Although Wolverine is sort of immortal, his time as a movie superhero is coming to an end. Logan, loosely based on the Mark Millar graphic novel Old Man Logan hitting theaters March 3, 2017, will be the final appearance of Hugh Jackman as the Canadian savage. It will also be the first appearance of X-23, played by young actress Sienna Novikov.
In Logan, Sienna plays a young girl named “Laura” as a “two-clawed mutant girl” and the subject of a government experiment called “Transigen.” That’s also apparently her in the poster, tweeted out by director James Mangold last week. Jackman becomes a mentor for the girl, most likely because she’s just like him in really profound ways.
Created for the animated TV show X-Men: Evolution before coming to comics in 2004, X-23 goes by the name Laura Kinney and is the “daughter” of Wolverine, cloned from his corrupt genomes. Just like Wolverine, Laura also has regeneration, superhuman strength, and agility. She also has adamantium claws, just like “dad,” but with two blades instead of three. In the current comics, X-23 has taken up the mantle as Wolverine.
With Logan being Jackman’s swan song as the infamous superhero, it’s entirely logical to introduce X-23 as a young girl. Should Novikov continue to pursue acting, there’s a potential decade’s worth of X-23 spin-off movies, allowing 20th Century Fox to keep its valued X-Men license from Marvel.
Logan releases in theaters on March 3, 2017.
