Laura somehow ended up wandering the streets of Miami in an amnesic state, where she was rescued from a Purifier attack by Kitty Pryde and the time-displaced original X-Men. They returned her to Cyclops’s base, where she panicked upon awakening inside a Weapon X facility and attempted to flee, the situation being exacerbated by confusion over seeing younger versions of Cylops, Jean, Iceman, Beast and Angel. The teenaged Scott managed to catch up with her and managed to calm her down after recognizing Cyclops’s scent. Though still confused, her memories started to return. When the X-Men attacked the Purifiers, they were caught off guard by Jason Stryker and captured. At the Purifier’s base, X-23 was captured and tortured nearly to death repeatedly by the Purifiers with videos of Murderworld. The rest of the X-Men managed to escape, and found X-23. When Cyclops found Laura, she surprised him seeing the stress she was under, Cyclops surprised her with a hug, explaining to the bemused X-23 that it looked like she needed one. Based on Laura’s intelligence the team launched an attack against William Stryker, Jr., which failed catastrophically and the entire team was captured, though upon recognizing them as having come from the past, Stryker refrained from killing them to prevent damage to the timeline. Laura, however, he tortured by showing her the footage from Murderworld that Arcade released to the internet, including prominent imagery of her attacking the other kids in a trigger scent-induced rage. Seeing herself in this state, and the knowledge that the entire world has also seen it, finally broke her control, and when Cyclops broke free and rescued her, she threw herself into his arms for comfort. X and the rest of the team returned to base following their escape from the Purifiers, but they would have little time to relax. Laura was busy blowing off steam in the Danger Room under Kitty’s supervision when the Shi’ar, having learned that Jean Grey had returned, attacked and took her captive. Laura fought in her defense along with the rest of the team, but was neutralized, and the Shi’ar escaped to put Jean on trial for actions her elder self committed while in possession of the Phoenix Force. The Guardians of the Galaxy arrived just as the Shi’ar fled, and the teams joined forces to bring her back. The Guardians’ ship was attacked by a Shi’ar warship covering the kidnappers’ withdrawal, and though Laura intended to join in the defense, Gamora declined her assistance, though praised her courage, leaving her and the rest of the X-Men to sit and wait. The arrival of Corsair and Starjammers turned the tide of the battle and the teenaged Scott was stunned and overwhelmed to learn his father was still alive. As he went to digest this in private, Laura followed after him and, after a brief conversation, returned the hug he gave her when they first met, noting that he needed it.
Upon arrival at the Shi’ar homeworld, Quill helped to formulate the plan of attack. X-23, knowing Jean’s scent, volunteered to track her. However Gladiator, having anticipated their arrival, met them upon disembarking, and a fight between the combined forces of the X-Men, Shi’ar, and Starjammers against Gladiator’s forces began, in which X-23 participated. Ultimately, the conflict was resolved by Jean herself, who had already escaped imprisonment and manifested a new power combining her telekinesis and telepathy, and drawing upon the psychic energy of all those around her. Gladiator ultimately stood down, and Jean and the X-Men were permitted to depart.
Upon returning to Earth, Cyclops chose to remain with his father and departed the team, asking Laura to help keep an eye on his friends. Distraught by his leaving, Laura decided to leave the team herself, with only the teenaged Warren realizing she was doing so. She rebuffed his attempt to convince her return, however, and continued on her way. Much to her surprise she ran into Cyclops, who claimed to have returned. However this turned out to be a ruse, and with her guard down Raze, who had disguised himself as Scott, easily overwhelmed and gutted her, before disguising himself as her in turn and infiltrating the X-Men’s base. Laura herself, however, survived his attack and hurried back to find the X-Men under attack by the future Brotherhood. Jean used her telepathy to mask Laura’s presence, and enabled her to catch Xavier Jr. off guard, at which point she severely wounded him with her claws, breaking his control over the X-Men and enabling them to fight back. During the conflict it was discovered that Molly Hayes, Deadpool and Beast had been mentally controlled by Xavier, and that Xorn no longer existed. While Laura fought Raze to a standstill, Xavier attempted to flee, only to be captured.In the aftermath of the battle, Warren invited Laura out on a date to unwind, to which she reluctantly agreed. Their first date led to a deeper relationship between Angel and X-23.
After he met his demise, the news of Logan’s death reached Laura. Angry and upset, and questioning her role in life now that the man she looked to most for guidance was gone, she departed the X-Men to do some soul-searching. After a talk to heart with former Alpha Flight member Colin Hume; in honor of Logan she had dyed the forelocks of her hair blue and gold, and remarked to Kitty that she not longer felt angry about Wolverine’s death, just sad, but that she has also found a source of pride in their relationship. After the events associated during her time with the Wolverines, Laura would ultimately honor Logan’s past by carrying on his mantle as the all-new Wolverine.
Sometime after taking up the mantle, an anonymous tip about an assassination planned in Paris led Laura to the city to investigate. She was shot through the head protecting the intended target, but healed, and tracked the shooter to the Eiffel Tower. Laura managed to disable the masked assassin after a short fight, but rather than be taken alive the woman called in a predator drone to finish the job, before committing suicide by jumping off the tower. She and Warren pursued the drone through the skies over Paris, and she was able to bring it down before it could finish off its target. Laura then returned to the Eiffel Tower and located the corpse of the assassin. Removing her mask confirmed Laura’s hypothesis: the woman was her clone. She and Warren then fled the scene, with Laura determined to both stop, and save, the assassins. Upon returning to New York, she visited Alchemax Genetics to discuss the clones with its director and security chief. Laura then encountered one of the clones, Gabby, hiding in her apartment, who she realized was the one who tipped her off about the assassination. Gabby denied Chandler’s accusations before fleeing. Laura tracked her to a hideout in the sewers where she was captured and interrogated by the remaining Sisters – Bellona and Zelda. Alchemax, however, followed her and attacked. Laura managed to subdue them and prevent Bellona from killing them, before they were ambushed by Taskmaster. Laura managed to subdue him, and she and the sisters fled through the streets of New York with Mooney in pursuit. She disabled his vehicle, allowing the girls to escape, and issuing a warning to Mooney that they were under her protection, before leaving him bleeding in the street to meet up with the Sisters. However upon arrival she learned a new piece of the story the: The girls were dying. Unable to turn to any of her usual contacts, she instead took them to the Sanctum Sanctorum, seeking the aid of Doctor Strange. After an altercation with a portal to evil in Strange’s living room, he teleported them all to a hospital to investigate what was killing the girls. After examining Zelda, Strange discovered nanites inhabiting their brains that were responsible both for their inability to feel pain, and their declining health. Unable to operate on them directly, Strange teleported the girls to one of Hank Pym’s labs to borrow an Ant-Man Suit. They were interrupted by Wasp, who agreed to help Laura enter Zelda’s blood to fight the machines. They were successful, however attacking the nanites triggered a distress call alerting Mooney to their location. He tracked them down and fatally wounded Zelda before Laura and Jan were able to escape her body and subdue him. With her dying breath Zelda begged Laura to stop holding back, and to go after Alchemax. Jan offered the help of the Avengers, but Laura refused, insisting it was her and the surviving Sisters’ responsibility to punish Alchemax for their transgressions. Wolverine and the surviving Sisters allowed Mooney to escape, and lead them back to Alchemax’s bunker. Laura infiltrated the base by disguising herself as Bellona and allowing herself to be “killed” as a ruse. Upon awakening in the morgue, she captured the scientists there and forced them to upload all data on Chandler’s activities to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s servers, and contacted Maria Hill to call her in to clean up. While Bellona and Gabby dealt with Mooney, Laura intercepted Chandler and hobbled him before he could escape, ensuring his capture when Hill’s forces arrived. She and Gabby then left the bunker together.
Following the destruction of Alchemax Genetics, Laura allowed Gabby to stay with her while it was decided what was to become of her. Gabby preferred to stay with Laura, however Laura intended to find a safe place elsewhere that Gabby could live a normal life, away from the chaos and danger of a superhero. Gabby’s resistance and fear of being left alone dredged up painful memories of Laura’s own desire to have a family with Logan, and it took a visit by Squirrel Girl for her to realize the best place for Gabby all along was with her. She relented, and asked her new sister to stay.
Following an incident off the coast of the United States, in which several S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives vanished while disrupting an arms deal, Maria Hill contacted Laura to request her assistance investigating the disappearances. The only clue was the wreckage of the boat the arms dealer was using, and a box pulled from the water. Hill specifically contacted Laura because the first person she called in, and who also disappeared, was an alternate universe Logan. When Agent Fitz opened the box at Hill’s direction, Laura caught the scent of its contents and realized what happened, warning Hill to pull her helicarrier to a safer altitude. However the warning came too late, and the carrier came under attack by Fin Fang Foom, who was attracted by the pheromone — essentially a chemical aphrodisiac — contained within the box, and likely attacked both the missing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Logan as well. Laura resolved to get them back, and allowed herself to be swallowed by Foom. While Laura climbed down through Foom’s digestive tract, Iron Man and Captain Marvel arrived to assist keeping Foom away from population centers. Laura managed to rescue the half-digested Logan, escaped back up out of Foom’s mouth, and instructed Gabby to take him somewhere safe.
Meanwhile, she covered herself in the pheromone and used it to lure an amorous Foom out to sea. Laura was distressed when she returned home that evening to discover that Gabby brought Logan there to recover, as she adamantly refused to accept that he was her Logan. However Logan awoke, and struck her speechless when he revealed that he recognized the apartment, and that it was where he raised her. Laura found herself drawn into the conflict over the precognitive Inhuman Ulysses Cain, when Ulysses had a vision that Logan would kill Gabby. Captain America was dispatched by S.H.I.E.L.D. to detain Logan to ensure the girl’s safety, but Laura, Logan, and Gabby all objected to imprisoning him for something he hadn’t done. However a fight broke after Logan fled with Gabby under the guise of collecting his belongings and cooperating, with Rogers breaking away to pursue. With Logan and Gabby escaping using a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. Flight Packs, Hill elected to shoot Logan down before he could get away. This, combined with S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives firing on him with tranquilizers drove him into a feral rage. Gabby attempted to calm him, but in the confusion he confused her for the Gabby of his home reality, and Laura watched helplessly as Gabby was impaled on his claws.
Mad with grief, Laura tracked Logan into the sewers where he fled, still in his maddened state, and engaged him in a brief fight. Just as she was preparing a killing blow Logan snapped out of his berserk state and pleaded with her to stop, but it was only Gabby’s arrival, revealing she survived her injuries because of her hidden healing factor, that convinced her to back down. However she rejected Logan’s attempt to justify his actions because of his knowledge of Gabby in his universe, and she permanently severed contact with him, demanding he leave them alone and never approach them again. She then regrouped with Rogers, advising him she was letting Logan go — she refused to blame him for his actions, accepting that he was driven to it by S.H.I.E.L.D.’s carelessness. Laura then departed, warning Rogers of the probable consequences of the conflict over Ulysses’ visions, and demanding that she and Gabby be left out of it.
This is my detailed background on X-23 and her exploits with many other Marvel characters and where she stands now in the universe. I’m also very excited to see what happens to Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in this movie. I believe he may die as well but I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone with my theories. I hope you all enjoy reading this and get a little more knowledge of a great character in Marvel lore.
