Publisher: Marvel Comics
Created by: Len Wein and Dave Cockrum.
1st appearance: Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975)
Real Name: Ororo Munroe
Alias: Ororo Iqadi T’Challa née Munroe, Wind rider, Ororo Komo Wakandas, Queen Of Wakanda, Goddess Of The Plains, Queen Ororo, Weather witch
Team Affiliations: X-men, Morlocks, Fantastic Four, Avengers
Legal Status: Diplomatic immunity due to status as Queen of Wakanda. Dual U.S./Wakandan citizenship
Height: 5’11 Weight: 127 lbs
Eyes: Blue Hair: White
Relatives: Ashake (ancestor, deceased), Mr. Munroe (paternal grandfather), Harriet Munroe (paternal grandmother), unidentified Kenyan maternal grandmother, David Munroe (father, deceased), N’dare Munroe (mother, deceased), Vivian Munroe (Aunt, deceased), Colonel Shetani (maternal uncle), David Evan Munroe Jr. (nephew),
T’Challa aka Black Panther (husband), Ramonda (mother in law), Shuri (sister-in-law), Hunter ( brother-in-law), S’yan (uncle in law), T’chaka (Father In law, deceased), Azzari (grandfather in law, deceased), T’shan (Cousin in law, deceased)
Alternate reality offspring: Panther/T’chaka , Azari, Twari, T’chaka, unnamed son (Sons), Becka Munroe , Sh’ri, Torrent, Sky Panther, Medea, Kymera, Unnamed twins (daughters)
Skills and Abilities: Storm is very proficient in unarmed combat due to life on the streets and further training from Wolverine, Yukio (both Samurai) and Professor Xavier. She is also trained in armed combat being proficient in the use of knives and guns.
Storm is also an exceptional thief able to pick any lock given time. As a thief she carries a set of lock picks at all times.
Storm is also an expert strategist whose use of skills and strategy allow her to defeat far superior enemies such as Crimson Commando and Callisto.
Powers: Storm has the ability to mold the earths weather patterns to her will. effects such as tornadoes, storms, hurricanes and hail are just a few of the things she can accomplish with her powers. By tapping into the weather patterns of earths she can channel the elements through her body as well. She can also view the world in terms of energy patterns and can sense disturbances in nature. Storm is also able to fly by having the air carry her. This control is dependent on her will and strength of her body. Due to her powers she is immune to temperature extremes.
Storm is also noted as having a very strong and indomitable will which when added to her ability to release electricity from her body gives her a measure of immunity to telepaths. They have also noted it’s hard to track and maintain contact with her mind. Her will and magical potential also allowed her to host eternity, a feat which has never been accomplished with the user surviving before.
Potential: Storm is descended from a line of Kenyan magic users and sorcerer supreme; most notably Ashake; who have blue eyes and white hair. As a result she has strong magical potential though it is undeveloped. In the Magic Arcana series she is marked as potentially powerful as the Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness in magic.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AxsA3F70aI&feature=related]
Biography
Early Years
Ororo is descended from an ancient and powerful line of African magic users who get their distinctive features (white hair and blue eyes) every five generations. It’s theorized that their origins lay in the Great Rift Valley, where the human race is said to have originated.
She was born to Princess N’dare of Kenya and American photojournalist David Munroe. They moved to America while N’dare was pregnant. Storm was born in upscale New York City but her family left due to racism. Settling in Egypt during the Suez Crisis. This is where her parents were killed and she was buried in the rubble with their dead bodies resulting in a life long Claustrophobia (Uncanny X-Men #102, December 1976). After this she became an orphan living on the streets and was taken in by Akmed el Gibar the greatest thief of Africa who taught her his skills. Here she meets Charles Xavier after robbing him. In a fight between himself and the shadow king she escapes. (Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979)
Years later while in Kenya she meets a young T’challa during his walkabout and the two fall in love but his duty cause him to leave her (Storm vol.2 #1-6). In the Serengeti her powers manifest and she is taken in by a witch Ainet who helps her control her powers and she is worshiped as a goddess of the African plains. She later meets the first crop of X-men in a battle with Deluge (X-men Hidden years #6 and #7)
Joining the X-men
Years later Professor X recruits her into his team and she forms a strong friendship with Jean Grey/Pheonix and her fellow new x-men alum Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler. She also plays the role of mentor and mother to Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat and reformed villain Rogue. Storm also took over leadership of the X-men in Cyclops absence (Uncanny X-men #139, November 1980). Adventures of the time included facing the evil space aliens the Brood, being bitten by Dracula and gaining leadership of the X-men from Callisto in single combat (Uncanny X-Men #169-170, 1983) . A relationship between herself and mutant Forge also develops.
When her outlook on life darkens and she befriends Yukio a roaming Samurai and friend of wolverine she changes her outward appearance to fit her new mindset. Around this time she saves Rogue from an experimental power neutralizing gun and ends up de-powered. She grows closer to Forge until finding out he was responsible for creating the gun. When Cyclops son is born she defeats him in single combat and takes leadership of the team from him (Uncanny X-men #201, 1986)
Storm leads the X-men during the “mutant massacre” where the Morlocks are all but wiped out and most of the team severely injured, and during “The fall of the mutants” , “Inferno” and briefly wields the power of Thor in the “Asguardian wars’. She regains her power eventually but is reverted to an adolescent. She returns to life of a thief and befriends Gambit as they battle the shadow king. During the “X-tinction agenda” she is returned to her natural state. (Uncanny X-men 270-271, 1991)
She led the X-men’s gold team at this point and had her relationship with forge ends when he thought she would refuse his proposal. Her failure as leader of the Morlocks also came back to haunt her as Marrow and Gene Nation tried to remake the massacre by killing a human for every dead morlock on the anniversary of the “Morlock Massacre”. The only way to end the conflict and save those captured was by ripping her heart out (Uncanny X-men #325, 1996). After “Operation zero tolerance” she lead a reformed X-men team without the help of Xavier, or Cyclops which included fellow African Maggott and Cecelia Reyes a doctor. She also faced the shadow king again.
Marriage
Storm discovered the diaries of destiny and didn’t trust Xavier with them so she formed her own team and traveled the world to find all of them. After saving the world multiple times they returned to the mansion as the official police force for mutants. After HOM she rekindled her romance with T’challa (Black Panther [2005] #14) and the two wed (Black Panter [2005] #18).
Together they joined the Fantastic four briefly (Back Panther [2005] #26) and she later joined the Astonishing X-men (Astonishing X-men #25) when T’challa became a financial backer. She remained at her husband’s side and battled the shadow king again with the help of Bast (X-men Words Apart 1-4). During Doomwar she was captured by Doom and later rescued (Doomwar 1-4). After the devastating after effects T’challa has decided to take over protection of Hell’s Kitchen and she understands (Black Panther: Man Without Fear #. They were then living apart and she has returned to active duty as an X-man leaving Wakandan in the hands of her Sister in law Shuri.
Annulment and Beyond
Storm briefly joined the Avengers and went to Utopia with her fellow mutants. During Schism she was personally asked by Cyclops to remain on Utopia with him to keep him on the right path. Along with Magik, Psylocke, Emma Frost, Cyclops and Magneto they created the “Extinction Team” and saved the world numerous times.
During Avengers Vs X-men she sided with Cyclops and fought against the Avengers to save her race which caused even more tension between herself and her husband. When her teammates were corrupted by the Phoenix Wakanda was destroyed leading to her marriage being annulled though she joined the Avengers in ending the threat, though not before her mentor Charles Xavier was killed. (Avengers vs X-men 1-12)
In the aftermath of AVX she joins the Jean Grey School for the Gifted as headmistress and rekindles her romance with Wolverine. (Wolverine and The X-men #24) Storm has also joined Psyclocke to co-lead the Uncanny X-force (Uncanny X-force [2013] #1) and later creates an all female X-men team. To signify the change in her life she has returned to her Mohawk hairstyle and donned a new costume.
Even more images in our gallery
Notable Alternate Reality Counterparts
Queen of Asgard(Earth 904) On this world Storm never regained her powers and was given a hammer by Loki which enabled her to ascend the Asgardian throne. As all mother of the realm she lead Asgard into an age of peace and prosperity as herself and the mutants who remained in Asgard became the rulers of many of their kingdoms.
Bloodstorm (Earth 1298) In this world instead of recovering from being bitten by Dracula Storm died and was reborn as a vampire. She joined Alex Summers super team “The Six” where she fell in love with fellow Vampire Gambit. She maintained her 80′s style Mohawk in this world and was more feral.
Amazon (Amalgam universe/Earth 9602) In this world combining the DC and Marvel universe Ororo washed up on Themyscria and was trained by the amazons while growing up with Diana princess of the Amazons. When it came time to send an emissary to man’s world she defeated Diana and became Wonder Woman of this world.
StormPhoenix (Earth 9590) On this world Storm became host to the Phoenix force after her friends were all killed in a spacecraft. This event ad others caused her to take control of the world to ensure worldwide peace as she ended starvation, war and segregation.
It’s a shame she doesn’t have her own ongoing series. Her pairing with the Black Panther should have been the most solid thng since Aunt May and Uncle Ben! I hope she can at least maintain top billing in the books she stars in, and I would love to see her and her sister-in-law in a series together! (with an appearance by Jessica (Cage) Jones no doubt!)
Excellent article
Very informative
The character has a tremendous amount of story potential
But given the changes currently underway in the Marvel universe I am a little uneasy regarding the future of the character
I fear she will be depicted as a sexless noble long suffering centerfold icon that all the other characters say they admire and who behaves and reacts in an entirely conventional and sadly predictable manner
We’ll see
Further comment
Though our Wind rRder has been not given very much to do in the slow motion reboot of the Marvel Universe , we are told that in upcoming configuration of that realm the character will ( apparently) be leading a team of mutants ) I believe they are to be called the Extra ordinary X Men
I note that the writer for the series will be Jeff Lemiere
That is interesting and perhaps hopeful To my mind he has done some truly noteworthy work -Underwater Welder and a graphic novel about the Invisible man , (the title of which escapes me right now) and especially Sweet Tooth . All these were independent works He has also done some superhero work for D C ( Animal Man and one of the Justice league titles )but to my eyes the results were mediocre and unengaging
So while he is capable of good and great work it seems he does not work well in a corporate setting ( and it looks like Marvel has become very corporate )
Also , while his Indy work was excellent- Sweet Tooth especially ( thoughtful and perceptive and engaging ) it was also a bit grim and morose over all , though there was a very satisfying happy ending .
With that in mind I am a little concerned about the sort of comic he will produce and how he will present and interpret Ororo
We can only wait and see
I agree JJ! My expectations are very low as it relates to Storm in Extraordinary X-men. I was actually hoping the reason Marvel kept her ongoing so long despite terrible sales was that it was a lead in to a more focused an streamlined new series in the All new All Different Marvel Now. Alas those hopes have been dashed 🙁
I unhappily concur
Personally speaking , though I thought her series did have some moments
As an side about the Storm Solo series , I note that the graphic novel sells well for us , Though we did not get very many copies in , in entire stock sold out in short order I will encourage the co worker in charge of the section to re stock
It’s an interesting conundrum. TPB’s sell but the only way a book can survive is through monthly sales….
I agree that the Storm series had it’s moments. It presented a strong and compelling Storm similar to 90’s Wonder Woman BUT it lacked a central guiding force/villain/direction and that screwed things up big time 🙁
Perhaps they should have focused on her family both American and Kenyan more and made it more an expansion of her mythology instead of focusing on Yukio, Forge etc
Regarding single issue sales vs. the graphic novel It is still not unusual to encounter customers who prefer to wait for the graphic novel and skip the single issues Bur there are are some titles that sell well as a single issues off the the new stand ( and even as back issues ) and also go like gangbusters as graphic novels Interestingly they are indies – Saga and Lumber Janes
So it is possible to have successful newstand comic that is also a solid selling graphic novel I believe you just have to produce a comic with engaging characters who have interesting adventures and realistic interactions and also effective stories that leave the reader wanting to know what happens next
In short just tell good stories
I would mention my own personal Fave The FEM Force- A C comics as an example of that kind od story telling
Upon reflection I think you are right on in your assessment of the Storm comic .It seemed she spent most of her time going over old ground and cleaning up loose ends ( like she was getting ready to close up shop )She never really moved forward .
I made a point of talking to customers about the title .Every one wanted to like it but as time went on they were mostly all dis appointed
I really like your your idea of have the comic focusing more on her Family both in the U S and in Kenya and expanding the character and her world and her place in it ( and I would really the stories set in Africa to be better )
And though it is a foolish and forlorn hope I would really like to see Ororo reconcile with T’Challa
Thank you the new posting
Storm remains one of my fave characters , though I note that marvel seems to have very little use for her in the current set up ( Battle World / Secret Wars )
She will be Featured in one of the titles that make up the upcoming incarnation of the marvel universe ( Extraordinary X Men ) though I am concerned that Jeff Lemiure , the designated writer will be able to give us stories that suit the character
Some new observations in response to your new re posting
I must confess I am a little more dis heartened by what I have learned of the plans Marvel has for the character
Apparently in response to genocidal persecution Storm rounds up all the mutants in this all new all different Marvel universe and carries them off to a separate planet
My impression upon learning this that all the mutant characters are being shunted in to the background ( like the special ed / special needs kids in elementary school being dumped at the back of the class )where they can be quietly forgotten
.At the same time I suspect that the management at Marvel will concentrate on developing their wholly owned characters ( eg The Inhumans etc ) into movie material ( where the real money is)
I hope I am wrong in this