X-23 is the clone daughter of Wolverine and Sarah Kinney, trained to be the perfect weapon. She has joined the X-Men in an effort to build a new life, defining herself as a person rather than a weapon.
There seems to be some confusion over X-23's past as a prostitute on the streets of New York City. Some believe that she specialized in clients that enjoyed being "cut", but never performed sexual acts with them. Others believe she actually had intercourse with her clients. What information do you have to clarify this? Does it matter?
Her first appearance, the pimp was angry with her because she'd been cutting herself again & therefore scared clients away. To me that indicates she was meant to be used for sex. The unexpected appearance of her claws scared off the clients. No clients = no money = an angry pimp.
I think people prefer the idea of her being some sort of specialised for S&M clients, because it means she didn't actually have under-age sex. But either way it's pretty horrendous for anyone, of any age to be trapped in the sex trade.
#3
Posted by Alaric
(115 posts)
- 2 years, 10 months ago
- Show Bio
In the X-23 oneshot she recently had she herself said she was no longer in prostitution or as she put it "no money for sex". So yeah, I do think she did more than just specialize on clients who she cut but as she put it, it was her only way to survive.
Her first appearance, the pimp was angry with her because she'd been cutting herself again & therefore scared clients away. To me that indicates she was meant to be used for sex. The unexpected appearance of her claws scared off the clients. No clients = no money = an angry pimp.
I think people prefer the idea of her being some sort of specialised for S&M clients, because it means she didn't actually have under-age sex. But either way it's pretty horrendous for anyone, of any age to be trapped in the sex trade.
" In the X-23 oneshot she recently had she herself said she was no longer in prostitution or as she put it "no money for sex". So yeah, I do think she did more than just specialize on clients who she cut but as she put it, it was her only way to survive. "
That just makes her back story even more disheartening. I read the recent one-shot, and told a friend that she actually performed sex with these men, but she was adamant that Laura would not. I think it disturbs her too much to accept.
@Alaric: What I think is interesting is how her taste in dressing reflects influence is still retained from that past lifestyle. In one of the Pixie Series (Pixie Strikes Back?) they go see a Dazzler concert. She's completely dressed as a prostitute. There's the scene somewhere else (X-23: Target X ?) where someone askes her, "Are you sure you want to dress like that?" And she's basically in streetwalker clothes. She's so hardened as a fighter, it goes so well with her living on the streets and becoming hard towards people and having to do things that take a mental seperation to carry out. I think all the abuse she suffered at The Facility goes well in adding to that ability to almost be sociopathic/dissociative. She says she was punished when she succeeded, and was punished when she failed, and that Rice lied. She just basically learned not to trust, and harm was expected to follow anything she did . What a character Kyle and Yost created. I would really hope Marjorie Liu explores her past in bits and hints of X-23's behaviors. Maybe have her trying to express herself to Hellion and what her past has done to her outlook in life.
I like her survival attitude. Like the intro to the recent one-shot where she says about The Facility trying to creat another male Weapon X, "Instead they got me, and I did just fine." I thought it was further sharpened by Kiden Nixon's (both NYX series) survival attitude.
"@Alaric: What I think is interesting is how her taste in dressing reflects influence is still retained from that past lifestyle. In one of the Pixie Series (Pixie Strikes Back?) they go see a Dazzler concert. She's completely dressed as a prostitute. There's the scene somewhere else (X-23: Target X ?) where someone askes her, "Are you sure you want to dress like that?" And she's basically in streetwalker clothes. She's so hardened as a fighter, it goes so well with her living on the streets and becoming hard towards people and having to do things that take a mental seperation to carry out. I think all the abuse she suffered at The Facility goes well in adding to that ability to almost be sociopathic/dissociative. She says she was punished when she succeeded, and was punished when she failed, and that Rice lied. She just basically learned not to trust, and harm was expected to follow anything she did . What a character Kyle and Yost created. I would really hope Marjorie Liu explores her past in bits and hints of X-23's behaviors. Maybe have her trying to express herself to Hellion and what her past has done to her outlook in life. I like her survival attitude. Like the intro to the recent one-shot where she says about The Facility trying to creat another male Weapon X, "Instead they got me, and I did just fine." I thought it was further sharpened by Kiden Nixon's (both NYX series) survival attitude. "
I remember when Laura tried on some of her cousin's more risque clothing in "Target X", and her aunt asked if she really wanted to wear her wardrobe choice out in public, and Laura firmly and briefly stated that yes, she did. This leads me to believe that she likes to dress the way she does. On another note, it is also useful for her on missions, as she can use her feminine wiles to her advantage. Laura is such a complex character. I really love her, a lot.
#10
Posted by mxl23
(4 posts)
- 11 months, 5 hours ago
- Show Bio
I remember the first time I read about Laura was in one of my brother's comics that I stole out of her room. I was curious about her because of her claws, and from then on try to search and buy every single comic issue that she has been in. I do think that the time she spent with Zebra Daddy definitely influenced her style of clothing as seen in Target X and other issues.@Alaric said:
I think it give her depth as a character. One of the many reasons I'm a fan. lol
, despite the fact that I am a complete novice to the comic book universe , her complexity as a character drew me in and I will forever be her fan.:-)
#12
Posted by mxl23
(4 posts)
- 10 months, 29 days ago
- Show Bio
Funny coincidence, I have often thought that may have been the case as well. The Facility would have done anything to exploit Laura for their own personal gain, so sex wouldn't have been an exception.
Her creators were already pushing the limits of what they could do to a character, even a comic book character, as the age of 10. Between all the physical and mental abouse she was put through, I think adding sexual abouse would have taken things too far. It still most likely happened, but it was a good thing they didn't not bring it up.
It happened. From a purely professional (don't really like using a good word like that for what they did to her but...) point of view if you're trying to train a killing machine like Laura sex would definately be a good idea. Women especially attractive women have an automatic advantage over men. If you get into some of the more messed up series out there they touch on this kind of thing a lot. Yeah it happened. I strongly believe she was both sexually abused and had sex for money. It's horrible but they were thinking of her as a tool not a person.
Oh and heres a biological question.
Would her cherry stay popped due to her healing powers?
Her first appearance, the pimp was angry with her because she'd been cutting herself again & therefore scared clients away. To me that indicates she was meant to be used for sex. The unexpected appearance of her claws scared off the clients. No clients = no money = an angry pimp.
I think people prefer the idea of her being some sort of specialised for S&M clients, because it means she didn't actually have under-age sex. But either way it's pretty horrendous for anyone, of any age to be trapped in the sex trade.
Which is something I suspect the editorial staff had been aware of and in turn instructed Liu avoid expanding on it while writing X-23's solo series. Her past is just alluded to now and so the reader can extrapolate whatever they prefer although anyone who has read anything and everything to do with Laura knows better.
I think its unfortunate this direction was taken because although some prefer escapism in their comic-fare, Laura's character was created and presented as a very tragic figure. Having her hang out with teenagers (outside of my one of my fave stories NYX) just regresses X-23 to yet another sullen and misunderstood child/woman.
@KingofMadCows said:
I think it would be naive to assume that the Facility hadn't already trained X-23 to use sex as a strategy to employ on her missions.
Exactly. There can be no doubt there.
As for her chosen style of dress, I mark that up to comfort and preference on her part. Being in the Facility, she was required to take on different styles for missions and many were in the guise of a sweet, innocent girl (and not just to kill a senator, his family and everyone else in the room.)
Laura has seen the ugliness of humanity, over and over since the moment she was born. Having that past define her as a human being is a struggle I am fascinated with and I can only hope the next writer who takes on this character will be allowed to explore her past without editorial restriction (ie censorship.)
I think it would be naive to assume that the Facility hadn't already trained X-23 to use sex as a strategy to employ on her missions.
Exactly. There can be no doubt there.
As for her chosen style of dress, I mark that up to comfort and preference on her part. Being in the Facility, she was required to take on different styles for missions and many were in the guise of a sweet, innocent girl (and not just to kill a senator, his family and everyone else in the room.)
Laura has seen the ugliness of humanity, over and over since the moment she was born. Having that past define her as a human being is a struggle I am fascinated with and I can only hope the next writer who takes on this character will be allowed to explore her past without editorial restriction (ie censorship.)
My toonie on the subject. :)
And that's why I really hope that next person who writes her is a big fan of "Blade Runner." X-23 has a lot in common with the Replicants in that movie when you think about it. They were made to be weapons/tools. They rebelled against their creators. They are hunted by their creators. They were programmed to emulate humans but since they have little personal experience, they don't have a very good understanding of their own feelings and emotions. They simply haven't had an opportunity to simply live.
Despite their deficiencies, they are also better than their creators in many ways, being stronger, faster, and smarter. They've begun to learn that they have the potential to surpass humans in such qualities as compassion and mercy. They're on a journey to discover what it means to be human, whether they should be human or something else entirely, and find a purpose far beyond what they were made for.
This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:
Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along
with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely
increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.
Comment and Save
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other
Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll
send you an email once approved.
Log in to comment