WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for X-Men Gold #35, by Marc Guggenheim, Simone Buonfantino, Giovanni Valeta, Erick Arciniega and Cory Petit, on sale now.
X-Men: Gold #35 ended the "Godwar" arc, in which Storm fought against the demon god Uovu who had possessed the African village in which she was raised. To aid her in this fight, her foster mother Ainet Mwangi summoned the Asgardian hammer Stormcaster to her daughter’s side, transforming Storm into the Goddess of Thunder and giving her the strength to end Uovo and his hold upon her people. It appears, however, that the battle took everything Stormcaster had within it, and when the fight was over, the Asgardian weapon crumbled to dust.
Though it’s not appeared that often, Stormcaster’s history with the X-Men goes all the way back to 1985’s Uncanny X-Men Annual #9. In this story, Loki marveled at Storm’s power and attempted to manipulate her to work with him against her fellow X-Men. Storm had recently lost her powers thanks to being accidentally shot by an energy-draining weapon created by Forge (a mutant who can build, well, anything), so Loki attempted to tempt Storm with the restoration of her powers using an Asgardian hammer crafted by Eitri, the mythical ironsmith.
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Storm, with the help of the New Mutants and fellow X-Men, was eventually able to reject Stormcaster and the role of Goddess of Thunder, knowing full well what the cost would be to have her powers restored, but the hammer's story was far from over. We next saw Stormcaster in 2011’s X:Men: To Serve and Protect #3, in which Thor brings the hammer to Storm in Wakanda (she was married to the Black Panther at the time) after finding it in Asgard. The golden city of the gods had recently been destroyed (again) in the events of Siege, the battle that ended Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign over the Marvel Universe. Loki was killed (temporarily) in that battle, but his machinations continued in the form of Stormcaster.
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While looking through the wreckage of Asgard in an attempt to recover some of its lost relics, Thor stumbled upon Stormcaster in a box with Ororo’s name on it. Claiming not to know what it is, Thor was surprised to learn that it is was used by Loki in an attempt to manipulate the X-Man. When he tried to take it back from her, Storm unwittingly grabbed it and was once again the Goddess of Thunder. It took all of her might to reject its mind-altering powers again, but she was able to use Mjolnir (held by Thor at the time) to destroy Stormcaster for good.
Or so we thought.
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It was a surprise, then, when Stormcaster was reintroduced in X-Men: Gold #25, appearing mysteriously within the ruins of old Asgard. It flew into Storm’s hand at an opportune moment, too, as the X-Men were fighting against the mammoth form of the Dartaxian demon lord Scythian Algurus. At the time, Storm was wearing an inhibitor collar that prevented her from using her powers. Summoning all of her strength and will, however, she was able to call down a lightning bolt that freed her from her restraints. Her cries of pain reached out across the cosmos and were received by Stormcaster, who returned to its former master.
Storm made light work of Scythian with her enhanced Asgardian powers, casting a powerful lightning bolt into his brain, thus weakening him enough for Kitty Pryde to crash into him with the Blackbird jet. Although grateful for the help, Storm commented at the time that she had not seen Stormcaster for a while. So how had the hammer returned to her after being destroyed? It could be a simple continuity error, or it could be that when her foster mother Ainet summoned it to aid her daughter, she was responsible for reforming the Asgardian hammer from nothing.
The real answer, however, may lie in 2015’s Secret Wars event.
After the destruction of the Multiverse, it was revealed that Doctor Doom had manipulated both the Beyonders and the Multiple Man, creating a patchwork Battleworld out of the shattered remains of eternity, and placed himself as the ruler and God Emperor of his new domain. To protect his reign, he employed a security force made up of hundreds of Thors from across the Multiverse, one of which was Ororo: Goddess of Thunder. This version of Storm, complete with Stormcaster, appeared to be from an alternate reality in which she succumbed to the gift from Loki. When the Multiverse was restored, it's possible that fragments of Battleworld may have remained in our reality, this alternate Stormcaster being one of them.
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X-Men: Gold’s ‘Godwar’ arc once again sees Stormcaster destroyed, perhaps this time for good. Storm has always suited the powers of Thor, however, so it may not be too long before the Asgardian powers return to her again. In the meantime, now that she has defeated the god Uovu and saved the African village she once called home, it’s made clear that they will return to once again worshipping her as a Goddess anyway, with or without the powers of Stormcaster.