Per this issue’s gorgeous cover by Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson, Storm and Death take center stage in this issue.
The conversation between the two is one of mutual respect and almost flirtation (although Storm makes it clear she does not desire Death). At one point, Death tells her, “The other sword bearers of your host have tasted death many times…in many ways…but not you.”
This is an interesting comment for him to make, and looking at Storm’s publication history, it is true that it is hard to find instances of her dying like many of her cohorts have. Wolverine famously died back in 2014 in The Death of Wolverine storyline. Magik died in Uncanny X-Men #303 from the Legacy Virus (she got better). Even Douglas Ramsey (Cypher) died all the way back in New Mutants #60 in 1988. The others, likewise, have similar death stories.
But not Storm, so Duggan, Percy, and Hickman are doing some serious foreshadowing here, especially given that Storm drew the Death tarot card in Stasis, which claimed not to be a reason for fear and promised a metamorphosis.
This is a deep continuity cut from the X-titles team to highlight Storm’s uniqueness of never having experienced “comic book death.”
However, there is one problem here.
Storm actually died in the Fall of the Mutants storyline back in 1988 (weirdly even, the same story in which Cypher dies). While the details of the story aren’t terribly important here, what matters is that all of the X-Men give their life-force to stop an enemy only to be immediately resurrected. But it is made clear in the text of Uncanny X-Men #227 that the X-Men DID die.
As Roma clarifies, the X-Men really did die (interesting side note: this scene also takes place on the Starlight Citadel).
Given that the X-Men are resurrected in the same issue and don’t disappear from publishing history for a few years, I suppose we can let this one slide.
Marauders #14 is available now!
