Next year, after 17 years and nine film appearances, Hugh Jackman will retire as Wolverine. His final film in the role, Logan, is set to premiere in March, and it depicts an older version of the character in a world where few mutants remain. But that doesn't mean it's the end of the road for Wolverine, necessarily, because the movie also introduces a new incarnation of the character: Laura Kinney, better known as X-23. So with the female Wolverine making her highly-anticipated debut in the movies, there are some great X-23 plots from the comics that could happen in future films.
For those who haven't followed comics over the past decade or so, you're probably wondering who X-23 is. She's a fairly recent character, and like DC's Harley Quinn, she actually made her first appearance on an animated TV show rather than in the comics. She showed up in a 2003 episode of X-Men: Evolution before making her comic book debut the following year, and she's quickly become one of the most popular characters in the X-Men family. She is a clone of Wolverine, created by The Facility, a group that was looking to recreate the Weapon X program that gave Wolverine his adamantium coated skeleton. X-23 has the same powers as Wolverine since they're clones, giving her accelerated healing, heightened senses, and improved strength and speed. She also possesses retractable claws that have been coated in adamantium, but instead of having three claws in her hands like Wolverine, she has two. She also has an additional claw located in each foot. And like her pseudo-dad, she was trained to be a deadly assassin before reforming and joining the X-Men.
So that's who X-23 is, and while she doesn't have decades of history from which to pull stories like most other comic book heroes, she still has plenty of plot lines that could show up in the movies. Here are five of them.
1. Innocence Lost
This is X-23's origin story, and it could give Fox a chance to redeem the abysmal X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Unlike Logan, X-23 was born as a weapons experiment, and was raised as such. This could make for a great movie (think Stranger Things' Eleven), and would make it all the more satisfying when she turns on the only people she knows.
2. NYX
With Fox venturing into R-rated territory lately in their X-franchise, this storyline could be their most adult offering yet. It profiles X-23 during the period in her life between leaving the Facility that created her and joining the X-Men, and sees her as a sex worker on the streets of New York employed by a vicious pimp. After meeting some other mutants (all characters never seen in films before), she rebels and comes into her own. It would certainly be a risk for Fox, and it would make for a very different kind of X-Men movie.
3. X-Force
An X-Force movie is already in the works, and though the film's team hasn't been announced, using X-23 (who has been a member of the team in the comics) instead of Wolverine would be a nice change of pace.
4. X-23 vs Daken
In the comics, Wolverine has a son named Daken, and he's bad news. When he and X-23 first meet, they're immediately bitter enemies, and Daken is involved in a plot to restart the Weapon X program with X-23. Eventually, Daken changes his mind and he and X-23 become uneasy allies, but seeing these two "offspring" of Wolverine go at it on screen would be pretty fun.
5. All-New Wolverine
In the current Marvel Comics continuity, Wolverine is dead and X-23 has taken up his mantle. She wears his uniform and goes by the codename "Wolverine," and seeing her take on that role in the movies as a member of the X-Men would be a great way to move on from Hugh Jackman's version of the character.
X-23 making her on screen debut in Logan is certainly exciting, but the character's potential future in the X-Men movie franchise is even more thrilling!
Images: Marvel Comics
