Does the Marvel Cinematic Universe need Black Panther and Storm together?

While a new piece of fanart might conjure up theories of a queen of Wakanda coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, can’t Storm just be Storm?

Sometimes, what you want isn’t really what you need. Mama Odie taught us that in The Princess and the Frog, and it seems like an important thing to remember given the wants and needs of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its fans. Take, for example, how Storm could be integrated into the MCU as part of the X-Men.

One fan has already put forth the idea of resurrecting the Storm and Black Panther marriage, which made Ororo Queen of Wakanda. We’re not going to lie: the art is absolutely gorgeous, and if Ruth E. Carter got to design costumes for Storm, she’d probably win more awards.

But Marvel has carefully planned its entire cinematic universe up until now, and that includes putting Nakia in as a love interest for T’Challa in Black Panther. Moreover, Nakia has her own arc, well-written, that is separate from what she shares with T’Challa. In an MCU that is just now starting to let women exist outside of their relationships to men, shunting Nakia aside would be a bad look, and not just because when you have an Oscar-winning actress like Lupita Nyong’o, you keep her.

Furthermore, giving Storm time to exist as her own character again, as she has in previous X-Men films, would continue the path the MCU is already on when it comes to including more women of different backgrounds and stories. Storm is “one of the most powerful mutants on Earth,” with a killer backstory and arcs without T’Challa. It’s not to say that a king of Wakanda would be a step down for her, but it would seem to unnecessarily limit her by immediately introducing her and starting the romance out of nowhere. Give it time to build. No one wants a repeat of Bruce and Natasha, right?

On the other hand, as ComicBook.com has noted, her and T’Challa’s breakup was part of a storyline that the MCU may need in the future: Avengers vs. X-Men. With Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame already adapting two of the most significant storylines in Marvel Comics, why not start to tease this one and thus have a plan for the X-Men in place?

(Also, if Storm is “one of the most powerful mutants,” and Captain Marvel is “Earth’s mightiest hero,” would they face off if this got adapted?)

It’s up to Endgame to help us define what we want to see in the MCU going forward.