Originally Posted by
terrancejameson
Honey Baby, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed reading the last few posts. I just love the way the conversation is going. Ororo is deserving of the recognition she's gotten her entire career without a man vouching for her. That has never been my point of contention. It's easy to reduce the argument to that level tho.
I will reiterate that Ororo should be more than capable of maintaining a steady narrative that highlights the attributes that make HER a hero while placing less emphasis on who she chooses as a mate. She doesn't need any man or woman to boost her. That doesn't change the fact that Storm is with T'Challa currently and she has received a boost by being in his book. Coates was not the first BP writer to give her a boost in power. The previous BP writers that gave her power over earthquakes and gave us the first hint that she was a potential omega level mutant (Priest & Hudlin respectively) both wrote her from the vantage point as a love interest for T'Challa. Even knowing that HER voice and HER character weren't always treated with the proper love and care that I would have liked, there's no denying that in the power department she received additions to her power that were not there previously. That's a fact. In that context she has been given a boost based solely off of the man she's dealing with. She does not have her own solo and she isn't given the Carol Danvers treatment.
Next I'd like to touch on a point that's rarely illuminated. I could be wrong, but to my knowledge Storm has recieved most of her defining storylines while she was in a leadership position over the team. It's an assumption, but I'm fairly certain that it's a safe bet to make. I'm not saying that it's of the upmost importance that she leads a team. I'm just noting that most of her significant and defining storylines come from a point in time where she was leading and imposing her views on the outside world. Again, I could be wrong and someone will undoubtedly correct me. She could and should have an interesting perspective whether or not she's leading a team, but has she? When was the last time has had a voice or the impact that was unique to her in the X-books? And I mean one that couldn't be given to another mutant and the story wouldn't change a bit? I'd be greatly appreciative to anyone that could enlighten me.
This leads into my next point and it bears repeating because it goes to illustrate outback era Storm sleeping with Wolverine sends a different message than the post AvX relationship. Both scenes can be played as a comrades who confide in one another and bang occasionally. When Storm woke up in Wolvie's bomber jacket that was as his superior. She was giving orders. She was writing the checks and she was cashing them. Figuratively speaking, that is. The later instance where she joins Wolverine after ditching Cyclops is one where she leaves as a second in command to join Wolverine as his second in command. From there is where she starts to climb the ranks again and impose her will on the mutant world at large. Her jump from second in command to leader of her own faction once more is preceded by a scene of great significance. Everyone is quick to mention how ridiculously demeaning it is for T'Challa to even suggest that he has a say in who Ororo decides to share HER body with. I absolutely agree. How dare any man! BUT, on the same token, can anyone provide for another instance where T'Challa reduces their relationship down to their sexual connections? Anyone? To my knowledge there isnt another instance like that one. He's much smarter, much more calculating and much more emotionally mature than the man that showed up in the X-books that day. In a place where black men aren't written often, we get an instance of one of the 7 smartest men in the MU reduces he and his ex wife their sexual appetites. A few post above it's even mentioned how many young black girls are almost shamed into loving the young black men that do everything under the sun to prove their sexual prowess by slinging dick to every young hot piece then expecting those same young black women to wait around because "she should be with a black man". Black males today have been taught to believe that their penis is their ultimate power and their main goal is to spread dick to as many women as possible. That's the psychology of the world we live in and its messages the media bombards us with. *s/o to Paleo_Rage*
I am forced to ask myself why was this scene allowed to fly? First, T'Challa was used in a way that he was never used during their marriage to pressure Storm into a position that he would never place her in. Only to bring about the justification or induce the need for Ororo to reclaim her sexuality. What does that really mean though? How was her sexuality stifled to begin with? Then ask yourself, given all the power at Storm's disposal, if all that's there for her to reclaim is her sexuality, then what exactly did she gain? What was there for her in the X-books before she saw fit to reclaim her sexuality and what's been left for her after she accomplished that goal? With all the decisions she's made to get back to herself in the X-books, where has that left her now? What has she gained? These are all serious questions.