Super Heroine of the Month: Storm aka Ororo Munroe

X-Men's Storm aka Ororo Munroe is the descendant of an ancient line of African priestesses, all of whom have white hair, blue eyes, and the potential to wield magic. Her mother, N'Dare, was the princess of a tribe in Kenya. She married the American photojournalist David Munroe and moved with him to Manhattan, where Ororo was born.

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-Gibar. Achmed trained Ororo in the arts of thievery and she soon became his prize pupil, excelling in picking both pockets and locks. During her time in Cairo, Ororo picked the pocket of an American tourist. The man proved no easy mark, however, as he was Charles Xavier, a powerful mutant telepath who used his abilities to stop the theft.

Years later, Ororo was forced to battle the threat of a fellow mutant weather manipulator known as Deluge, who sought revenge against humanity. With the help of several members of the team of mutant heroes known as the X-Men, Deluge was seemingly destroyed. Sometime later Xavier explained to Ororo that she was not a "goddess," but a mutant, and as such she had a responsibility to use her abilities to help the world just as she had helped the local tribes. Curious, Ororo accepted Xavier's offer, and was given the codename "Storm." After most of the original team left for a time, Ororo, along with fellow new recruits Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine, and Banshee, stayed as members of the new X-Men. Storm remained with the X-Men for years, and encountered adversaries such as Proteus, Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Juggernaut, demons from the dimension of Limbo, and even Dracula on one occasion.



Storm appears in the movies X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand, portrayed by Halle Berry. Sadly Storm received little screen time in the first film and took a backseat to characters such as Wolverine and Jean Grey - Berry is pretty much wasted as Storm in this one, as the character serves no purpose other than as convenient vehicle for cool lightning effects. In the second film, Storm had more screen time, but no real story. Berry rallied for more character development, and her role was enhanced in the third film, with new director Brett Ratner. One thing that leaves audience wonder about Halle's excellent performance as Storm in all 3 movies, is why she uses accent to play Storm in this first movie but not in the sequels.