Storm, Schiti Join the Earth's Mightiest Heroes in AVENGERS #17 This July

By Dustin Gebel

on May 15, 2024

Marvel revealed that Storm, one of the key players from the Krakoa era, is joining the Avengers later this year. The book, which is written by Jed MacKay also sees new series artist Valerio Schiti taking the art reins. After Krakoa falls with the three currently running series and a new publishing line starts in July, Storm finds her way on the current Earth’s Mightiest roster.

Schiti spoke about joining the book in the press release, stating:

“As a reader, I am a great fan of Jed’s run, and I really love the way he writes the team: not just as fellow soldiers, but as a group of friends with a shared past. At the same time he doesn’t hold back on action and fight scenes! The balance between these two moods is exactly what excites me the most when I have to start a new gig! I have a soft spot for the mutants, so you can imagine my happiness when I knew that Storm was joining the team. It’s always fun to draw her powers, her body language, and her outfits. There’s just one challenge: you always have to remember that she’s not just a mutant, she’s a goddess!”

The issue follows both the recently started Blood Hunt event and Twilight Court stories, which sees both teams bloodied. Storm is recovering from her recent fights during the Fall of X and ascension to one of the most powerful figures in the Marvel universe in Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio’s Resurrection of Magneto. The addition marks an interesting connection between the Avengers and X-Men lines as MacKay is also writing the upcoming series, X-Men with artist Ryan Stegman.

In the press release, MacKay discussed adding Storm to the team, stating:

“When we were putting together thoughts for X-Men, one problem kept coming up—Storm needed to have a presence in a book befitting her status, but it would be weird for her to be on an X-Men team if she wasn’t the leader. The solution was simple—she needed to be on the global stage, among equals, and what better place for that than the Avengers? We’re excited to bring Storm back to the Avengers and show what adventures she’ll get up to as part of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!”

Marvel also unveiled long running X-Men artist Joshua Cassara’s cover for the issue, which can be seen below.