Weapon X

This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (October 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Weapon X Project
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Incredible Hulk #180 (October 1974)
Created by	Len Wein (writer) Herb Trimpe (artist) Barry Windsor-Smith (writer and artist)
In-story information
Base(s)	Various
Member(s)	List of Weapon X members

Weapon X is a fictional

.

The fictional experiment X, or the brutal

.

Publication history

The Weapon X organization first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #180 (October 1974) written by Len Wein and drawn by Herb Trimpe and remains a relevant character in today's comics.

Fictional organization biography

Original installment

The code name Weapon X was originally mentioned in the first appearance of Wolverine in The Incredible Hulk #180 in 1974 since which it has been implied that he was connected to a shady and malevolent government program. In the 1991 story arc "Weapon X" (originally published in Marvel Comics Presents #72–84 in 1991), the project was designated Experiment X, and it was revealed that it was responsible for bonding the adamantium to Wolverine's skeleton, making him indestructible. It also subjected him to brainwashing in order to bring out his most basic murderous instincts and to transform him into the perfect assassin. The scientists christened their new killing machine "Weapon X".

Wolverine's solo series issues #48-50 (1992) revealed that Project X also created fabricated memories in the minds of several of its subjects.

Weapon X operated through Canada's Department K and was directed by

which were obtained by Weapon Plus after the end of World War II.

The project's original test subjects were the members of

). The telepath Psi-Borg was involved in the creation of the victims' memory implants, in exchange for being endowed with immortality. The test subjects were policed by an adaptive robot enforcer, called Shiva, should any of the agents go rogue.

What Wolverine and his fellow X-Men ignored for many years is that Weapon X was part of a larger program called Weapon Plus, a United States super-soldier program created in the 1940s with the purpose of creating super-soldiers and assassins not only to be employed in conventional wars, but also to be employed for the extermination of mutants. Weapon X was the first iteration in Weapon Plus that victimized mutants.

What the Weapon X scientists did not foresee is that the experimentation on Wolverine would cause him to go on a murderous rampage, which allowed the escape of the other test subjects, and caused the death of Dale Rice, among dozens of other members of Weapon X staff, both scientists and military.

The Deadpool

Weapon X was temporarily shut down, but eventually was reinstated. Subsequent attempts at recreating the success seen by Weapon X with Wolverine include

.

Second installment

At some point, Weapon X branched off from Weapon Plus' control and was solely headed up by Canada's Department K. A new generation of agents were created:

, and Ajax, among others. Weapon X used Logan's DNA in order to endow its agents with healing powers. The batch produced many additional failures, which were sent to a facility for dissection to determine the cause of their failures. These rejects were freed by Deadpool when he escaped from the facility.

A smaller experiment was later developed by Department K with a

colony ever created.

was also a subject, when she was captured by an Antarctic facility continuing research for the Weapon X Project, specifically the mental faculties of the mutant mind. Their experiments helped give birth to Mary's "Bloody Mary" persona, which exhibited increased psychokinetic powers.

Third installment

In Weapon X series number 6, director Malcolm Colcord forms the third version of the Weapon X Project, designed to monitor and eliminate mutants. Colcord, once a security guard at the first Weapon X project, suffered severe facial lacerations during an escape attempt by the mutant Wolverine. Unlike the previous two installments of Weapon X, the third Project was completely U.S.-based and focused not only on the creation of living weapons, but also on the ultimate goal of Colcord, the creation of death camps.

The Director initially uses Weapon X as his personal strike force to exact revenge against Wolverine. He soon begins using its resources for the capturing and imprisonment of mutants in the secret government death camp called Neverland. Mutants who are not suitable to be used as military weapons would be executed, while those that are suitable are given the choice to join Weapon X or die. A number of mutants, such as

.

The agents of the third Weapon X were

-like feral humanoid.

Former mutant terrorist

, who was extracted from the terrorist group known as the Zodiac and used to create hundreds of Boxbots loyal to Weapon X to serve as guards at Neverland.

Mutant Liberation Front

) became agents of the program in exchange for their lives. The psychic mutant Jack-in-the-Box joins after his legs and arms were amputated. He becomes a living polygraph.

Unbeknownst to all except Sabretooth, Mister Sinister was disguised as the head scientist at the Neverland facility, Doctor Robert Windsor. As Windsor, Mister Sinister supposedly helped some mutants escape from Neverland, but he was only taking them to his own secret labs.

After some time, Brent Jackson (the only human officially on the team) took over as Director, during a mutiny by the team in conjunction with an attack by mutants from the Underground.

.

Colcord fled Weapon X with the always loyal Jeffries and Aurora as well. Director Brent Jackson's team consisted of Wildchild, Sauron, Agent Zero, Mesmero, Jack-in-the-Box, and newly recruited

, whose face was restored by the program's scientists. Chamber was originally a double agent working for the X-Men, but was subsequently brainwashed into Jackson's service. Mister Sinister, under the alias of Dr. Windsor, remains at Weapon X. At some point, Jackson's team fought with Colcord's Boxbots. Colcord regains control of Weapon X.

Following

and used in the research to develop the cure for mutation.

In the aftermath of the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Cyclops and his team of Uncanny X-Men have taken up residency in the Weapon X facility, which they have rebuilt into a school named the New Charles Xavier's School for the new mutants that began appearing.

Fourth installment

As part of the

The latest project H-Alpha emerges where it kills the lesser experiment H-Beta. Unfortunately, Dr. Aliana Alba lost control of it even when Amadeus Cho's Hulk form joins the battle while William Stryker and Dr. Alba get away. Following the fierce battle, H-Alpha flees causing Old Man Logan's group to go after it before the Weapon X Project plans to regain control of it.^[4]

When the Weapon X Project caught up to H-Alpha, Dr. Alba regained control of H-Alpha. She then stated to the controlled H-Alpha that he has a killer instinct where he is to kill anyone that the Weapon X Project wants him to kill.^[5] As Old Man Logan's group faces off against H-Alpha, X-23's Wolverine appearance was able to free Weapon H from Dr. Alba's control enabling Weapon H to leave the area so that he can remember who he was.^[6]

The "Hulkverines" miniseries showed Hulk and Wolverine's reactions to the Weapon X Project creating Weapon H and their search for them as well as dealing with the collaboration of

Leader and Dr. Alba.^[7]

Implosion and Xeno emergence

Following Professor Charles Xavier founding a sovereign nation state for mutants on the living island Krakoa, he made sure all shadow agencies around the world were defunded and disbanded, Weapon X among them.[8]

However remnants of those agencies gathered together and establishe Xeno a global organization with ties to anti-mutant politicians and business leaders. Xeno are dedicated to bioengineering themselves into weapons. Upon discovering this, Professor X tasked Domino to infiltrate the organization to gather intel. Domino was discovered during her infiltration, and The Xeno's operatives used grafts of her skin on their genetically altered soldiers to allow them to evade Krakoa's security protocols. The Xeno strike team was able to attack Krakoa, and assassinate Xavier.^[9]

The Weapon X codename

• In mainstream Marvel, Logan was the first individual known as Weapon X. After Wolverine, Garrison Kane went by the alias of Weapon X before leaving the Canadian Government to work as a mercenary again.
• A short time later, a New Zealand terrorist was captured by the Canadian Government and subjected to an experiment which bonded him to a bacteria colony, called Thetagen-24. This symbiosis proved dangerous as the union created a deadly energy field which could only be contained by an armored suit that was powered by the energy field.
• In the "Age of Apocalypse" alternate universe, Logan was known as
  Weapon X
  .

Series called Weapon X

1991 storyline

The chronicle of Wolverine's days with the Weapon X project, from the bonding of adamantium to his bones to his escape from the project, were revealed in the

Pocket Star Books

in 2004. The story intertwines with some of Wolverine's past, and eventually ends with Wolverine's rampage being described in full, only to be revealed as the work of a Virtual reality system which actually predicted the events of Wolverine's escape which then occur in real life moments later.

Age of Apocalypse series

In 1995, Weapon X became the name of the Age of Apocalypse variation of Wolverine's ongoing series (during the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline, each X-Men series was renamed and renumbered for four monthly issues and then reverted to the original name and numbering after the storyline ended).

2002 ongoing series

Weapon X is the name of a 28-issue

Cable, who at the time wasn't featured in a monthly title. However, sales sagged following the removal of Cable from the book after the first year, on orders of Rob Liefeld, who was working on a new X-Force project.^{[citation needed}

]

Frank Tieri was forced to drop nearly all of his subplots, including the introduction of a mutant concentration camp run by Mr. Sinister that featured many popular B-List mutant characters, and take the book into the controversial direction involving the introduction of

John Sublime. The new direction failed to catch on, mainly due to the books' over-exposure of Wolverine and the drastic change in tone of the book.^{[citation needed}

] It was cancelled with all of its storylines unresolved.

2005 limited series

A limited series Weapon X: Days of Future Now in 2005 was released that resolved all of the dangling storylines and revealed that Wolverine's disfigurement of Weapon X Director Malcolm Colcord was the catalyst for the creation of a future similar to the "Days of Future Past" scenario.

Wolverine: Weapon X

An ongoing series launched in 2009 titled Wolverine: Weapon X. The series was written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Ron Garney.

2017 ongoing series

As part of their

RessurXion event, a new ongoing series for Weapon X written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Greg Land was launched along with other new ongoing X-Men titles. This series takes place after the events seen in X-Men Prime when Lady Deathstrike gets kidnapped by the new version of Weapon X.^[1]

Membership

Main article: List of Weapon X members

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the

"Weapon X"

codename, through his entire career.

Dead Man Wade, the AoA counterpart of

Pale Riders

'.

Exiles

Main article:

Weapon X (Exiles)

In the series

Weapon X is a group of superbeings that have been torn from their respective realities to fulfill various missions for the Exiles' employer, the Timebroker

. To return home, they have been forced to jump from reality to reality, repairing the broken links in the chain of time. Unlike their more heroic counterparts, the Exiles, this ruthless assemblage will resort to any means necessary to attain their goals. They act without mercy and without conscience.

The team's membership has changed through time. The first known mission given to Weapon X was to capture the

Deadpool and Garrison Kane

. Later it was revealed that the team also included Wolverine, Maverick and Mesmero. The six chose the name 'Weapon X' due to their common ties to the Project in their native timelines, although, save for Sabretooth, the background of all the other members are a mystery. The Exiles completed the mission without realizing the existence of Weapon X, but the Weapon X trio saw the Exiles and their leader, Blink.

When the two teams met face-to-face for the first time, Weapon X was already a sextet: Sabretooth, Deadpool, the Spider (Peter Parker, an alternate version of Spider-Man, here a psychotic murderer with the symbiotic alien costume of Carnage), Storm (Ororo Munroe, here only sixteen years old and already ruler of more than half of Africa), the Vision (a version that remained an emotionless robot), and the Hulk (Jennifer Walters, normally called the She-Hulk, here a former mob bookkeeper transformed into an eight-foot green-skinned powerhouse). It was mentioned that the Vision had replaced Kane and that the Spider had replaced Matt Murdock (Daredevil). Later, Iron Man replaced Deadpool.

The next time the team was seen,

Colossus, and eventually Angel was replaced by Ms. Marvel

(Carol Danvers).

When Storm died, she was replaced by

Firestar

. These two, along with Gambit, tried to stop Hyperion, the Spider and Ms. Marvel when they decided to abandon their mission and rule a world. They failed, and the next mission given to both the Exiles and Weapon X was to kill enough members of each team so that there would be only six survivors in total. Ultimately, all members of this Weapon X team were killed in the fight.

Ultimate Marvel

In Ultimate X-Men, which takes place in the Ultimate Marvel universe, the Weapon X project has a similar intention and similar methodology as its Marvel Universe counterpart, as it was also responsible for bonding adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton. ^[10]

Ultimate Weapon X was headed by Colonel

Nightcrawler, and the rest of the original Ultimate X-Men, for a short time after the program invaded Xavier's mansion and took them captive. ^{[11] [12]}

What If?

This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (January 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message )

In an issue of

Marine

named Guy Desjardins, who was brainwashed and subjected to the adamantium bonding process. Instead of claws, Desjardins manifested adamantium spikes that permanently protruded from his forehands (as 616-Logan's claws were the result of his mutation) and elbows. The experiment broke Guy's mind causing him to become fierce and go on a killing spree in the Weapon X facility. This made Guy Desjardins seem to be prone to violent outbursts and highly uncontrollable. Due to this, he had cybernetic armor that pumped adrenaline and narcotics into him. Unfortunately, this was ineffective because when Weapon X was released from the drugs, he went on a killing spree until the Weapon X soldiers drugged him once more.

To pass their failure onto someone else, the head of Weapon X had his men drop his body off at Department H with instruction saying "His codename is Weapon X. Make use of him." He was taken in by

Groundhog

armor for him. Smart Alec thought of a plan and got close enough to disrupt the harness. This was partially successful where his body managed to compensate for the loss of adrenaline where Smart Alec was killed in the process.

When the remaining members pursued Guy Desjardins to Calgary,

Snowbird and Dr. James Hudson (wearing the Groundhog armor) were killed, Logan confronted Desjardins. After removing Desjardin's helmet, Logan managed to kill Desjardins. Government soldiers arrived to arrest Logan for the theft of government records. After Logan dove into the river to escape the soldiers, they thought he was dead when they found some of his blood. Days later, a news report that was all over the news had exposed the existence of the Weapon X Project and their involvement in Desjardins' attack upon people as well as Department H's role in the creation of The Flight. Watching television, Logan recovered from his wounds and found inner peace after avenging Thomas.^[13]

Wolverine: The End

In a possible future of Wolverine: The End, Wolverine attempts to hunt down the people involved in Weapon X, and discovers not only that they have been dead and gone for many decades, but also what may have been the very first subject of the project: his elder brother John Howlett, who he had been told died when he (Wolverine) was still just a baby. In addition to having bone claws, enhanced senses and a healing factor, the elder Howlett appeared to have some kind of ethereal form which allowed him to phase through things and somehow conduct energy blasts. John Howlett claimed that he was driven mad at first by his parents' seeming abandonment of him when his powers first manifested. Had he been in his insane state of mind when he first encountered Wolverine, he claims he would likely have attempted to kill him.

X-Men Noir

Set in

Calvin Rankin revealed that Weapon X is named after him as Berlin seeks to replicate his skills in warfare. ^[14][15]

In other media

Television

• In the
  Oyama
  and Dr. Cornelius) captured Logan, Sabretooth, Silver Fox, and Maverick and used a combination of false memory implants and brainwashing techniques in order to turn them into an elite team of mind-controlled assassins. Most of the experiments and training were administered at a secret research compound in Canada. There, Thorton and Cornelius forcibly laced Logan's skeleton with adamantium. Enraged by what was done to him, Logan broke free of his restraints and rampaged his way out of the facility. During the ensuing chaos, Sabretooth, Silver Fox, and Maverick were also able to escape.
• In X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine and Sabretooth were both shown to be subjects of Weapon X with a scientist operating a lab in Canada. Omega Red later mentioned other members such as Wraith.
• Weapon X is featured in the
  Mystique
  were also part of Weapon X.
• Weapon X is mentioned in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "The X-Factor." Pepper Potts was talking to War Machine and Iron Man via com-link about the background of Magneto. Magneto also reveals to Annie Claremont that as a boy, the Weapon X scientists did experiments on him (which hinted a link with Magneto and Weapon X).
• Weapon X briefly appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Behold...The Vision". The Weapon X guards are briefly seen fighting Vision to no avail as Vision successfully steals Weapon X's adamantium supply.

Film

Live action

• In the X-Men film franchise, Wolverine is an amnesiac searching for clues to his past, which definitely includes participation in a paramilitary program that bonded adamantium to his skeleton, although the program was not named, nor was the program's country of affiliation mentioned. He also encounters Lady Deathstrike, who has been put through a similar procedure. X2: X-Men United introduced Colonel William Stryker, a military scientist who is directly involved in Wolverine's past, having invented the adamantium-bonding process and has performed other experiments on mutants such as developing a mind-controlling drug that he used on Lady Deathstrike, Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops. William Stryker is the film adaptation of the former military man turned-reverend in the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel upon which X2 is partially based.
• In the 2009 film
  Kayla Silverfox to manipulate him. In the Alkali Lake Weapon X facility, Wolverine's skeleton bonds with adamantium. He then escapes the facility when he overhears that his memory will be erased. Weapon XI was portrayed in the film as a genetically-altered Wade Wilson / Deadpool.^{[citation needed}
  ] Weapon XI is referred to by Stryker as a "deadpool" possessing powers extracted from several mutants.
• Ajax is part of Weapon X.^[16] While the program Wade enters isn't explicitly called "Weapon X" in the movie, it's still an underground facility that has scientists experiment on people to enhance their mutant powers similar to Weapon X in the comics. Ryan Reynolds, who portrays the titular character, confirmed in the Deadpool Honest Trailer
  that the facility was Weapon X.
• The program under the younger Stryker appears in the film X-Men: Apocalypse.^[17] Hugh Jackman appears as Weapon X, wearing headgear and costume based on Barry Windsor-Smith's designs from the Marvel Comics Presents #72–84 story arc.
• The Weapon X program is mentioned in Logan, where both Logan and Zander Rice acknowledge Rice's father as one of the men responsible for Logan's adamantium bonding in the new timeline.

Animation

• The Weapon X organization appears in the Wolverine portion of
  Sabretooth, Deadpool and Lady Deathstrike) to capture both Hulk
  and Wolverine in Professor Andre Thorton's plan to wipe their memories and use them as weapons. Short scenes of Logan past with Weapon X are shown in the movie like how he was captured and later cloned (a ref. to X-23). The Weapon X headquarters was destroyed during Team X's fight with Wolverine and Hulk.

Video games

• In Wolverine's Capcom fighting game appearances, such as
  Marvel Super Heroes
  , "Weapon-X" is also the name of a super move where Wolverine starts with a swift dash followed by an automatic combo then he finishes it off by leaping into the air head-first creating an energy X over his opponent.
• Weapon X is featured in
  Vault
  , but holds mutant criminals).
• Weapon X is featured in X-Men Legends. A flashback level features Wolverine escaping from the Weapon X facility.
• The Weapon X facility is a hub in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
• X-Men: The Official Game expands upon Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike's involvement with Weapon X. Wolverine fights his way through the Weapon X Testing labs at Alkali Lake. Lady Deathstrike mentions that mutants were repeatedly burned to a crisp to test their healing factors, and that she and Wolverine are the only candidates to have survived the adamantium bonding process. Along the way through the labs, there are several names of victims of Weapon X above holding pens like Wolverine, Sabertooth, Maverick, and Deadpool.
• Weapon X is featured in the video game adaption to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Known members are William Stryker, Dr. Abraham Cornelius, Dr. Carol Hines-Frost, and Nathaniel Essex (who was mentioned in a work log as one of the earliest scientists of the Weapon X Program).

Collected editions

First series

Title	Material collected	Publication Date	ISBN
X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic Book 2	Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, X-Men: Alpha, Age of Apocalypse: The Chosen, Generation Next #1, X-Calibre #1, Gambit and the X-Ternals #1–2, Weapon X (Vol. 1) #1–2, Amazing X-Men #1–2, Factor X #1–2, and X-Man #1	August 2006	0785122648
X-Men: The Complete Age Of Apocalypse Epic Book 3	Astonishing X-Men (1st series) #2–4, X-Calibre #2–3, Generation Next #2–3, X-Man #2–3, Factor X #3, Amazing X-Men #3, Weapon X (1st series) #3, Gambit & the X-Ternals #3 and X-Universe #1	April 2006	0785120513
X-Men: The Complete Age Of Apocalypse Epic Book 4	X-Calibre #4, Generation Next #4, X-Man #4 & #53–54, Factor X #4, Amazing X-Men #4, Weapon X (1st series) #4, Gambit & the X-Ternals #4, X-Universe #2, X-Men Omega #1, Blink #4 and X-Men Prime #1	November 2006	0785120521

Second series

Title	Material collected	Publication Date	ISBN
Weapon X, Volume 1: The Draft	Weapon X (Vol. 2) #1–5, Weapon X #1/2, Weapon X: The Draft - Agent Zero, Weapon X: The Draft - Kane, Weapon X: The Draft - Marrow, Weapon X: The Draft - Sauron, Weapon X: The Draft - Wild Child	March 2003	ISBN 978-0785111481
Weapon X, Volume 2: The Underground	Weapon X (Vol. 2) #6–13	November 2003	ISBN 978-0785112532

Third series

Title	Material collected	Publication Date	ISBN
Weapon X, Volume 1: Weapons of Mutant Destruction Prelude	Weapon X (Vol. 3) #1–4, Totally Awesome Hulk #19	September 5, 2017	Paperback: 978-1302907341
Weapons of Mutant Destruction	Weapon X (Vol. 3) #5–6, Totally Awesome Hulk #20–22, Weapons of Mutant Destruction #1	November 7, 2017	Paperback: 978-1302910853
Weapon X, Volume 2: Search for Weapon H	Weapon X (Vol. 3) #7–11	March 6, 2018	Paperback: 978-1302907358
Weapon X, Volume 3: Modern Warfare	Weapon X (Vol. 3) #12–16	June 26, 2018	Paperback: 978-1302910938
Weapon X, Volume 4: Russian Revolution	Weapon X (Vol. 3) #17–21	November 13, 2018	Paperback: 978-1302912239
Weapon X, Volume 5: Weapon X-Force	Weapon X (Vol. 3) #22–27	January 30, 2019	Paperback: 978-1302912246

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Weapon X Vol. 3 #2. Marvel Comics.
2. ^ Totally Awesome Hulk #19. Marvel Comics.
3. ^ Weapons of Mutant Destruction: Alpha #1. Marvel Comics.
4. ^ Totally Awesome Hulk #22. Marvel Comics.
5. ^ Weapon X Vol. 3 #10. Marvel Comics.
6. ^ Weapon X Vol. 3 #11. Marvel Comics.
7. ^ Hulkverines #1-3. Marvel Comics.
8. ^ X-Force #2
9. ^ X-Force #1
10. ^ Ultimate X-Men Vol 1 #2
11. ^ Ultimate X-Men Vol 1 #10
12. ^ Ultimate X-Men Vol 1 #12-14
13. ^ What If? Vol. 2 #62. Marvel Comics.
14. ^ Weapon X Noir #1
15. ^ X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain #1-4
16. ^ 'Deadpool' Star Ed Skrein Reveals What's Up With His Villainous Ajax | Comic Con 2015
17. ^ Wilding, Josh (March 27, 2016). "Weapon X Will Be Included In X-Men: Apocalypse, But What About Wolverine?". We Got This Covered.

External links

• Weapon X at Marvel.com
• Knightmare6.com - Weapon Project FAQ
• Mutant High - Mutant Profiles
• weaponx.net.ru Alkali Lake