Thread by @ClaremontRun

An important aspect of Storm’s duality, and one that contrasts her passion and will quite starkly, is her sense of interiority and self-isolation. Perhaps even moreso than iconic loner, Wolverine, Ororo often needs to withdraw and be alone. #xmen 1/11

While her self-isolation can be read as part of her burden-of-leadership arc, we actually see it manifest quite clearly when Cyclops is still leading the X-Men. 2/11

We first see it in the aftermath of the team’s battle with Garokk, which saw Storm desperately try to save the villain from death, but overcome by her own claustrophobia, she failed. She grieves alone, and Wolverine can see clearly that she needs her space to do so. 3/11

We also see it when she revisits her childhood home in Harlem. Wolverine demands to chaperone her, but she simply informs him: “What I do to today, I must do alone.” 4/11

Her famous connection to nature is important here as well. Storm likes to be alone, to fly high above the maddening crowd with just nature surrounding her. It’s how she decompresses and is clearly a solitary ritual. 5/11

We see her isolationism again in the aftermath of her relationship with Forge with the loss of her powers and her subsequent pilgrimage (leading up to Lifedeath II), which, of course, also has to be undertaken alone. 6/11

This recurs in the pocket dimension she shares with Forge during the Fall of the Mutants crossover. She helps Forge recover from his injuries and then she leaves – alone – to (re)discover who and what she is within the context of a new world. 7/11

Importantly, Storm’s isolation isn’t born of necessity – she is surrounded by people who love her but she still requires space. The isolationism isn’t presented as a character flaw, either. It’s simply her process, in sharp contrast to the processes of other X-Men. 8/11

This interiority is reflected in our data-set which reveals that Storm has, by far, the most thought bubbles of any character, and a significantly higher ratio of thought:speech bubbles than any character (double that of Wolverine). 9/11

Her isolation also adds heft to key character choices: giving herself to Jean in the M’Kraan crystal; sacrificing her sense of values to defeat Callisto; returning to the X-Men after Gambit offers her a way out; and on and on. 10/11

Though Storm would later be represented as an impulsive emotional being, Claremont’s characterization grounded her through this interiority, giving her a reluctance to open up to people and connect, a nice balance to her primal passion. 11/11