I hated that it was never really addressed or brought up again how much Daken’s life was ruined and how he felt about it and Romulus after Romulus was removed (there was like one issue that dealt with it...), while he spent so much time hating and blaming Logan for everything… it just didn’t make sense, Romulus was the one who abused him all his life and killed his mother. And he never went after the Winter Soldier either, which is weird.
I suppose Romulus would be heavily retconned and everything would turn out to be a lie bout him if he ever resurfaced again(which I doubt will ever happen). It’s very likely that he would want to recruit Daken and force him into servitude again. There would be mind games and attempts of brainwashing and intimidations, and the nature of their relationship in the past could be explored too along the way. We saw before how much scared Daken was of Romulus when he suddenly showed up when Daken didn’t expect him.
I always missed very much that we never learned about Daken’s past truly and what was exactly done to him by Romulus. I’m sure some sort of mind manipulation happened from the very beginning, especially because of Xavier entering Daken’s mind and discovering the wall that kept him out and all the mind traps. Someone had to put those there. Also when Emma found him, she said there were no thoughts of his own in Daken’s mind, so when we first met Daken, that was purely Romoulus’ conditioning.
I think initially Romulus just forced Daken to do things and trained him, but he did break him along the way later to make him someone who wants to do these things on his own, not just for orders.
And that’s pretty much canon that while Daken viewed himself as someone who is better and above everyone else, he was very submissive towards his master Romulus. He was made to believe that he had his freedom but he was in fact controlled in every way and was on a short leash. We have an example of Daken getting severely punished for disobeying an order, so he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted. And Romulus seemed to know about whatever Daken was doing.
If Romulus were ever back, I would mostly want to see Daken getting his revenge for what Romulus did to him, and beat the **** out of him for ruining him. And maybe then Daken could find some closure similarly like what happened with Laura and Kimura. And he could stop blaming Logan finally.
I also agree very much with your last thought: I don’t care if he wants to be more ‘heroic’ or just a crime lord again, I just want to see him dealing with his past, control and abuse he went through and what’s it like now without it; want him to see and accept how much he is messed up, and re-evaluate things about himself. He already admitted a few things here and there.
Someone made an aesthetics edit for Daken, and it was very on point imo – it referred not to how much his life was ruined, but how much he was ruined:
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Originally Posted by
Coatl
I also would like that but I'm afraid that writers are too lazy, they seem to know anything about Daken besides "Is Logan son and he hates him" all who makes him special and different. Sadly Logan dying was the best who could have happened to him because writers were forcing to do something different to him besides the hate/fight/get killed by Logan
lol his only chance was really Logan not being around, which is sad. It shows how bad the writers’ general view and treatment of Daken is.
Laura is the only one who Daken is able to see as family, is genetically related, but at same time pretty different, she is actually a pretty cool sister, she know who is Daken and don't judge him or demand him to change, she can stop him when he is going to far and Daken will listen because know that she had his best interest in mind. She was supportive when Daken lost his healing factor becoming the only one who was there for him when he hitted his lowest (and that's why I love that image). And Daken in return respect her as he is unable to respect anyone else. He admires her ability and while feel puzzled by her seeking of humanity (something he doesn't share) he accepts that is important to her. And that's why I think the relation works, they are different but they know and don't want to change the other, instead have a mutual respect.
this was a perfect summery of my thoughts of them and why I love their relationship. Daken got some criticism for being too soft and good in ANW, but I didn’t see that way. He clearly stated that he doesn’t agree with Laura’s views and he doesn’t care about the people he helped save. He did everything for Laura, which was very much in character as Laura did the same for him, and their mutual respect started way before this, during Collision. it’s obvious that Laura very much an exception for him in his general way of treating people, and that’s what makes it very interesting.
Laura is probably the only one who saw him at his lowest and stayed beside him to help. No one ever cared about him before, so I think it’s pretty understandable why he would care about her too in return.
And what I really love is what you mentioned too, that Laura isn’t trying to change him (he would shut her out then), and they accept each other the way they are. That’s probably something for Daken that doesn’t happen often either. Their mutual understanding and respect lays on their similar upbringing and controlled past, not on their ways of doing things.