As far as popularity and public recognizability, how can anyone argue that Storm has this one locked down several times over? Over my lifetime I've seen more people dressed as Storm (including Universal Studios cast members), more commercial appearances, more marketing of the black woman with white hair and certainly more Storm-centric episodes of various cartoon series over the years, to say nothing of a central role in a very popular movie trilogy, something no one else on the list has. Invisible Woman, for all her seniority doesn't have that. Bottom line: Marvel has been using Storm as their flagship female, whether they've claimed her or not. I'm very thankful they have, because she's a great character and deserves the spot... I don't think the Marvel Universe would be where it is without her.
Now someone said Ms. Marvel "feels iconic." - I ask "What the heck does that mean?" Marvel is pushing Ms. Marvel, that's clear... they want her to be their flagship female... that makes me wonder: "What's wrong with Storm being the flagship female like she has been?" -but it's their company, they are allowed to choose whatever by whatever standards they deem are worthy. They are legally allowed to be stupid.
The TV argument still doesn't hold. There have been more FF cartoon series than X-Men over the past three decades. There have also been as many Jean Grey toys as there have been of Storm.
On the second part, you made an incorrect assumption. Toy Biz's X-Men Evolution is just one of the many toy lines that had Storm action figures with NO Jean Grey action figures. On the first part, The X-Men cartoon series are (without exception) higher rated and last longer, giving them more exposure. Furthermore, they all have multiple storm-centric episodes. Contrarily, the short lived, critically panned, unpopular F4 cartoons do not have Sue-centric episodes (none that I've ever seen... have you seen one?) That's why the TV arguement still holds all the water in the world.
C'mon guys, they make Storm HALLOWEEN costumes... for kids! In the all-white pantsuit style... that's GOT to tell you how popular this character is... when have you ever seen a Jean Grey costume outside of a Comic book Convention? Or a IW costume NOT in the style of the movie?
That said, while IW has seniority, according her a degree of respect, and Ms. Marvel is Marvel's current flagship character, Storm has been the defacto Flagship female for YEARS, and is certainly the most recognizable, with IW a distant second (mostly because she has no outstanding visual characteristic other than her costume) and the others not even rating in the public conciousness. Seriously, ask your bus driver or teacher who Ms. Marvel is (or who the Avengers are for that matter)... then ask them who Storm is. You may have to give them a clue you're talking about superheroes, or they'll talk about the weather though.
Please, open your eyes. If being the flagship female is a question of recognizability (which is, y'know what FLAGSHIPS were used for) and branding and marketing, then there's no one on that list who can even think of holding a candle to Storm. No matter how much fanboys like them or how much their comic sells (Well, unless it sells tens of millions of copies).