Alexandra Shipp Is Right, Storm Doesn't Need Black Panther

Actress Alexandra Shipp has been playing the character of Storm (Ororo Munroe) since X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). She now returns to the character in this year's upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Fair to say this will be the end of her career as Storm, given the merger of FOX and Disney.

Fans are highly excited about this merger. At last we can have all of the Marvel Comics characters under one umbrella. We can put Wolverine in The Avengers, we can have the Guardians of The Galaxy cross-paths with The Starjammers perhaps. Maybe we can even get an Avengers/X-Men cross-over film. The one thing on everyone's mind is the notion of Black Panther (T'Challa) and Storm marrying. Fans even incite the idea of introducing Storm through her marriage to the African hero. Believe it or not, Alexandra Shipp has some comments on this when asked at Wonder-Con...

"No, I don’t think Storm needs T’Challa, and I think she needs her own movie! It doesn’t have to be me, it just needs to be made[...] A woman does not need a man in order to give her validity and she has also been around longer than him."

I will state first that she is wrong. Storm has not been around longer than him. Black Panther first debuts in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966) and Storm first debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). Perhaps it is possible she means Storm predates Black Panther cinematically, first appearing in the 2000 X-Men film played by Halle Berry.

Why the fan-fare of this marriage?

We first need to keep in mind that this marriage is still relatively new. This event took place back in 2006. It was essentially a tie-in event to the Civil War storyline. Plus, it was more or less a marketing tool to target the female and African-American audience. Joe Quesada, the Marvel Comics editor-in-chief, likened the event to the marriage of Lady Diana and Prince Charles. For those who are too young to know or remember, the royal wedding had an estimated 750 million people watching the so-called "wedding of the century" on their TV sets. I would argue Black Panther #18 (July 2006) was hardly that big of a success. It came at number 31 for the month, barely selling 70,000 copies. Meanwhile, Civil War #3 that month, was close to selling 300,000 copies. Black Panther #18 made the top 300 selling comics of 2006, at the 289th spot. Therefore, this was not the wedding of the century.

Sales aside, this wedding did get many of people talking. Here we have two of the most prominent black characters getting married. Not only that, but it is an event as well. People are aware of Scott Summers and Jean Grey or Superman & Lois Lane. That is the problem though. We are used to the marriage of white couples. Too many times, audiences, especially black audiences, are accustomed to no legitimate black marriages. You instead have the absent father and mother with multiple children by various fathers. We do not have that here! In addition, these are two powerful, noble and heroic black characters. We do not have the stereotypical gang banger or athlete. Storm and Black Panther are comic-book characters respected and beloved by fans all over!

We are entering a time of more diversity than ever. We have films like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel. Batwoman, the lesbian character, is receiving her own pilot. The Black Panther film turned out to be a huge success. Black directors are arriving on the scenes with predominantly black cast films like Jordan Peele with Us for example. Even as a white male, I want more diversity. I have seen enough of myself on the screen. With my history of dating outside my race and LGBT friends, I want to see the people I care about have their representation on the screen.

Why Storm Does Not Need Black Panther

Alexandra Shipp is on to something, though. Women do not require a man for their validity. We see that clearly in films like Wonder Woman for example. Diana comes out of that film as her own character, not as Steve Trevor's girlfriend who has superpowers. I know that, you know that and the audience certainly knows that. I fear the opposite could happen here. Ever since the comic-book bubble burst, with the end of the X-Men Animated Series, the property has never been as huge as it was before. Even the original trilogy did not deliver the series to its original fathom of the nineties. Part of this stems from Marvel not putting much behind the comics, given FOX owned the film rights. Why promote a film that you won't exactly profit from? The marriage to Black Panther certainly helped deliver Storm some newly founded fans and needed press. However, she is now seen more as T'Challa's wife who happens to be a member of the X-Men and can make it rain. At least that is who she is to a more general audience.

We forget who Storm was—is! She was one of Professor Xavier's first international students into the X-Men. She was an orphaned African girl who suffers from claustrophobia, who survived the streets of Cairo as a pick-pocket. As her powers manifest she becomes something of a goddess to African tribes as she brings rain to their crops. She joins the X-Men, climbing up to deputy leader of the team. She battles Callisto for leadership of the Morlocks in order to save Angel. She wins but leaves Callisto to rule in her place and offers them safe passing at the mansion, which they decline. Later on she even battles Cyclops for leadership of the X-Men... and wins! Keep in mind, this all predates her marriage to Black Panther. She has a 30 year publican history prior to this arrangement.

I fear part of the problem does lie in race. Author Christelyn Karazin notes how marriage is still expected out of black women and really nothing else. Their own happiness and success is not something that is prioritized. White women on the other hand, do not have this backwards expectation... or at least not as much as black women. Instead, a black woman's purpose is tied to her husband and usually, the husband is expected to be black. Older fans like myself knew exactly what this event was for and did not care much for it. I grew up with Storm and Forge, the Native American mystic/cyborg of the X-Men. Now there's diversity for you! Storm's relationship with Forge was always quite secondary though. Here, this marriage was something of a forced relationship/plot device/marketing ploy. I did not require this marriage to identify or make anything more or else out of one my favorite X-Men characters.

The Blotting Out of Storm's History

Back in Marvel Team-Up #100 (December 1980) we learned that a 12 year-old Storm first met and saved Black Panther from racist thugs. Sadly, this story would later to be turned on its head to fit the needs of the marriage. Marvel is known for retcons within their history. By this, I mean they retcon something from their past history by more or less saying "by the way this happened" as they make it into a story years later. For example, Gwen Stacy slept with Norman Osborn shortly before he killed her. I would say to go check it out but at the same time—don't!

This story would be retconned and reversed to where Storm instead is saved by Black Panther from these same thugs at the same age. This also leads to Storm losing her virginity to T'Challa. Saved by a strapping, strong black man and then gives up her virginity at a young age...? I will note the writer, Eric Jerome Dickey is black, but this sounds extremely cliche' as in misogynistic and racist to a degree. It feels as if Dickey more or less put Storm under the heel of men by doing this, depriving her of the role of strong, independent black woman. She know owes her life to Black Panther in a sense and one could maybe even argue... her womanhood.

Back to You Alexandra Shipp

Interestingly enough, Shipp also notes when asked about continuing the role of Storm in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

"I would and I wouldn’t (like it), because Storm barely has anything to say as it is, [...]I don’t know about you all (other actors) but like we never talk. So it would be really nice if we weren’t piled into yet another jam packed cast, in which you only see me in the back of the shot like f***ing sasquatch."

She's not wrong! Again, I fear her marriage to T'Challa in the MCU would certainly do this. We need to bring back Storm as her own independent character. By keeping up this marriage to Black Panther and bringing her into the fold of the MCU, we in effect turn her into some background princess character. How many times I do have to say this is Storm we are talking about? Forget the marriage, forget Black Panther and its success. Here we have one of the first black female superheroes who went on to lead a team of superheroes, originally and traditionally led by a white male. They did this in the late eighties! She would go on to lead numerous other installments of the X-Men. A Storm solo would be nice, or how about a brand new X-Men film where Storm leads the team.

On one last note, the marriage between the two was annulled by Black Panther himself.