Is Ororo Munroe aka Storm an A-List Character20

[Ingonyama]

What keeps her safe is what also prevents a writer doing anything interesting with her, it's not worth taking the risk so she well remain a token character.

I think that's my problem with Storm. Writers are to safe when using her in stories.

The thing is, after everything Claremont's already done with Storm -- the Mohawk phase, depowering, repowering, the leadership thing, just to name a few -- nothing being done with her is that 'unsafe'. There's lots of stories that can still be told with her if Marvel would treat her with the same interest they've been treating Scott/Emma/Magneto/Magik/Namor/Wolverine these last few years.

The problem, from my perspective...and it's just MHO...is that Storm isn't 'anti' enough for them. They want anti-heroes for the X-Men line...that's why they've been killing off their 'moral paragon' characters since 2004 or so, when they haven't been tarnishing them with retcons or sudden personality changes.

Let's look at the roster of characters who are generally considered the X-Men's 'goody two shoes':

Cyclops - His story pretty much tells itself. Though I admit, most people actually like him better the way he is now. ('most' meaning 'not me', but I digress)
Nightcrawler - Has been made to look preachy and then was killed off after Pixie took a power-upgrade to be his replacement.
Beast - Has been made to look preachy, and got preachier as time went on until it became his sole defining character trait: the preachy guy.
Banshee - Squished between two planes.
Professor X - Had his good name smeared to the point where he's unrecognizable, sidelined into near-total irrelevancy, and then killed in a cheap, enigmatic fashion at the end of AvX.
Colossus - y helo thar Cytorrak.
Jean - 'jgg' Do I really need to say more? (Also, NO! I'M NOT OVER IT!)

The only heroes on the X-Men who aren't 'anti' right now are Kitty Pryde and Storm. And Kitty's been all-but completely sidelined off the team by her new duties as the the actual headmistress of Jean Grey School...you know, the person who does all the work?

So Marvel's caught in an awkward position. It's pretty clear they want to off or darken all their 'paragon' characters because Good Is Old-Fashioned, but killing Storm or derailing her too badly would cause a huge backlash, since she is pretty much the biggest non-white X-Man they've got. Hell, I'd argue she's the biggest female superhero they've got, regardless of how they've tried to sideline her to push others.

[Omega Alpha]

The thing is, after everything Claremont's already done with Storm -- the Mohawk phase, depowering, repowering, the leadership thing, just to name a few -- nothing being done with her is that 'unsafe'.

That's exactly the problem- Claremont wrote her all over the place, so no one really knows what's the "definitive" Storm, or what to do with her. Any depiction of her will feel out of character to some extent (Mohawk Storm would never do that! No, Storm, moral paragon of virtue would never do that! and so on), and any new direction feel "been there, done that"...except of course marry her to some Wakandan king.

[cybrestrike]

That's exactly the problem- Claremont wrote her all over the place, so no one really knows what's the "definitive" Storm, or what to do with her. Any depiction of her will feel out of character to some extent (Mohawk Storm would never do that! No, Storm, moral paragon of virtue would never do that! and so on), and any new direction feel "been there, done that"...except of course marry her to some Wakandan king.

I tend to slightly disagree here. Storm wasn't really all over the place. She had a clear character arc. She started off as a fish out of water goddess with no nudity taboos, and quite innocent till that incident with Garrok the Petrified Man. Then she began to assert herself as a stronger person, especially when she called out Wolverine on when and where he should bust out his claws (and he was mighty pissed about it too). She met Shadowcat and developed into a proper role model, even through their obvious cultural differences. She was made leader of the X-Men (even had a leadership discussion with Cyclops while Sydrian Hunters wrecked the mansion) and was unsure about herself till the business with the Morlocks, when she started to lose control. She let go of her sheltered personality when she ran into Yukio in Japan and relished it. Kitty didn't like the newer wilder Storm, and Ororo let her know that she was still trying to find herself and they came to an understanding about it.

After losing her powers she had to learn to live with maybe never getting them back and successfully led the team after dealing with it. She even successfully dueled Cyclops for the role, because Goblin Queen retconning nonwithstanding, she wanted it more. After the Mutant Massacre she got more ruthless and remained that way till about Inferno, when Cyclops and Jean Grey called her out on it during that crossover. Then she got de-aged and met Gambit--whose presence forced her to think about what she wanted to do--be the leader of the X-Men or run off and be a thief. She chose to stay and be mature about it...right when Lila Cheney teleported the team to the Shi'ar Empire. That's the last time anyone figured out where Storm was going, and incidentally that's when Claremont left.

She had an arc, but future writers either didn't know where to take her next or didn't understand that she had grown into an independent woman with leadership skill who had no problem making the tough call and had her team's back. Tragic orphan, thief, mistaken goddess, mutant, role model, wild side, leader, depowered, ruthless age, repowered understanding, and there we are.

Storm's been stuck in characterization limbo since Mutant Genesis.

[Omega Alpha]

I Tragic orphan, thief, mistaken goddess, mutant, role model, wild side, leader, depowered, ruthless age, repowered understanding, and there we are.

And there you have the problem: too much stuff to be believable-the same problem that happened with Wolverine's past (he was a hero and a villain; a bastard and someone with a big heart; a samurai, a killing machine, and someone that was seen as a serious candidate to lead Canada's superhero team), without having the justification that he's very old and had time to do most of these, and the same problem he's having now- killing machine, headmaster, Avenger, everyone's pal, captain of a kill squad, etc.

IMO, the problem starts with her origin- a girl that grew up in an isolated village in Kenya thinking she was a goddess? That's OK. A girl that grew up orphaned in the streets of Cairo and was a thief? That's OK too. But a girl that grew up in an isolated village in Kenya thinking she was a goddess AND also grew up orphaned in the streets of Cairo and was a thief there? That's too much.

Obviously, anyone can disagree, but seeing how writers were either not interested and/or had problems in how to write and use her, seems clear that I wasn't the only one that had problems with it.

[Deus ex Chris]

And there you have the problem: too much stuff to be believable-the same problem that happened with Wolverine's past (he was a hero and a villain; a bastard and someone with a big heart; a samurai, a killing machine, and someone that was seen as a serious candidate to lead Canada's superhero team), without having the justification that he's very old and had time to do most of these, and the same problem he's having now- killing machine, headmaster, Avenger, everyone's pal, captain of a kill squad, etc.

IMO, the problem starts with her origin- a girl that grew up in an isolated village in Kenya thinking she was a goddess? That's OK. A girl that grew up orphaned in the streets of Cairo and was a thief? That's OK too. But a girl that grew up in an isolated village in Kenya thinking she was a goddess AND also grew up orphaned in the streets of Cairo and was a thief there? That's too much.

Obviously, anyone can disagree, but seeing how writers were either not interested and/or had problems in how to write and use her, seems clear that I wasn't the only one that had problems with it.

I've never seen any writers mention having a problem with her origin. I'd love some links, though.

[Omega Alpha]

I've never seen any writers mention having a problem with her origin. I'd love some links, though.

I'm not saying they have a problem with her origin specifically (that's my problem).

[MartinRedmond]

Ariel is A-List.

[Home made ectoplasm]

This is surprisingly text heavy / scan light for a Storm thread

[MartinRedmond]

Storm's problem is that they're trying to make her like Wonder Woman right down to the costume. Thankfully, this will be fixed come UXF. When they think Storm, they should think of like Grace Jones or Rhianna who sounds like she's even into BDSM.


Anyway, she should be kept edgy looking.


Emma, Storm, Rogue, now that Jean is back, it's time to step out of the "mom" look, get out of the white hot kitchen and let a real woman handle that part.

[.A²]

Emma, Storm, Rogue, now that Jean is back, it's time to step out of the "mom" look, get out of the white hot kitchen and let a real woman handle that part.

I love this post.

[RLAAMJR.]

Storm became a leader, and perhaps the most recognized female leader in Marvel Comics. She also made mohawk awesome!

[Babyhater666]

No matter what anyone says she'll always be an A lister in my heart. *sheds a single tear*

[MrSinister]

Storm became a leader, and perhaps the most recognized female leader in Marvel Comics. She also made mohawk awesome!

yeah! Storm, phoenix and mabye Rogue are the most recognized females in MU. The 3 of them are definitely A-listers. And Mohawk Storm was the best Storm CC ever written.
I don't count the other writers because they all sucked when they tried to write Storm the artists Lee, Portacio and Byrne , Scot Lobdel and Fabian Nickienza sucked all of them (The issue with Storm and marrow duel and Storm actually lick her blade? WTF?) Kelly and Seagle never wrote their own stories but what the office ordered them to write, Alan Davis Storm was boring, CC returned and wrote her again in UXM XXM and UXM again and it was really nice. Then she got married that Avenger-trash to make him popular and...................LIMBO. Only Wood wrote her decent in recent years but it was for 8 issues. I'm pretty Sure if they did't kick KG out of the X-men so that their favorite boy to play with them, we would have seem a very good Storm also.