The X-Men’s Storm Was Dracula’s Mistress

Before Marvel Comics’ interpretation of Dracula began his own Vampire Nation, the famed Prince of Darkness preyed upon Storm, one of the X-Men‘s most powerful and long-standing members.

Since the superhero team’s introduction in 1963, the X-Men’s primary objective has been protecting humanity from hostile mutants and victimizers; that would change with 1982’s Uncanny X-Men #159. X-Men auteur Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz (The New Mutants) used the issue to reintroduce Dracula and his world of the supernatural into the main Marvel Universe. While Dracula previously became a major fixture throughout the 1970s via appearances in his own self-titled comic The Tomb of Dracula as well as Doctor Strange, the character remained largely standalone. Dracula’s first encounter with the X-Men would begin with his assault of omega-level mutant Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm. Dracula’s seductive hold over Storm would leave the devout team leader fighting against her own trusted friends and comrades.

While roaming the New York City streets at night on her lonesome, an unaccompanied Storm is attacked and bitten in a deserted alleyway by an unknown assailant. After being brought into the hospital for treatment, Storm starts to transform. Rather than the features of a secondary mutation, Storm gains a hunger for blood, sensitivity to light, and attraction to the night scene. As Munroe is gifted with vampiric abilities, the wind rider leaves the X-Men to join her mysterious assailant. Dracula promises Ororo the opportunity to live forever should she stand alongside him as a faithful mistress. With her mind warped by the vampire’s influence, Storm obliges and joins Dracula as his newfound bride, completely nixing her ties to the X-Men. It takes a rescue mission to Central Park’s Belvedere Castle for the mutants to awaken Storm from her mind-melded stupor as she rejoins her friends in the fight against the former master. Driving Dracula away momentarily, the X-Men would be free from further pain until the King Vampire’s imminent return to torment Ororo and her team.

Chris Claremont’s X-Men run is defined by The Dark Phoenix Saga and God Loves, Man Kills but the titular team’s non-mutant battles with supernatural begins such as Dracula seem to have flown under the radar. The X-Men’s brief but personal battle with Dracula allowed Claremont the opportunity to pit the X-Men against new foes and obstacles o. The experimentation with the X-Men and Storm in particular is what made Claremont’s tenure such a definitive and varied era on the mutants.

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