Sep 25
Storm #12 annotations
Posted on Thursday, September 25, 2025 by Paul in Annotations
STORM vol 5 #12
“Thunder War Ends”
Writer: Murewa Ayodele
Artist: Mario Santoro
Colour artist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER. Storm confronts Hadad, who is perches on a dead Galactus.
This is the final issue of the current run of Storm, but the book continues into “Age of Revelation” as Rogue Storm and seems to be getting a fresh issue #1 in January for its next season.
PAGES 1-2. Doctor Voodoo and…
Actually, hold on. The cosmic plotlines in this series are so incredibly convoluted that we’re best off just trying to draw them all together. So, rather than attempting to annotate this conventionally, I’m just going to attempt to draw together all the threads from the cosmic plotline in this series and see if we can make it make sense.
Spoilers: it does more or less hold together if you read it all in one sitting and put it in order, even though the plot hinges on a murderous rivalry between Eternity and Oblivion that seems out of character for both of them.
- Flashback in issue #5. The universe (Eternity) comes into existence within a pre-existing void (Oblivion). Oblivion is already the host to his twin Death, and Eternity is the host to his twin Infinity. All of this, of course, is ultimately the creation of the One Above All – Marvel’s stand-in for God or, on occasion, Marvel itself (or Marvel’s creators as a collective). This issue goes for the meta interpretation of the One Above All.
- Flashback in issue #5. “Three billion years ago.” Oblivion petitions the Living Tribunal, arguing that Eternity’s continued growth within him means that he no longer has space for Death in the residual void outside the universe, and that she should be hosted within Eternity instead. The Living Tribunal orders a trial by combat. Eternity sends a champion, Eternal Madniss, to fight in his stead; Oblivion fights himself, and summarily kills Madniss. Eternity becomes the host of Death, which thereby becomes a feature of the universe. The narrator claims that this is the twelfth such trial, all of which Oblivion has won – presumably something else was at stake in the earlier trials. For some reason, issue #12 claims that Madniss is the thirteenth host of Eternity.
- According to issue #12, Eternity responds to Madniss’ defeat by creating the Elder Gods. Subsequently, he creates Hadad, the first storm god.
- Flashback in issue #8. “One billion years ago.” Hadad becomes powerful enough to dominate Eternity, Death, the Phoenix Force and Infinity. In issue #12, he calls himself “Eternal Hadad”, directly comparing himself to Eternal Madniss and Eternal Storm. The implication is that he managed to seize control of Eternity’s powers when he was in Storm’s position, and went on a rampage with them. Hadad implies in issue #12 that he has learned that he lives in a fictional universe and gone mad at the thought of being under the control of writers. He says that he used his cosmic powers to “wage a war against the One Above All” (the writers). The flashback in issue #8 has the One Above All making a rare personal intervention to deal with Hadad once the cosmic entities have fallen. According to issue #12, Hadad is defeated and imprisoned within Oblivion’s void, outside the universe.
- Other storm gods arise. According to Beta Ray Bill in issue #11, the storm gods believe their purpose to be saving the universe from Oblivion. According to the narrator in issue #12, however, “storm gods were birthed from Eternity’s rage, anger and twisted desire to be indomitable” – in other words, they embody the universe having a tantrum. All storm gods have been descendents of the Elder God Gaea, except for Storm, who is a descendent of the Elder God Oshtur.
- Flashback in issue #5. “Recently.” Oblivion petitions the Living Tribunal to destroy Eternity, so that he will have room to accommodate Death again, and can be reunited with his beloved sister. At first the Living Tribunal refuses, accusing Oblivion of defying the will of the One Above All (God/Marvel). But the One Above All is moved, so the Tribunal allows another trial by combat between Oblivion and Eternity, with the loser to be destroyed. Eternity is called upon to nominate a champion.
- Issue #1. Eternity watches Storm from afar and declares her a worthy host.
- Issue #4-5. Storm dies and is immediately resurrected as “Eternal Storm”, i.e. Storm possessed by Eternity. Eternity tries to kill Dr Doom, but cannot overcome Storm’s will, and leaves.
- According to issue #9, somewhere between issues #5 and #7, Storm starts having lengthy blackouts where Eternity takes complete control of her body. During these blackouts, Eternity imprisons Abraxas within the Storm Sanctuary.
- Flashback in issue #12. Eternity sends Abraxas to assassinate Oblivion and thereby avoid the trial by combat. The plan fails. Oblivion retaliates by releasing Hadad from his imprisonment. Hadad kills Oblivion and then sets out to kill Eternity.
- Hadad’s plan is to attack the universe with a horde of Black Winters and destroy the Earth, which contains Eternity’s “heart” (presumably because the Marvel Universe is a vehicle for stories about Earth and has no purpose without an Earth in it). According to issues #7 and #12, Oblivion normally stops Black Winters from reaching the universe (in order to protect Death), but his demise leaves the way clear for them to attack.
- According to issue #8, the storm gods are aware that Hadad is returning, and are arguing about whether to resist him or to help him. According to issue #11, the reason why the storm gods are considering siding with Hadad is because they’re deeply offended that Eternity has chosen Storm as his champion rather than a real god.
- Issues #7-8. A group of other storm gods fight Storm in Brazil; they claim in issue #11 that they are trying to hone her into a suitable champion for the universe, but they leave unimpressed.
- Flashforward in issue #7. In a near future timeline, a Black Winter reaches the universe and attacks Galactus. The art seems to show it being destroyed by Oblivion, but in issue #11 Infinity claims to have saved Galactus from it. (Possibly Infinity gets subbed in to these events after Oblivion is killed.)
- Issues #10-11. Infinity shows up with the alt-future Galactus and his Silver Surfer, and demands to know what Storm has done with Eternity. Separation from her twin Eternity is agonising, to the point where she would already welcome annihilation, even though Oblivion and Death have been enduring the same separation for eons. Meanwhile, all of the storm gods except for Beta Ray Bill (who has replaced Thor mid-storyline due to plot developments in Immortal Thor) vote to side with Hadad, apparently rejecting Eternity in a fit of pique. Hadad’s Black Winters wipe them out anyway.
- Issues #11-12. Gateway transports Eternity to the House of Ideas to bargain with the One Above All, leaving Storm, Infinity, Galactus, Quasar and the Silver Surfer to hold off Hadad’s Black Winters as they attack Earth. The One Above All is unimpressed, and tells Eternity that this is all the consequence of Eternity and Oblivion seeking to destroy one another instead of finding a balance. The One Above All then tells Eternity that he needs to have more respect for his creations (i.e., all the characters in the Marvel Universe) and to appreciate that he has been able to create people who can do what he cannot. Eternity returns to the real world to possess Storm in a more co-operative way, putting his power at her disposal instead of trying to control her. Storm then defeats Hadad and intends to imprison him in a pocket dimension, but Eternity seizes control again and kills him. Storm apparently (somehow) ejects Eternity from her body in response.
Oh, and Death is very upset about Oblivion’s demise, so she rounds up a bunch of what seem to be Marvel Zombies characters and sends them to kidnap Doctor Voodoo.
And there you go. That’s what was actually happening in Storm. I think. (And yes, I went back to fix the last bit of the ending.)
So it’s a story that only makes sense out of sequence, but it’s so out of sequence that key parts aren’t even in the same TPB. That’s bold.
I like Storm as a character, and I wanted to like this book.
I like the writer’s energy and love of the material.
But this series was such convoluted, over-the-top nonsense that I can’t even go on. Not for “Rogue Storm” and not for “Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant.” This whole thing just asks WAY too much of readers, and relies FAR too heavily on narrative elements which have never been applicable in the past.
i.e. all of the cosmological stuff, both here and in Phoenix, which see the great grand cosmological cornerstones of the universe reduced to petty squabbling children in a way that even previous stories managed to avoid. (Oblivion in the Iceman mini, Infinity and Eternity in Quasar, etc). And I’m of the opinion that the less seen of the actual One-Above-All the better, especially as a giant naked gold guy given to monologuing.
At least when Al Ewing gave us literal personifications of the universes, they still felt epic and appropriately cosmic.
I’m sure I can blame Hickman somehow for whatever he was doing in G.O.D.S. but…
Storm was just the wrong choice for this sort of story. And anything this non-linear needs to come with a warning. At least when Priest does it, you can still wrap your head around the logic.
Honestly shocked that this made it to 12 issues, is getting an AoR mini, and is getting a second season.
Oblivion did allow Maelstrom/Anomaly to try to destroy the universe in Quasar, so he sometimes has a dislike of the state of the universe as it is. However, he’s the opposite of Infinity, not Eternity (the personification of life in the universe).
However, since this is all so confusing and scattered amongst more issues than fit in a TPB, I will say what I mentioned to a friend: I hope that the cover of Pyro’s next romance novel has Storm riding a hippo on it.
Come to think of it, does this series make more sense if it’s all one of Pyro’s romance novels?
So, this has all been about Ayodele (Eternity) feeling unfree in his writing by Marvel’s (One-Above-All) creative decisions (Oblivion=Brevoort), but he came upon the epiphany that he should be happy to be allowed to write stories about amazing characters (e.g. Storm) doing things he cannot like riding on a hippo. So, now he’s going to write the Storm comic in a more identifiable manner, instead of trying to force Storm into what he wanted with this comic. Yes?
Either that, or it was all a fever dream by a hippo. “Do Hippos Dream of (being ridden by) a Goddess Storm?”
If you want Storm (or any X-Man for that matter) to be able to support a solo series, this is the opposite of what you should be doing.
You don’t give Storm a floating fortress and do cosmic plotlines. You give her an apartment, a real job, and a relatable premise. You surround with a supporting cast of ordinary people. Make her a TV weather reporter or something who does superheroing on the side. Or, I don’t know, give her a modeling job. Give her sponsors. Like Nabisco. Have her do commercials for “Ororoeo” cookies.
So wait, how does Storm herself drive any of this plot forward? This all just seems to happen to her as a cosmically possessed weather person.
@Moo
Ororoeos?! Haha 😀
You are far more heroic than me, Paul, for perhaps making sense of this series.
I don’t even know whether I think it will help or harm Ororo as a character going forward. I sure think it has harmed Eternity, Oblivion and Infinity and so many Thunder Gods, in any case.
I have no explanation whatsoever for this series surving so far and apparently being given two sequels in the next two months. It does not seem to _want_ to.
“Storm then defeats Hadad and imprisons him in a pocket dimension.”
No, Storm was going to do that. But Eternity betrayed Storm AGAIN and took over her body and killed Hadad. Which was incredibly traumatic for Storm and showed that Eternity had learned nothing.
This series certainly hates Eternity by portraying him as well, evil, petty, vindictive, manipulative and a cosmic jerk… entirely at odds with his much more moderate and removed persona established over decades.
Heck, who is this entity that presents itself as Eternity anyway?
Certainly nothing resembling the genuine article… and Storm ought to realize that from the very start.
This issue ends with Death kidnapping Doctor Voodoo so that she may overthrow The One Above All.
Last week, INCREDIBLE HULK #29 ended with the Mother of Horrors kidnapping Doctor Voodoo so that she may overthrow The One Above All.
Does Marvel even HAVE editors?
No-Prize: the cosmic abstracts all became much more humanlike when Reed Richards-616 made the 8th Marvel Multiverse from the Doom’s Secret Wars BattleWorld, also if Eternity-616’s literal and figurative “heart” is on Earth-616, it must have inevitably become influenced/corrupted by the residents of Earth, and the dominant species is Humanity , who are of course mostly fallible and flawed and fallen much more often than not
First, kudos to Paul for heroically sussing everything out!
“Does Marvel even HAVE editors?”
I hope next week there’s a comic where Doctor Voodoo attempts to overthrow The One Above All of his own accord, because he’s sick of entities kidnapping him to do it.
“I’m sure I can blame Hickman somehow for whatever he was doing in G.O.D.S. but…”
Hey, I actually read G.O.D.S. last week! I liked it, but it’s an odd little book; promoted as a line-reinvigorating event like Annihilation or HoXPoX, but actually mainly focused on a pair of wizards trying to decide between career and family. The cosmic redesigns barely even show up—Eternity only rates a divine crowd-scene cameo.
Oblivion’s pettiness and desire to see the universe broken are actually a large part of the story, but Death as an entity isn’t seen or mentioned; Oblivion is instead paired with/opposed to The Living Tribunal, I guess the logic being nihilism vs meaning. They refer to one another as brothers, and have their own In-Betweener style joint flunky, the Preordained.
Doctor Voodoo has somehow become everyone’s sidekick, good only for support and getting rescued. He should be in a comic with Rick Jones. C.H.U.M.P.S.
I thought the personification of Death had been replaced by an infinity stone. The black one Coulson has in the last Infinity Watch mini. I think it happened in a Thanos mini sometime before that.
Colson was Death in Spider-Man too, if I recall correctly.
I must say I like the idea of when you die, and apologetic beurocrat comes to usher you on. I hope Marvel sticks with it.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but if you’re writing a story about Ororo Munroe and include a caption that reads “Three billion years ago”, you’ve gone completely around the bend.
I have enjoyed Storm *because* it busts comic storytelling conventions and doesn’t seem to care too much about spelling out the narrative tissue required for it all to hang together. There’s a bewildering, gonzo madness to it, and I never know what’s gonna happen next, and that makes it fun.
Whether this is a desirable direction for Storm is another matter, but it’s comics, it can be undone, or even treated like it never happened if there is a strong-enough negative consensus. I also agree with the criticism above that Storm has very little agency in her own book thus far. And many thanks to Chris V for the interpretation that Oblivion = Brevoort, etc.
The defining image of this run seems to be Storm riding a hippo. The first time I saw it, I laughed until I cried at the WTFness of it. Also, I will never forget it, and I will love it forever.
This sounds like exactly the kind of “adventure” that would make Storm furious. It would make more sense, IMO, if she were fighting against it the entire time.
I can’t imagine her being okay with the mind-control, first of all. Periods of blackouts? No, thanks. She values her autonomy way too much for that.
And being pulled into nether dimensions when she had just set up a mission for herself on Earth? She’d want to get back to riding hippos and saving alien children or whatever her plan was.
Of course, I’m probably thinking of some version of Storm that’s long gone. She’s been the Queen of Mars recently, so what do I know?
WTF?
This book seems to be more about the writer than the character. It certainly doesn’t seem to be about anything that remotely interests me when I pick up a comic about a mutant weather controller.
I mean…I didn’t like MAGIK either, but at least I recognized it as a book about a mutant with a big ass sword whose childhood was spent being raised and abused by demons. I didn’t like X-FACTOR, but I recognized it as a book about government sponsored superheroes. I didn’t like WOLVERINE and it’s baffling spate of team-up books, but I recognized it as a book about a guy with claws who struggles with his feral nature.
STORM and PHEONIX both just lost sight of the mission statement.
@Sam: New headcanon — This series is a romance novel by Pyro, but he was surreptitiously, unwittingly inspired through dreams sent by Nightmare in a plot to utterly embarrass all of the cosmic entities.
There should be a follow-up She-Hulk story in which the abstracts sue for defamation.
“I have enjoyed Storm *because* it busts comic storytelling conventions and doesn’t seem to care too much about spelling out the narrative tissue required for it all to hang together.”
Nice try, Mr. Ayodele.
“STORM and PHOENIX both just lost sight of the mission statement.”
I think that’s partly true of Storm, but there’s clearly an audience for what that book is doing (and they seem to genuinely like it – it’s not just Storm fans buying it out of duty).
I don’t think it’s really true of Phoenix, which had a lot of problems, but basically inherited a status quo where Jean was so powerful that cosmic stories were the only viable direction for her. She’s simply too powerful to function as a traditional X-Men character at the moment.
@Thom H.- “I can’t imagine her being okay with the mind-control, first of all. Periods of blackouts? No, thanks. She values her autonomy way too much for that.”
The story makes it very clear that Storm ISN’T okay with it. In an earlier issue, she compares Eternity to a man who tried to rape a child! In this issue, she vows never to trust Eternity again.
Oh, I’m glad to hear that made it into the story. The couple of issues I read had events just kind of happening around Storm. Her main emotion seemed to be mild confusion.
@Thom H: It does take a few issues before it’s even clear Storm knows she’s being possessed. This book makes some ‘interesting’ storytelling choices.
This was just awful. I don’t wish any of these writers ill in anyway, but so often reading comics like this I’m left feeling that the person should find a different occupation. I’m glad so many poor writers are employed for their sakes, but for our sakes… yikes. Not ALL of the problems with these comics are editorial
I think from reading the comic, month by month, I maybe understood half of the story. Some kind of reminder of what Black Winter is would have helped. And Abraxas.
Weird that in the timeline as spelled out here Hadad became aware of his fictional nature a billion years before anyone ever imagined or wrote him.