How Storm Became the Goddess of Thunder

Before Storm joined the X-Men, she was a goddess. With her Omega-level weather-controlling mutant powers, Ororo Munroe was revered for her ability to bring much-needed rain to barren lands. Although she stepped away from that role to become an uncanny mutant hero, she never truly lost the divine spark that set her apart from the rest of Marvel’s mere mortal mutants. 

As part of one of his endless schemes against Thor, Loki made Storm the Goddess of Thunder to embarrass his brother. Even though her Asgardian title came from a villain, Storm was a perfect fit for the role, and she has returned to it on numerous occasions—oftentimes with Thor’s blessing.

Let’s look back at every time Storm picked up her enchanted hammer, Stormcaster, to become an Asgardian goddess. We’ll also break down some of the most prominent alternate realities where Storm wielded Thor’s mighty power.

HOW STORM BECAME THE GODDESS OF THUNDER

Storm’s path to Asgardian godhood started at one of her lowest moments. After she was accidentally struck by a blast from one of Forge’s inventions, she lost her mutant powers. However, she still worked with the X-Men and occasionally helped mentor the New Mutants, a team of teenage heroes in training. 

While taking some time off with the kids after a trying battle against the Shadow King, Ororo and her young companions were taken to Asgard in NEW MUTANTS SPECIAL EDITION (1985) #1 by Chris Claremont and Arthur Adams. While the New Mutants landed in different parts of Asgard, Storm arrived directly in Loki’s lair, where the God of Mischief transformed her into an eagle and gave her the intoxicating ability to fly again.   

By drawing on Storm’s feelings of powerlessness, Loki used Asgardian magic to enchant her and put her under his spell. The X-Men confronted Loki at a grand banquet, where Loki presented Ororo with Stormcaster, a hammer much like Mjolnir, in X-MEN ANNUAL (1970) #9 by Claremont and Adams. With her hammer, Ororo could control lightning and thunder once more, and she used those powers against her old teammates. 

After blasting Wolverine with the full extent of her powers, Storm came to her senses and helped the X-Men stop Hela, who tried to drag Logan’s soul into her realm. Like the other X-Men, Storm turned down Loki’s offer of Asgardian godhood and gave up her new powers to return home with her mutant family.

WHAT IF STORM STAYED IN ASGARD?

Although Storm regained her powers and resumed her role as one of the X-Men’s most important leaders in the Marvel Universe, her life would have gone in a dramatically different direction if she had stayed in Asgard, as revealed in WHAT IF? (1989) #12 by Jim Valentino. On Earth-904, Storm and roughly half of the X-Men accepted Loki’s offer to stay in Asgard. Since Odin was dead and Thor had been transformed into a frog on Earth, Loki put Ororo up to be the new leader of Asgard, as he planned to rule through her. 

Still trapped in the form of a giant frog, Thor returned to Asgard and faced off against Storm, who did not recognize the silent creature before her as the God of Thunder. As the forces of Hela and Karnilla, the Norn Queen, also descended on Asgard to defeat Storm, Volstagg destroyed Surtur’s Twilight Sword, the source of Loki’s recent power, which returned Thor to his true form. 

When Hela tried to claim Ororo’s soul as revenge for saving Wolverine’s life in their last battle, Thor, Storm, and the Valkyries teamed up to kill the Goddess of Death. Following this battle, Thor renounced his claim to the Asgardian throne, and he named Storm as his immediate heir, making her the reigning Sovereign of Asgard. 

HOW STORM’S HAMMER WAS DESTROYED

After Storm’s mutant powers returned, her time as the Goddess of Thunder became a footnote in her heroic history. But during her marriage to Black Panther and her reign as the Queen of Wakanda, Stormcaster resurfaced in X-MEN: TO SERVE AND PROTECT (2010) #3 by Marc Guggenheim and Eric Koda. While Thor dug through the wreckage of the just-destroyed Asgard, he found Stormcaster in a box with Ororo’s name on it. Without fully realizing what the hammer was, the God of Thunder traveled to Wakanda and gave it to Storm.

As soon as she touched Stormcaster, Storm transformed into the Goddess of Thunder and fell under Loki’s spell once again. She reflexively attacked Thor, and the two heroes took to the skies as they hurled bolts of lightning at each other. As she tried to free herself from the Asgardian curse, Storm took Thor’s hand, and the heroes used Mjolnir to smash Stormcaster into pieces. As the last effects of Loki’s curse trailed off, Storm returned to her senses and told Thor how tempted she was by his offer of power.

STORM, GODDESS OF THUNDER AND SECRET WARS

After the end of the Multiverse, Storm got another chance to be the Goddess of Thunder on Battleworld during SECRET WARS (2015). As parallel realities crashed into each other and obliterated most of the Multiverse, Doctor Doom forged the remains of these broken worlds into a realm called Battleworld. To keep order over his creation, God Emperor Doom brought the Multiverse’s surviving Gods and Goddesses of Thunder together to serve as his Thor Corps. 

Now called Stormborn, Ororo served as one of Doom’s faithful lieutenants throughout Battleworld. With her fellow Thors, Stormborn defended a realm ruled by Magneto called the Monarchy of M and confronted the heroes of two universes that had crashed into each other. Stormborn was also one of several Thors featured in THORS (2015) #1 by Jason Aaron and Chris Sprouse, where she joined a team that investigated a serial killer who made the forbidden jump between the different realms of Battleworld. Alongside the rest of the Thor Corps, Stormborn ultimately rebelled against Doom.

STORMCASTER’S RETURN

When the many worlds of the Multiverse were rebuilt, Stormcaster was apparently reconstructed, too. In the village where Ororo was once venerated, a dark god called Uovu took power and executed Ainet Mwangi, Storm’s adoptive mother, for refusing to renounce Ororo. With her final breaths, Ainet said a prayer that summoned Stormcaster to Storm. 

The Asgardian hammer found Storm while she and the X-Men were in the middle of a battle with Scythian Algurus, a rampaging giant from the Negative Zone, in X-MEN: GOLD (2017) #25 by Marc Guggenheim, Paulo Siqueira, and Jose Luis. When Stomrcaster found her, Ororo welcomed her restored Asgardian powers, which she used to strike the final blow against the Negative Zone’s Fallen God. 

Although Storm tried to send the hammer back to Asgard, Stormcaster kept returning to her, which gave her a considerable power boost. When she finally learned about her adoptive mother’s death, Storm traveled to her old home in X-MEN: GOLD (2017) #33 by Guggenheim and Michele Bandini. When Storm found an underground mass grave, Stormcaster summoned the X-Men as Ororo confronted Uovu. With the last of Stormcaster’s energy, Storm killed the dark god with a massive lightning strike that also shattered her hammer and used up the last of her Asgardian power.

STORM AND THE THOR CORPS

Although Storm’s Asgardian abilities originally came from Loki, Thor was responsible for Storm’s most recent transformation into the Goddess of Thunder. While Storm served as the leader of a war-loving mutant civilization called Arakko on Mars, Thor called on Storm to help him fight Toranos, a vengeful, weather-controlling Elder God, in IMMORTAL THOR (2023) #4 by Al Ewing and Martin Coccolo. 

Storm was upset to be taken away from her duties to Arakko, but she understood why Thor called when she saw Toranos. She briefly held Mjolnir, which restored her Asgardian powers for one minute. Together with Valkyrie (Jane Foster), a more heroic version of Loki, and Beta Ray Bill, Storm joined the reformed Thor Corps. The Thunder Gods all shared Mjolnir and their power in order to fight the Elder God. Once they defeated Toranos, Storm returned to Arakko with Thor’s thanks and apologies. 

After the fall of Krakoa, Thor and the Avengers invited Storm to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes so she could represent the interests of mutantkind in AVENGERS (2023) #17 by Jed MacKay and Valerio Schiti. As Thor stepped away to focus on his own challenges, he successfully encouraged Storm to accept the Avengers’ offer and fill his role as the group’s resident God of Thunder.

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