X-Men '97 Season 2 Gives Storm A Massive Power Upgrade - But Is It Accurate?
Contains spoilers for "X-Men '97" Season 2, Episode 1 — "Days of Past Future"
The Season 2 premiere of "X-Men '97" picks up from the Season 1 post-credits tease that had Marvel fans freaking out. In the far future, Cyclops (Ray Chase), Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), and the largely sidelined Wolverine (Cal Dodd) and Morph (J.P. Karliak) are tasked with not just defeating Apocalypse (Ross Marquand), but convincing Cyclops and Jean's son Nate (Michael Johnston) to become Cable (Chris Potter), the man destined for that purpose. Along the way, Nate and his parents are kidnapped, while Storm gets a wild, fully comics-accurate power upgrade.
When Storm confronts Mother Askani (Gates McFadden) about the mysterious woman's plan to get more power for the gadget required to rescue the Summers-Grey family, Askani reveals that said plan is Storm herself. As she explains, Storm's powers can be used to manipulate the sun's energies. Sure enough, Storm does just this, saving the day in what just might be the most hardcore moment of the episode. What's more, Storm controlling a mere star's power is actually downplaying what the character has been able to do in the comics. Let's take a closer look at the full power potential of this Omega Level mutant, who might just rank among the strongest of them all.
Storm is a mix of powerful mutant abilities and magical heritage
Storm's entire backstory is the ultimate rags-to-riches situation, in terms of sheer power. Though originally presented as a poor orphan who eventually developed mutant powers that could control the weather, Ororo Munroe comes from a long line of powerful magical priestesses. While she's not a practicing magician herself, this gives her a natural, inherent sensitivity to otherworldly matters.
Power-wise, weather control is just one aspect of Storm's abilities. She's ultimately an energy manipulator, and can apply her powers to any celestial object's electromagnetic field, atmosphere, or weather systems — as well as various cosmic forces. To put things in context: If you thought Magneto (Matthew Waterson) is powerful, Storm can also deal with the magnetosphere, which technically makes his powers just a small aspect of her full potential. The only real limitations of Storm's abilities come from her willpower, physical and emotional exhaustion, and an inherent tendency to avoid messing with the weather patterns too much.
Apart from all this, Storm has a series of supplementary abilities that support and enhance the mighty forces at her disposal. Her body is able to increase or lower its temperature to better survive the enviroment. She's developed an extremely resilient will that can even shield her against mind-controlling abilities like hypnotism and telepathy. What's more, she can visually perceive the world's various energies, and has a psychic connection to the life forces of Earth and possibly the entire universe.
In the comics, Storm is so powerful that she can double as a deity
Combined with her powers, the fact that Storm is attuned to the magical and spiritual world in a far deeper way than your average person puts her in the unique sweet spot of being powerful enough to be a Marvel Comics god without actually being a part of any pantheon. In the comics, she has actually served as a deity of sorts at least four times. In her youth, she was worshipped as a weather goddess, and she's spent some time as a primordial storm god. She's been a replacement thunder goddess to Thor, and wielded Mjolnir as part of the makeshift Thor Corps in the 2023 "Immortal Thor" comic. Wakandans know her as Hadari Yao, the goddess who preserves the balance.
If all of this large-scale power and influence wasn't enough, Storm also has an exceptionally fine small-scale control of her abilities. This enables her to do things like controlling the air pressure inside an exceedingly localized space, or using her energy sight to take a closer look at an opponent's nervous system. In other words, Storm's ability to generate lightning and wind might be impressive, but these feats actually rank among the simplest in her vast power spectrum. Now that "X-Men '97" Season 2 has opened the cork of this particular bottle, time will tell how much it intends to explore the upper limits of the character's powers.
For more "X-Men '97" lore, be sure to check out the only recap you need before watching "X-Men '97" Season 2.