Earth’s Mightiest Costumes: Storm

Earth's Mightiest Costumes: Storm

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand!”

Each Friday Marvel.com will present a different column focusing on the one and only Avengers. From line-ups to costumes to villains to classic stories and beyond, we’ve got you covered on the history of Marvel’s most prolific team of heroes!

So let the call go out: Avengers Assemble!

By TJ Dietsch

Few female super heroes have rocked as many looks on as many teams as the Marvel Universe's number one weather manipulator Storm, also known as Ororo Munroe. Since her first appearance in 1975, Storm has not only showed an intense depth of character, but also one heck of a fashion sense. She's gone from baring a lot to very little, from a swinging style costume to a completely punk rock look and just about everything in between.

As a member of the X-Men in its various incarnations, Storm has had a good few team-ups with the Avengers, but only recently joined the team to battle a Norman Osborn-led coalition of AIM, HYDRA, The Hand and HAMMER.

With her first appearance as an Avenger on the books and Avengers Vs. X-Men underway, it seemed the perfect time to look at Ororo's 37-year history and shine the spotlight on her most iconic costumes!

First Appearance

Introduced in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1 as one of the many new X-Men sent out to retrieve the original team members, Storm burst onto the scene with a pretty fierce costume. She wore thigh-high black boots, a tiara and a cape with a bikini-like body suit that left her midriff exposed. Yellow linings added some color and also reminded friends and foes alike that Ororo had the lightening on her side. Eventually she added a red and black "X" symbol to keep the cape in place; Storm wore this outfit throughout all of her early adventures with the team.

Punk Rock

In 1983's UNCANNY X-MEN #173, Storm made her first costume change and opted for a pretty drastic one. She ditched the cape, tiara and most of her long, flowing white hair in favor of tight black leather and a mohawk. She wore this look for her fight with Callisto over leadership of the Morlocks and later when she faced the Brood, lost her powers thanks to Henry Peter Gyrich's bad aim and won the right to lead the X-Men from Cyclops in UNCANNY X-MEN #201.

Blue and Gold

For a brief time around UNCANNY X-MEN #275, the entire team all wore blue and gold uniforms. Storm took part in this along with the others. This might be the most drastic costume change because it got rid of all her trademarks except the white hair. These costumes soon got completely discarded in favor of more unique ones.

White Suit

For the majority of the 90’s, Ororo settled on what many consider her most iconic costume: a full body white suit with a cape and yellow embellishments as well as a pair of X-Men symbols on her shoulders keeping her cape in place. When the team split into Blue and Gold squads around the launch of X-MEN #1 in 1991 and in the early 90’s cartoon which introduced her to the masses, she sported this look.

Two Piece

The late 90’s found Storm mixing things up again. This time she got rid of the white costume in favor of a two piece consisting of a half shirt and long pants leaving her stomach and arms uncovered. The dark colors harkened back to her original costume as did the revealed skin. She altered this a few times before moving on to her next big costume change.

X-Treme X-Men

In 2001, Chris Claremont returned to the X-Men with a new book called X-TREME X-MEN that found a team looking for Destiny's dairies. Along with Bishop, Psylocke, Beast, Rogue and others, Storm got a brand new outfit that looked a little more military-based with strong blue and red colors running throughout. Hers also had a lightning bolt shape zig-zagging across her chest.

Back In Black

For much of the past decade, Ororo has sported a look that combines many of the details of her previous ones. Like the original it's black and has almost the exact same cape. She also kept the tiara, but changed up the chest area, leaving that more open than in previous incarnations. She wore this costume when she met back up with the man who would become her husband, The Black Panther, when the two of them filled in for Reed and Sue Richards in the Fantastic Four, and just recently in AVENGERS when she joined the team!

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