After Wolverine’s death, Logan’s clone daughter Laura Kinney went through a transformation. She left behind her old moniker X-23, a serial number applied by those who created and tried to control her, and took on the mantle of her fallen mentor. Recently, she returned to the name X-23. Now we know why.
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Spoilers for X-23 #3 by Mariko Tamaki, Juann Cabal, and Nolan Woodard follow.
X-23 was so named by her creators because she was the 23rd clone of Wolverine. She recently learned that the cloners didn’t stop there — they went on to clone Laura as well, creating more young women that Laura considers her sisters.
Laura has especially bonded with Gabby, the youngest of her clones. Gabby has become a hero in her own right, stepping into the role of Honey Badger, Laura’s sidekick.
Laura’s isn’t the only family of clones related to the X-Men. The Stepford Cuckoos were five clones of the telepathic White Queen, Emma Frost. Together, they formed the psychic hive-mind known as the Five-in-One, then one of them died and they became the Four-in-One. Another died and they then became the Three-in-One.
The remaining sisters — Celeste, Mindee, and Phoebe — decided to try to fix that. As X-23 begins, the Cuckoos have dug up their deceased sisters, Sophie and Esme. Sophie doesn’t last long as Esme saps what little life she has so that one of them can survive.
The Cuckoos also kidnapped one of the geneticists who worked on X-23. At first, their plan is unclear. Esme is technically alive, but her body is still in a decomposed state. When the Cuckoos kidnap Honey Badger, X-23 is forced to interrogate the geneticist.
During the interrogation, Laura reveals the reason she went back to calling herself X-23. It is because she’s made it her mission to stop anyone else from going through what she went through as a child.
“I took an oath to make sure nothing like what my sisters and I went through happens again,” Laura tells the geneticist. “I took a name I hate…so you know your end, the end of this work, came at the hands of your creation.”
It seems Laura wanted to make sure the sense of poetic justice was not lost on those who she is fighting against.
X-23 also learns that the geneticist developed technology that would allow someone to transplant a person’s psyche into the body of a clone. Clones modeled on X-23 work best. Now Laura has to hurry to stop the Cuckoos from imprinting Esme over Gabby.
What do you think of Laura’s reasons for returning to the X-23 name? Let us know in the comments!
X-23 #3 is on sale now.
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
