10 Best Storm Costumes of All Time

Storm is one of the most beloved woman not only in X-Men history, but also Marvel history. The House of Ideas has been trying to find a female hero who can match Wonder Woman in prestige and power decades, pushing non-mutant superheroines like Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch (who, lest we forget, committed mutant genocide) but never succeeding. However, Ororo Munroe has always been there, a regal, powerful hero who more than lives up to her “goddess” nickname. She’s even looked the part over the years; there are few superheroes, male or female, that have the amazing costumes that she has. The best artists have worked on the X-Men, and most of them have given her gorgeous threads.

The X-Men have some of the most iconic costumes of them all, and Storm’s are amazing even among that number. She’s been effortlessly sartorially perfect for ages, and her best costumes are out of this world. These ten costumes are Storm’s best of all time, proving the wind rider is also a fashion icon on top of everything else.

10) Early 2010s Costume

Storm married Black Panther in the mid ’00s, joining the Fantastic Four with him. In the early ’10s, she became an X-Man again and even joined the Avengers, wearing this excellent costume. It’s basically a rehash of her original costume, except it shows less skin. However, it’s still just as sexy as the original. The classic headpiece and wristband cape (I don’t know what else to call it) are pretty common parts of her costumes, giving it just the right feel, and the black one piece swimsuit-style costume looks fantastic. It’s a nostalgic outfit, and it hits the sweet spot.

9) Current Costume

Storm is an X-Men icon, and recent years have seen her star in her own solo “ongoing” (Marvel keeps relaunching it, so it’s more like a maxiseries with continuations, which is pretty common for their female fronted books) series. She also got some new threads and her current costume is gorgeous. It has the classic black and gold coloration, bares some midriff, and looks tough. The lightning bolt hairpieces are a modification on the classic headpiece, a nice change to the system that still feels like something she would wear. This is a modern classic, and hopefully it will stay around for while.

8) Extraordinary X-Men Costume

Extraordinary X-Men isn’t fondly remembered. It came out during the Inhumans push, and it honestly felt like Marvel did their best to sabotage the series. However, it had some excellent costumes, and Storm’s is the best of them. Most Storm costumes pay homage to the past, but this one is basically entirely new, except for her mohawk. White looks fantastic on her, it bares the best stomach in comics, and the overlapping belts are just so cool. It’s a shame this book never got off the ground, because this costume was all that and more.

7) X-Men Red (Vol. 2) Costume

X-Men Red (Vol. 2) was one of the best parts of the Krakoa Era, and the end of the first issue gave her an amazing new costume. The last page gave us an awesome full body look at this gorgeous number. It did away with the cape and used elements from many of her other costumes. It looks like a super cool Michael Jackson costume and her hair felt like a massive cloud on her head, setting off the look brilliantly. This costume felt like something a warrior queen would wear and it helped her become one of Krakoa’s best looking characters.

6) The Second Claremont Run Costume

Chris Claremont’s 2000 X-Men return is the opposite of beloved, but it did give most members of the team some excellent new costumes, including Ororo. This costume took some classic design elements and used them in new ways. Purple and black looked great on the mutant, and the costume always looked gorgeous in action, especially when Adam Kubert drew Uncanny X-Men. There’s a double page spread in Uncanny X-Men #384 that shows it in all its glory, one of her best costumes that no one remembers.

5) The Purple ’90s Costume

Storm kicked off the ’90s with an amazing costume and wore it until 1996. 1997 dawned with a new artist on X-Men (Vol. 2), the late great Carlos Pacheco, and a new costume for the wind rider. This costume was quite different from every one that came before and since. It was a simple midriff-bearing top and legging with revealed thigh. She had the wristband cape, but did away with the headpiece. Instead of the big hair she had for years, she instead got a cut with short back and very long bangs. It was the first time she had a purple costume, setting off an underrated look for the wind rider.

4) The Late ’80s Costume

The late ’80s were amazing time to read Uncanny X-Men. The greatest artists in the industry were killing it on the book and the costumes were fantastic. Storm’s costume at the time will look very familiar to fans. It was the prototype for her most popular costume and it looks amazing. The lightning bolt on the front was perfect, giving it yellow highlights that really set off the black costume. This one doesn’t get talked about very much anymore, overshadowed by by what was coming down the pipe.

3) The ’90s Jim Lee Costume

1991 was the end of Chris Claremont’s first 17-year run on the X-Men, and many of the characters got all new costumes designed by Jim Lee in the resulting reboot. Storm got one of her most iconic looks, a costume that most fans recognize because of X-Men: The Animated Series. It was a modification of her late ’80s costume, changing the color to silver and getting rid of the lightning bolt on her chest. The big shoulder pads are dated, but other than that, this costume still looks amazing 35 years after readers first saw it. It’s an iconic look, but not her best one.

2) Original Costume

Storm first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and had an amazing costume right from the start. It was designed by Dave Cockrum, and was originally meant for a new Legion of Superheroes character. However, he got the X-Men job and modified it into this all-time classic. It oozes sex appeal, the black swimsuit-style costume, the gold highlights, the original wristband cape, and headpiece all making this an amazing look. Over the years, numerous artists have went back to this costume for inspiration, proving how timeless it was.

1) Punk Rock Storm

Storm was wearing her original costume when she met Yukio in Uncanny X-Men #172-173. The wild ninja’s punk rock style inspired Storm, and she eventually changed her costume to this awesome look. She got a mohawk, an awesome leather vest, a black tank top, and leather pants, with studded arm bands. It was completely different from what she wore before, and made her look more dangerous than ever. It’s a fan-favorite look, one that has gone down in history as the best costume in Storm’s closet, which is saying something.

What’s your favorite Storm costume? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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