How Did Storm Get Her Powers Back in the Comics?

“Never Gonna Be the Same Again” is a feature where I look at how bold, seemingly “permanent” changes were ultimately reversed. This is not a criticism, mind you, as obviously things are always going to eventually return to “normal.” That’s just how superhero comic books work. It’s just fun to see how some of these rather major changes are reversed. This is differentiated from “Abandoned Love,” which is when a new writer comes in and drops the plot of the previous writer. Here, we’re talking about the writer who came up with the idea being the same one who resolved the change. This is also differentiated from “Death is Not the End,” which is about how “dead” characters came back to life, since this is about stuff other than death. Today, we look at how Storm got her powers back in the X-Men comics.

As you likely know, in the red-hot X-Men ’97 animated series, Storm recently went through an adaptation of her storyline in the comic books where she lost her mutant power to control the weather, and regained it again. In the TV show, the whole thing took place over the course of basically four episodes (Storm lost her powers in the second episode of the series, and they began the adaptation of “LifeDeath” in Episode 4, before concluding the story in the latest episode, which is Episode 6).

X-Men ’97 has really impressed comic book fans with how well the series is adapting notable comic book storylines, especially when a number of these stories are now well over 30 years old, so their being adapted in an animated series in 2024 is definitely a bit of a surprise. The Storm storyline was mostly faithful, but there were obviously some notable changes. So here, then, is how Storm got her powers back in the comic books.

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How did Storm lose her mutant powers?

It all started in Uncanny X-Men #185 (by Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Dan Green), when the mutant known as Forge discovers that the government had taken one of his inventions and made it into a weapon that could possibly remove a mutant’s powers at least temporarily. This was NOT what Forge agreed to, and he quickly headed out to see if he could stop it…

Forge is angry about how his weapon is being used

The mutant that the government was targeting was Rogue who, to be fair, WAS a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants until very recently, but had turned to the X-Men to help with her powers (she absorbs people’s powers and their minds when she touches them). She had gone off on her own for a bit, and Storm tracked her down. The two X-Men bonded, and then helped some people in trouble. However, the government arrived, and Agent Henry Peter Gyrich attempted to blast Rogue with the power neutralizer, on its HIGHEST LEVEL! Forge was shocked, as he didn’t know if that would only remove powers, or if it would KILL Rogue. He tackled Gyrich, but the blast hit Storm, who had flown in to take the blast for her teammate (heroically not even wondering what blast she was taking)…

Forge rescued the now powerless Storm, and berated Gyrich…

In the next issue, with art by Barry Windsor-Smith and Terry Austin, we see the first “LifeDeath” story, as Storm recuperates in Forge’s futuristic apartment….

The two grow close, but Forge is keeping a secret from her. The whole “I build the weapon that took your powers from you” deal…

Storm overhears a conversation about it, and she naturally freaks the heck out on Forge…

She punches him, and leaves him, irate over what he did (while Forge explains how his power sort of FORCES him to invent stuff all the time)…

Storm actually returned that night to protect Forge from an attack by the alien shapeshifters known as the Dire Wraiths.

Twelve issues later, in Uncanny X-Men #198 (by Claremont and Windsor-Smith), Storm visited Africa, and after helping to safely deliver a child, she decided that she still had a place on the X-Men with or without her powers…

She then returned to the X-Men, and challenged Cyclops for leadership of the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #201 (by Claremont, Rick Leonardi and Whilce Portacio), and Storm improbably won the fight…

Storm becomes the new leader of the X-Men

Claremont later actually retconned the fight hilariously.

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How did Storm get her mutant abilities back?

Okay, so Storm leads the X-Men without her powers, and she leads them through the difficult days of the Mutant Massacre, but Storm decides that she needs to get her powers back. She goes on a bit of a walkabout, and encounters Forge’s friend, Naze, who tells Storm that Forge has been taken over by the Adversary (an evil magical being that had tussled with Storm and Forge before), and plans to open a door to another dimension. In Uncanny X-Men #222 (by Claremont, Marc Silvestri, and Green), Storm vows to kill Forge if she needs to…

She gets her chance three issues later, as she comes across Forge at the dimensional doorway, and, true to her word, she stabs him, but is then shocked to learn that he was there trying to CLOSE the doorway…

Naze, of course, is then revealed as the ACTUAL Adversary, and he traps Storm and Forge in the other dimension…

Storm and Forge are banned to another dimension

Storm and Forge reconcile in this new dimension…

However, they then split up, with Storm exploring this new world. TIme moves differently in this dimeension, so Storm is gone for a YEAR exploring, and so when she returns, Forge has done some high tech stuff in her absence…