Ororo can command a page simply by standing still. The cape, white hair and calm way of speaking give her an authority the team recognizes before anyone formally asks her to lea…

Ororo can command a page simply by standing still. The cape, white hair and calm way of speaking give her an authority the team recognizes before anyone formally asks her to lead it. The Phoenix years keep opening that composed surface. At Cassidy Keep, confinement brings back the childhood terror of being buried beneath the ruins of her home. Her claustrophobia is frightening precisely because the power is still there. Being able to call down lightning doesn't mean she can talk her body out of panic. Claremont and Cockrum's account of her childhood in #102 gives that fear a history. The woman who was worshipped as a goddess has also been a frightened child and a survivor on the streets. Those experiences coexist. The comic doesn't have to choose one and erase the others to make her understandable. Her friendship with Jean supplies a different kind of intimacy. During the M'Kraan Crystal crisis, Ororo offers her own life force to help anchor Phoenix. The scale of the danger is enormous, but the gesture is direct: her friend needs help, and she is willing to give something of herself that cannot be measured like a lightning bolt. There is also a sharpness to her compassion. She can challenge Scott when she thinks he is holding himself apart from grief. She cares enough to expect an honest response, even when she hasn't understood all of what he is feeling. By the end of this period, Storm feels deeply rooted in the group without having surrendered her independence. The authority she brings comes from judgment, generosity and an unmistakable sense of self. Those qualities are already visible well before the next era puts the team's decisions in her hands.