50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

23. Storm

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out who is the closest thing Marvel has to Wonder Woman. Maybe it’s Captain Marvel because of her powers, or Black Widow due to her Scarlett Johansson-enhanced high profile. Here’s a thought: maybe it’s Storm.

Hear me out on this one. Diana Prince is a product of the gods, while Ororo Munroe was once worshipped as a god. Both heroes have tons of raw power, albeit channeled in very different ways, yet they’ve both gone through spells where they’ve had to fight the good fight without their superhuman gifts. They’ve even both been portrayed by famous actresses in other forms of media, with Storm actually one-upping Wonder Woman’s Lynda Carter TV stint with multiple movies featuring Halle Berry.

That’s probably as far as I can take the analogy, but it’s time for anyone who doesn’t already think of Storm as one of Marvel’s premier female heroes to think of her in that vein. She’s served as leader of the X-Men on numerous occasions, earned leadership of the Morlocks on another, and even served as an Avenger for a brief period of time. When Steve Rogers went looking for Black Panther to rejoin the fold, he took a look at the team’s roster at the time and suggested his then-wife because the group needed more power, which speaks for itself in terms of her ability to control the weather.

She’s had more than her fair share of ups and downs, but that’s not atypical for any of Marvel’s most famous mutants. Except for Professor X, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Wolverine, it’s hard to say there’s a more quintessential X-Man than Storm, and if Marvel ever finds the right way to have her catch on as a solo act, one gets the feeling that the sky is the limit.

Next: No. 22: Comics' most powerful cousin