X-Men is one of Marvel’s most popular superhero teams. The team arguably comes 2nd in popularity right after The Avengers as the latter has gained a lot of admiration and acclaim since their live-action adaptation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel has also made a lot of animated series, and live-action movies to explore the adventure and storylines of the mutant superheroes. In one such series, Marvel decided to debut the character of X-23, kind of a younger version of Wolverine.
The history of X-23
Laura Kinney is the real name of the mutant X-23 that Dr. Zander Rice created to be the perfect killing machine. X-23 has dual adamantium claws in both her palms and advanced regenerative healing much like her adoptive father, Wolverine.
X-23’s character history is exactly like the famous character of Harley Quinn, who was introduced in Batman: The Animated Series first and later made her debut in the comics. Similarly, X-23 was introduced in Marvel’s animated series, X-Men: Evolution before the character made her debut in the comics.
Despite Wolverine being a part of X-Men: Evolution, Craig Kyle once revealed in an interview with IF Magazine that the real reason for creating the character of X-23 was to connect better with the younger audience of the show. He said,
“When we were doing Evolution, again, that’s an example to make sure we didn’t lose the young audience. And at the time, they were trying to find a way to push Wolverine and get him to connect more to the younger kids. The problem with the structure of Evolution, most of our core heroes were teenagers. Wolverine was one of the old, grizzled guys.”
However, many loyal Wolverine fans did not agree with this reasoning as Wolverine is just one of those iconic characters that, all people can connect to, irrespective of their age. The character has been the face of X-Men for many years now and for him to be replaced by a younger character for this reason just does not make that much sense.
All seasons of X-Men: Evolution are currently streaming on Disney+.
Craig Kyle opens up about how he created the character of X-23
Craig Kyle was initially thinking of turning Wolverine into a younger version of himself for the series X-Men: Evolution but eventually decided against it. Already 2 seasons of the series had aired and it would have just seemed weird if the Wolverine turned into a teenager in season 3.
Kyle realized that Wolverine is just a perfect character the way he is and decided to make a younger version of the mutant which would be much different from him in terms of personality. In an interview with IF Magazine, Craig Kyle opened up about how created the character of X-23, and said,
“I took a look at Wolverine. Every time he went right, I made a left. Instead of a guy who is older than we know, I made a girl who is very young. Instead of a man who has no memory of his past, you have someone who is shackled to the murders she’s committed. Unlike a guy who had a life before it and lost it, I made her a girl whose never known anything but it.
From the very beginning of her life, she has been put through this program and known nothing outside of it. And what you get is a mirror of Wolverine.”
X-23 also made her debut in the live-action universe of X-Men in the movie Logan. The role of the young mutant was portrayed by the actress, Dafne Keen in the movie.
Logan was a massive commercial success as the movie went on to gross almost $620 million against a production budget of $127 million. The movie also largely received positive reviews from fans and critics upon its release.
Logan is currently streaming on Disney+.
