Storm (Marvel Comics)
Storm is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, the character first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1. Descended from a long line of African witch-priestesses, Storm is a member of a fictional subspecies of humans born with superhuman abilities known as mutants. She is able to control the weather and atmosphere and is considered to be one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. Storm is a member of the X-Men, a group of mutant heroes fighting for peace and equal rights between mutants and humans. She was one of the most prominently featured X-Men characters in the 1980s, at which time it was the best-selling comic book in America. During this decade, she also acted as the acknowledged leader of the team.
Born Ororo Munroe to a tribal princess of Kenya and an African-American photojournalist father, Storm was raised in Harlem, New York City and Cairo, Egypt. She was made an orphan after her parents were killed when a plane crashed into their house. An incident at this time also traumatized Ororo, leaving her with claustrophobia that she would struggle with for decades. Under the tutelage of a master thief, an adolescent Ororo became a skilled pickpocket. By coincidence, she meets the powerful mutant Professor X. Professor X later convinces Ororo to join the X-Men and use her abilities for a greater cause and purpose. Possessing natural leadership skills and formidable powers of her own, Storm has been a member of teams such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, as well as the X-Men. Storm is also a part of a highly promoted romantic relationship with Black Panther. While she was married to him, she was also made queen consort of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. While she lost the title when the marriage was annulled, she has maintained her relationship with Black Panther in many subsequent stories.
Storm is the first Black leader of a Marvel superhero team, as well as the first female leader of a Marvel superhero team. She is the second Black female superhero for Marvel, after Misty Knight, who was created two months earlier. Storm is one of Marvel's most notable, powerful, and popular female heroes.
One of the most prominent characters in the X-Men franchise, Storm has appeared in various X-Men-related media, including animation, video games, and films. Alison Sealy-Smith voiced Storm in X-Men: The Animated Series and reprises the role in its revival X-Men '97. Halle Berry and Alexandra Shipp portrayed the adult and young versions of Storm, respectively, in 20th Century Fox's live-action X-Men film series.
Publication history
Creation
Storm was created to appear as part of an ensemble: The "all-new, all-different X-Men", a re-invention of the traditional X-Men team of the 1960s that had fallen out of popularity. This new team replaced the previous members with the exception of Cyclops, who remained. This team differed greatly from the original. Unlike in the early issues of the original series, the new team was not made up of teenagers and they also had a more diverse background. Marvel's corporate owners, Cadence Industries, had suggested the new team should be international, feeling it needed characters with "foreign appeal". So each character was from a different country with varying cultural and philosophical beliefs, and all were already well-versed in using their mutant powers.In addition to Storm, from Kenya, the new X-Men included Cyclops alongside the newly created Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird, and three previously introduced characters: Banshee, Sunfire, and Wolverine.
Storm was an amalgam of two characters Cockrum created: The Black Cat and Typhoon. 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.
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, designed as a male, into the woman of the group. 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.
1975–1979: Origin and early stories
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 portrays a battle against the living island Krakoa that results in the replacement of first-generation X-Men of the 1960s by new X-Men.Chris Claremont followed up Wein as the writer of The X-Men in 1975. The title of the series was changed to The Uncanny X-Men three years later. Storm was initially written having trouble adjusting to Western culture, e.g. calling the obligation to wear clothing in public "absurd." Claremont remained the main writer of X-Men for the next 16 years, and consequently wrote most of the publications containing Storm. Following "The Dark Phoenix Saga", Storm becomes the most prominent character in the X-Men during Claremont's tenure. She is often a viewpoint character whose thought processes guide the narrative. She is the character who is most frequently represented in the Claremont era, appearing in 4,155 panels, and the most frequently pictured on issue covers, appearing on 97 of the 182 total issues in Claremont's run.
1980s: Punk look and loss of powers
By the early 1980s, X-Men was Marvel's top-selling comic title. Its sales were such that distributors and retailers began using an "X-Men index", rating each comic book publication by how many orders it garnered compared to that month's issue of X-Men. In this period, Claremont portrayed Storm as a serene, independent character. In The Uncanny X-Men #139, Claremont established her as the leader of the X-Men after Cyclops takes a leave of absence. Claremont also established a maternal relationship between Storm and her 13-year-old teammate, Kitty Pryde. A short story by Claremont set during Storm's childhood in Kenya that ran in Marvel Team-Up #100, establishes that when she was 12 years old, Storm saved a young Black Panther from racist thugs. This story would later become the basis for later writers to establish a deeper relationship between both characters.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 is saved at the last minute by the benign whale-like Acanti aliens. Subsequently, Storm's fellow X-Man Angel is abducted by a rogue mutant group called the Morlocks. The Morlocks are "subterranean mutant refugees... living in the tunnels of the New York City sewer system," and constitute an underclass of outcasts. 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 the leadership of the Morlocks. Callisto is presented as a complex character who rebels against her position of low social status. Despite Storm's illness, she defeats Callisto by stabbing her with a knife. Callisto is saved through the efforts of the Morlock Healer, and Storm offers the Morlocks refuge at the Xavier Mansion, though they decline. Storm is then made leader of the Morlocks. This fight with Callisto has strong effects on Storm's character, who becomes more defiantly non-conformist. Following this incident, Storm has an encounter with Yukio, a ninja companion of Wolverine's. Storm has a close and intimate bond with her. While the characters' relationship was conceived of as romantic, it was relegated to subtext after Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Jim Shooter mandated that no same-gender couples could be depicted at Marvel. These experiences lead Storm to drastically change her appearance.
Image:Storm22.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Storm's punk look by Paul Smith, who called it "a bad joke that got way out of hand."
In The Uncanny X-Men #173, Claremont and artist Paul Smith created a new look for Storm, replacing her old costume with a punk fashion aesthetic: A black leather top and pants with spikes and a mohawk. The change in appearance was inspired by the decision of colleague Walt Simonson to shave off his beard and mustache while on vacation with his wife, X-Men editor Louise Simonson. Upon their return, Simonson's daughter, Julie, upset at her father's new appearance, ran from the room. When the editors decided to change Storm's appearance, Smith submitted a number of designs to them, explaining in a 2008 interview:
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. Weezie '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.
Julie Simonson's reaction to her father's new appearance would be mirrored in X-Man Kitty Pryde's heartbroken rejection of Storm's new look. These changes alienate her from Kitty for a time. Comics scholar andre m. carrington views this incident as a challenge to the stereotype of Black women as universal caregivers, demonstrating unconscious expectations of race and gender.
A year later, 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.
By 1986, the question arises of whether the X-Men should be led by Storm or by Cyclops, who was now married to Madelyne Pryor and an expectant husband. The two settle the matter in a duel in the Danger Room that saw Storm victorious. J. Andrew Deman describes other instances in which Storm establishes her power and authority by commanding or overruling "highly masculinized white characters," such as Wolverine.
Marc Silvestri became the primary artist of Uncanny X-Men in the late 1980s. Regarding Storm, he said that "She has a certain attitude that's tough to capture without dropping into clichés and certain poses.... You have to have an unusual energy level the day you have to draw Storm."
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 fight a demonic enemy called the Adversary. While they defeat the Adversary, the battle creates the public appearance that the X-Men have all died. In fact, they have survived with the help of a celestial being known as Roma. Roma casts a spell on them to be invisible to electronic equipment. 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 Nanny and Orphan-Maker. Although believed slain in that encounter, she resurfaces alive but bodily regressed to childhood by Nanny, with accompanying amnesia. She is hunted by the evil telepath Shadow King and framed for murder, and finally returns to thieving. While she slowly starts to regain her memories, she meets with a new character, the Cajun mutant Gambit, and they return to the X-Men together.
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. In the end, however, she is restored physically and mentally to her adult prime.