When people think of the X-Men‘s best leader, they usually think of Cyclops, and there’s good reason for that. Cyclops led the X-Men through many of their greatest adventures, helping train the team and get them to meld into a formidable unit more powerful than the sum of their parts. Cyclops led the mutant race through its most trying times, and served as the poster child for the perfect X-Man. He’s an amazing strategist and brilliant in combat. An argument can be made that he’s the best team leader in the Marvel Universe, with his grasp of tactics outstripping that of even Captain America’s. However, Cyclops isn’t Marvel’s greatest leader; he isn’t even the X-Men’s greatest leader. That mantle belongs to none other than Storm.
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Storm is one of the most powerful mutants ever, but it’s not her power level that makes her better than Cyclops. Storm is more popular than Cyclops, but that’s not why she’s a better leader. Looking at Storm’s time leading the X-Men reveals a hero that took a great team and brought them to the next level.
Storm’s Time Leading the X-Men Showed That She’s the Perfect Team Leader
Storm took over the leadership of the X-Men during a tough time in her life. Storm’s powers were gone, taken by a weapon designed by the man she loved, Forge. She was deep into her rebellious punk rock phase and was forced to fight Cyclops for who would be leader of the team. Storm without powers against the most skilled X-Man should have been a cakewalk for Cyclops, yet Storm was able to defeat him. This is basically Storm’s first tenure as X-Men in microcosm — triumphing over long odds with less.
Comparing Cyclops and Storm as leader shows two very different leadership styles. Cyclops was the kind of leader that demanded respect, which didn’t always work so well with people like Wolverine. Storm earned the respect of her fellow X-Men in the years she spent on the team. She forged close personal relationship with the other members of the team, something that Cyclops didn’t really do. Storm’s relationship with the team allowed her to hold them together in situations that Cyclops wouldn’t have been able to. She was even able to harness Wolverine in a way that Cyclops never could, making him her deputy leader. She led the team when Xavier was gone with the Shi’Ar, and held them together during the team’s Outback era, when they lost the Mansion and the fortune of Xavier. Storm’s first tenure as leader of the X-Men showed that she could handle anything thrown at her, and was able to do it without all the help that Cyclops had.
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The leader of a team is often the star, and this is another place where Storm has pretty much every other X-Men leader beat. Storm has one of the more interesting pasts among the X-Men. She lost her parents at an early age, becoming a thief on the streets of Cairo under the aegis of the Shadow King, was worshiped as a goddess by African tribes, and met and fell in love with Black Panther before being found by Charles Xavier. Building stories around Storm is very easy; there’s a lot of elements to work with. Her regal bearing means she feels like a leader where ever she is, yet she’s also friendly and personable. Storm is able to be everyone’s best friend and their drill instructor. She’s an expert with her powers and teaching others how to use theirs, all of which are key elements of leading the X-Men.
Storm’s relationships with characters outside of the X-Men is another feather in her cap. Storm is worthy of Mjolnir and is friends with Thor. There’s her long history with Black Panther and his family. Doctor Doom is obsessed with Storm, and she’s not only been a member of the Avengers twice, but also is a former member of the Fantastic Four. She’s one of only three heroes to hold the honor of being on all three major Marvel teams, along with Spider-Man and Wolverine. Loki and Storm have their own rivalry. Putting Storm at the head of the X-Men gives the team way more story options than they could have with any other leader, other than Wolverine, and that’s a very important part of being a team leader.
Storm’s the Top of the Heap
Storm can’t be beat when it comes to X-Men leadership. She may not have Cyclops’s tactical acumen, but she makes up for it with her own powers. She doesn’t have Wolverine’s history outside the X-Men, but she has strands that lead to some very interesting places in the Marvel Universe. She isn’t the patron saint of the X-Men like Jean Grey, yet she’s been able to control great power without ever losing her soul. Every other X-Men leader has some kind of detriment that works against them as leader; Storm doesn’t have anything like that.
Storm is the perfect leader. She’s a rich enough character that she can take a starring role, but works in a secondary position as well. She has incredible costumes, often being the best looking person on the X-Men. She’s a very likable character in a way that Cyclops, the person who most give credit as the X-Men’s best leader, just isn’t. Storm’s stories can go in any direction, and this has allowed her to become one of the most popular X-Men ever. Maybe one day, she’ll finally get the credit she deserves as the X-Men’s greatest leader.
