Janelle Monáe Wants To Play 'X-Men's Storm & Marvel Fans Are Here For It
The forecast for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more unpredictable than ever, but there's one beloved superhero fans really want to see shake up the movie franchise's atmosphere. Previously, the X-Men were barred from the MCU due to studio rights, but the floodgates are finally open as Marvel preps for its post-Endgame universe, and one actor is very open about wanting to play a certain white-haired, lightning-shooting mutant. So, will Janelle Monáe play Storm when the X-Men come to Marvel's future movies? She talked about the role in a recent interview with Empire.
While Monáe was working on her 2018 album Dirty Computer in Atlanta, she met up with the cast and crew of Black Panther, which just so happened to be filming in the same area at the same time. Now, director Ryan Coogler is working on Black Panther 2 for the next phase of Marvel movies, and Monáe revealed she talked to Coogler about joining the superhero saga as Storm.
"I definitely have thrown it out there," Monáe said to Empire. "One of my dreams has always been to play Storm. I don’t know if she comes in Black Panther, but it would be a dream to have her in it. I don’t know where they are with that. A lot of women have played Storm and they’ve done an exceptional job, and I would love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice."
As one of the most prominent X-Men characters, Storm has already notably appeared on-screen several times in 20th Century Fox's X-Men movies. Halle Berry played Storm in the original trilogy of the early 2000s, and then Alexandra Shipp took over to play a younger version of Storm in the recent X-Men beginnings trilogy.
Monáe's bid for the role comes at a perfect time, since Disney just bought out 20th Century Fox's rights to the X-Men characters and fans are expecting the X-Men to finally show up in the MCU in Phase 4. The only tricky part is how the established film franchise, which is already over 20 movies deep, can effectively introduce this massive new world of mutants, which comes with its own complex lore and relationships.
The upcoming Black Panther sequel could actually be the perfect film to bring in Storm, though. Storm and T'Challa are one of the most high-profile couples in the Marvel Comics, having married after first meeting one another as children. The new movie could bring that romance to the screen. Plus, Monáe would be a perfect fit for the Black Panther movies since her music career is so heavily steeped in Afrofuturism, the same cultural aesthetic that Coogler's film exemplified.
Unfortunately, Black Panther 2 isn't slated for release until 2022, so fans have a couple years to wait to see whether the movie really will bring mutants into the MCU — and whether Monáe will be one of them.
