This article contains spoilers for Marauders #13 by Vita Ayala and Matteo Lolli.
The Black Panther, she became Queen of Wakanda, and yet that responsibility conflicted with her loyalty to the X-Men and the mutant race. The conflict between these two duties ultimately became irreconcilable, and the marriage between Storm and Black Panther ended in divorce.
In this week's Marauders #13, Storm betrays the Wakandans by stealing their greatest secret, an ancient blade called Skybreaker. Storm rationalizes the decision, arguing the fate of the entire world is at stake in the "X of Swords" event, but that is simply an act of self-justification. She has three days to retrieve Skybreaker, and she knows T'Challa would give it to her of his own free will the moment he returns to Wakandan soil. Instead, impatient, she breaks into Wakanda's vaults and steals it, even fighting against Shuri for possession of the vibranium blade. Black Panther himself arrives in time to confront her, and he allows her to go, but he burns the Krakoan gateway behind her. It's a symbolic act, creating a gulf between T'Challa and Storm, between Wakanda and the X-Men.
This is even more troubling given Storm is well aware of Skybreaker's role in Wakandan culture. This ancient sword was forged from vibranium, and the study of its secrets unlocked all of Wakanda's technological innovations. When Storm first arrives in Wakanda asking for Skybreaker, she is warned the blade is considered almost holy by the people of Wakanda, and simply allowing an outsider to wield it would risk civil war. Storm's treachery makes matters even worse, because her theft calls into doubt Black Panther's wisdom, given he is the one who allowed Storm into his heart and then let her abscond with Skybreaker. Storm is knowingly plunging Wakanda into turmoil.
In truth, it's long seemed inevitable the X-Men would turn Wakanda into an enemy. Wakanda has rejected trade with Krakoa, insisting it does not need mutant drugs, and the X-Men are known to be pursuing a covert policy of regime change in any nation that will not trade with them. This policy has certainly been pursued by Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Trading Corporation and by Beast's X-Force, but it is unknown whether Storm is aware of it. She may well have made such a regime change a whole lot easier.
But that isn't to say a new pro-mutant leader will take over. As far as the citizens of Wakanda are concerned, an X-Man has just stolen their most revered object. King T'Challa may have simply chosen to burn a Krakoan Gateway, but there will be those in his nation who consider Storm's theft of Skybreaker to be an act of war, and they will want Krakoa itself to burn. The X-Men just risked civil war in Wakanda - and took a step closer to World War III in the Marvel Universe.
