X-23
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- For information on the experimental aircraft, see X-23 PRIME.
X-23 (Laura Kinney aka Laura X) is a fictional character from the X-Men: Evolution animated series. X-23 (stands for Experiment #23) is a clone of Wolverine.
X-23 then was in 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-23 also appears as a boss in the GBA version of X-Men: The Official Game.
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[edit] Character biography
[edit] X-Men Evolution
X-23 first appeared in episode number 41 (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, she 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. 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.
[edit] Comics
When a top-secret program attempted to recreate the original Weapon X experiment that involved the feral mutant Wolverine, they failed to secure a test subject that could survive the bonding of the virtually unbreakable metal Adamantium to their skeleton. Seeking to take the project in a new direction, the project's director, Doctor Martin Sutter, recruited renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney and tasked her with creating a clone. Using the only available genetic sample from Weapon X, which was damaged, they were unable to salvage the Y chromosome after 22 attempts. Kinney then proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied, she went ahead and produced a viable female subject. Her success prompted Sutter to reconsider. Sutter's protégé Doctor Zander Rice, whom he had raised after Rice's father was killed by a bestial Wolverine at the original Weapon X Project, was against it. Sutter finally allowed Kinney to proceed. As revenge for her insubordination, Rice forced Kinney to act as the surrogate mother for the clone. For 9 months Sarah's every move was monitored. Finally she gave birth to "X-23."
Raised in captivity, X-23 was trained to be a weapon. Her living conditions were austere. She was kept in a bare white room with no decoration or furniture. Her showers were given at the end of a cold fire hose, and usually by Dr. Rice. She was subjected to numerous horrible abuses and a lack of stimulation for anything other than fighting. Kinney did her best to ensure the child retained some semblance of humanity, but her efforts appeared to be in vain. She rarely spoke, or expressed much intrest in her mother, who was forced to reject any emotional advance X-23 made, such as laying her head in her mother's lap.
After seven years, Rice had X-23 subjected to radiation poisoning in order to accelerate the activation of her mutant gene, then forcibly extracted her claws and coated them with adamantium. Next, Rice created a chemical compound he called "trigger scent" that sent X-23 into an involuntary berserker rage upon smelling its presence. The test of this came when they put the trigger scent on a Katana, which forced X-23 to kill her Sensei, who had been one of the few people to treat her like a human.
X-23 "Target X" revealed that during the years she spent in the project, she was often subjected to exercises where she was to mimic Wolverine's moves, fighting multiple enemies in perfect sync with a hologram of him from his days in the Weapon X project. She was primarily trained by a handler named Kimura, a mutant who X-23 could not harm. She outperformed Wolverine at this test, and it was decided she was ready for the field, and her first assassination. She was 11 years old.
X-23 was sent on her first field mission to kill Presidential candidate Greg Johnson. Numerous other missions followed, as X-23's services were sold to the highest bidder, and she was left emotionally stunted as a result. Rice, in an attempt to avenge his father's murder, abandoned X-23 on a particularly dangerous mission, but she survived against overwhelming odds and managed to return to the facility.
Kinney proved herself little better than the others. When her sister Debbie called to tell her that Debbie's daughter Megan had been abducted by a serial killer Sarah promptly took X-23 from the facility without permission. She lead her to Debbies house, where X-23 climbed the wall to Megans room and picked up the scent of the killer and Megan. She tracked them back to the killers apartment. She was posing as a girl scout when she knocked on the door, then killed him and saved Megan. She took Megan downstairs where Sarah was waiting. Sarah injected her with a sedative, promising she wouldn't remember anything when she woke up. It would all be just a bad dream. Upon returning to the project, Sarah was fired by Sutter, and given until morning to leave the facility.
X-23's humanity showed for the firt time. She killed Sutter and his wife without hesitation, but their son Henry (Actually Rice's son from an extra-marital affair) she spared, cutting off the head of his doll and ordering him to run while she burned down his house. Satisfied, Rice took her back to the facility and ordered her not to breathe a word of her mission before putting her back in her cell. She never opened her mouth.
When Sarah finally finished her business and went to the cell, X-23 was there waiting. She showed Sarah what was in her mouth-- a picture of the Sutter family, half burnt around the edges. Sarah realized that her efforts to make X-23 human had succeeded. Rice revealed a chamber with dozens of incubation pods containing X-24 through X-50. Sarah began getting her affairs in order to leave, including writing a letter to her daughter. Rice took X-23 and left the facility first, with Sutter.
Before fleeing the facility with X-23, Kinney gave her one last mission; destroy the pods and kill Rice. She succeeded in this mission, killing everything that stood in her way. Rice exposed Kinney to the trigger scent, right before the massacre began however, allowing him to exact revenge on her from beyond the grave. The scent drove X-23 into a murderous rage that resulted in the death of her mother. As she lay dying, Kinney named X-23 Laura, and gave her the letters she'd written, as well as pictures of Xavier, Wolverine, and the Institute for Gifted Youngsters.
X-23 fled, having a final confrontation with Kimura, which she won by causing an avalanche. She went to San Francisco, tracking down Megan and Debbie, finding them when she was 14. She introduced herself as Sarah's daughter and moved in with them. Megan had begun having discipline problems and nightmares about the serial killer who had kidnapped her. She thought they were just that, nightmares. X-23 told Megan the truth about the man she was having nightmares about-- that he was real, and she had killed him.
X-23 surfaced in New York City two years later and was found living on the streets by a pimp named Zebra Daddy, who took her in and employed her as a prostitute. During her time as a prostitute, X-23 superficially cut herself with her own claws whenever she was in a threatening situation. She also seemed to suffer some personality issues which left her mostly mute and unable to free herself from the grip of Zebra Daddy. X-23 started to come to her senses after she met Kiden Nixon, a young mutant with the ability to freeze time when in danger, and together with Kiden's teacher, they rescued another young mutant, the feral Catiana, from an angry mob. Zebra Daddy tracked X-23 down, but with the aid of her newfound friends and the mutant named Felon, Zebra Daddy's thugs were defeated. X-23 then killed him to save the lives of her friends. 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 instinctually attacked Wolverine on sight, but he was eventually able to calm her down, and 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. She later returned to help the X-Men save victims of a car accident, after which she was enrolled at the X-Men's Xavier Institute.
X-23 quickly became very protective of Wolverine, observing him on the mansion's security moniters and even attacking his teammate Bishop after he felled Wolverine during a training session. At one point, during one of her sessions at the mansion's moniters, an anomalous energy spike prompted X-23 to investigate. She encountered Spider-Man at the source of the signal, mistaking for an enemy and attacking him. The pair ultimately teamed up to save the young mutant Paul Patterson from an alternate reality version of the armored Avenger Iron Man. The arrival of the heroic Captain America and the super-spy Black Widow helped turn the tide. X-23 then secretly followed Wolverine on his investigation of strange activity in the Canadian Rockies. Ambushed by the Hauk'ka, evolved Saurians from the Savage Land, X-23 managed to escape and alert the X-Men. Traveling to the Savage Land, X-23 and the X-Men teamed with the Savage Land's lord Ka-Zar and his circumstantial allies, the Savage Land Mutates, to prevent the Hauk'ka from destroying human civilization by controlling the weather-manipulating X-Man Storm.
Sometime later, X-23 was approached by the cosmic Uni-Power in hopes of making specific use of her healing ability. Although she initially resisted its attempts to bond with her, and she remained reluctant even though it pleaded with her. She ultimately agreed to aid it and became Captain Universe for a brief period of time.
After the events of House of M, X-23 was one of the few students who didn't lose their powers. The depowered students and staff were sent home; however their bus was bombed by anti-mutant religious zealot Reverend William Stryker. Subsequently, Emma Frost had the surviving students engage in an free-for-all brawl, with those deemed to be the best performers assigned to a new team of trainee X-Men. Despite Frost's attempts to omit her, X-23 was among those students who made the grade.
Shortly afterwards, following Stryker's attack on the depowered students, X-23 heard Dust talking to Icarus, who had fled the Mansion. Dust intended to meet Jay, but Laura told her it was a trap. She eventually had to knock out her roommate to keep her safe. Donning Dust's burkha X-23 came to Stryker's compound and was shot. After a few minutes spent healing and playing possum, Laura returned to the Mansion to help fend off Stryker and his goons.
The kids grew to be more receptive of Laura following her part in stopping Stryker's attack, in which she single-handedly killed three Purifiers who had incapacitated Surge, Hellion, and Emma Frost. Following that she started to bond with her friends, using her enhanced hearing to find out what happened to Icarus for them, learning that Stryker killed him.
After Surge received a distress call from Forge, X-23 followed the team along 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 however, and unable to heal herself. In order to save X-23, Julian Keller (Hellion) supercharged his telekinetic powers in order to rush her back to the mansion where she was healed by Elixir.
Laura has kept vigil over Julian while he recovers his strength.
Craig Kyle's 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. In Uncanny X-Men #450 - 451, X-23 and Wolverine were clearly introduced for the first time, with Wolverine telling X-23 his name was Logan, and expressing surprise that children were produced in the Weapon X program. However, in New X-Men #20 a prior relationship is indicated, with the two having known each other well before Uncanny X-Men #450. (Wolverine is aware of people who were close to X-23 in San Francisco.) In New X-Men, Wolverine's unfamiliarity with X-23 in Uncanny X-Men is explained by reference to an agreement between the two to conceal their relationship. Wolverine also 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 had never been to the mansion before. 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. (It's clear that these storytelling liberties were taken in order to establish X-23 as an addition to the New X-Men cast for new readers.)
[edit] Family
X-23 is a female 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.
[edit] 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-harm, cutting herself with her own claws, something she has done since a very young age. X-23 is a highly trained and skilled combatant; she is able to kill dozens of heavily armed opponents during a single encounter, and she does so with little emotion or remorse.
[edit] Alternate versions
In the Ultimate X-Men, 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.
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
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.
[edit] 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, Speedball and Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards's 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.
[edit] 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. Consequently, she possesses an increased healing factor. However, even though her healing factor is potentially greater than Wolverine's, her body is more fragile because she lacks his muscular build and adamantium skeleton.
X-23 received intensive training in ranged weapons, explosives, and both armed and unarmed martial arts. Her skills are so advanced that during the New X-Men's confrontation with the advanced sentinel code-named Nimrod, she was the only member of the team that the sentinel assessed as a severe threat.
[edit] External links
- MDP: X-23 - Marvel Database Project
- X23-Lunar Tears
- [1] - Orkut Community - X23 Fans ! Beauty & Dangerous!
- X-23 on the Marvel Universe Characeter Bio Wiki
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