The new trailer for the upcoming (and last) movie to star Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine hit. This new movie is simply called “Logan,” and will be loosely based on the acclaimed graphic novel “Old Man Logan.” While some are going head-over-heels with the cord strings of Johnny Cash singing his cover of “Hurt,” and the woeful farewell to Hugh Jackman, and Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier from the "X-Men" franchise. The thing is, I am going to be perfectly honest, I really don’t care about any of that. What I am more invested in is the introduction of the character Laura Kinney, AKA X-23.
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In the comics, she was the 23rd attempt at a Wolverine clone. Dr. Kinney came up with the idea for a female clone because they only had the X-chromosome to work with. Dr. Rice not wanting to be outshone forced her to be the surrogate mother of X-23. From then on, Dr. Rice abused her at every opportunity he could get, and had a master in the martial arts teach her how to fight. Both X-23’s master and Dr. Kinney took compassion for X-23, and became parental figures.
Dr. Rice made a trigger scent that makes her go feral. Dr. Rice put the scent on her master, making her kill him for daring to be kind to her. Dr. Kinney, shortly after, set X-23 free, but not before Dr. Rice put the trigger scent on her, making X-23 kill her, which in her dying breaths gave X-23 her name Laura Kinney, and begged her to find her humanity.
From the trailer, it seems that they are keeping true to her origins, as she seems to be on the run from the Essex Corporation, who created her. X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine, and was made to be the ultimate assassin for the corporation. Further evidence of them remaining true to her origins is that they casted Dr. Rice, who was part of the team that created her in her origin graphic novel “X-23: Innocence Lost.”
Although, I do have concerns from the trailer -- granted, it is hard to judge based on just a minute and a half of her having absolutely no lines. It would make sense for her not to talk too much, it clearly being her early days based on how young she is in “Logan.” She would have just gone through a lot of trauma, and wouldn’t be a very talkative person. Also, she glowers more than enough to earn her claws, and to be a clone of Wolverine. On the other hand, this movie “Logan” seems to be set in a dystopian future separate from the rest of the "X-Men" movies. From the description, it takes place in 2024, and the trailer opens with Logan claiming all mutants are dead. This being true, where would that put X-23 in future installments of the "X-Men" franchise?
Are they going to just have her in a one-off movie? Will they just recast Logan as Wolverine, or will they have Laura take on the Wolverine mantel as she does in the comic books? If she does take on the Wolverine mantel, with all the mutants dead, she seems to be very alone. Part of what makes X-23 so great is that she moves on from her trauma. A big part of that is her joining the X-Men, making friends her own age and learning to be an actual kid. It’s all up in the air, and I don’t think we will find out until March 3rd.
