- "We're all damaged goods. And that's a part of what makes us human."
- ―Ororo Munroe
Ororo Imogen Munroe (also known as Storm) was a Mutant member of the X-Men.
Ororo joined the X-Men after an encounter with Charles Xavier, who was looking to recruit her.
Biography
Early life
Ororo Munroe was born on September 3, 1993 to father David Munroe an American photojournalist, and mother N'Daré. She married the American photojournalist and moved with him to Manhattan, where Ororo was born. She was the sister of Daniel, Vivian, and Evan.
When Ororo was five years old, she and her parents moved to Serengeti, Kenya. At the age of nine, a bomb destroyed their home. Ororo's parents were killed, but she survived, buried under rubble near her mother's body. This traumatizing effect left Ororo with the severe claustrophobia that still afflicts her today.
Ororo managed to escape the rubble of her shattered home with nothing but the tattered clothes on her back and her mother's ancestral ruby. Homeless and orphaned, Ororo was found by a gang of street urchins who took her to their master, Achmed El Gibár. Achmed trained Ororo in the arts of thievery and she soon became his prize pupil, excelling in picking both pockets and locks. When she was thirteen years old, her mutant ability to psionically control the weather emerged when she was forced to rescue a boy named T'Challa, a prince of the African nation of Wakanda. The pair spent much time together, however T'Challa's duties as a prince prevented them from further exploring their burgeoning mutual attraction.
Finally, Ororo reached her ancestors' homeland of the Kilimanjaro Valley on the Serengeti Plain in Kenya. Ororo was taken in by an elderly tribal woman, named Ainet, who taught her to be responsible with her powers. Ororo soon came to be the object of worship of the local tribes, who believed her to be a goddess due to her gift. Eventually though, Ororo decided it best for herself to go back to Cairo.[source?]
Joining The X-Men
About three years later, Ororo returned to the City and attempted to pick the pocket of an American tourist. The man proved no easy mark, however, as he was Charles Xavier, a powerful mutant telepath who was there (along with his X-Men) to recruit the young mutant. Unbelievably happy at the chance to leave the place where her parents died, Ororo graciously accepted and adopted the codename Storm.[source?]
Personality and traits
Ororo Munroe
- "I don't like expectations. I defy them."
- ―Storm
Ororo became claustrophobic due to her traumatic childhood experiences in Cairo.
Relationships
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Atmokinesis: Several times in the past, Storm had been described as a "sculptress". This was (arguably) the best way to describe her mutant mastery over weather, and certain forms of energy. When Storm used her psionic powers, she saw the world as colorful, constantly changing energy patterns, rather than solid matter. These energy patterns could be "molded" to Storm's will to create a vast number of effects which mainly dealt with weather manipulation. Storm was greatly in tune with nature and the elements. She could feel them, and likewise they reacted to her emotional state. She could manipulate weather patterns on a variety of scales, including the ability to summon large and violent thunderstorms and blizzards, as well as sleet and hail. Storm could also use the weather as a weapon. She could summon lightning bolts from the sky that could be used to blind, stun, or severely burn her opponents even to the point of death. She could also use this ability as a concussive force. Even strong enough to affect the Silver Surfer.
- Flight: She had the ability to fly by gliding on wind currents. She could also move objects or other people with the wind or create a dome of air pressure to deflect attacks. Storm's power over air pressure had also been used to crush powerful objects such as warships. She had even created pressure (on earth) higher than that found on Jupiter. Storm's powers granted her the ability to fly as high as the atmosphere could be stretched by using her mastery over wind. She could even carry other people with her.
- Energy Manipulation: When using her powers, Storm became one with the energy patterns she manipulated. This gave her the ability to project weather effects through her body. For instance, she could generate lightning, intense cold, and intense heat, from her hands rather than from her actual atmosphere. Her power over thunder had been used to create deafening sounds for distracting her enemies. She could create powerful tornadoes, hurricanes, and various winds that are capable of moving a vast number of objects/people including levitating an entire building, and sending the Hulk soaring away from her and her teammates. Her ability over water and it's forms had been shown by her creating heavy rainfall, and instant floods that had even "washed" away trees. Control over moisture and temperature allowed Storm to freeze/flash freeze objects and people in the blink of an eye.
In fact, when she once lost control of her powers, Storm was in danger of creating another world-wide ice age. She could also generate heat as strong as the earth allows. Storm could control the weather vocally too. On several occasions she had spoken to the weather like a general to her army and the weather obeys. Storm's ability to adapt to her environment wasn't limited to large bodies of water either, as she had manipulated ocean currents similarly to how she manipulated the wind. She could summon clouds and fog to provide cover and obscure the view of her enemies. Storm had also shown that, when drastically overwhelmed, she could become a being with lightning for hair, and breath of fire and ice.
Due to very good training from an early age, Storm could use her powers to set many weather patterns out of place to perform/create exotic feats/effects, and then set them back from where she got them from, putting weather patterns back to their natural state. Thus, she could disperse any Storm she generated as long as she used her powers wisely, considering the fact that it was easy for her to create weather, but more challenging to disperse it, or, "clear it up". However, Storm may have had more to her power arsenal than she showed, as she not only generated unnatural pressure on earth, but also manipulated (and intensified) plasma while in the earth's atmosphere.
- Weather Resistance: She seemed unaffected by the weather, including lightning and temperature. While in the past, Storm had been attacked with (and harmed) by lightning/electric blasts she hadn't created herself, and almost overheated due to trying to adjust to violent weather, it appeared that the more experienced she got, the less the weather seemed to harm her, both indirectly, and directly. This was further shown by her being able to reverse/counter electrically based attacks.
- Earth-Link: Storm's mutant powers had created a psychic bond between herself and the primal life force of Earth's biosphere. This bond with the Earth and apparently the entire universe, gave Storm spiritual and material sustenance with an almost empathic sense towards living thing.
She could disperse natural storms so as to create clear weather. Storm could cause a beam-like path from her hand or hands. Her control over the atmosphere was such that she could create certain effects over a specific area, while shielding smaller areas within the larger area from them for example she could create a rainstorm around herself but prevent rain water from touching her.
She had diverted jet streams so as to create storms over the entire East Coast of the United States. (AN: It should be noted that Storm has on two occasions tapped into electromagnetic energy to enhance her powers. Once to stop a blizzard over Canada and second to create a cosmic-level turbulence around the Earth to block solar radiation. She can create weather effects within indoor areas or within artificially maintained environments: for example she could create an indoor rainstorm. She can create weather effects over very small areas; as when she water her potted plants. Using her precise control over air she had even been shown to control the very air in a persons lungs.
Abilities
Expert Thief: She possessed the extraordinary ability at picking locks and pockets. Therefore, she was very stealthy and good at sneaking up on people.
Expert Combatant: She was an experienced hand-to-hand combatant, trained by Wolverine. She was also an extraordinary marksman with handguns.
Expert Gardener: Ororo was also an excellent gardener due to her supernatural abilities and maintained her own botanical gardens at the Xavier Mansion.
Weaknesses
Claustrophobia: Having been trapped under rubble for three days while her mother lay dying, Storm's claustrophobia was once so severe, it rendered her completely helpless. However, she more or less conquered her fear, though tight spaces still made her uncomfortable.
Emotional Influence: Storm's ability to manipulate the weather in her immediate vicinity was affected by her emotions. Hence, if she did not maintain control, a fit of rage would induce a destructive storm. As a result, Storm had to keep a tight rein on all extreme emotions.
