Follow

    X-23

    Character » X-23 appears in 2371 issues.

    X-23 is a product of the Weapon X program, born from a damaged sample of Wolverine's DNA. She has recently aged up, being saved from the Vault.

    X23’s worst nightmare.

    Avatar image for ambival1
    ambival1

    105

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #1  Edited By ambival1

    X23 was created in a lab directly for the purpose of killing, but she is used to kill and she can’t be blamed for all those deaths. It’s true, but the subject I’m implying, surprisingly, wasn’t undertaken (well, it was, but only recently in the Ongoing series. Before that it wasn’t pointed out directly).

    I will tell you what, in my opinion, is X23’s worst nightmare.

    The first fact in that subject – in all her stories she had a lot of conversations. When she is asked the question “do you like killing”, she answers variously:

    1.                           She answers that she is a killing machine made to kill (I don’t need to show an example, this answer is like a catch phrase for her). I know, nothing new, but why “killing machine” and not “killer”? Because Killing machine is a MACHINE – so the fact of being used by other people for their purposes is evident, but killer is a KILLER – it’s all about premeditated killing, at your own will. She keeps naming herself a killing machine, rather than a killer, to give herself a hope, which I will explain later.

    2.                           She answers evasively, by saying that she is unable to argue and mentioning trigger scent. Look at this example:

    No Caption Provided

     

    Morales asks her: “Did you just do it, because you like it?” and what is X’s answer? Everything what is above. She doesn’t answer Yes or No about her likings. You could say, that there aren’t any, but there are. Here is another example:

     

    No Caption Provided

                                        You seriously believe in her explanation? It’s obvious, it was an act of revenge hidden behind her inhuman training’s results. You could say that she doesn’t feel any emotions, she was made like that, but after all she is a living being. I know other cold-blooded characters like her, but in all of those cases it was just a “mask” for others. All people, even X, have their limits. The guy, who she killed, was from the facility, the people who made her life a nightmare. She felt hate, although unnoticeable, and that’s why she killed him. It’s the same with her self-injuries, she does that not quite consciously, but subconsciously. I think you all experienced a situation when you felt the need of giving payback people who constantly insults you, but you refused (or not). I would say it’s the „payback instinct”. X here experiences the same situation, but the main difference is that they didn’t just insult her but destroyed her life, so her anger and hate are stronger and justified, she just have problems with expressing it. Pulling the trigger was an act of her subconscious hate.

     

     

    No Caption Provided

               The same is here, but more in the Punisher’s way. “All people, who does bad things, with the Facility on top, must be eliminated”. But this situation reminds me of another case. She always complained about the fact that she is manipulated, used to kill. Her greatest wish is to be free. But she NEVER complained about killing itself (as from I know, correct me if I’m wrong). She never said that she wish to quit killing entirely. I know that the story wouldn’t want her to do it – Kimura being out there, hunting for her and her friends, trigger scent still massively produced, and some people from the facility still trying to continue Weapon X project, but I haven’t seen any her significant reconsiderations or actions in trying to quit the killing, even with the help of her friends, and finally be free from the killing itself. When Wolverine asks her in the epilogue of Second Coming, where she would go, since she is now free, she simply replies, that he must tell her where she should go. She hates to be ordered, but wants to be ordered? Pretty confusing, but it matches my theory, which I will explain later.

                            And now the “greatly” acclaimed case, known from the Ongoing series – The Devil. In my opinion it’s not really the devil but the manifestation of X’s psyche and here’s why:

    1.       First case – WHAT THE HELL DOES HE WANT FROM HER?! He is the devil, and he said that he wants her to kill, but who? The newborn Jesus or something? Even so, it wouldn’t be better to haunt such a powerful mutant like Magneto or Protheus? If he is the Devil, he should want to do something very “big” and very “bad”. X’s a good choice, but not the greatest one to bring the Biblical Apocalypse.

    1.       Second case – rather than taking her to hell, he took her to her own mind and told her that he is her “true self that lives in a place deeper than her heart” and that he is “the part of her that scientists never touched”. He doesn’t say it directly, but don’t you think it sounds like the manifestation of psyche?

    3.       Third case – I had some problems with it, but finally I conquered them. The only person, who can see the devil, is the X herself. The same is with her scar, except Miss Sinister, who noticed it. But she could use her telepathy to see X’s mind, including her delusions and hallucinations (The scar might be a delusion)

    4.       Fourth case – origins of those delusions. In New-xmen Emma Frost was messing up her mind, and the devil might be a forgotten “secret bomb” implemented in her mind, which exploded in the beginning of the Ongoing series, causing the appearances of all delusions.

    And that’s all about the devil itself. Going back to the main subject. As for being, perhaps, the manifestation of X’s psyche, he also deals with her subconscious emotions.

     

    No Caption Provided

                “You are so used to being used, after all. Or maybe you would have liked it”. After hearing those words, she does the best she can do to just silence him. She don’t want to listen to those implications. After all she know one thing – she might be a killing machine, but she’s definitely not a MONSTER, not a KILLER. “Did I touch a nerve?”. Oh yes, you certainly did, because it’s something that she don’t even want to talk about.

                It’s her worst nightmare – the fact that, except her education in killing, the facility might have implemented in her something worse – taking pleasure in killing  making her not a killing machine, but a bloody monster who enjoys killing people. She is scared, because she is not sure about it, and if it’s true, then there is no hope for her!  

                Look at this one

            

    No Caption Provided

                Three times “No”? She wouldn’t pass “America’s got talent”. After hearing from a survivor that she killed all those people, those three NO’s were her only explanation. She couldn’t explain what happened, but she didn’t want to believe, that she did it with premeditation, that she killed those people without trigger scent’s influence. She just didn’t want to accept it, even if it’s true.

    Judging by your responses in my older post, you all agreed that X23 has two natures: innocent victim and a killing machine. I think they are represented by the Devil(killing machine) and the GamesMaster(Innocent victim) known from the one-shot and the first issue of the Ongoing series. In that issue he is in a cage, which means that those two natures battle themselves for domination. They were perfectly described in issue 10#:

    No Caption Provided

                “this was an accident”. Or is it? It was the first time when she felt really sorry for her targets, nearly cried, but when gambit touched her, she wanted to kill, just simply kill. It was her instinct. Maybe she doesn’t need to sniff trigger scent to simply want to kill (look at her eyes).

     

               

    No Caption Provided

    Indeed, who is X23? She was made a weapon, but as the story goes, we see that she has emotions. She can spare Sutter’s Kid, but not Greg Johnson’s. she is afraid of being used, but she can’t live without orders. She is both Innocent victim and a killing machine. She wants to be free, but (entirely in my opinion, maybe I’ve gone too far with describing her) she fears that when she will finally be free, she could discover that she can’t live without killing and that she would become a serial killer. I think that her mortal enemy is not really Kimura, Zander, the facility or the devil, but her killing nature. It’s like a cage for her and it’s decisive, because if she would deal with it, her story, without the main plot, would come to an end.

     

    What do you think? Am I right or I’ve gone too far?

     

     

    Avatar image for timandm
    Timandm

    3393

    Forum Posts

    12

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 6

    User Lists: 0

    #2  Edited By Timandm
    @ambival1: You seriously believe in her explanation? It’s obvious, it was an act of revenge hidden behind her inhuman training’s results. 
    No.  She answered the question directly and truthfully.  Laura IS a killing machine and extremely logical like a computer program.  She wasn't taught morales or compassion.  She was taught to kill.  She was taught to track.  She was taught to torture.  She was taught to accomplish her goal whatever the cost.  It is her.  Consider the following scene from Second Coming.
     
    No Caption Provided
    No Caption Provided

     
    No Caption Provided
     
     Laura spoke the truth.   Set aside morality or compassion and what she did makes perfect sense.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    But she NEVER complained about killing itself (as from I know, correct me if I’m wrong). She never said that she wish to quit killing entirely. I know that the story wouldn’t want her to do it –
    It's painfully obvious, if you pay attention to her stories, the things she goes through, and what she says, that she regrets the things she does...  It's tearing her apart.  I'm having a hard time understanding how you don't see this.
     
       Three times “No”? She wouldn’t pass “America’s got talent”. After hearing from a survivor that she killed all those people, those three NO’s were her only explanation. She couldn’t explain what happened, but she didn’t want to believe, that she did it with premeditation,
    Okay, now I'm having a hard time believing you read the story at all.  You REALLY don't know what happened?  You HONESTLY think she was in control?
     
    Laura, is a young woman who was created in a lab for the purpose of becoming a killing machine.  She has had NO traditional upbringing.  She was shown virtually no love.  She was not taught how to related to people on a normal level.  She was taught everything she needed to know to be the perfect killing machine.  Martial arts, assassination, languages, cultures, geography, technology, logic, torture, biology, etc....  Think of an android with emotions who has never been taught how to be human...
     
    She's tormented by her past.  She's conflicted about who she is, and who she WANTS to be.  She does not ENJOY killing, she's just very good at it and can do it without hesitation when it is logical to do so...  She showed who she is when she did NOT kill the boy Alex Cimni.  There was absolutely NOTHING to stop her from killing him, but HER...  This was even before she was free of the institute.  She found the will to NOT kill, entirely on her own...  She's a killing machine who does not want to kill...
    Avatar image for k2
    k2

    498

    Forum Posts

    17631

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #3  Edited By k2
    @ambival1: I disagree with your theory. Laura does not enjoy killing, she is merely desensitized to it. She's had to kill so many times that she's gotten to the point where killing a random person doesn't effect her as much anymore as it would to a normal human being. By no means is she enjoying the act of killing. Now, as we are starting to see in the comic X-23, she is feeling remorse for every death she has committed. She is developing this slowly as she becomes a member of society, and is no longer with the facility, who has taught her that death is nothing to be concerned about. She is breaking through the hundreds of hours of anti-empathy training she received, and the torture she underwent to train her for the trigger scent, and the threat of beating at Kimura's capable hands if she disobeyed orders by not killing. She had absolutely no choice in the matter before, and it's hard to suddenly realize that pressure is gone, when she has lived the first thirteen years of her life that way. But she is rising above it, and showing what a strong young woman she is, and how incredibly solid her sense of right and wrong is, that she can be developing the understanding that killing is wrong, after all she has been through. This is probably the part of her that is the closest to Logan; to me, this shows that she has retained some of his sense of honor.  
     
    Those scenes you mentioned, in which she struggles to respond to questions, is her making a difficult choice: between her  training, so deep that it's almost instinctive--which is to do what she's told and kill without feeling--or to listen to the sense of morality she is forming, which tells her this is wrong and she can't kill others.  To make this choice more difficult, she probably feels instinctively that to choose the morality view will earn her a great punishment; yet she's still, slowly but surely, following her sense of morality.
     
    So...no , Laura doesn't enjoy killing. She's just learning to break the conditioning.
    Avatar image for ambival1
    ambival1

    105

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #4  Edited By ambival1

    I's not about that I think she enjoys killing, cause I'm not. I believe that she develops her sense of morality and tthat she is good in her heart. I just think that she's scared of the possibility that she, not directly, might like it. She don't want to be a monster. Just a small implication, even completely wrong, makes her angry, but deep down very frightened, and Devil knows that and uses it against her to weaken her. If she would enjoy it, I wouldn't be a fan of her.

    Avatar image for dakens_son
    Dakens son

    444

    Forum Posts

    464

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 6

    User Lists: 0

    #5  Edited By Dakens son
    @ambival1 said:
    I's not about that I think she enjoys killing, cause I'm not. I believe that she develops her sense of morality and tthat she is good in her heart. I just think that she's scared of the possibility that she, not directly, might like it. She don't want to be a monster. Just a small implication, even completely wrong, makes her angry, but deep down very frightened, and Devil knows that and uses it against her to weaken her. If she would enjoy it, I wouldn't be a fan of her.
    I don't think she enjoys killing too.She was made to follow orders and assassination was among them.The thing with the new arc is that Laura finally sets to pursue her own future(almost like Logan did)and that is by finding first who she really is but that can't happen with out embracing her dark side.I'm sure Laura digs a good fight but murder comes as worst case scenario.
    Avatar image for ambival1
    ambival1

    105

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #6  Edited By ambival1

    The ongoing series develops around the question, who Laura really is. I'm pretty sure that Devil and other similiar themes serves as the voice of her dark side, to bring an uncertainty towards her morality, and thus, make a very good, attractive and ambiguous story. It goes usually in this way: She asks herself, who she is; story brings some moments of uncertainty (after all, why that guy from the picture above - with three NO's - said that she killed those people? No one knows, but every option must be reconsidered. The second one is in the picture with Gambit - there was no trigger scent, but yet she had scary red eyes, something what appears only after smelling trigger scent); usually near the story's climax, someone implies her something very bad(like devil telling her that she might like killing) and brings some proofs; she confronts those proofs, but realises that they are fake and she was framed (she was controlled, manipulated to kill by an unknown force); finally she battles the one who is behind everything, she defeats him and comes from the fight, feeling relief knowing that she's not a monster but she was controlled by one.

    Avatar image for the_peter_cosmic
    The_Peter_Cosmic

    410

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #7  Edited By The_Peter_Cosmic

    I think her biggest fear stems not from her being bred to kill, but being conditioned to be a sociopath who feels nothing when she kills. Sociopaths pretend to have a sense of morality because it helps them to achieve their goals. She is genuinely developing a sense of right and wrong and feeling guilt inside over the killings she has done, but at the same time she doubts herself tremendously because she knows that a true sociopath would also pretend to develop morality just to avoid being locked up or executed. 
    Her deepest fear is that her emerging morality and human feeling is all a farce, that she's kidding herself and her deepest, truest self is an unfeeling killer. Being a clone and doubting she even has a soul only makes her self doubt worse. At the same time, she is fearful of letting go the ability to kill so efficiently because she knows that is what makes her so useful to most of the people she cares for. She in no way enjoys what she has been bred to be she only sees it's objective usefulness.

    Avatar image for ambival1
    ambival1

    105

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #8  Edited By ambival1
    @The_Peter_Cosmic said:
    I think her biggest fear stems not from her being bred to kill, but being conditioned to be a sociopath who feels nothing when she kills. Sociopaths pretend to have a sense of morality because it helps them to achieve their goals. She is genuinely developing a sense of right and wrong and feeling guilt inside over the killings she has done, but at the same time she doubts herself tremendously because she knows that a true sociopath would also pretend to develop morality just to avoid being locked up or executed. Her deepest fear is that her emerging morality and human feeling is all a farce, that she's kidding herself and her deepest, truest self is an unfeeling killer. Being a clone and doubting she even has a soul only makes her self doubt worse. At the same time, she is fearful of letting go the ability to kill so efficiently because she knows that is what makes her so useful to most of the people she cares for. She in no way enjoys what she has been bred to be she only sees it's objective usefulness.
    Your point about kidding herself is a bull'seye! I've gone too far, but I wanted to show, that after she began her life she fights her dark side, but it's not so easy. She sometimes fail, and then comes her pessimism. Her good nature was developed after the escape, but it still confronts the sociopath thinking. This fight was set in motion and it still lasts.
    Avatar image for rokusan23
    rokusan23

    147

    Forum Posts

    1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #9  Edited By rokusan23
    @Timandm: And she didn't kill Henry too. It was back in the day where she was tormented the most by the Facility. But she didn't kill him. Maybe she thought it was unnecessary, or maybe the innate human compassion. Whatever it was. 
    Avatar image for rokusan23
    rokusan23

    147

    Forum Posts

    1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #10  Edited By rokusan23

    And maybe she got to like it for the fact that she only gets out of her white cell whenever there's a mission up. But she didn't chose to like it, I mean. Once she was out, she didn't go on a rampage... but she sought her aunt and cousin. 

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.