Warning: Spoilers for The Avengers #18!Maybe this is a controversial opinion, but I don’t think so Storm Should be a member of the Avengers. Hear me out: Storm should absolutely be on Marvel’s top squad. I’m not saying that one of the company’s most powerful heroes shouldn’t be listed among Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But there is a much better role for her that is perfectly suited to her main position in the Marvel Universe.
What I’m saying instead is that The Avengers #18 by Jed MacKay, Valerio Schiti, Bryan Valenza and Cory Petit makes it painfully clear to me that Storm should be leading the Avengers, not just joining them as a regular member.
Merely being a member of the Avengers would mean that Storm takes orders from Captain Marvel, the team’s current leader. Which, hey, no offense to Carol – I love Cap – but Storm doesn’t have to take orders from anyone At this point in her life. This issue makes it obvious that Storm’s journey in recent years needs to lead to her leading a team. Eventually, the team must be the Avengers.
Storm’s road to joining the Avengers was long
Become a new recruit
It was first announced in May 2024 that Storm would join the Avengers, and in the final issue, The Avengers #17, That promise came true. After a desperate plea for the team to do better after their failure during the “Blood Dog” arc, Captain America took the plea to heart. As a result, he begins to think about what other failures could fall on the Avengers’ shoulders, and he decides that the Avengers should have stopped the mutant hate group Orchis from rising to power as they did.
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The next forced Sam Wilson to venture to Atlanta to visit Storm for an offer: to become the Avengers’ mutant representative. She doesn’t get a chance to answer before Hyperion becomes the Avengers’ biggest threat yet, though The Avengers #18 nevertheless brings Storm into the fold of the team. Storm is adamant that she hasn’t said yes yet, but even the opening creeps out The issue refers to you as “Their newest member.” Storm’s Avengers membership is all but official, and yet, the moment that stood out the most for me was a moment between Storm and her former X-Men teammate, Scott Summers.
Storm’s conversation with Cyclops suggests that Storm should be leading
Why their conversation is a huge contradiction
The Avengers need a psychic to track down Hyperion, so Storm goes to the X-Men’s disturbing new home base to collaborate with Cyclops on the matter. That’s when Cyclops talks to Storm about joining the Avengers, assuring her that she’ll always be welcome to join the X-Men whenever she wants. Her response is killer: she tells her old friends that she can’t see herself in a position to take orders from Cyclops of the X-Men anymore. Shouldn’t the same logic apply to you joining the Avengers?
Looking for more Scott Summers? Cyclops is currently starring in the X-Men Ongoing series by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman, a major title in the larger “From the Ashes” X-Men relaunch.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why Storm’s character would say something like that. She tied up with Xavier and the X-Men long ago. Her stock has risen beyond being an X-Men or even leading the team again. In more recent years, she established herself as a capable solo hero, even becoming the Queen of Mars. You can’t deny that Storm’s character has evolved into something bigger than the X-Men, but the same logic, ideally, should apply to The Avengers. Her successful independence should make it clear She is more than a normal team player for any team in the Marvel Universe.
Storm is the perfect potential Avengers leader
Why it must happen
I won’t lie, the whole interaction with Cyclops did more to keep me from wanting to see Storm in The Avengers than buy me to want to see it come to fruition. There was a time I was excited about the prospect of Ororo joining the Avengers, but the more I read and dissect the scene, the more I think that It doesn’t make sense to see Storm just be another team player again. I think even this scene tries to confirm a concern like this by Storm saying that all Avengers are equal despite Danvers being the chair.
For the sake of truly progressing Storm’s character instead of limiting her, she needs to lead a team if she’s going to join one.
Call me crazy, but this is a contradiction. A chair implies a leadership role, and if it is a leadership role, not everyone is equal. Storm has truly unleashed her full power as a solo hero, and joining any team as another instrument taking orders from someone is like going backwards. in my head The best way to save this would be for the Avengers comics to eventually build in Storm taking Captain Marvel’s chair and becoming the leader – Or at least, Build in Storm is definitely to some co-leader role.
I can’t speak to how Marvel’s storylines would get Storm there, but for the sake of truly progressing her character instead of limiting her, she needs to lead a team if she’s going to join one. Otherwise, this Avengers status is no more than adding a token mutant to a team that wants to compensate for the failure of the mutant child. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but it’s a harsh truth. At this moment in your life, Storm Makes more sense than an Avengers Leader as just another member.
The Avengers #18 is available now from Marvel Comics.