According to established Marvel canon, Ororo Munroe is born in New York City as the child of Kenyan tribal princess N'Dare and American photographer David Munroe. When Ororo is six months old, she and her parents move to the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Five years later, during the Suez Crisis, a fighter jet crashes into her parents' house, killing them. Buried under tons of rubble, Ororo survives but is orphaned and left with intense claustrophobia. Her fear was once so intense that she was known to curl into a fetal position and approach a catatonic state. In late 2000s storylines, however, writers like Ed Brubaker and Christopher Yost have indicated that Storm had largely conquered her claustrophobia, and can freely move in tight spaces, even over long periods of time. After the death of her parents, Ororo wanders Cairo's back-alleys for a few weeks, until she is picked up by the benign street lord Achmed el-Gibar and becomes a prolific thief; among her victims is her future mentor Professor X who is there to meet the Shadow King. Following an inner urge, she wanders into the Serengeti as a teenager and meets T'Challa, who would become her future husband. Despite strong mutual feelings, the two part ways.