Merge:X-23

X-23 is a character from the X-Men: Evolution animated series. X-23 (stands for Experiment #23) is a clone of Wolverine.

X-23 debuted in the Marvel Comics Series NYX in 2004. The character, much like the character Harley Quinn of DC Comics or Marvel's own Firestar, is one of a select few characters that originally was created for an animated series, then brought into the comics.

X-23 was created by Craig Kyle. He and Chris Yost wrote the two episodes of X-Men: Evolution that X-23 appeared in ("X-23" and "Target X") as well as the comic book miniseries that details X-23's origin.

X-Men Evolution


X-23 first appeared in episode number 40 (titled "X-23"), where she was voiced by Brittney Irvin.

Wolverine discovered through S.H.I.E.L.D. that Dr. Deborah Risman, working for Hydra, had created a female clone of him. The clone possessed two retractable claws in each hand (instead of three like Wolverine) and one similarly retractable claw in each foot (something Wolverine lacks). The clone was identified only by the codename X-23 - the first success after 22 failures.

Denied the life of a normal child, X-23 was lonely. She had almost no companions and had been under observation her entire life. She had to spend most of her time training to hone her skills.

Angry, X-23 decided to get revenge on Wolverine. She invaded the X-Men's mansion looking for him, and when she ran into the other X-Men was able to defeat them through stealth with little trouble. When Wolverine confronted her he felt sorry for the girl, so instead of turning her over to S.H.I.E.L.D. like Nick Fury wanted, he let her go.

Later, Wolverine would encounter her again, finding her on the run from Hydra's agents as well as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s. She allowed herself and Wolverine to be captured, with the intention of using this as a way into Hydra's mobile HQ. She succeeded in destroying the craft, faking her own death in the process.

In the final episode of Season Four, what appears to be an adult X-23 is briefly shown as a future member of the X-Men.

Comics


X-23 first appeared in NYX #3. She met the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #450. Her origin was detailed in X-23: Innocence Lost #1-6.

Dale Rice, a spy in the Weapon X project, was killed by Wolverine during his escape. Years later, Rice's son Zander used his father's briefcase full of stolen data, blood and tissue samples to recreate Weapon X. Zander and Dr. Sarah Kinney, a geneticist specializing in mutant genes, attempted to clone Wolverine. Twenty-two of their attempts were unsuccessful; the sample's Y chromosome was too severely damaged to create a viable clone, and the embryos resulting from the procedure perished before reaching the first month of development. To circumvent this problem, Kinney simply doubled the X chromosome, meaning the successful clone would be female. In addition, Rice coerced Kinney into serving as the surrogate mother to a successful birth.

Innocence Lost takes an in depth look into X-23's childhood, specifically her harsh upbringing. X-23 lived as a prisoner, was trained as a weapon, and had minimal interactions with anyone other than her surrogate mother. Though Dr. Kinney originally believed that her involvement in the X-23 project could be objective and clinical, the reality of giving birth to "the weapon" in question engendered maternal feelings that interfered with her ability to participate in X-23's training. For example, Dr. Kinney's tasks included reading to the young clone from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, but Kinney would instead surreptitiously read to X-23 from Pinocchio, a tale with special meaning for X-23, given her circumstances.

For several years X-23 was tormented by Zander Rice, who secretly desired (and in the end, plotted) her downfall in a misguided attempt to avenge the death of his father. Kinney's maternal feeliings for X-23 eventually led her to facilitate X-23's escape from the Weapon X facility. Assisted by Kinney, and possessing mutant abilities and heightened fighting skills, X-23 succeeded in dispatching Rice and escaping the facility. However, as one of his final cruel acts, Rice planted the trigger scent on Kinney, with predictable and tragic results.

In NYX it's revealed that after escaping from the Weapon X facility, X-23 eventually came to live on the streets of New York, prostituting herself for a pimp called Zebra Daddy; she specialized in clients interested in mutilation. (She also practices self-mutilation here, as she did in Innocence Lost.) Eventually, a regular john killed himself in her presence. She was discovered by teenage precog Kiden Nixon and Kiden's teacher Cameron Palmer. The two took a non-communicative X-23 to a restaurant; they soon found that Zebra Daddy was onto them when they discovered that Cameron's apartment had been destroyed. Finally, Zebra Daddy was revealed to be the man who had murdered Kiden's father several years earlier. (Though dead, he has been appearing to Kiden, and guiding her actions throughout the series.) It was through his suggestions that Kiden, X-23 and another teenage mutant named Tatiana Caban banded together. X-23 shows her true Weapon X self in the last issue, when she dispatches the murderer Zebra Daddy (and his entire gang of thugs) in order to save the others.



Sometime later, X-23 turned up in the in two other X-titles, without her friends. In Uncanny X-Men #450 - 451, she was accused of the murders of four humans that were investigated by Wolverine and his fellow X-Men. (While she was responsible for the murders, she committed them because the victims were brutally attacking a young woman.) After a brief conflict with the mutant heroes, during which Wolverine introduced himself and noted X-23's resemblance to him, X-23 fled the scene. Later, in X-Men #165, she came to live at the Xavier Institute, and was assigned a room with Shadowcat and Rachel Summers.

Later, in Uncanny X-Men #455 - 459, X-23 developed an affinity for keeping an eye on Wolverine from a distance, becoming increasingly hostile to anyone who put him in harm's way. Which lead to such extremes as accessing areas off-limits to her, attacking X-Men in simple training exercises, and stowing away on missions to assure his safety. Not long after, in Marvel Team-Up (v3) #04 - 05, X-23 wanting to prove herself to the X-Men, went after a rogue mutant whom they considered nothing more than a blip on the radar. She ended up in a battle with various heroes, and an evil alternate universe Iron Man. Which ended with the mutant in question "escaping", thus ultimately proving her attempt futile.

Apparently not long after these events she departed from the Xavier Insitute, presumabely due to all the rules and restrictions the X-Men imposed upon her. In Captain Universe/X-23, X-23 is empowered and enlisted by The Uni-Power to help destroy vital information that A.I.M. has gathered on the Uni-Power over the years. She agrees and reluctantly teams up with Carmilla Black, the second Scorpion and a Secret Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to infiltrate an A.I.M. Hideout on the outskirts of New York City where the information is being withheld. However the Scorpion has her own agenda, which is to capture that information so S.H.I.E.L.D. can use it and The Uni-Power for themselves. But X-23 destroys the information and is allowed to escape. The Uni-Power leaves her body, thanks her for her deeds and sets out to find a cure for it's condition.

With the aftermath of the House of M (and the event known as 'M-Day' or the Decimation), X-23 became one of the revamped New X-Men, at the same time the writing reins were passed on to Chris Yost and Craig Kyle at issue number 20.

In Yost and Kyle's debut issue of New X-Men, the events of House of M were immediately addressed, with the mass mutant-depowerings causing hysteria and panic amongst the X-Men trainees. However, X-23 was absent from the mansion. Instead, X-23 was shown in San Francisco, which is where Dr. Sarah Kinney's sister and niece reside. X-23 was brooding on a pier when her cellular phone rang, with Wolverine being the caller. During the conversation, Laura claimed to miss "them" and to claim that "she" was her only friend. The identity of these parties remains unrevealed. Possibilities are either Tatiana and Kiden or maybe X-23's aunt and cousin. Wolverine sympathized, apparently knowing of whom X-23 spoke. He then referred to the "deal" X-23 had made with him; a matter so private between them that he had pretended not to have previously encountered her during Laura's confrontation with the X-Men (even going so far as to permit her to injure him). Wolverine stated that X-23's departure from the Xavier institute was a violation of their pact, and that X-23 was to return to the mansion immediately. (Laura's departure from the Xavier Mansion was not depicted in any comic book.) In his opinion, the sudden minority status of mutantkind had put a solitary X-23 at risk; in addition, the children at the institute were now in need of her particular skills.

In New X-Men #21, Wolverine introduced X-23 to the young mutants of the Xavier Institute as his sister and clone. Emma Frost was adamantly opposed to X-23's presence, but she was overruled by Scott Summers (Cyclops). In New X-Men #22, X-23 fought in a holographic training session alongside various young mutants, during which she rescued an unappreciative Hellion twice. In New X-Men #23, Emma instituted a combat exercise from which the most capable students would be selected to be trained as full X-Men, while the rest would be placed on the "sidelines." Emma ordered Hellion to incapacitate X-23 during the exercise, and proceeded to telepathically immobilize X-23 in order to ease Hellion's attack. However, Hellion, remembering X-23's actions in the previous issue, instead saved X-23 from an attack by Onyxx.

Following the exercise, Surge, Dust, Elixir, Hellion, Rockslide, and Mercury were chosen as the six youths who would be trained as full X-Men. Scott Summers stepped in and insisted that X-23 be included as the seventh member. In retaliation for Hellion standing by X-23 in battle, Emma made Surge the team leader. Laura is roommates with Dust. X-23 saved Sooraya's life when she knocked her out and took her place in an ambush meant for her. Icarus had been a pawn in Reverand William Stryker's plot to eliminate key mutants that will influence the future. Laura took her place and Nimrod forced a vision of the future showing Sooraya dead. X-23 then killed the purifiers at the Reverend's church and rushed back to the manor to rescue Emma Frost and her teammates.

Family
X-23 is the clone of Wolverine and the daughter of Sarah Kinney. Sarah Kinney was a geneticist hired by the Weapon X program to create a viable clone, and though she didn't know it, carrying the child would be part of the deal. Years later, X-23 accidentally killed Sarah after sniffing the trigger scent (which Zander Rice had planted upon Kinney). Now orphaned and needing help, X-23 sought out Wolverine. X-23 also apparently keeps in contact with Sarah's sister and niece.

Personality
Upon initially encountering her, X-23 might be mistaken for a typical young woman, calm and quiet, (with the DNA of Wolverine). However, as her character evolved, she has become somewhat darker and more complex. X-23 is very taciturn, rarely uttering more than five words at a time. She also engages in self-mutilation, cutting herself with her own claws (something she has done from a very young age. Interestingly, these  x-shaped scars seem to remain, despite her healing factor.)  X-23 is a perfect weapon; she is able to kill dozens of heavily armed opponents during a single encounter, and she does so with little emotion or remorse.

Alternate versions
In the 2005 miniseries X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, a version of X-23 was revealed to exist in the Age of Apocalypse, going by the name Kirika. She was found in one of Mr. Sinister's labs after it was liberated by Magneto. At the end of the miniseries, it was revealed that she was the daughter of Weapon X (Wolverine) and Mariko Yashida. Unlike her Earth-616 counterpart, she has three claws on her hands; the metal was grafted on by Magneto.

In Ultimate Marvel, Dr. Cornelius obtains a sample of Wolverine with the intention of creating a clone, making it a possibility that X23 will make an appearance in the title.

Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
X-23 features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including X-23, Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, Gravity, Sleepwalker and Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.

It's revealed Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok, and during this time X-23 sparks a relationship with Gravity. They defeat Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time-travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisified with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine".

Note that due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.

Powers and abilities

 * See also: Healing factor

Since she is a female clone created from Wolverine's genetic material, X-23's mutant powers are quite similar to his. Noted differences are the number of hand claws (she has two to Wolverine's three) and X-23's foot claws (which he lacks entirely). These claws were brutally extracted by Zander Rice, sharpened, coated with adamantium, and reinserted into her body. X-23 escaped before the procedure to fuse her entire skeleton with adamantium could be performed.

Since she escaped before her entire skeleton was covered with the toxic adamantium, X-23 possesses an increased healing factor. However, even though her healing factor is potentialy greater then Wolverine's, her body is more fragile than his because she lacks his muscular build and adamantium skeleton.

X-23 received intensive training in ranged weapons, explosives and charges, and both armed and unarmed martial arts. Rice also developed a trigger scent, which, when placed on a target, caused X-23 to immediately and brutally kill that target (and pretty much anyone else in the vicinity).

Trivia

 * While probably a coincidence, "X-23" was the designation of an alien duplicate sent to earth in the 70s sitcom Soap in the form of character Burt Campbell.


 * In Wolverine #80 Expediter Zoe Culloden shows Logan a video clip about a Dr. Jaime Munoz, a molecular biogist doing research on grafting metal to bone, who had discovered a cache of adamantium in a federal storage depot along with 'tissue sample "Logan X" #23.'


 * Craig Kyle and Chris Yost's introductory issues on New X-Men, issues 20 - 21, contradict X-23's previous appearances in Uncanny X-Men and X-Men to some degree. In Uncanny X-Men #450 - 451, X-23 and Wolverine were plainly introduced for the first time, with Wolverine telling X-23 his name was Logan and expressing surprise at children being produced from the Weapon X program. However, dialogue in New X-Men #20 indicates a prior relationship, with the two having known each other well before Uncanny X-Men #450, and Wolverine knowing of people who were close to X-23 in San Francisco. The individual(s) remain unrevealed to readers at this time. In New X-Men, Wolverine's unfamiliarity with X-23 in Uncanny X-Men is rationalized by his referring to an agreement between himself and X-23 where he would conceal their existing relationship and X-23 would join the Xavier Institute.


 * In addition, Wolverine brought X-23 to the X-Mansion in X-Men #165, yet he introduces X-23 to the trainees in New X-Men #22 as though X-23 is new to the mansion and unfamiliar to most of them. While X-23 has never met the cast of New X-Men on panel, her presence in the mansion makes the lack of a previous meeting unlikely. These are likely storytelling liberties taken to establish X-23 as an addition to the New X-Men cast for new readers.


 * X-23's watch in her self-titled limited series was always set to 22 minutes.


 * Her name Laura is influenced by Logan.


 * In the two page spread in X-23 issue 3 where she kills around the world, the times shown are Craig Kyle's friends' birthdays.


 * X-23 also appears as a boss in the GBA version of X-Men: The Official Game