Mei Igarashi (Earth-6160)

Maystorm
Name	Mei Igarashi
Current Alias	Maystorm
Affiliation and Relationships
Group Affiliation	Secret Society X-Men
Relatives	Grandparents: Unnamed grandmother Unnamed grandfather Parents: Unnamed father Unnamed mother
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Irises: Grey
Hair	White
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-6160
Personal Information
Identity	Known to Authorities
Citizenship	Japanese
Occupation	Leader of mutant race, mutant rights activist, revolutionary Formerly Student
Education	High school dropout
Base of Operations	Kirisaki City, Hi no Kuni
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Peach Momoko
First	X-Men (Vol. 6) #27 (October, 2023) (Variant cover) Ultimate Universe #1 (November, 2023) (In-story, unnamed) Ultimate X-Men (Vol. 2) #2 (April, 2024) (Chronologically)
First	X-Men (Vol. 6) #27 (October, 2023) (Variant cover) Ultimate Universe #1 (November, 2023) (In-story, unnamed) Ultimate X-Men (Vol. 2) #2 (April, 2024) (Chronologically)

You might be an old man, but the thing about us young folks? We're pretty damn stubborn, but we still work well with others!

—Maystorm[source]

History

Early Life and Mutant Awakening

Appearance before mutation

An ordinary teenager from the super-nation of Hi no Kuni, one of the seven sovereign territories that make up the world, Mei Igarashi (五十嵐芽生, Igarashi Mei) moved to urban Kirisaki City with her dysfunctional family and began idolizing a freedom fighter from West Africa with mastery over storms on social media.

Powers manifesting for the first time

A month after moving into the neighborhood, Mei came across a frightened cat that had run away from her neighbor's house. Approached by its owner hiding behind the door, she returned the mascot, only to have the cat suddenly become aggressive and scratch her arm. Later that night, Mei was awakened by the sound of her parents arguing downstairs and joined them to try to stop it, only to have her father hit her after making a negative comment about him. As she screamed, Mei's mutant abilities would manifest for the first time in a powerful storm, and her hair and eyes would also turn white. Her father would order her to leave, not wanting punks in his house.

Maystorm and Armor

The first of the X-Men

In April 2024, several months later, Mei encountered Hisako Ichiki, another mutant, shortly after the car accident that initially triggered her abilities. Mei's friendly demeanor led Hisako to invite her to investigate a local abandoned school, which was to be a meeting place between her and a malevolent entity that had been persistently pursuing Hisako for the past month and was the reason behind the city's strange suicides. There, after bonding, the pair would encounter a security guard and the Shadow at a shrine. The security guard, transformed into a monster, would attack the girls, making them flee. Despite her efforts to fight back, she was outmatched until Hisako summoned her powers and repealed the Shadow, emerging from the monster.

Meeting Hisako at the entrance ceremony

On the following day, Mei and Hisako met again at the entrance ceremony of Irodori High School, where they became classmates. They discussed the suicide of three students from Kirigaya Minami Middle School, Hisako's former school, who were in reality, as they knew, victims of the Shadow. At some point during the course of the month, the girls would have an exam in which they would perform poorly, which led them to meet the teacher after class to discuss their unsatisfactory grades.

Being hit in the head by a ball

In May 2024, the girls would be on the bench in gym class. Mei, lurking social media on her phone, discovered a thread about Tsubasa, Hisako's best friend who had committed suicide as a result of bullying, and his connection to the victims of the ongoing suicides. Hisako, curious, would ask about the origin of Mei's abilities, but would back off as it seemed too personal. Just then, Mei was hit on the head by a ball that was meant to be caught by her fellow classmate, Nico Minoru, a reserved and goth girl often accompanied by her friends, Natsu and Mori. Giving her the ball back, Nico would take out a magnifying glass and use it to closely examine the pair, realizing they were mutants too, much to their confusion.

Driving away unwanted attention

In June 2024, on a rainy day, Mei and Hisako talked after their final exam of the month to discuss Nico and if she could truly sense their powers. Due to having dinner duty, Hisako was unable to spend time with her that day and quickly left for home on her motorcycle. However, a crowd would find and gather around Hisako at the school entrance, who was visibly distressed, and take photos and videos of her and her manifesting powers. Mei would run to her and utilize her abilities to disable all phones in the vicinity, ensuring the safety of her friend. A few days later, Mei and Hisako were in class getting their exam results, when Hisako's phone buzzed revealing that someone had managed to upload footage of Hisako that was going viral.

Personality

In contrast to her more introverted and apprehensive friend, Hisako, Mei exhibited an optimistic and friendly demeanor. She demonstrated courage by fighting back against the shadowy entity rather than continuing to flee and viewed Ichiki's situation in a positive light, referring to her as a superhero.

Attributes

Powers

Mei employs her wind-manipulating abilities

Weather Manipulation: Much like her idol, Wind-Rider, Mei has the power to create and manipulate storms and its aspects:

• Wind Manipulation: Mei demonstrated the capacity to control the wind and utilize it offensively against enemies, specifically pushing them away through the generation of hurricane winds. She appears to be able to generate leaves in the process.
• Electricity Generation: Mei demonstrated the ability to generate electrical energy from her body, which she was able to direct through her hands to power an electrical doll.
• Rain Control: When her powers first manifested, Mei caused a rainfall inside her house.

Notes

• Maystorm was originally conceived for the New Champions variant cover program, a series of covers celebrating Spider-Boy by imagining hypothetical non-canon "forgotten" sidekicks for other Marvel characters. In Maystorm's case, she debuted in the New Champions variant cover for X-Men (Vol. 6) #27 and was conceptualized by artist Peach Momoko. However, Momoko really wanted to tell her story and decided to include her in Ultimate X-Men (Vol. 2).

Trivia

• Fittingly, Mei's family name, Igarashi, means "fifty storms".
• Mei appears to be a member of the Gyaru subculture, also known as Gal, which is a Japanese fashion subculture characterized by a nonconformist and rebellious attitude towards Japanese social and fashion norms. In particular, Mei appears to be a Kogyaru, also known as Kogal, which incorporates the high school uniform into the overall style.
• Mei's codename, Maystorm, comes from a spring storm that occurs in Japan from late April to May.
• Mei participated in the conflict between Jean Grey as the Phoenix Force and Nathaniel Essex as the Enigma, along with numerous other mutants throughout the Multiverse in astral form.
• Mei doesn't like Surge.
• Mei is the one came up with the idea of the name "Secret Society X-Men" because they all have bad grades, except for Nico.

See Also

• 25 appearance(s) of Mei Igarashi (Earth-6160)
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Mei Igarashi (Earth-6160)
• 1 mention(s) of Mei Igarashi (Earth-6160)
• 107 image(s) of Mei Igarashi (Earth-6160)
• 6 quotation(s) by or about Mei Igarashi (Earth-6160)