Warning: Spoilers for S.W.O.R.D. #8!
In Marvel Comics, X-Men books often like to alter and transform their mutant heroes in inexplicable ways, and now staple X-member, Storm, has just been given one of her most disgusting transformations yet. If there weren’t already a precedent set for this happening to Storm multiple times in the past, this might be something for fans to worry over.
Transformed during the events of S.W.O.R.D. #8, by Al Ewing and Guiu Vilanova, Storm turning into a writhing, lumpy, humanoid mess comes at a time when her new status as Regent of Arakko (the planet formerly known as Mars) is being challenged by rival and general pain in the ass, Tarn the Uncaring. Wanting to kill Storm simply because she “offends” him, her death is motive enough for Tarn to meet Storm in battle inside “the Circle.”
Arriving in a small amphitheater where a small crowd has gathered, Tarn immediately does something that lives up to his “Uncaring” moniker: he edits Storm’s DNA with his mind to strip her of her weather powers. Following up with another edit to her DNA, Tarn disgustingly outdoes himself by transforming Storm into something that’s far too unnatural for a Goddess of Thunder.
Turning Storm into a half-human, half-Lovecraftian horror thing, Tarn believes Storm to be defeated, but as she’s shown hundreds of times over at this point in her comic career, taking her out is far harder than it might seem. Barely letting these new grotesque physical limitations stop her from fighting, Storm forces Tarn to yield in a way that embarrasses him to no end, bringing to mind a few other gross transformations Storm has overcome from her long and storied past as a member of the X-Men.
Forcibly transformed in X-Men Annual #4, by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr. & Bob McLeod, as well as in X-Treme X-Men #38, also penned by Chris Claremont, Storm isn’t a stranger to a situation such as this. Teaming up with Doctor Strange in X-Men Annual #4, the X-Men are beset by a type of serpent that can “transmute their victims into serpents, and themselves into people,” with one in particular biting Storm, resulting in her transforming into a literal snake demon. Meanwhile, in X-Treme X-Men, Storm is “reshaped” by the villain Masque into a humanoid dragon-like creature, a bat-winged demon dog with ram horns, multiple versions of her past self (like her sweet mohawk-sporting days), and even a cat-like being with silver hair!
So although Storm finds a way on all three occasions to restore her proper form, her latest transformation is one that’s decidedly more disgusting than anything she’s ever experienced before. The X-Men are still figuring out how to make the planet of Arakko work for all mutants, and until they do, Storm will be there to help — hopefully sans terrifying appendages.