in a great number of ways. She can can cause various kinds of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, etc.), can induce wind effects ranging from a gentle breeze to a hurricane, and can cause lightning bolts (the path of which she is able to direct with great accuracy) and related electrical phenomena.  She can also alter the pressure, temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, and can dissipate naturally-occurring storm conditions almost instantly (she can, for example, cause clear blue skys to emerge in the middle of a downpour).  The range of Storm's power to manipulate the atmosphere is great; she can can cause meterological conditions affecting thousands of miles of territory (e.g., a powerful hurricane or a large monsoon).  The precision of her power is also great; she can produce a 'raincloud' so small that it can be used to water a houseplant.  Storm's power also seems to have some affect on matter other than the gases of the atmosphere; she has on certain occasions manipulated ocean currents, the solar 'wind,' and the interstellar medium of deep space.  Her ability to induce electrical currents is so precise that she was once able to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen via electrolysis, and thus to breathe underwater.
    As a side effect of her power, Storm is able to perceive the world around her in terms of energy patterns (kinetic, thermal, electromagnetic, etc.).  Storm is also superhumanly sensitive to the dynamics of the natural world (not exclusive to the atmosphere).  One consequence of this connection to nature is that she often suppresses extreme feelings to prevent her emotional state from resulting in violent weather.  When using her powers, Storm's eyes appear completely white.
    Storm's body is immune to the effects of extreme weather conditions; hence she cannot freeze in a blizzard, cannot be injured by intense winds, and is not harmed by lightning.  For this reason she is able to channel electrical current through her own body and thus release small lightning bolts from her own fingertips.  She is also able to 'ride' wind currents without detrimental effect, and thus to lift herself off the ground and fly at high speeds.
    In addition to her weather-powers, Storm has a great natural proclivity for the use of magic, coming to her from a long line of African sorceresses in her personal ancestry.  She is also an expert pick-pocket and thief (she has at times carried a concealed set of lock-picks in her costume), and has very considerable expertise in the martial arts.  Storm has been described as having one of the strongest wills among the X-Men, making her somewhat resistant to psychic attacks.  Telepaths have sometimes found it difficult to track her down and probe her thoughts.

Other versions

Main article: Alternate versions of Storm

In addition to her mainstream incarnation, Storm has had been depicted in other fictional universes.

In other media

Television

• Storm first made guest appearances on the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the episodes titled "A Firestar Is Born", "The Education of a Superhero", and "The X-Men Adventure" alongside various other X-Men. She was voiced by Kathy Garver in "The X-Men Adventure" and Annie Lockhart in "A Firestar Is Born".

• In 1989, Storm then appeared in a TV pilot that later was released on video in Pryde of the X-Men. Andi Chapman provided her voice.

• Her third and longest TV incarnation was in the X-Men animated series of the mid-1990s, where she was originally voiced by Iona Morris for the first season and the first 7 episodes of Season 2, and then Alison Sealy-Smith for the rest of the series and the final version of the Season 1 episodes replacing Morris as the voice of Storm.
• She guest starred in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s in first the fourth and fifth episodes of Season 2, along with the rest of the X-Men, and then toward the end, Storm appears in all of the Secret Wars arc episodes in which Morris resumes the role.

• In X-Men: Evolution, Storm is portrayed as a teacher at Professor X's Xavier Institute. In this version, she is the aunt of young X-Man Evan Daniels (codename Spyke) and a member of the staff at the Xavier Institute. She is also the keeper of the X-Mansion's greenhouse.

• Storm appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Sausage Fest." She is among the featured X-Men that are killed in battle against a Sentinel. Professor X has Moses Hightower wear Storm's original costume.

• She is one of the confirmed characters for the upcoming cartoon Wolverine and the X-Men. In a promotional photo, she is seen wearing a somewhat modified version of her Uncanny X-Men/Fantastic Four costume. She is voiced by actress Susan Dalian.

• Storm has, on occasion, appeared in American television commercials for Universal Studios theme park and Visa Checkcards.

• Storm's costume was worn by the models in an episode of Deal or No Deal.

Film

File:Xmenstud`cio009zi3.jpg

Halle Berry as Storm in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

Storm appears in the movies X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand, portrayed by Halle Berry. Storm received little screen time in the first film and took a backseat to characters such as Wolverine and Jean Grey. In the second film, Storm had more screen time, but no real story. Berry rallied for more character development, and her role was enhanced in the third film. In the first film she has a Kenyan accent, which was removed in the sequels.

Video games

• Storm appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom series.

• Storm appeared in the first-person shooter X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse.

• Storm appeared in X-Men: Mutant Academy.

• Storm appeared in X-Men: Next Dimension.

• Storm appeared in X-Men Legends voiced by Cheryl Carter.

• Storm appeared in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse voiced by Dawnn Lewis.

• Storm is a playable character in the EA video game Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

• Storm played a role in the video game based on the film, X-Men: The Official Game, as a non-playable character, voiced by Debra Wilson.

• Storm who is a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

• Storm made a special appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the Game Boy.

• Storm is one of the confirmed playable characters in Marvel Ultimate Alliance's sequel Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion, due out in 2009.

Theme park ride

Along with Doctor Doom, the Hulk, and Spider-Man, Storm also has a ride in Marvel Super Hero Island of Universal Studios. The ride, based on a common teacup ride, is called "Storm Force Acceleration". It includes fog effects and strobe lights (to simulate lightning) which can be seen if ridden after dark. She is the first superheroine and X-Man to have a ride named after her.

Awards

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.

References

• Storm at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Template:Imdb character

See also

• List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture

External links

• Ororo Monroe (Earth-616)
• A Dedicated Website To Ororo Munroe(Storm-Goddess)
• Spotlight on Storm from UncannyXMen.net
• Ororo Home Page
• Storm's Game Petition