Since Disney and Fox merged, fans have been wondering just when previously Fox-owned Marvel characters would join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The X-Men movies made for a popular Fox franchise, even as fans were critical of their execution. Some of Marvel’s most popular characters appeared in those movies, but haven’t yet made the jump to the MCU. The Fantastic Four have a movie in development, and it’s likely the X-Men do as well, but it would also make perfect sense for the MCU to gradually introduce major players from these other franchises in other properties.
Before the X-Men become a team on the big screen (again), fans could catch a glimpse of some of their favorite characters in other corners of the MCU. Ororo Munroe, AKA Storm, sees her storylines frequently cross over with Black Panther and the Avengers in the comics. She was even married to T’Challa and reigned as the ruler of Wakanda in his absence for a time. While that likely won’t play out in the MCU, that doesn’t mean fans can’t speculate about just where she might fit into the movies outside of the X-Men - and just which actress could bring her to life.
Keke Palmer
Just who will be eventually cast as the MCU’s storm will very much depend on which stage of her life she’ll be featured. The coming multiverse does open the door for many versions of the same character, just as fans saw with variants in Loki. If the MCU features Storm as a younger mutant, someone still coming into her power, or during her early days of being worshipped as a weather goddess, a younger actress is a good call, like Keke Palmer.
For one generation, Palmer is best known for her roles in Nickelodeon series and Disney Channel Original movies, but she’s also an incredibly versatile performer. Her comedic timing is flawless in more recent series like Scream and Scream Queens, but she’s also someone who has the gravitas to nail the more dramatic moments in both of those series as well. She’s done everything from TV to music to Broadway, and she’d definitely have fun with a superhero role.
DeWanda Wise
DeWanda Wise almost appeared in a Marvel project already. She was cast in Captain Marvel, but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. She would have played Maria Rambeau, but Lashana Lynch taking over the role means Wise is free to appear in another area of the MCU while The Marvels deals with some new iterations of characters.
Wise has seen most of her success in streaming services and television with roles in Someone Great and She’s Gotta Have It catching the attention of the audience. Her blockbuster star is about to rise as well thanks to a role in Jurassic World: Dominion, which could mean she would go into an MCU project with action, practical effects, and green screen experience already. Acting opposite rampaging dinosaurs is certainly a crash course in how to handle the way the industry uses CGI.
Michaela Coel
Michaela Coel is known for her work in series like Chewing Gum and I May Destroy You. She’s not just making waves in front of the camera though; she’s also the writer on both of those projects, the latter of which she won an Emmy for. Coel is already primed for an introduction to the MCU, so she might not be able to play Storm. The project in which she’s slated to appear, however, might mean she could.
Coel was cast in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is filming throughout 2021 for a 2022 release. So far, her role is being kept under wraps, which is the nature of Marvel filming, and might not necessarily mean her character has a comic book history. There’s been plenty of speculation as to who she could play in the Black Panther sequel though, with Storm as one of the potential characters. Just how Storm would factor into the story, which is set to take the likes of Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye on adventures outside of Wakanda, remains to be seen. Coel’s character could be someone any one of those existing characters meet on the course of their journey, but fans will likely hold out hope for a comic book hero until they’re told otherwise.
Alexandra Shipp
Alexandra Shipp is the only actress here who has actually played Storm already. She took over the role from Halle Berry when the X-Men movies got a reset of sorts. Shipp only appeared in a trio of movies, however, before Fox’s assets became Disney’s.
Even with the potential of a new X-Men lineup potentially years away, there are some fans who hope for the actors cast in the rebooted property to get a chance to play the characters again. Shipp appeared in X-Men: Apocalypse, which only teased her character’s potential, while X-Men: Dark Phoenix didn’t use Storm much at all. A cameo in the Deadpool sequel was just there for laughs. Shipp’s take on the character didn’t get explored, and the MCU would be a great place to do that.
Janelle Monáe
Before 2016, Janelle Monáe was primarily known as a musician. That year, however, she had breakout roles in both Moonlight and Hidden Figures, demonstrating her natural charisma on screen and a knack for both drama and comedy. Since then, she’s appeared in several projects while releasing music simultaneously, and she’s one of a number of standout performers slated to appear in Knives Out 2 in 2022.
She’s also been pretty vocal about her desire to play Storm in the MCU. In an interview with Empire in 2020, she revealed that she would “love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice,” in reference to the other actresses who have played the part. Monáe even met many of the Black Panther cast members when filming in Atlanta at the same time as them, voicing her excitement about the film, and the possibility of the MCU character appearing in the MCU, to them.
While it’s still unclear just when X-Men characters will join the MCU, there is a lot of talent out there that could bring them to life.