A female Wolverine in Marvel's comic book universe was not necessarily a concept to grab our attention. Not until yesterday when the idea sort of turned into reality.
There seems to be a trend at Marvel: back in mid-May, Thor #8 revealed the universe's new god of thunder: a female Thor, none other than Jane Foster.
Remember how Jason Aaron motivated this gender swapping move? Let me jog your memory: "Most of the new readers seem to be women and young girls, which is great ["¦] You're seeing more and more comics that appeal to that audience".
This judgment - which is basically marketing strategy in nature - could also apply to their decision to bring out a female Wolverine.
But regardless of motivation, this is it: a female Wolverine takes the stage in The All New All Different Marvel Universe in the aftermath of the Secret Wars.
Who is the female Wolverine?
Just like the new Thor is not new, but a classic character - namely, Jane Foster - bestowed with a new ability (and identity), so is the female Wolverine.
She is a B-lister - in my opinion - named X-23. Marvel official description of X-23 (via Comic Book) goes like this:
"When a top-secret program attempted to recreate the original Weapon X experiment that involved the feral mutant Wolverine, they failed to secure a test subject that could survive the bonding of the virtually unbreakable metal Adamantium to their skeleton. Seeking to take the project in a new direction, the project’s director, Doctor Martin Sutter, recruited renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney and tasked her with creating a clone. Using the only available genetic sample from Weapon X, which was damaged, they were unable to salvage the Y chromosome after 22 attempts. Kinney then proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied, she still went ahead and produced a viable female subject, prompting Sutter to reconsider. Despite resistance from his protégé Doctor Zander Rice, whom he had raised after Rice’s father was killed by a bestial Wolverine at the original Weapon X Project, Sutter allowed Kinney to proceed. As revenge for her insubordination, Rice forced Kinney to act as the surrogate mother for the clone, and she gave birth to "˜X-23.'"
The true question is, however, this:
How will she affect the cinematic universe?
This is immensely complicated. It's Fox who has the rights on Wolverine as part of the X-Men mythology. Does that mean they also get to inherit, so to speak, the new female Wolverine?
She's a totally new concept Fox should not have any claims on. Therefore, if she belongs entirely to Marvel to employ in their respective cinematic universe, that would be a great addition to their already established batch of heroes.
All in all, is it just a coincidence Wolverine - as portrayed by Hugh Jackman a record 7 times until now - is preparing to retire from the big screen, while the comics introduce a female Wolverine?
I don't think so. But feel free to share your thoughts below: does the concept of a female Wolverine sound right to you? How do you think she'll impact the MCU or the X-Men universe as adapted for the big screen?
