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African Storm is the eighth episode of the second season of X-Men: Evolution and the twenty-first episode of the overall series. It originally aired on December 1, 2001.
Overview[]
Hungan plans to take Storm's powers and use them to become the ruler of Africa with them. Storm is having difficulty with training her nephew Spyke, and believes he might be better off if he were to return to his mother. After Spyke begins to resent her, Hungan starts to make moves towards her and kidnaps her, also making her his possession by his controlling of her powers. Accompanied by the X-Men, Spyke manages to defeat him and saves his aunt, also being allowed to say at the mansion to boot.
Synopsis[]
In a tribe, some people gather around a fire as a man turns his head while two guards open the folding of a tent, revealing a man with white paint plastered on his head. The group stops and begins to bow, and the man walks closer to the fire. As he grabs a log, he alerts the group that after ten long seasons passing the gods had finally answered their prayers and the goddess they had lost had been found. He proclaims that her powers will become his and power over Africa will be his, as the fire pans and reveals the mentioned goddess to be the X-Men's Storm.
Jean looks around and sees Taryn and Scott. As she prepares to depart, Taryn notices her and tells her to come and sit with them. Jean complies and goes over to the two, explaining after giving introductions that she was looking for Duncan. While Scott relays that he has not seen him, Taryn asks Jean how she did on her school progress report. Jean sits with the two and confirms that her grades were good from the easy classes she had, though finds it apparent that she is having a difficult time adjusting to the two as a couple. While trying to look for Duncan again and leaving the two, Evan grabs some food off of her plate. Jean uses her powers and causes Evan to crash into a table, where he gets everyone and himself dirty as he falls to the ground. Seeing Principal Kelly looming above him, he asks him what is up.
At the Xavier Mansion, Storm is waiting for Spyke in the Danger Room and notices a sound before he arrives. Though he tries to explain why it took him so long to get home, Storm jumps to the fact that the two are behind schedule and tries to get them to begin. As she starts the simulation, entitled "Storm Catcher", Spyke tries to figure out what he is supposed to do. She explains that he needs to protect her and that she is in his hands, and soon comes under attack by some tentacles. After Spyke removes them from her and she narrowly lands on her feet, Spyke boasts about his achievement and falls through a trap. As he uses his powers to get back to the top, he asks her where she is when some smoke starts to emerge. As Storm tells him to focus and remember his training, she recalls that they covered smokescreens within the previous week and reminds him to use his ears once he stills has difficulty remembering what to do.
Storm claustrophobia.
Once he joins up with her, Storm is captured within a box. As her Claustrophobia activates, she screams for Spyke to get her out and once the simulation ends on its own, lashes out at him and tells him to leave. When Spyke tells her that he did not activate the box, she notices that she did not either and looks into the control room. As she leaves the Danger Room, she mistakes a runner across the hall for Spyke and tries to figure out who it is, becoming even more frightened in the process. Once she tries to escape the room, she uses the elevator and repeatedly looks back to make sure that no one is coming. The next fear she expresses, is when the elevator lands and she is surprised to see Beast. He apologizes and takes note of the fact that he gets people jumpy a lot and also notices how tense she is feeling, prompting him to asks her if she is alright. Storm tells him that she does not know and that she had a rough session with Evan. Beast acknowledges that the school has not had a easy time with him either, and shows her the balled-up report card that he had found in the dumpster.
As Storm reads the report, Beast laments that he thought they were reaching him as she tells him that she is having serious doubts that he even is reachable. Rogue arrives at the Xavier Mansion courtesy of Risty and notices a bizarre sound amidst the fog emerging, which prompts her to lock the mansion up. As Ororo lays in bed, she tries to resist someone and lets out a shriek, which alerts Wolverine, Shadowcat and Charles Xavier. While Wolverine checks outside, Shadowcat asks Ororo if she is okay. Ororo stresses that someone was in there, and Wolverine is ordered by Charles to check the security. As Charles checks on Ororo, she confirms that she has been having a difficult time with Evan, noting that he has shown a lack of care for his schoolwork, training and even her. The two agree that the best thing for him is to have her sister come and pick him up, of which Evan overhears.
Storm is broken.
The next day, Storm tries to take a bath and finds the sign of Hungan on the mirror of the cabinet storing the supplies. Downstairs, Charles notices that the water is overflowing after a small drop drips onto him. Kitty responds to her and asks if she is okay, also joking that she is having a nice pool party. Jean and Charles respond right after, and Ororo assures them that she does not require their aid either. Kitty calls Charles in the bathroom and notes the crack on the glass of the mirror, which both shocks and scares him.
Evan begins to pack his clothes, which Ororo reads as indication that he is aware of the arrangements. Evan learns from Ororo that his mother is coming tomorrow and notes that it is not like anyone is going to care once he leaves. Ororo tells him that is not true, and dismisses his assumption by her belief that he never lets anyone get close to him. Evan refers to the arrangements as no big deal and tells her that he will be going to school to empty out his locker. Rogue alerts Risty of what was happening to Storm, and the former alludes to knowing about Storm's claustrophobia. She leaves Rogue shortly afterwards, leaving her suspicious. Jean insists to Scott as they arrive at school that Storm was in bad shape, but he assures her that she will be fine given her strength while Kitty approaches them and indirectly tells the two about Evan leaving the institute.
Kurt tries to talk to Evan while he is packing his belongings from his locker, who questions why he even cares about him leaving and insinuates the two are not friends. The other X-Men try to assist him, but Evan asserts that it is no big deal. Beast meets up with the New Mutants, and discovers that Storm did not show up to teach them during their scheduled session.
To alleviate this, he makes them play a game of soccer without their powers in the Danger Room. However, this does not stop Berzerker from attacking Sunspot with his abilities after he begins to believe that Sunspot was using his own. Storm remembers her tenure in Africa, and notices some snake around her feet. Regaining her composure after landing in the air, she sees Evan as he departs from the mansion and is met by Nerombo, who tries to warn her and only is asked about Evan. Storm is confronted by Hungan, and is taken once they knock her out with a dart. Evan alerts Charles of his aunt's abduction, as Storm is attempting to relieve herself of her captivity.
Hungan uses his staff, and removes her powers by causing them to seemingly come through her mouth. Wolverine arrives where he has caught Storm's scent, and notices Hungan after Charles tells him that the others are on their way. Wolverine confronts the man, who stresses that he tried to help her. Charles arrives with the other X-Men, and asks Nerombo where the Hungan have taken her. After Nerombo explains his intentions for her powers, the X-Men go after him. As Wolverine and Spyke are attacked by Hungan, the latter asks if they are ghost. As one nearly hits Cyclops and Shadowcat, the former tells him that the weapons are real enough. Nightcrawler is nearly attacked, though teleports out of the way before it hits Rogue, who is forced to rip her costume as she defends herself.
Jean uses her powers to deflect some of the incoming Hungan, while Shadowcat is grabbed by a Hungan before phasing through the constraints and kicking him in the face. Spyke and Wolverine find the cell Storm was held in, empty, and notice Hungan standing atop them. As Wolverine moves up to confront him, Storm is there and shocks him, both mentally and physically and also literally. Wolverine crashes down, and the other X-Men arrive.
As the group is getting close to him, Shadowcat sees Storm and calls her by her name in innocence. Storm fires at her and the others, causing them to realize that she is not herself. When Storm nearly hits Spyke, he barely dodges it and recalls when Storm had told him that she was in his hands and looks with determination. Spyke attacks Hungan with his powers, and is able to take him down when he breaks his staff and causes him to lose control over Storm as she regains herself.
She turns her attention to Hungan, who is trying to escape so that he will not be harmed. As he runs, she asks him if he wants her powers and gives him more than he can handle, which causes a flood to emerge. Storm falls, but Spyke catches her and as the two are reunited with the other X-Men, they smile at each other. The next day, Evan comes to Ororo and Vivian at the Xavier Mansion and is ready to leave. His mother tells him that the two were just talking about that and that they believe things will be different if he is given another chance. Storm tells him that he was there for her, and that she wants to be there for him. Spyke accepts the offer, calling himself her number one student from that day forward and gets on his skateboard. As the other five students come, Evan tells them the news and they all react with joy. However, once he began to brag, his teammates started to react differently and do not believe that he is telling the truth in regards to what really happened. Regardless, he is happy to stay.
Credits[]
Production notes[]
Continuity notes[]
- Storm's past in Africa is revealed, as well as her relationships with Nerombo and Hungan.
Trvia[]
- This episode is known for being the only one in the series to focus on Storm, though still manages to give Evan the spotlight.
- This is the only episode that hints at any type of relationship between Storm and Shadowcat. The two have been longtime friends in the comics, a aspect that is downplayed in the entire series. This episode made direct attempts to show that they were close. The first was when Storm was approached by Hungan while she was sleeping, which Charles, Wolverine and Shadowcat responded to. Shadowcat came to her and asked her if she was fine, and notably put her hands on her in a sign of attempted comfort. She also came to her first when she sat in the bathroom while the water was running. The final instance, was when Storm came under control. She called her name out, distinctively from anyone else before Storm attacked them.
- This is the first of two times in the series that Storm comes under manipulation by a enemy of the X-Men. The second time would be in "Ascension, Part 1" and "Ascension, Part 2", the series finale. In those episodes, Storm became a member of the horsemen of Apocalypse after being converted to his side and fought against the X-Men, notably against Spyke for the second time as well.