The X-Men movie franchise from (formerly) 20th Century Fox is based on the eponymous superhero group from Marvel Comics. The X-Men film series, which now has 13 films in its catalog and has taken in more than $6 billion globally, is the ninth highest-grossing movie franchise of all time. This success led to a number of spin-off movies and TV shows.

Storm, one of the most iconic X-Men characters, was born Ororo Munroe to a Kenyan tribal princess and an African-American photographer father. She was raised in Cairo, Egypt and Harlem, New York City. Her parents were slain during an Arab-Israeli conflict, leaving her an orphan. According to Screen Rant, Storm is one of Marvel’s most prominent and strongest heroines. However, Fox’s interpretation of the character, played famously by Halle Berry, was criticized for not living up to her full potential in these movies. Here’s why, in our opinion, Fox messed up with Storm.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

A Lack of Representation in the Films

     20th Century Studios

​​People often overlook the fact that the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film is so-called because Storm was intended to be the next in a planned series of X-Men Origin movies. It would have been wonderful to just let Berry move around and actually act in the part, rather than just having her float with her arms raised and have her eyes glow white. But then you’d have to create a tale about this stunning African woman who had Omega mutant abilities, and Hollywood historically seems to shy away from that. Nerdist writer Joshua Mackey detailed in an article in 2021 how Black X-Men characters never get the representation they deserve and are commonly underutilized, saying, “Black characters have rich story arcs in the comics and are quintessential to the progression of the X-Men Universe,” but we never see this on-screen. Mackey even noted that Storm had “no lines until halfway through the first X-Men movie.”

How Storm Could Have Been Better

Storm is one of the most powerful people alive on Earth since she has perfect control over the weather. It seems obvious looking back at the X-Men films that the writers and directors had no idea what to do with Storm. Berry is a great actress — an Oscar-winner, for that matter — who could have been an amazing Storm, but the writing and directing made her so much less than what she could have been. It looks like Berry was only cast as Storm because of her popularity at the time. The production probably gained some buzz pre-release, but that quickly dissipated once people saw the movies. Storm is only in a few scenes where she really flexes her powers in the first X-men movie, but it still lacks the connection fans of the comics would have hoped for. It is obvious that Storm has been ranked as secondary to other characters, like Wolverine, Xavier, and Magneto, all of whom feature more prominently.

Storm’s Origins Are Not Recognized

     Marvel Comics

Because of Storm’s divine control over the weather, every Marvel Comics backstory recalls how her people and others regarded her as a goddess. What could possibly be more divine than changing bright skies into gloomy ones and vice versa? In the X-men comics, many people still feel in awe of Ororo and consider themselves fortunate to have witnessed such holiness. Ororo’s parents are killed when a fighter plane crashes into their home, leaving her orphaned and suffering from severe claustrophobia as a result of being buried beneath piles of debris. At one point, Ororo is even connected to Wakanda and married to T’Challa, before being divorced. Orono’s journey is vast and ever-changing and her history should be recognized.

Before being enlisted by Professor X into the X-Men, Ororo spent some time being worshipped by an African tribe as a rain goddess and engaging in nudism and tribal mysticism. Ororo is given the code name “Storm,” and she develops into a confident, calm character. She experiences a severe claustrophobia episode early in her X-Men career, which causes her comrades to learn about her origins. As Ororo adjusts to the team and the United States, Jean Grey becomes a personal confidant, and the two encourage one another as the sole women X-Men. But you won’t see any hint of the true goddess Storm is in Fox’s adaptations of the X-Men films.

Storm’s Future in Film

After Disney purchased Fox for $71.3 billion in March 2019, Marvel Studios reclaimed the film rights to the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. These characters will be included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The X-Men series movies and The Fantastic Four movies were relaunched as Marvel Legacy movies on Disney+ in October 2020. Hopefully, with Marvel Studios taking over the rights to the X-Men, we can get a better storyline for Storm in the future. Berry has already announced she would love to return to play Storm again.

We know that a follow-up to the Fox X-Men movie Deadpool 2 entitled Deadpool 3 is planned for release in 2024 and will include the series’ incarnations of Wade Wilson/Deadpool and Wolverine being integrated into the MCU, with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprising their roles, respectively. Marvel boss Kevin Feige said, when asked when we could expect an X-Men film, that “we’re getting close.” There is no word on whether Storm will appear in future Marvel X-Men productions, but here’s to hoping she gets the utilization and recognition she deserves.