Superhero Origins: Storm

Superhero Origins: Storm

Just because she can control the weather doesn’t mean she’s got a sunny disposition. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Ororo Munroe, otherwise known as Storm.

As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline, which unfolded in 1975’s Giant Size X-Men #1 and was expanded upon in 1976’s Uncanny X-Men #102.

This X-Men member with the power to manipulate the elements was first introduced when professor Xavier went on a recruiting spree to build an all-new team in the mid 70s.

As a result, this superhero was introduced to the X-Men comics as part of the new character line-up to prevent the team from having an all-male cast. At the same time, the white haired, but youthful mutant was shown to be a priestess wielding so called magical powers in Kenya. Referred to as “Ororo: Great Goddess of the Storm” the locals would journey to visit her and beg her to help them control the weather. Hearing their plight, she would ease local droughts so they could grow crops.

When using her power, Storms went from crystal blue to dark along with the sky. Once Ororo finished demonstrating her power, having flown up with the winds, summing lightening and a massive downpour, she returned to the ground to find Charles Xavier waiting for her. He had arrived to both witness her powers, and ask for her help.

It was at this point that Xavier admitted that though she clearly had everything, including local admirers, she was need to protect mankind. He admitted it that would be difficult, but she could make a real difference in the world. Sensing his sincerity, she reluctantly joined his cause, taking on the alternate name Storm.

The following year, Storm’s backstory was finally established during an encounter between the X-Men team and the Juggernaut. During that grueling ambush, Storm was griped with fear and panic. Relapsing into long forgotten traumatic memories while her friends battled, it was shown that she was one of a long line of African witch-priestesses, while her father was a photojournalist.

This flashback to her infancy also revealed that as a six month old child, her parents moved from Harlem to Egypt in the summer of 1951. It was a short time later that her parents died during the Suez War, otherwise known as the second Arab-Israeli war, when a downed jet crashed into their family home. Storm managed to survive the incident, but was left alone in the wreckage alongside the bodies of her dead parents.

Following this, she grew up on the streets, surviving thanks to befriending a street thief that showed her his ways.

By the time she was twelve she had traveled from Egypt and to the Sahara, making the two thousand mile journey by foot. Stumbling upon a lush tropical paradise, she made it her home, living a solitary life under the guise of a goddess thanks to her powers, while attempting to forget her past.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Xavier sensed that she and the other X-men had been ambushed by the Juggernaut. With the X-Men team defeated, she was used as part of a trap intended to catch and kill Charles Xavier. However, when he arrived and used his mind powers to battle the evil mutants, a blaster fire blew a hole in the castle wall, allowing Storm to see the sky and summon her power to save the day.

In the years that followed, Storm grew to become a much more self-assured and courageous member of the team. She has also gone through various visual reimaginings, including a rather controversial punk revival.

Not just a mainstay of the X-men comic books, Storm has come to be a staple of almost everything X-Men related, from the various cartoon series and video games. Storm was finally given the big screen treatment when Halle Berry was cast as the iconic character in the live action “X-Men” movie series.

Are you a fan of this stormy tempered mutant superhero? For more informative comic book origins, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.