X-23: 5 Essential Stories To Read Before Seeing Logan

X-23 is a character with an interesting history. She belongs to the special club of comic book characters that debuted in other media, in X-23’s case the X-Men: Evolution animated television series.

X-23, a.k.a Laura Kinney then made her comic book debut in NYX #3 in 2004. Since then she’s become an integral part of the X-Men family, trained under the wing of her mentor and “father” Wolverine, joined the violent hit squad X-Force, and even spent some time hanging out with the Avengers.

Now she’s taken up the mantle of Wolverine and soon Laura will be making her big screen debut in Logan, the final Wolverine movie to star Hugh Jackman in the titular role.

This article is here to help fans looking to get to know Laura a little better. It covers Laura’s journey from birth all the way up to her earning the Wolverine name. Read these stories and you won’t be able to wait to see X-23 in Logan.

Logan opens in theaters March 3, 2017.

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Innocence Lost

X-23: Innocence Lost was X-23’s first time headlining a comic book. The six-issue limited series is written by X-23’s creators Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost and illustrated by Billy Tan and reveals X-23’s origin story.

X-23’s story begins at The Facility and offshoot of the Weapon Plus program that created Wolverine. The Facility wants to create a new Wolverine and attempt to accomplish the goal by cloning him. A brilliant scientist is brought on board to figure out how and decides to alter the sample to be a female. The catch is that she has to carry the clone to term herself.

She gives birth to X-23. Despite The Facility renting the child out as an assassin, Sarah manages to imbue Laura with humanity and a conscience, which leads to conflict with Sarah’s employers.

Target X

X-23: Target X is a direct sequel to X-23: Innocence Lost. Creators Chris Yost and Craig Kyle return, this time with artist Mike Choi.

X-23: Target X kicks off with a frame story. X-23 is being interrogated by Matt Murdock and Captain America, who keep asking if she’s X-23. She insists that she isn’t, not anymore, but says that she’s Laura Kinney.

X-23: Target X then goes on to tell of how Laura came to live with her “aunt” and “cousin” in San Francisco. But the past wasn’t done with her yet, and her happy family life couldn’t last.

X-23: Target X also shows Laura’s first confrontation with Wolverine.

X-23 (Vol. 3)

X-23 (Vol. 3) later down the road for X-23, after she was a student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in New X-Men and after she joined Wolverine’s kill squad in X-Force. The series is written by Marjorie Liu.

This series begins with X-23 trying to return to life with her former classmates on the island nation of Utopia, but her time with X-Force makes her peers nervous. The dreams of a demonic Wolverine trying to corrupt her don’t help either.

After a bizarre and violent occurrence, X-23 decides to leave Utopia. Her journey sees her teaming and crossing paths with several popular X-Men character including Gambit, Wolverine, Daken, and Mr. Sinister, all while coming into her own as a solo hero.

The Logan Legacy/Wolverines

After spending some time trapped in one of Arcade’s Murderworld scenarios, X-23 returned to the X-Men and joined the time-displaced original X-Men in the pages of All-New X-Men.

Then, in 2014, Marvel Comics did the unthinkable when they killed the unkillable Wolverine. The Logan Legacy sees X-23 and others close to Logan working through the grief and loss. Wolverines sees them trying to move on and figure out how to do right by their namesake.

This series shows Laura mourning for Logan, stepping out of his shadow, and realizes that she is worthy of carrying on the Wolverine name.

All-New Wolverine

The Marvel Universe got destroyed for a little while. Once it got better, Laura Kinney finally realized her destiny and became the All-New Wolverine in an ongoing series written by Tom Taylor.

As Wolverine, Laura still runs alongside the All-New X-Men and maintains a romantic relationship with Angel, but like her predecessor, she seems to find time for plenty of solo adventures as well.

This series introduced a new wrinkle into the X-23 mythology be revealing that Laura, the clone of Wolverine, has clones of her own.

Laura was born to be Wolverine. Almost literally. Logan left his legacy in good hands.