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| Gallery | |
 Real Name | Laura Kinney |
| Current Alias | X-23 |
| Aliases | Captain Universe, Laura X,[citation needed] Talon,[1] Samantha Fisk,[2] X[3] |
| Relatives |
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| Affiliation |
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| Base Of Operations | New Charles Xavier School for Mutants, near Roanoke, Alberta, Canada; formerly Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York; Avengers Compound, Utopia, San Francisco Bay, California; Graymalkin Industries, Marin Highlands, San Francisco, California; Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York; Mutant Town, Manhattan, New York City, New York; The Facility, Madripoor |
| Status | |
| Alignment | Good |
| Identity | Secret Identity |
| Citizenship | American |
| Marital Status | Single |
| Occupation | Adventurer, Student, former Assassin and Prostitute |
| Education | High School |
| Characteristics[6] | |
| Gender | Female (Female Clone of Male) |
| Height | 5' 1" |
| Weight | 110 lbs (50 kg) (100 lbs without adamantium claws) |
| Eyes | Green |
| Hair | Black (with blue and gold highlights) |
| Unusual Features | Eyes turn red when under the influence of "trigger scent" |
| Origin | |
| Origin | Mutant clone of Wolverine |
| Universe | Earth-616 |
| Place of Birth | The Facility, location unrevealed |
| Creators | Craig Kyle, Chris Yost |
| First Appearance | |
| NYX #3 | |
HistoryEdit
The Facility created me to be a weapon. Killing was all I knew. I
didn't know how to say "no." But if I ever did say no, they had a way to
make me kill. A chemical trigger. This is it. A lot of it. 
- -- X-23 src
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 who could survive the bonding process 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 twenty-two attempts. Kinney proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied, she still went ahead and produced a viable female subject, prompting Sutter to reconsider. Despite resistance from his protégé Doctor Zander Rice, whom Sutter had raised after Rice's father had been killed by a bestial Wolverine at the original Weapon X Project, Sutter allowed Kinney to proceed. As revenge for her insubordination, Rice forced Kinney to act as the surrogate mother for the clone, and she gave birth to "X-23".
Seven years later, raised in captivity X-23 was trained to be a weapon. Kinney did her best to ensure the child retained some semblance of humanity, but her efforts appeared to be in vain. 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" causes Laura to kill mercilessly anything in her path, and thus she murdered her best friend. 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.
Three years later, X-23 was sent on her first field mission to kill Presidential candidate Greg Johnson. She was assigned the mission as somewhat of an "advertising" ploy. Numerous other missions followed, as X-23's services were sold to the highest bidder. She was left emotionally stunted as a result. Her missions took her to locations all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Las Vegas, Japan, Colombia, the Congo, and many others. For one mission she was assigned to pose as the Kingpin's daughter and kill the ones who had captured her, bringing the head of their leader back. Rice, in an attempt to avenge his father's murder, abandoned X-23 on a particularly dangerous mission with A.I.M., but she survived against overwhelming odds and managed to return to the facility. After her return to the facility Kimura punished her for not coming back with Rice.
Sarah Kinney let her out once, not as an attempt to escape but instead to use X-23 to help her find Kinney's niece, Megan, who had been kidnapped. X-23 found and rescued her with ease. Ultimately, Rice persuaded Sutter to hand control of the program over to him, then secretly ordered X-23 to kill Sutter and his family. X-23 was able to kill Sutter and his wife but was unable to kill their son. Instead, she let him live. Later, Rice revealed to Kinney a chamber with dozens of incubation pods containing female clones before he fired her. Before fleeing the facility with X-23, Kinney gave her one last mission - destroy the pods and kill Rice. However, Rice was able to exact revenge on Kinney from beyond the grave, as he had earlier exposed her to the trigger scent, sending X-23 into a rage that caused her to kill her mother. As she lay dying, Kinney named X-23 "Laura".
X-23 traveled to San Francisco and tracked down Megan and Debbie (her mother's sister). Introducing herself as Sarah's daughter, she moved in with them. Although Megan experienced vivid nightmares of her abduction, her family believed these to be utter fantasies. X-23 informed Megan that the man in her nightmares was indeed real and that she had killed him.
Debbie's boyfriend turned out to be an agent for the Facility who had been instructed to manipulate X-23 into killing Megan and Debbie using the trigger scent. However, the agent fumbled the assignment and was killed by X-23. Facility agents stormed the house, led by Kimura. 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. After X-23 and Megan parted, X-23 decided to confront the man who made her creation possible -- Wolverine.
X-23 tracked Wolverine to Xavier's mansion and engaged him in a battle, defeating him via tactics and maneuverability. However, she did not kill him. Instead, she told him why she had come. Wolverine 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.
Laura teaming-up with Spider-Man
X-23 surfaced in New York 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. X-23 met Kiden Nixon, a young mutant with the ability to freeze time when in danger. 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 new-found friends and the mutant named Felon, Zebra Daddy's thugs were defeated. X-23 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 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. 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, attacking his teammate Bishop after he felled Wolverine during a training session. She also took to observing Wolverine on the mansion's security monitors. During one such viewing, an anomalous energy spike prompted X-23 to investigate. Encountering Spider-Man at the source of the signal, X-23 initially mistook him for an enemy and attacked. The pair ultimately teamed up to save the young mutant Paul Patterson from an alternate reality version of the armored Avenger Iron Man (Tony Stark). The arrival of the heroic Captain America and the super-spy Black Widow helped turn the tide.
X-23 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 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.
X-23 as Captain Universe
Mercury and X-23
New X-Men
After M-Day, X-23 was one of the few students who hadn't lost their powers. The depowered students and staff were sent home; however their bus was bombed by anti-mutant religious zealot Reverend William Stryker and his Purifiers. 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 burka 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 see it being attacked by Purifiers. Laura fought valiantly and helped fend off the intruders.
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. Subsequently, 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 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 X-23, Hellion 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.[1]
As Hellion recovered his strength, and found that his power levels had been massively enhanced, Laura kept watch over him.[7][8] Emma confronted Laura, asking her to leave the school because of the trigger scent. Their confrontation was cut short by Cessily coming to Laura's defense. Cessily pursued Laura, the two went out for coffee. However, the cafe was attacked by Kimura and her minions, who had come not to capture Laura, but Cessily.[8] Laura went back to the Xavier Institute where Hellion informed he was going with her to attack against the Facility. The two found a facility hideout where Laura interrogated a man at gun point. Julian was shocked when X-23 shot him in the head upon securing the information she needed. After an encounter with Kimura, the two found Cessily in liquid form, barely able to compose herself. They were attacked by Predators and saved by the combined forces of the X-Men and the New X-Men.
X-23 aided the X-Men in their fight against the Hulk. X-23 managed to knock over the Hulk and tore his eyes out. Eventually his eyes grew back, and he defeated X-23 by throwing her into a wall.[9]
X-23
X-Force
When Cyclops ordered Wolverine to assemble the new X-Force, X-23 was tossed into the mix. As they caught up to Cable, the Reavers attacked, and X-23 attacked Lady Deathstrike, seemingly killing her. At Muir Island, X-Force attacked the Marauders and Predator X. When Predator X swallowed Logan X-23 became angry and attacked, and Wolverine finally killed it. [10]During X-Force's raid on a Purifer base, Purifer leader Matthew Risman brought out a captive Wolfsbane at gunpoint. While Wolverine called for the team to stand down, X-23 activated a concealed detonator that set off a series of powerful explosives she had planted earlier without telling her teammates. The explosion brought most of the base down around them but Risman was able to escape with Rahne during the chaos.[11] When X-Force regrouped later, Wolverine admonished Laura for being so reckless with the lives of her teammates and for letting Rahne get kidnapped. During their battle against the Purifiers, X-23 was able to complete her mission from Cyclops by killing Risman.[12]
X-23 in her X-Force uniform.
Jerk!
Messiah War
X-23 later moved with the X-Men to San Francisco, where they were accepted as heroes by the mayor, having rejected the Fifty State Initiative. X-23 was roomed with Armor and Pixie. Laura left behind a towel covered with blood, which the latter brought to Emma Frost.X-23 was finally reunited with Kiden Nixon. Sadly this future version of Kiden was hooked up to several machines and was used as a generator in order to create a temporal anomaly that disrupted time travel technology, essentially trapping X-Force (which was lethal for them if they didn't return within 33.5 hours), Cable and Hope in that era. While X-23 agonized over killing Kiden or not (Kiden herself asked for death) the matter was taken out her hands when Domino shot and killed her. X-23, Domino and Proudstar were dispatched back in order to save Boom-Boom, however both Domino and Proudstar fell ill due to the time travel. Feeling grateful for saving her friend and ending her suffering, X-23 disabled the time travel devices on the other two and went back in time in order to save Boom-Boom herself. She arrived just in time to stop the Leper Queen before she could kill Boom Boom out of spite for X-Force not killing her. X-23 then collapsed in exhaustion. H.A.M.M.E.R. then stormed the building, giving medical care, while they took X-23 in for questioning.
She was taken back to the Facility. There Laura was reunited with Kimura, who sawed off her left arm. Agent Morales arrived and helped Laura to escape. The rest of X-Force arrived and took Laura and her severed claws home. Laura was able to regrow her arm, and, at her request, Dr. Nemesis replaced the regrown bone claws with her original adamantium claws.
Finding Herself
After the return of the so-called "Mutant Messiah", Laura began having nightmares of a demonic Wolverine. Cyclops suggestes she try volunteering at a nearby halfway house for depowered mutants. Laura blacked out, and found the building burning down around her. She was taken to a hospital, and believed she was responsible for the fire and the deaths of almost all the occupants. Wolverine (currently possessed by a demon) entered and attempted to convince Laura that she has no soul. She stabbed him just as Julian walked in. Following this, Laura decided to leave Utopia to go out and find herself so that she could be more than just a killer. Gambit tracks her down after taking an interest in her, believing that he can help her find herself.They first encounter Miss Sinister who convinces them to come with her to one of Mr. Sinister's hideouts where she has been taking care of several children that Mr. Sinister experimented on. Miss Sinister betrays them however and reveals that Mr. Sinister has been taking over her body and in order to evade death she attempts to move her consciousness into X-23's body. The process fails however and Gambit triggers the self-destruct sequence and escapes together with X-23. Their next journey takes them to Madripoor where they encounter Malcom Colcord who is trying to restart the Weapon X program, as well as Daken, Wolverine's son. Gambit, X-23 and Daken make an uneasy alliance despite Gambits better judgement and they manage to drive Colcord out.
They find out that Colcord has been developing the trigger scent that drives X-23 into a killing rage and has found a way to make it effect ordinary people. They follow the scents trace to Paris where they encounter Wolverine and newly turned vampire Jubilee. They all team up to find the scent and manage it but fail to find the person running things. X-23 also strikes up a new friendship with Jubilee. They next travel to New York where they encounter the Future Foundation. A demon king has escaped from his prison and due to her previous status as host of the Enigma Force X-23 is instrumental in re-imprisoning him.
Laura misadventures in babysitting
Avengers Academy
After the events of Fear Itself, Laura joined the Avengers Academy. Reptil, possessed by a future version of himself, made a comment to Hazmat, making her think that Laura was hitting on Mettle. She butts heads with Hazmat for quite some time until she proves herself to truly be on the Avengers' side. She chooses to stay with the Avengers after freeing her former X-Man peers to fight in the Avengers vs X-Men conflict. Right now she has been kidnapped by Arcade and the others in Avengers Academy.
Circle of Four
X-23 tracked down to Las Vegas the man who stole her blood, who turned out to be Blackheart, he cloned her and bonded the clones with symbiotes, creating Symbiote Warriors.Laura then made an alliance with Venom, Red Hulk (who was there chasing Venom) and Ghost Rider (who noticed the presence of Blackheart). Each four of them fought their Anthithesis until they were all finally killed. Laura killed the Symbiote warriors and then she moved to Blackheart who distracted her by telling her since he created her clones he knew if the clones had souls or not and she was herself a clone. Wanting to know if she had a soul or not she stopped, and Blackheart mockingly told her that she was in hell and she was suffering which meant she did have a soul. Then he seemingly killed her by throwing her into lava.[13] In Hell, Mephisto offered the heroes a new chance to live in exchange for defeating Blackheart. While X-23 found Blaze, the other three managed to get the Spirit of Vengeance, which had been trapped by Blackheart, and wanted to get it to Blaze, so he would become Ghost Rider again. During the battle, Red Hulk and Venom were thrown away by Blackheart, Flash gave the symbiote to Red Hulk and it bonded with him as well as the Spirit, thus becoming the new Ghost Rider.
Blackheart was defeated when Ghost Rider used a mirror which created Antitheses, being defeated by his. Meanwhile, X-23 and Flash were trying to help Johnny Blaze to return Hell from the dimensional portal and destroy it. When Las Vegas returned to normal, Red Hulk returned the symbiote to Flash and the Spirit of Vengeance to Alejandra. After the Secret Avengers arrived, X-23 left the scene.[14]
Avengers Arena
X-23 along with 15 other people were kidnapped by Arcade and transported to Murderworld. Arcade forces all 15 people including X-23 to take place in a game of kill all or be killed. Arcade has stated he will only allow 1 of the 16 to live.The games begin after Mettle sacrifices himself for Hazmat. As the groups separate Laura joins the remaining Avengers Academy students, which included Reptil, Hazmat, and Juston Seyfert. The group were then accidentally attacked by the female Deathlok named Rebecca Ryker who attacked Hazmat as a defense protocol.
X-23 attacking Hazmat.
Reptil begins to recover later on and informs both X-23 and Hazmat that it wasn't Chase but Deathlocket who attacked him. It wasn't too long after that Hazmat stepped on a switch to activate a trigger scent causing Laura to go feral and attempt to kill her team members. Hazmat and Reptil manage to escape, and left Laura on her own. She would later encounter Juston Seyfert once she regained her senses, and see that he was alive but in bad condition.
All-New X-Men
Following her rescue from Murderworld, Laura somehow ended up wandering the streets of Miami in an amnesiac state, where she was rescued from a Purifier attack by Kitty Pryde and the time-displaced original X-Men.[15] They returned her to Cyclops's base, where she panicked upon awakening inside a Weapon X facility and attempted to flee, the situation being exacerbated by confusion over seeing younger versions of Cylops, Jean, Iceman, Beast and Angel. The teenaged Scott managed to catch up with her and managed to calm her down after recognizing Cyclops's scent. Though still confused, her memories started to return. When the X-Men attacked the Purifiers, they were caught off guard by Jason Stryker and captured.[16] At the Purifier's base, X-23 was captured and tortured nearly to death repeatedly by the Purifiers with videos of Murderworld. The rest of the X-Men managed to escape, and found X-23. When Cyclops found Laura, she surprised himSeeing the stress she was under, Cyclops surprised her with a hug, explaining to the bemused X-23 that it looked like she needed one.Based on Laura's intelligence the team launched an attack against William Stryker, Jr., which failed catastrophically and the entire team was captured, though upon recognizing them as having come from the past, Stryker refrained from killing them to prevent damage to the timeline. Laura, however, he tortured by showing her the footage from Murderworld that Arcade released to the internet, including prominent imagery of her attacking the other kids in a trigger scent-induced rage. Seeing herself in this state, and the knowledge that the entire world has also seen it, finally broke her control, and when Cyclops broke free and rescued her, she threw herself into his arms for comfort.
X and the rest of the team returned to base following their escape from the Purifiers,[17] but they would have little time to relax. Laura was busy blowing off steam in the Danger Room under Kitty's supervision when the Shi'Ar, having learned that Jean Grey had returned, attacked and took her captive. Laura fought in her defense along with the rest of the team, but was neutralized, and the Shi'ar escaped to put Jean on trial for actions her elder self committed while in possession of the Phoenix Force.
The Guardians of the Galaxy arrived just as the Shi'Ar fled,[18] and the teams joined forces to bring her back. The Guardians' ship was attacked by a Shi'ar warship covering the kidnappers' withdrawal, and though Laura intended to join in the defense, Gamora declined her assistance, though praised her courage, leaving her and the rest of the X-Men to sit and wait. The arrival of Corsair and The Starjamers turned the tide of the battle,[19] and the teenaged Scott was stunned and overwhelmed to learn his father was still alive. As he went to digest this in private, Laura followed after him and, after a brief conversation, returned the hug he gave her when they first met, noting that he needed it.[20]
Upon arrival at the Shi'ar homeworld, Quill helped to formulate the plan of attack. X-23, knowing Jean's scent, volunteered to track her. However Gladiator, having anticipated their arrival, met them upon disembarking, and a fight between the combined forces of the X-Men, Shi'ar, and Starjammers against Gladiator's forces began, in which X-23 participated. Ultimately, the conflict was resolved by Jean herself, who had already escaped imprisonment[21] and manifested a new power combining her telekinesis and telepathy, and drawing upon the psychic energy of all those around her. Gladiator ultimately stood down, and Jean and the X-Men were permitted to depart.
Upon returning to Earth, Cyclops chose to remain with his father and departed the team, asking Laura to help keep an eye on his friends.[22] Distraught by his leaving, Laura decided to leave the team herself, with only the teenaged Warren realizing she was doing so. She rebuffed his attempt to convince her return, however, and continued on her way. Much to her surprise she ran into Cyclops, who claimed to have returned. However this turned out to be a ruse, and with her guard down Raze, who had disguised himself as Scott, easily overwhelmed and gutted her, before disguising himself as her in turn and infiltrating the X-Men's base.[23]
Laura herself, however, survived his attack and hurried back to find the X-Men under attack by the Future Brotherhood. Jean used her telepathy to mask Laura's presence, and enabled her to catch Xavier, Jr. off guard,[24] at which point she severely wounded him with her claws, breaking his control over the X-Men and enabling them to fight back. During the conflict it was discovered that Molly Hayes, Deadpool and Beast had been mentally controlled by Xavier, and that Xorna no longer existed. While Laura fought Raze to a standstill, Xavier attempted to flee, only to be captured.
In the aftermath of the battle, Warren invited Laura out on a date to unwind, to which she reluctantly agreed.[25] The pair ended up at a goth club where a night of dancing ended in a brawl when some of the club-goers took exception to Warren accidentally striking them with his wings. Laura might have killed one of the thugs during the fight when he grabbed her by the hair, but Warren was able to stop her. The pair took advantage of the opportunity to escape, and flew back to one of the Worthington family's retreats, where they spent some time talking. Laura found herself confused why Warren would be interested in her, but admitted she was enjoying herself. It is implied that the couple had sex.[26]
Upon returning to base the next morning (just in time to watch Cyclops, Emma Frost, and several others depart for the reading of Charles Xavier's will), Laura requested Warren be a gentleman and not discuss what happened the night before, and Warren, for his part, held up his end when questioned by Bobby, though Jean briefly confronted her about it, and encouraging her to pursue the relationship. Any such thoughts would have to wait, however, as Cerebra's detection of a new mutant convinced Jean that the team was ready to help them on their own.
The team took off and located her, but when confronted with the knowledge the girl panicked and opened a portal to another universe, stranding the team and scattering them.[27] X found herself turning up in the middle of a football field during a game and, after an altercation with the players led to a police chase, she made her way back to Canada,[28] where she met up with Warren who had ended up in the Savage Land. Warren's relief to see her safe was interrupted by the arrival of Jimmy Hudson (Earth-1610), who had tracked Warren after encountering him in Antarctica. Hudson revealed that in this universe, mutants were not a naturally evolution, but the result of genetic experimentation, and stunned Laura by announcing his father was Wolverine.[29]
The Logan Legacy
News of Logan's death reached Laura sometime after their return from Earth-1610. Angry and upset, and questioning her role in life now that the man she looked to most for guidance was gone, she departed the X-Men to do some soul-searching. Laura ended up in a nightclub blowing off steam and was in the midst of being propositioned (and mostly politely telling the John that though she did once sell her body, this was no longer the case) when the club was attacked by a gang of disaffected youths calling themselves the Happy Clams. Laura immediately sprung into action to fight them off, and her willingness to use lethal force put her temporarily at odds with another hero come to disrupt the attack named Chinook, who prevented her from killing the leader of the group. He did, however, help her escape the site of the battle once the police arrived and brought her to his safehouse, where he revealed he already knew who she was, and his own identity: former Alpha Flight member Colin Hume.Hume revealed that after being depowered during M-Day he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and decided he would rather continue fighting and making a difference. He tells her about the importance of colors and symbols, and how putting on his costume has meaning to people beyond just his actions. Laura then agreed to assist him in an attack on Pink Pearl, who was organizing the Clams. Afterwards she returned to the X-Men, revealing she had taken her talk with Hume to heart; in honor of Logan she had dyed the forelocks of her hair blue and gold, and remarked to Kitty that she not longer felt angry about Wolverine's death, just sad, but that she has also found a source of pride in their relationship.[30]
Sometime later Laura was captured at the orders of a mysterious masked individual who had also kidnapped Daken, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Mystique and Elixir. He revealed that Dr. Cornelius of the Weapon X project had captured them all at some point in the past and implanted several trigger words into them that would allow them to be controlled or killed at a word. Their captor offered to assist them in escaping Cornelius's control on condition that they assist him with a particular task which also concerned them greatly. If they refuse, he would use the trigger word to kill them.[31]
Powers and AbilitiesEdit
Powers
As a clone of Wolverine, X-23 possesses most of his mutant powers. However, since she is still in her teens, some of her powers aren't as developed as those of Wolverine.Regenerative Healing Factor: Like Wolverine, X-23's primary mutant power is an accelerated healing factor that enables her to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with far greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. She is capable of fully healing injuries resulting in massive tissue damage and blood loss such as multiple bullet wounds, slash wounds, and puncture wounds within a matter of minutes. Her healing factor is developed to such a degree, she is capable of reattaching severed limbs, such as a hand. She has also proven capable of regrowing an entire arm on her own (Elixer was incapacitated at the time).[32] Her healing factor may fluctuate with her psychological state as battle wounds tend to heal very quickly, but her self inflicted cuts appear to remain visible for some time.
- Foreign Chemical Immunity: X-23's natural healing also affords her the virtual immunity to poisons and most drugs. She can be affected by some drugs, such as tranquilizers, if she is exposed to a massive dose.
- Disease Immunity: Due to her highly efficient immune system, X-23 is immune to all Earthly diseases and infections.
- Superhumanly Acute Senses: X-23 possesses superhumanly acute senses that are comparable to those of certain animals. She is capable of seeing at much greater distances, and with perfect clarity, than an ordinary human. She retains this same level of clarity in near-total darkness. Her sense of hearing is enhanced in a similar manner, allowing her to both hear sounds that ordinary human's can't and to hear sounds that ordinary humans can, but at much greater distances. X-23 is able to use her highly developed sense of smell to track targets by scent with an impressive degree of success, even if the scent has been eroded by natural factors, such as the weather.
- Superhuman Stamina: X-23's muscles produce considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the muscles of an ordinary human. She can exert herself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to impair her.
- Superhuman Agility: X-23's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
- Superhuman Reflexes: X-23's reflexes are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.
Longevity: Presumably, because X-23 is a clone of the mutant Wolverine, her healing factor will also provide her with an extended lifespan by slowing the effects of the aging process.
Superhuman Durability: She was capable of fighting the Hulk without sustaining any severe injuries[citation needed] and surviving energy blasts from Nimrod (even if she required healing and nearly died).[1]
Uni-Power: Laura has been occasionally seen wielding the powers of Captain Universe, and has the mark on her hand.
She has been classified as a severe threat by both the O*N*E[33] and Nimrod.[1]
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Abilities
Expert Covert Ops Training: Raised in captivity, due to her extensive training as a top-secret operative, X-23 has been trained to become a living weapon. She is highly trained in the use of long range weapons and explosives, and is an expert in assassination techniques.Expert Tracker: Due to her enhanced sense of smell, Laura is a dangerous tracker and has memorized many different scents.
Master Martial Artist: She is a master in hand to hand combatant, with intensive training in numerous armed and unarmed martial arts techniques do to her raise in the facility.
Master Acrobat: She is an Olympic class athlete, gymnast, acrobat and aerialist capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats.
Multilingual: Laura can speak fluent American English, French, and Japanese. She might be able to speak other languages.
Gifted Intellect:She possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams (e.g., threat assessment) and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations.
Strength level
- Peak Human Strength:
Because of her healing factor, X-23 can push her muscles, joints, and
ligaments to levels beyond the natural limits of a woman of her height,
weight, and build without sustaining injury. Unlike Wolverine, her
skeleton isn't laced with Adamantium. While her skeleton, much like her
musculature, can withstand greater pressures than a normal human
skeleton, she can only withstand so much weight and pressure without
sustaining fractures. While not superhuman, she is as physically strong
as an ordinary human can be and can lift about 800 lbs.
Weaknesses
Powerful Energy Blasts: Injuries such as being hit with blasts of energy from Nimrod that caused her to age can't be healed, if she had been hit with it again she most likely would have died.
ParaphernaliaEdit
Weapons
- Adamantium Claws: X-23's claws have been coated with the nigh-indestructible metal Adamantium. As a result, her claws are virtually unbreakable and are capable of cutting almost any substance, with the exceptions of Adamantium itself and Captain America's shield. Her ability to slice completely through a substance depends upon the amount of force she can exert and the thickness of the substance. Also, since the bones of her hands and wrists are not laced with Adamantium, it is likely that the reverberation of her claws could conceivably break her hands with significant force. Unlike Wolverine, the presence of Adamantium in her body is not sufficient enough to interfere with her bones' normal function of generating blood corpuscles, although it is as possible that some degree of her immune system is distracted by the presence of the foreign substance. Her claws can cut through the Hulk's skin and eyes.
NotesEdit
- X-23's watch-timer in her self-titled limited series was always set to 22 minutes.
- X23 was originally made for the television series "X-Men: Evolution" and first appeared in the comic NYX. This version had brown hair and a more tanned complexion.
- While under the Trigger scent influence, she is a mindless killer that destroys anything in her path.
- The choice of her name, Laura, was influenced by Logan.
- In the two page spread of X-23 #3, she kills people around the world, the times shown are Craig Kyle's friends' birthdays.
- Talon is Laura's official X-Men code name assigned when she joined the New X-Men, not the more commonly used X-23.
TriviaEdit
- X-23 is a cutter,[8] and has injured herself on a consistent basis using her claws from a young age. She was first seen engaging in the behavior after killing her sensei under the effects of the trigger scent.[35]
- Wolverine established when introducing her to the other X-child that she could kill all of them if she wanted to, so that they better not give her a reason to, however, that remains to be seen.[4]
- Laura has expressed friendship with her cousin Megan. She also is close with Cessily,[8] Hellion (who she has a crush on),[8] and a few of the other New X-Men, though her exterior makes it difficult to judge her true feelings to most of the team.
- During her time with the X-Men, Shadowcat, Marvel Girl and Psylocke counted her as a friend.[citation needed]
- X-23 is highly protective of Wolverine and sees him as a brother/father figure.[citation needed]
- Her healing factor can go faster than that of Wolverine's due to the lack of Adamantium in her body, but since she is so young it fluctuates to the point that it becomes slower more often than faster.
- An alternate version of Deadpool has stated to Laura that in his past (possibly her future) there was an X-29 who was much funnier. This can be an alternate version of her or another clone. Soon after there was a story arc with the Facility attempting to clone X-23. Of course, this could also be Deadpool just messing with her since one never knows when he is being serious or not.
- In X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #1 it's stated: Laura Kinney, professional hard-case with zero patience, thinks bananas smell like Nail Polish Remover.
Clone Or Not
X-23's "Cloning Process" . . ."While Technically it would not be a clone, for all intents and purposes, it would be a genetic twin." (Sara Kinney)[citation needed]
Extracting/Obtaining the damage DNA. Reassembling/Reconstructing DNA's hereditary information (Genome) and the X chromosome using a protein base biotechnology and phylogenetic inference method. Repairing is accomplished by surveying the DNA for any unwanted modifications (damage) once found enzymes are cut into the DNA to remove the damaged DNA. Rebuilding this is accomplished by proteins called DNA polymerases, and there are several kinds of these in each cell. Since the DNA damage is in one strand at a time, the other strand has the information required to copy itself. After the DNA synthesis, there is a ligation process in which the gaps in the DNA are sealed and a new, intact double helix is formed. Replacing the nuclei of the Ovarian Egg with the restored genetic material of Wolverine. At this point, the egg of the host is considered fertilized. The embryo is then transferred into the womb of Sara for gestation. By a process of maternal inheritance the baby will develop traits of the carrier (mother) through mitochondrial DNA in the Uterus. The baby will also have identical genetics to Wolverine.
