X-23: The Best At What SHE Does Appreciation 2022

[Digifiend]

Question is, what should a new name be? Talon would have been fitting because of her foot claws. And honestly, I'd prefer to avoid something Wolverine-adjacent, (Honey Badger works for Gabby because of her personality, but it would be too thematic/close for Laura) so no other mustelids.

Gabby is called Scout now. She changed her name at the end of Tamaki's X-23.

The way I would do it, based on where we are right now in the Krakoan Age and if Marvel was really serious about Laura becoming the Wolverine and not just sharing the title with him like Peter Parker and Miles Morales share the Spider-man title, is to have some in-story explanation for him handing the mantle off to her. He basically validated her also using the codename in an issue of Hickman’s X-men, but they could go further than that if they wanted to…

1) Coming out of whatever hell he goes through in XLoW/XDoW, he reflects on his life and tells Laura that he’s tried to play the superhero but just doesn’t believe he’s lived up to it and he’s got to continue doing the ugly things necessary to protect Krakoa, so she is The Wolverine and needs to continue to be better and not be what they made her… something like that where he formally passes the torch and essentially denounces himself as Wolverine, telling her that he’s always been “a weapon” and he just doesn’t see that changing;

2) Subsequently there will be times where another character (a friend or foe) calls him Wolverine and he reminds them that he’s not the Wolverine anymore, and for any foe he explains why that isn’t a good thing, because The Wolverine is a superhero and he “ain’t that”… right before he guts them;

3) Keep Logan confined to his solo book and X-Force, running the mutant CIA (obviously allowing for appearances in big events and guest appearances in non-X-titles); and

4) Retitle his book Weapon X and launch a new Wolverine book starring Laura (yes, I know Logan wouldn’t voluntarily go by Weapon X after what they did to him and I’m not advocating he take that as a codename, rather he would just go by Logan but his book needs a catchy title so I think calling it Weapon X and explaining to the reader in the intro page that “Before he was Wolverine the mutant named Logan was experimented on and brainwashed into an assassin capable of taking out superhuman threats… he was Weapon X” or something like that).

Those four steps would put Laura more fully into the Wolverine role in the X-men and broader Marvel U while Logan heads in a different, darker direction. I know many of my fellow Logan fans would hate it, but honestly it wouldn’t bother me. Nor does the current set up with both of them being Wolverine bother me honestly. So I’m good either way.

Why not just call James Howlett's book, Logan?