![Has anyone here ever read this book: "Hero Me Not, The Containment of the Most Powerful Black, Female Superhero [Storm]"](https://preview.redd.it/snosi0rbdbth1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=566d31a1dd73f11aca1ea90d945f4f830453f880)
This book is a critique of the way Storm has historically been written by Marvel and it was published around 2023.
A solo series or a team book? What would the plot or conflict be about?
Like it just seems crazy to me that Dr. Doom had a team of his country's mutants before the man married to one?
It would have been nice if something similar happened during the Krakoa era, but that was when X-writers (and the BP writer who will not be named) were forcing the two to fight each other and had Gentle spy on Storm for T'challa like the child of divorce :/
Storm's divinity has been canon for about 10 years now, first canonized in Coates Black Panther and then first used in an X book in 2024 by Ayodele. Despite the fact that the idea has been around for a decade, the concept hasn't really had a *real* impact on Ororo's character: the person Storm was before it was canonized is the same as she is now. This is in stark contrast to similar story arcs like Jean > Phoenix or when the Scarlet Witch realized that her powers were actually chaos magic and she slowly became a real witch, those story arcs transformed those characters into who they are today.
That being said, I'm not asking for Storm to be dramatically transformed into a different character, but I think it would be a net positive if her thoughts and feelings about becoming a real Goddess were centered, like, at all??? In Coates Black Panther, we get the ephemeral idea of an arc where at first Storm doesn't see herself as a goddess, but after she receives a power boost from being worshipped, she warms up to the idea because it reminds her of her time before she joined the X-Men; a good foundation that isn't really built upon. In Ayodele's Storm run we see Ororo, possibly for the first time, learn her blood connections to the Vishanti and... that's kind of it. We learn more about the reactions of other Storm Gods to Ororo than we do about Ororo's reactions to her own situation, we don't even get her reaction to the idea that she is related by blood to the Bright Lady!!!
I don't think it's a tall ask that we should have more information about the main character's feelings about something as big as becoming a Goddess, especially for a character as introspective as Storm used to be.
So, here's how I would do it: Like in X book canon, Storm believed she was a Goddess until Xavier approached her and revealed that she was a mutant. However, I would add that Ororo never fully let go of the idea of herself as a Goddess, which is why she periodically calls herself one even during the time when she thought that she was just a mutant. After Ororo ascended as the Hadari-Yao, she would feel vindicated in her subconscious beliefs, but she would also gain a resentment towards Xavier because of him changing her beliefs in the first place (this is all borderline canon in the X books too). I would even go further and suggest that Storm's relationship with the rest of the X-Men become slightly strained the same way it did way back when Storm became leader of the X-Men and started breaking her vows against killing and violence, she now knows that everything she used to believe was 100% real and she sacrificed it to lead the X-Men. On the flip side, the X-Men now have a harder time relating to Storm knowing that she is a bonafide Goddess that has humans literally worshipping her back in Africa.
Despite all that, Ororo would still see herself as a "Human Goddess", she doesn't know everything, she isn't all powerful, she can make mistakes, and she does have flaws, but that wouldn't stop her from trying to live up to the responsibilities given to her. I also think it's past time for Ororo to finally meet her Goddess, the Bright Lady of Dawn Oshtur. I didn't like that the 2024 solo made Ororo out to be a simple Thunder God when weather is her mutant power. I think Oshtur should reveal that Ororo is a Balance Goddess like herself (the Hadari-Yao is literally "she who keeps the balance of all natural things"). I don't see Storm's godhead as a power boost, but more of a "resource boost" that allows Storm to surpass her limits when twisting the weather and maybe even allowing her to increase her intuition and knowledge, giving Storm the ability to go toe-to-toe with higher beings stronger than herself by intuiting their weaknesses and revealing the full secrets of the environment around her... I'm getting ahead of myself lmao. But it's also past time for Storm to interact more with the ghosts of her ancestors and with more members of Marvel's magical community.
What are your ideas?
The type of energy Storm needs in the MCU!!!
It's been said that the eternal status quo of X-Men, Mutants trying to protect a world that hates and fears them (or just trying to protect themselves from the world), has gotten stale and repetitive. Mutants are always on the brink of extinction, always under attack and hunted by Sentinels and the Government, and nothing ever gets better which says some kind of not good things about an oppressed minority group trying to coexist with dominant group. There are some people who think Mutantphobia should just be erased wholesale and turn the X-Men into every other team in Marvel, but that would just destroy the brand since the themes of bigotry and oppression that maintain the franchise would be gone.
Therefore, I propose a compromise, something that would change the status quo but maintain the themes of X-Men: Humanity finds a new Scapegoat. A big event would happen that Mutants and the X-Men save Humanity from, but this time Humanity actually takes the hint and tone down the overt bigotry (it would still exist, but it wouldn't be overt anymore). But as a tradeoff, the Human race would turn to some other fantastic minority in the Marvel and treat them the same way they used to treat mutants (for my what if, I was thinking Aliens).
This new Status Quo would place Mutants at a crossroads: most would be eternally thankful to finally earn the favor of the Human Race, but others like the X-Men would be disgusted by Humanities attitude towards Aliens and chose to continue the fight by defending Aliens from the Humans. This would eventually split Mutantkind between those who only care about mutants, some even siding with Humanity to keep their favor, and those Mutants who fight for a world where no one is hated and feared.
The X-Men, led by Storm and Cyclops, would fight for Alien rights (who would be represented by Captain Marvel), while X-Factor, led by Havok, would assist Humanity in subjugating the Alien Threat.
The Oshturans - An association of mystic super beings that all trace their origins to Oshtur, similar to Storm's matrilineal line. They live in the mirror dimension that Storm once entered by diving into the bottom of a lake in the Savage Land (the same world where M'rin lives.)
Typhoon - He is the son of Oshtur, but he had a difficult birth and Oshtur resurrected him using magic (he's also the reason how Oshtur found out about her infertility issues and why she prefers supernatural births like with Agamotto). Because of his origin, he's much weaker than other full Gods in the Marvel Universe, a fact that causes him insecurity. He serves as both the mirror world's Storm god and as the leader of the Oshturans. His relationship with Storm would be a reflection of her relationship with Xavier, in all the worst ways: he thinks that he knows better than her and looks down on her for focusing so much on "mutant affairs".
Powers: Obviously Weather control. To make him different from Thor, he also has the ability to transform his body into a storm, but he lacks enhanced durability and strength.
Quetzal - She is the princess of the Bird Men, a magical race that was created by Oshtur eons ago. On regular Earth, the Bird Men are extinct, but they live on in the mirror world. The royal family of the Bird Men have a special blessing from Oshtur that is passed down ever princess, which Quetzal has inherited. She is very wise despite her young age, but before she met the others she never ventured outside of the Bird Men's floating city, which makes her naive. She reminds Storm of how she was when she first joined the X-Men.
Powers: She can both fly and manipulate the winds using her winged arms. She also has the magical ability to see souls and spirits, giving her a support role.
Sphinx (Black Cat) - Changed her name for obvious reasons. She is the equivalent to the Black Panther in the mirror world, coming from a hidden forest tribe of which she is both a leader and protector. Like Quetzal, her family also received a blessing from Oshtur that grants her powers. Compared to her other teammates, she is far more rebellious and free spirited, causing her to clash with Typhoon but get along with Storm.
Powers: she can transform into any kind of cat, and has the ability to control the minds of cats as well.
The basic idea I had was that they would hop over to prime Marvel earth to ask Storm for help for something in their Earth, and then it would be revealed that Typhoon was just using the group for his own gain at which point both Quetzal and Sphinx would turn on him and help Storm defeat him.
Blue Alien Dr. Doom is fiendin for her, so she starts using that information to her advantage without ever letting it slip that she's plotting his downfall. Also, Body Tea!
I've noticed, in the last few years or so, that there's been a massive uptick in negativity towards Storm whenever she gets brought up. Everything about her gets picked apart: she's called a narcissist and delusional because she calls herself a Goddess, she's called shallow and superficial because she believes all mutations are a gift (not talking about that Tumblr post), she's called ungrateful towards Chales Xavier/Cyclops/Black Panther sometimes when she gets into conflict with them, and overall, there's this idea that Storm needs to be "knocked off her pedestal".
A lot of the criticisms can be traced back to her recent solo title and related minis, which were kinda written as if Storm was the center of the universe (literally), but I've seen people complain about things even before then like her management of Arrako.
I don't know, it's just that in universe Storm is supposedly the most respected member of the X-Men, but in real life it doesn't feel like she's all that respected by people (comic fans and non-comic fans) and she hasn't been actually respected in a while. Is there any way to fix her reputation?
Storm's is usually up there with Nightcrawler for "most benevolent X-Man", but a select few comics do show that she has a dark side that she keeps extremely repressed. Storm's dark side normally only comes out when pushed to the absolute edge by villains (being tortured by Masque, being turned into a solid statue by Dr. Doom, having her body stolen by Emma, Callisto chaining up Angel naked, etc.), but each time it does it's truly horrifying, even to Storm's own allies.
A quote from Storm that lives rent free in my head: "They [Callisto and Yukio] think [I don't kill] because I'm an X-Man and this is how heroes arc. They're so wrong. Storms can devastate a country and care nothing for the consequences. I have that awful strength in me, a heritage that goes back to the dawn of life. It's had a taste of freedom... and it's hungry for more. Once I start to kill, I won't stop. And I won't ever care."
Goosebumps!
I think it would be cool if he had the bony spikes like his Evolution counterpart Spyke. They could even have the fiery effect to differentiate himself from Marrow.
The current canon in comics right now is that Storm is a real goddess, building off of Black Panther Lore and little "hints" about Storm's magical bloodline that's been sprinkled throughout the decades. However, Marvel Tokon appears to be using an older idea of Storm as a Priestess.
In Tokon, Storm describes herself as a herald of the Goddess and Mother Earth (which might be the same thing if the Goddess here is supposed to be Gaea instead of Oshtur but she's never named dropped) and that she "speaks" through Storm. This idea comes from goes all the way back to the Claremont days where he stated in interviews that Storm and her mother's legacy have a very special connection with the Earth, and for the longest time in Marvel source books it was said that Storm came from a long line of African Witch-Priestesses.
Of course, a Divine Priestess is not as strong as a Goddess, but I think it's an interesting interpretation of Ororo's character and her legacy regardless.
Storm's powers generate a field of static around her body that interferes with telepathic influence. She's not totally immune, but she has better time against Telepaths than most other non-telepaths.
When Storm's eyes turn white, her vision expands past the visible spectrum to all the patterns of energy (Heat, Electricity, etc.) that makes up the weather, creating a riot of colors in the sky that only she can see!
It's such a basic part of her powerset that's never been adapted in literally anything before, but I think we have a chance now: imagine the MCU recreates the plotline where Storm allows Rogue to drain her powers for a bit to understand her better, or even Ororo asks Jean to see through her eyes and that deepens their friendship! Oh, the possibilities...
Did... did Deadline describe Storm as someone 'T'Challa had a son with in the comics'?
Scott and Jean got mini bios. Storm could have been mentioned as 'worshipped as a Goddess in Kenya', or 'leader of several X-teams', 'member of The Avengers' even. Instead, they define her by her relationship with a male character.
Feels like she's being undersold.
Uhh... chile... anyway, so...