Warning: SPOILERS for X-Men #5
It’s official: X-23 is still Wolverine. Created by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost for an X-Men animation, Laura Kinney was introduced in NYX #3 as a female clone of Wolverine who had been brought up as a living weapon. Over the years, she’s developed into a complex and nuanced character in her own right, learning what it means to be human. She took on the name “Wolverine” in Logan’s honor after his death.
Of course, death is a revolving door in comics, and it was only a matter of time before Logan returned from the dead. That left Marvel faced with a difficult question; what do about Laura Kinney? Unfortunately, they decided to regress her character completely, and began marketing Laura as “X-23” again. That was a shocking step backwards for Laura, given “X-23” is not a codename; it’s essentially Laura’s “slave name,” given to her by her creators as part of an attempt to dehumanize her. In fact, Laura’s embracing the Wolverine identity was a symbolic rejection of her past, embracing the fact that she is now part of a family.
This week’s X-Men #5 confirms that, in-universe, Laura still considers herself a Wolverine. Laura is one of three mutants chosen for a mission into the Vault, a realm where time flows at an accelerated rate when compared to the real world. She’s hand-picked for the role because of her abilities, which should allow her to survive the time shear, and dons a new uniform - with a very distinctive mask. What’s more, when Cyclops makes the mistake of referring to Laura as X-23, she interrupts him. “Actually, I’m Wolverine,” she observes. Logan seems more than a little amused. “You tell ’em, kiddo,” he agrees. Frankly, both Wolverines feel as though they’re talking straight to the readers - and, perhaps, the editors as well.
Jonathan Hickman has received strong criticism for his character-work, but this is actually quite an impressive scene. It’s important to remember that all three X-Men involved - Cyclops and both Wolverines - have a lot of history behind them. Years ago, when Cyclops had led the X-Men on the mutant island of Utopia, he’d viewed Laura as nothing more than a weapon rather than a person in her own right. Indeed, that had caused Cyclops and Logan to come to blows on one occasion, foreshadowing their eventual split in Schism. That history adds additional context to this scene, because it can be interpreted as Cyclops unconsciously reverting to type, addressing Laura with her “slave name,” and being openly corrected. Notice the little smirk on Logan’s face.
In truth, there’s no reason there can’t be more than one Wolverine. After all, there are multiple Spider-Men at any one time, and nobody really thinks it’s difficult to differentiate between Peter Parker and Miles Morales. In this case, it’s absolutely clear Logan is more than happy to share his codename with Laura. So - we now have two Wolverines again!
X-Men #5 is on sale now in comic book stores.
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