Celebrating Black History Month: Storm and Marvels Original Queen
We’re celebrating Black History Month by honoring some of the most iconic characters in the history of the Marvel Universe, a conversation that couldn’t happen without Storm, Marvel’s Original Queen.
Throughout the history of comic books, and the vastness of the medium, there have been fewer publications that have embraced diversity and pointed toward the celebration of characters of color the way that Marvel has.
Through their robust history, it is Marvel that broke down barriers with Sam Wilson- perhaps the first mainstream Black superhero- and continued throughout characters such as T’Chala’s Black Panther, Blue Marvel, and even War Machine.
Yet, one character stands out as one of the most vital black characters in Marvel’s illustrious history, and also stands as maybe their greatest female character ever created: and that is a distinction that must go to none other than Storm.
Source: Marvel
Oen of the most iconic and instantly recognizable X-Men characters, Storm is a mutant equipped with the power to control the weather- hence her name- and has proven throughout her comic book history that she is among the strongest comic book characters of all time.
Created by Len Wein and David Cockrum in 1975, Ororo Munroe was created and given the alternate identity of Storm; a mutant that fought alongside the X-Men in service of the planet.
Photo: The Wrap
What makes Ororo Munroe so fascinating to explore as a character is that she is both a Harlem-raised American woman, but also well in touch with her royal roots; being a descendent of Kenyan tribal princesses.
Munroe would eventually marry T’Chala, and fully embrace her status of royalty by becoming, then, the queen f Wakanda; as the two represented one of the most beloved couples in comics, and were the pinnacle Black power couple in the industry.
Source: Marvel
Storm was one of the first two, prominent, black female superheroes in comic book history, with her debut coming the same year as another iconic black female superhero in the form of Misty Knight.
The X-Men were crafted as an answer to the Civil Rights movement and Chris Claremont’s iconic run as the head writer for the X-Men was predicated on understanding, and doing justice, to the great struggle of discrimination that plagued the nation.
Source: Marvel
Within the Marvel universe, mutant-kind were marginalized and discriminated against, and Ororo Munroe was the manifestation of even more fear, hatred, and discrimination because of her status as a person of color.
She represented a necessary inner strength, and her development in the Marvel Universe established what is most certainly one of the greatest heroes that Marvel has ever seen; her desire to help a world that stood so angrily against her.
Source: Marvel
Ororo Munroe is, without a doubt, one of the X-Men’s most important characters, and is one of the pinnacle characters that should be championed and celebrated in our honoring of Black History Month.
