A
superhero published by
Marvel Comics and created by
Len Wein and
Dave Cockrum. Storm first appeared in
Giant Sized X-Men #1
Ororo Munroe is the daughter of David Munroe, an American photo-journalist,
and N'Dare Munroe, a native of Kenya. Ororo was born in Manhattan, but
at an early age, the Munroes moved to Cairo, Egypt. The Munroes lived
there for a few years until a bomb destroyed their home. Both of Ororo's
parents were killed in the explosion, and Ororo was trapped in the wreckage
for several days. This episode was key in causing the claustrophobia that
would plague Munroe for many years.
Ororo was left homeless after her parent's death and wandered the streets of
Cairo until she was taken in by Achmed el-Gibar. el-Gibar was a street thief
of great skill and he taught the young girl all he knew of theiving. She became
a master thief, wandering the streets of Cairo and robbing from the tourists. She
even stole the wallet of Charles Xavier at one point, not knowing that he would
one day play a key role in her life.
At twelve, Ororo left Cairo, striking out south across the desert toward central
Africa. During this time, her mutant powers began to appear. Munroe possesses
the ability to mentally control the weather. She eventually reached the
Rift Valley, where her mother was from and used her new-found abilities to
help the villagers in the area. The villagers in turn worshipped the young mutant
as a goddess.
A few years later, Munroe again met up with Charles Xavier. This time, Xavier
sought Munroe's help. His students, the X-Men, had disappeared and he gathered
a new group of mutants together to seek them out. Munroe joined Xavier's group
and was given the code name Storm. After she and the others that Xavier had
gathered rescued his original students, Munroe stayed with Xavier to learn more of
her powers.
For many years, Munroe has been a member of the X-Men. During that time,
she has taken over as leader for the group after its original leader, Cyclops
left after the seeming death of his love Jean Grey. She later maintained leadership
when Cyclops returned and challenged her for it.
Storm and the X-Men spent an extended time off-world during their first battle with
the Brood. During that time, Munroe lost her affinity with the Earth's natural
system. Feeling that she had been rejected by the Earth and embracing her more
wild nature, Storm underwent a change in demeanor. Cutting her hair into a
mohawk and dressing in leather, Storm became more wild and impulsive.
The mutant Forge created a weapon that would neutralize the abilities of mutants.
This neutralizer was taken by the U.S. government under the direction of Henry Gyrich
in an attempt to apprehend the outlaw mutant Rogue. Rogue, who had recently
joined the X-Men in hopes of mastering her mutant powers, was in Mississippi
at the time in the company of Munroe. When Gyrich attempted to use the
weapon on Rogue, he missed and the weapon struck Storm, effectively wiping
her weather abilities.
Storm continued to lead the X-Men despite her lack of powers, depending instead
upon her natural abilities. She battled the mutant Callisto for the leadership
of the outcast mutants, the Morlocks and won. She eventually regained her
powers with the help of Forge and continues in a leadership role with the
X-Men to this day.