Debuting in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975), Storm is the first major female character of African descent in comics. She is regarded by some as being Marvel Comics' most important female superhero, having drawn
favorable comparisons to DC Comics' most
famous female lead Wonder Woman. Storm
was created by writerLen Wein and artist
Dave Cockrum and perfected over the years
by writer Chris Claremont.
Origin: Born Ororo Munroe to a tribal princess of Kenya and an African-American photojournalist father, Storm was raised in Harlem, New York, and Cairo, Egypt. She became an orphan after her parents were killed in the midst of an Arab–Israeli conflict. The same incident also traumatized Ororo, leaving her with claustrophobia that she would struggle with into her adult life but eventually overcomes.
Storm is a member of the X-Men, a group
of mutant heroes fighting for peace and
equal rights between mutants and humans.
Under the tutelage of a master thief an
adolescent Munroe became a skilled
pickpocket, the means of which she meets
through coincidence the powerful mutant
Professor X. Professor X later convinces
Munroe 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
led the X-Men at times and has been a
member of teams such as the Avengers and
the Fantastic Four as well. Storm married
childhood sweetheart and fellow superhero
Black Panther, the ruler of the fictional African
nation of Wakanda, Storm was made queen consort through marriage. The title was lost
however when the two later divorced. After the terraforming of planet Mars, Storm leaves the Marauders and becomes the regent of Arakko and Voice of the Sol System..
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Black Comic History: Storm
Reading Recommendations:The Uncanny X-Men #102, 113, 117, 145-147, 151-152, 185, 201, 253 & Annual #19, Marvel Team-Up #100, X-Men Classic #2, Storm v2 #1-4, Black Panther v4 #4 & 18. Also, check out Storm's Top 10 costumes.
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Fun Facts
-Storm was originally conceived by Dave Cockrum as "the Black Cat," a character who could transform into a feline creature or a house cat. The character was shelved for a time, along with the rest of the new X-Men project, and ultimately
made redundant by a large number of cat-themed
characters that had been introduced in the interim.
When the project resumed, it was decided that the
team needed another female character and Roy
Thomas suggested replacing the weather-controlling
Typhoon with a female equivalent. Cockrum then
quickly outlined the idea for Storm, leaving the Black
Cat costume unchanged but changing the character's
hair from brunette to white.
-Ororo is a worshiper of Gaea.
-Storm lost her virginity to T'Challa, at age 12.
-The name "Ororo" means "Beauty".
-Ororo is best friends with Jean Grey. She learned
from Jean to dress regularly in clothing (Ororo was
a partial nudist, due to her time being worshipped as a
goddess).
-Storm was the third mutant that Professor Xavier met before founding the X-Men (the first being Magneto, followed by Sage).
-Storm is currently one of the only people on Earth-616 who has been a member of the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four. The others are Spider-Man and Wolverine.
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." The X-Men have symbolically represented marginalized minorities and the debut of the X-Men series coincided with the Civil Rights Movement, in which their plight as mutants mirrored that of African Americans Storm's creation in particular "was during the heyday of blaxploitation films."
Storm has won many awards and rankings over the
years such as the Glyph Comics Awards in 2007,
Ororo was the most successful comic and was the
winner of the best comic of the year, by Eric Jerome
Dickey, David Yardin & Lan Medina, and Jay Leisten &
Sean Parsons. 2006 IGN placed her #8 of the Top 25
X-Men. In the Comics Buyer's Guide, Storm ranked
30th on the 100 Sexiest Women in Comics List. Storm
also was ranked the 89th greatest comic book character
of all time by Wizard Magazine. In 2011 Storm won first
place in Rank on Comic Vine best superhero of the
year, was stated to be one of the bravest and strongest
women of all time by Marvel Studios.
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Spotlight Reason: Storm is the greatest black superhero and arguably the greatest woman superhero, for at least three decades. She has probably inspired more people than any other black character. She was the
most popular black character for longer than
anyone else. Thereigning Queen until 2016.
The most popularcomic title hit tv shows and
hit video games.She went from a weary
B-character to aGODDESS! She was the
leader of the greatestteam (that she won
without powers), worthy of her own hammer
like Thor, fans voted her to beat Wonder Woman
in a one-on-one fight, made Black Panther kneel
in the dirt before her and now she rules Mars.