X-23
X-23 is a female comic clone character who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
X-23 was female Mutant who was part of top-secret program designed to recreate the original Weapon X experiment that produced Wolverine. The original Experiment X broke free where he broke through the killing everyone in the facility with one of the scientists named Dr. Dale Rice attempting to escape with a sample of the test subjects genetic material. However, Dr. Rice was mortally killed by the test subject and the DNA sample was damaged though was still recovered by Martin Sutter. Dr. Sutter later formed a new project where he sought to recreate Experiment X with this occurring many years later. Dr. Zander Rice was one of the scientists in charge of the project but repeated failures saw Sutter bring in noted and renowned geneticist Dr. Sarah Kinney. She was tasked with creating a clone but upon analysis of the available genetic sample it was found that they damage had resulted in them unable to salvage the Y chromosome after twenty-two attempts. Kinney then proposed a new solution whereby they instead decided to create a female genetic twin as a way of circumventing this problem but her request was denied by the project leader. Ultimately, Sutter and Rice refused to let Dr. Kinney pursue the female specimen, but she did so anyway. She continued to work on a solution for the male specimen, while conducting secret trials on a female clone. Her twenty-third attempt to create a viable female embryo proved successful and she presented her results to Sutter and Rice. Rice was enraged but, when faced with the choice between a viable female subject now or a viable male subject in a decade, Dr. Sutter chose to approve Sarah's plan. As revenge for Sarah's constant undermining of his authority, Zander chose her to serve as the child's surrogate mother. He threatened to shut her project down completely if she did not agree. Dr. Kinney was now a living part of the project, subject to Dr. Rice's constant poking and prodding. Every aspect of her life was regulated by a team of nutritionists, psychologists and military strategists hired by the Facility to forge this unborn child into the ultimate weapon. However, Dr. Kinney's rebellious nature remained. When she was supposed to be reading The Art of War to the unborn X-23, she would sneak in snippets of Pinocchio. Nine months later, Sarah Kinney gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Even at birth, her mutation was apparent. Two tiny claws could be seen protruding from between her knuckles. (X-23 v1 #1)
X-23 was raised with one goal in mind: to forge her into a deadly weapon. She was kept in a colorless and sterile environment and schooled in disciplines and skillsets that would aid her in becoming a lethal tool for the Facility. In addition to martial arts and weapon training, she was taught a broad variety of languages and other skills that might prove useful during her future missions. Dr. Sarah Kinney was allowed to stay on at the Facility, though her role was severely diminished. She was allowed to have limited, supervised contact with X-23, only because it was believed this would assist in X-23's development and strengthen the program's control over her through her "mother." Control was paramount and efforts were made to prevent X-23 from developing a sense of self. She was never treated as a child, only as a weapon. By age seven, she was in peak physical condition and training in combat with a sensei named Tanaka. Despite strict orders, Sarah secretly continued to read Pinocchio to X-23 when she could. Similarly, Tanaka could not help but take pride in his new pupil's accomplishments and showed her both encouragement and kindness. When X-23 was seven years old, Dr. Rice began efforts to create a "trigger scent" as a means of sending X-23 into a berserker rage on command. By the time she was eight, Rice was ready to test this chemical trigger. X-23 was regularly tortured using near drowning and electro-shock in conjunction with the specially designed scent. Zander Rice took extreme pleasure in seeing the clone of the mutant who killed his father demeaned and subjected to unbearable pain. This conditioning lasted for three years, at which time a physical motivator was no longer needed to reinforce the effect of the trigger scent. A single whiff of this compound would send X-23 into a blind, murderous rage. (X-23: Target X v1 #3)
After seven years, Rice had X-23 subjected to radiation poisoning in order to accelerate the activation of her mutant gene, and forcibly extracted her claws and coated them with Adamantium. After Rice realized the child was growing soft, he blamed her sensei, one of the few people who treated her with kindness, and tested a chemical compound called 'trigger scent' on him. The 'trigger scent' caused Laura to kill mercilessly anything in her path, and thus she murdered her best friend. (X-23 v1 #2) Rice already had a replacement in the wings, a woman named Kimura. Kimura was harsh and strictly punished X-23 for the death of her sensei. (X-23: Target X v1 #4)
X-23 managed to get Megan and Debbie to safety by handcuffing Kimura to a radiator and then triggering an explosion in the house, buying some time. Later, Laura provided Debbie and Megan with instructions to escape and assume new identities (originally meant to be used by Laura and her mother) though confessed that she would not be able to see them again. After Laura and Megan parted, Laura decided to confront the man who made her creation possible -- Wolverine. (X-23: Target X v1 #5)
X-23
X-23 tracked Wolverine to Xavier's mansion. One day after Logan left the grounds, Laura confronted him, coming face-to-face with her biological father for the first time. She engaged him in a battle, defeating him via tactics and maneuverability, after which she told him she had come to kill him and then herself so no more mutant weapons like herself could be created. Logan told her she could kill him if she wanted to, but he wouldn't let her kill herself. He also revealed that he was aware of X-23's ordeal, having received a detailed letter from her mother. The talk was interrupted when Captain America came to arrest Laura. (X-23: Target X v1 #6)
X-23 later took a job at the mutant-themed Wannabee's nightclub in the Mutant Town district of New York. It was there that she saved the life of the daughter of mob boss Don Parisi from a gang of thugs, whom she killed. The deaths inadvertently implicated Wolverine, prompting his teammates in the X-Men to investigate. X-23 instinctively attacked Wolverine on sight, but he was eventually able to calm her down. She led the X-Men to Parisi's daughter. After aiding the X-Men against Parisi's super-strong mutant enforcer Geech, X-23 fled the scene. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #451)
X-Men
X-23 later took a job at the mutant-themed Wannabee's nightclub in the Mutant Town district of New York. It was there that she saved the life of the daughter of mob boss Don Parisi from a gang of thugs, whom she killed. The deaths inadvertently implicated Wolverine, prompting his teammates in the X-Men to investigate. X-23 instinctively attacked Wolverine on sight, but he was eventually able to calm her down. She led the X-Men to Parisi's daughter. After aiding the X-Men against Parisi's super-strong mutant enforcer Geech, X-23 fled the scene. (New X-Men v2 #23)
After Surge received a distress call from Forge, X-23 followed the team to Dallas to rescue him from the sentinel Nimrod. At the height of the desperate battle she managed to cut through to the interior of the machine with her claws, allowing the sentinel to be defeated. She was mortally wounded during the battle by Nimrod's energy blasts and was unable to heal herself. In order to save her, Julian supercharged his telekinetic powers thanks to Emma Frost's telepathic unlocking in order to rush her back to the Mansion where she was healed by Elixir. (New X-Men v2 #31)
All-New Wolverine
She discovered that Alchemax Genetics had used her genetic material to create four clones of herself to serve as operatives but they went rogue. These clones lacked the healing factor or claws of X-23 but retained he sense of smell and had her training. Due to the perceived threat, the new Wolverine worked to stop them from harming more innocents. (All-New Wolverine v1 #2)
Laura and Gabby began operating in tracking down weapon sales of Mutant genetic material that was being used to create living weapons with Logan's DNA being distributed in this black market. (X-23 v4 #1)
House of X
After Krakoa was declared a sovereign nation, the living island was declared to be a homeland for all Mutants who were invited to reside on its surface. Laura came to be among those who accepted the offer and she relocated to the new country alongside the other X-Men. (Fallen Angels v2 #1)
She joined the new X-Men team which came to reside from their headquarters called the Treehouse which was situated in New York City. Their first mission involved combating an extraterrestrial mech that had crashed into the city and attempted to kill everyone. The X-Men at first struggled in defeating their foe but then formed their own mecha that defeated it with their efforts leading to them being hailed as heroes. (X-Men v6 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
At one point, she operated under the assumed alias of Samantha Fisk. (X-23: Target X v1 #3)
She never talked nor celebrated her birthday with her stating that it was a biological marker and did not matter in her life. (X-23 v4 #1)
Powers and abilities
Notes
- X-23 was created by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost where she was an original cartoon creation made for X-Men: Evolution where she made her first appearance in the episode "X-23".
- The character was adapted for Marvel Comics where she first appeared in NYX v1 #3 (2004).
Alternate Versions
- In Mutant X v1 #28 (2001), another version of her appeared as Mari Logan who was the daughter of Wolverine and Mariko Yashida and also had a brother named Brian Logan.
- In X-Men: Age of Apocalypse v1 (2005), a version of X-23 was shown as Kirika Yashida who was the biological daughter of Logan and Mariko Yashida in the Age of Apocalypse.
- In All-New Wolverine v1 #33 (2018), an alternate version of Laura Kinney referred to as Old Woman Laura was shown that was set several years in a possible future. This version was crowned as the new Queen of Madripoor with her having a romance with Julian and she came to share the mantle of Wolverine with Honey Badger. She had participated in the Doom World War and at some point afterwards she came to learn that a flawed nature of the cloning that created her led to her suffering from a genetic disease that was slowly killing her. This led to her deciding to accomplish one final mission which was recovering her clone sister Bellona with Gabrielle accompanying her.
In other media
Television
- In X-Men: Evolution, the character was first created where she debuted in the episode "X-23" and was voiced by actor Andrea Libman but in "Target X" she was voiced by actor Britt Irvin. She was created by scientist Dr. Deborah Risman who after learning of Wolverine's creation by the Weapon X project started an attempt to clone him for Hydra. Risman failed 22 times but the 23rd was a success in the effort to create the perfect soldier. Similar to her progenitor, X-23 as she was named had two retractable claws on each hand and another single one in each foot. X-23 was denied any normal life as a child and instead lived a lonely life leading to violence. She was placed under observation across her entire life and had almost no companions with instead her time devoted to training to honing her skills. By the time she was 12, her entire skeleton was infused with Adamantium.
- In Wolverine and the X-Men, X-23 made an appearance in the episode "Stolen Lives" where she had no speaking lines but in latter episodes was voiced by Tara Strong. She was shown to be a clone created by Professor Thornton of the Weapon X program who made her from Wolverine's genetic material and infused Adamantium claws into her. He brought her with him to the Canada branch of Weapon X but was forced to evacuate when Wolverine had discovered the base. After seeing the girl, Wolverine asked the Professor what he had done and he simply said that he had ensured Logan's legacy.
Films
- In Hulk vs. Wolverine, X-23 made an appearance in a cameo role but was not named nor had any speaking lines. She was shown as an infant alongside hundreds of clones at the Weapon X research facility.
- In Logan, X-23 or Laura appeared in the live-action film where she was portrayed by actor Dafne Keen. She was created by the corporation Alkali-Transigen as part of their weapon development program where they used genetic material from Logan to make her. Laura inherited Logan's bone claws and advanced healing ability where she was raised alongside several Mutant children until she was 11 years old. At that point, Transigen decided to terminate their experiments after the creation of X-24 with a nurse named Gabriella alongside other employees freed the children. Gabriella fled with Laura seeking to take her to safety at a rumoured Mutant sanctuary in Canada called Eden.
Video games
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, X-23 appeared as a character in the Facebook video game with her having a Dossier entry given to her.
- In Marvel Heroes, X-23 appeared in the MMORPG where she was voiced by actor Tara Strong. One of her alternate costumes included the All-New Wolverine.
- In Marvel: Contest of Champions, X-23 was introduced as a playable character and dressed in her Wolverine costume.
Appearances
- NYX v1: (2004)
- X-23 v1:
- X-Force:
- Wolverines v1:
- All-New Wolverine v1:
- X-Men: Red v1:
- X-23 v4:
- Fallen Angels v2:
- X-Men v6: (2021)
External Links
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