#Storm x Yukio

[amageish]

People seemed to like my post chronicling the queer history of Felicia Hardy, so I'm going to do something similar to that... Let's chat about the queer history of Marvel's unwitting power couple, Ellie Phimister and her girlfriend Yuki Ohara.

Let's dive in!

Content Warning: This summary will include discussion of anti-mutant hate crimes and genocide, as that is part of Ellie's comic book story.

Like a lot of queer X-Men stories, this one begins with queercoding in the 80s.

While Jim Shooter famously prohibited any queer storytelling in Marvel Comics during his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of the company and, on top of that, the Comics Code Authority also banned it, Chris Claremont, the architect of the X-Men as we know them today, never really followed those rules - and neither did his editors, artists, and co-writers. There are so many queer-coded relationships throughout his runs on the X-Men and the modern X-Men stories are still playing catch-up to this day, canonizing the intentions of him and his collaborators one character at a time. Mystique and Destiny are probably his most famous pairing nowadays, as that is canon now, but he also wrote the Juggernaut as being with Black Tom Cassidy, Kate Pryde as being bisexual for most women she encounters in her life, and, the topic for today, Storm being in a romantic relationship with the Japanese assassin Yukio.

Yukio is, to put it mildly, a risk-taker. She runs through life with seemingly no self-preservation instincts whatsoever and, for some reason, always gets by nonetheless. She and Storm have a fling while Storm is in Japan (Uncanny X-Men 172-173) and this leads directly into Storm's famous punk era, which certainly does recontextualize some of the vibes of her having suddenly gotten a mohawk and a taste for leather.

Their later reunion in Uncanny X-Men 311-313 is extra funny to me - both because of the narration textually referring to them as "more then friends" and because of Yukio justifying her daredevil attitude by suggesting it would have been "politically incorrect" of the villain to have attacked them in public.

These two "kindred spirits" hang out for a bit, but Yukio is ultimately a Wolverine character and not a larger X-Men team member, so they naturally split off as time goes on. Their last appearance together was during the 2014 Death of Wolverine event - though their affair was mentioned by an angry Kitty during the Storm flashback mini earlier this year.

That said, Yukio is obviously a Sapphic and I guess when the team behind the movie Deadpool 2 decided to give their version of Negasonic Teenage Warhead a girlfriend, they looked at the list of queer-coded characters and decided she was the right one for them...

Now, as for Ellie...

Eloise Phimister AKA Negasonic Teenage Warhead debuted in Grant Morrison's New X-Men, but her name was not said on-panel until after she was already dead. She was one of Emma Frost's students, a gothic woman with telepathic powers that foretold the death of her and her classmates at Genosha... and yet she died nonetheless.

This is a very tragic character. She has a silly name, but that is part of the heartbreak of this moment. Ellie is a child who died as a result of a genocidal desire to kill all mutants. Her silly name emphasizes her youth... which makes it REALLY tonally dissonant when it played for comedy from here-on-out.

She was briefly brought back by the camp gay villain Selene when she revived horrific versions of many deceased mutants as part of X-Force... and then she was revived for real with a new design fter the release of the first Deadpool movie. She maintains her precognitive abilities and future-sight here, but otherwise... Well, she's now a comedy character in a Deadpool book. She also can warp reality now, partially as an explanation for why she looks/acts different then her first appearances.

She paled around with Deadpool for a bit, but didn't do anything explicitly queer in the comics until 2022 (good god) where she kissed an unnamed woman, causing Wolverine to wonder if she'll one day lead a X-Men team that is exclusively made up of her multiple girlfriends. This comment is also a subtle not to the implied status quo of the Krakoa era, where Wolverine himself has two partners - dating both Jean Grey and Scott Summers.

This is a funny moment, though I do wonder why it took so long for her to be queer in the comics - Marvel comic books are generally the most queer media Marvel puts out, so I do wonder if it was something specifically about her being a Deadpool character that caused people to hesitate to greenlight queer stories about her.

Finally, in 2023, Ellie got her first solo series in the form of an Infinity Comic.

This series uses the increasingly-popular approach of having "fate" be a stand-in for "the concept of being a loyal adaptation in a multimedia landscape," as she is fated to kiss a girl named Yuki Ohara or else the fabric of reality as we know it will be destroyed.

While Deadpool is only in it for a bit, it is a very meta narrative, with a lot of commentary on the way that female characters are written in comics in general and female reality-warpers specifically, with Ellie having a lot of anxiety about the risk of her becoming like Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch - not helped by the TVA chasing her down and declaring her a threat. However, in the end, she meets her girlfriend-to-be and pauses time itself to get know her properly before having their universe-saving kiss. Good for them!

Since then, she has appeared exactly once - in a Pride issue fashion show - but I imagine she and her girlfriend Yuki are just in a little reality-warp bubble, hidden away as Fall of X finishes up.

Synergy is a dirty word in the comics landscape, but I personally like Ellie and her romance with Yuki - and I'm very relieved that they introduced a new, younger Yuki O. based on the movie for her to date instead of just retconning the established Yukio into becoming Eloise's girlfriend... Storm doesn't deserve to have her girl stolen away like that!

Also, Yuki has a giant mech and electricity powers. Maybe a little cliche for a Japanese character's powerset, but it is badass...

I hope we see more comic book stuff with these two eventually... There is potential there that is as of yet untapped - especially as they are probably two of Marvel's most notable queers by virtue of being in wildly popular movies, even if their comic queerness is a relatively modern thing.

[tasteless-lemonade]

reblogs are appreciated!

character poll

[fionapplespiano]

My Other Polls:

Jean Grey

Dani Moonstar

[orangedodge]

From Al Ewing's Q&A with AIPT readers [x]

[rivercule]

Wow this looks good. Wait what’s that…

Yukio mention? A comparison to her current lover she is naked in bed with?

[sbd-laytall]

These two are so in love in this issue, and I just adore it. Ororo carrying Yukio everywhere, and Yukio declaring how much she cares for Ororo? Yeah, that's the good stuff.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #312

[icarusredwings]

Wade finally getting to meet most of the X men at the mansion: Wow this is great!

Wade: *turns to the wall* No wonder Logan was a whore, am I right? I mean look at all of them! Gyah! I bet storm could throw me back to Canada in one go! That would be so cool!

Logan: *not phased*

Ororo: .... Logan Im glad you're making new friends but uhm... Does he always do that?

Logan: Yeah, just give him a second.. think of it like a vlog.

Negasonic: How do you know what a vlog is? Aren't you like.. a million?

Logan: ... I'll kick a child.

Ororo: He will.

Negasonic: Heh. I like you.

Yukio: Hi Wade!

Wade, mid vlog: Omg Hi Yukio! Guys you remember yukio right? GOD its so cool here. Anyway where's that hairy blue guy? I wanna go ask him inappropriate things.

Yukio: which one?

Wade: *GASPS* You guys have TWO furries!? And they're both blue!? Im like NEVER leaving!!

[lesbianmarrow]

the amazing @wellnoe and i collaborated on this short xmen fancomic! i wrote the script and brenna did the art & colors & lettering. brenna and i share a love for storm and yukio's relationship so we thought this would be a fun little project 💜 as always, i'm blown away by her artistic talent. we hope you like it!

[ffverr]

When they haven't interacted since 2014😩💕🫶 Storiyo UXM #301-302 is VERY serious business to me!!

@x-femslash

[kainathan]

spider man just told my mom im gay what do i do

[do-you-ship-this-comic-ship]

propaganda:

This is another example of a Chris Claremont female friendship where he really wanted them to be soulmates. Yukio is depicted as Storm's "heart's desire" and they play off each other so well, they're both badasses, but Yukio's more fun and playful to balance out Ororo's more serious nature. Plus Ororo only got her classic mohawk punk look after having a night out in Japan with Yukio, so take that as you will.

[nataliahill1928]

Shipping comic ships where both of the people are in the movies but at least one of the characters is vastly different from their comic self and/or the 2 characters have never interacted/been in the same movie makes everything kinda awkward when explaining it to non-comic readers.

For example

Yukio and storm

America chavez and kate bishop.

Although I'm pretty sure quite a bit of noncomic readers know of their comic relationship more than other ships

Carol danvers and jessica drew

Kinda similar to amerikate one. I have seen a few caroljess arts with atsv jess

Jennifer walters and janet van dyne

I feel like most ppl would think I'm talking about Hope, but no, I'm talking about her mom. Big x little and for the mcu young x old

Now with the agatha all along coming out I can add

Wanda maximoff and Alice wu (gulliver?)

Their relationship isn't like the others on this, this is like their one interaction but I'll add them anyways

[jemi-jimi-jam]

X-men (but dinosaurs, and pterosaur thanks to Storm)

List of which character each dinosaur is:

Gambit - Olorotitan

Yukio - Caihong

Negasonic - Proceratosaurus

Colossus - Volgatitan

Storm - Tupuxuara

Deadpool - Utahraptor

Professor X - Troodon

Wolverine - Therizinosaurus

Jean - Gallimimus

Laura (X-23) - Therizinosaurus

Cyclops - Dilophosaurus

Rouge - Homalocephale

Beast - Majungasaurus

[big-gay-apocalypse]

it begins

// Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 9

[challfilk]

T O M E M Y X M E N ! 🤏😀 (the way i thought this was so funny until a few seconds ago is insane)