The following contains spoilers for Storm #1, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
When it comes to being a leader there is a lot to know and a lot to learn. When it comes to being the leader of the X-Men, there is even more so. So, when Storm found herself elevated to the position, the challenges she faced as a leader highlighted the particular difficulties inherent in balancing leadership, mentorship, friendship, and mutantdom all at once.
After a short confrontation with the Brotherhood of Mutants in Storm #1 (by Ann Nocenti, Sid Kotian, and Andrew Dalhouse), Storm’s leadership skills are thrown into contrast. Her guidance leads the team to victory but in the aftermath divisions become clear. Some of the team resent Storm’s newly acquired outfit, having recently defeated Callisto of the Morlocks and taken her leather jacket as a sign that she would be leading the Morlocks as well. While others are rankled by her inflated sense of self-importance, Kitty Pryde going as far as suggesting she can’t trust a leader fickle enough to have reinvented themselves so many times.
Storm's Leadership Has Caused Clashes in The X-Men
Any good leader requires a delicate balance of skills. But to be a leader is ultimately to be apart from and above those whom one is leading. This goes against the core ethos of the X-Men as one of coexistence and equality between peoples. Therefore, it is only logical that some among them might chafe at the idea of one of their number being raised up above the others. Kitty Pryde’s resistance to Storm’s directions makes sense in this context. After having witnessed Storm’s willingness to follow her own impulses Kitty feels entitled to do the same, earning chastisement from Storm and underscoring the difficulty in maintaining flexibility and discipline at the same time.
Later, after the team hits the beach to blow off some steam, Wolverine suggests that Storm’s recent costume change only exacerbates these difficulties. By rocking the punk look in the form of her leather jacket and stylish mohawk, she is communicating in the visual language of anarchy. This, by extension, presents an air of rebellion that she refuses to tolerate from her team in return. Thus, she undermines her own leadership by subconsciously inviting the very kind of disobedience she is so determined to stamp out.
Storm’s Strengths As A Ruler Affect Her Leadership of the X-Men
Of course, Storm’s role as a leader is an entirely logical one. After having been worshiped once upon a time as a goddess it only makes sense that she would be well-prepared for an elevated position. It just so happens that the elevated position she is most suited for is not leader of the X-Men. Later in her career as a hero, she ascends to the position of Queen of Wakanda and later Regent of Arakko. Though perhaps not born a leader, Storm’s entire life has prepared her for positions such as these, that come with their own royal prerogatives, This distances her from the need to remain down in the trenches with the troops, as is required of the field commander of a team like the X-Men.
In the end, Storm’s role as leader of the X-Men makes the perfect steppingstone for her later status as Queen and Regent. While talented as a leader in general, the experience gained as the leader of the smaller team is what unlocks the necessary understanding she relies on later. It is by learning to understand the concerns of the ruled that she is able to become such a powerful ruler in her later career.