Marvel will launch a brand new Weapon X #1 as part of X-Men ResurrXion in 2017. The Weapon X program and X-23 will be part of Wolverine’s next film Logan, also next year.
Wolverine, Sabretooth, Deadpool and X-23 are some of the most famous and infamous former products of the Weapon X program which turned mutants into living weapons.
Here are some other deadly graduates of the program you may not know about and who could be resurrected for the next chapter in the notorious saga of Weapon X:
Maverick
This masked mercenary first appeared in the classic Jim Lee story that also introduced Omega Red. Christoph Nord was an old ally of Logan. Nord, Creed and Logan were agents of a Team X, a CIA team in the Cold War. Maverick could absorb kinetic energy and gained an extended life thanks to the program and became a high-priced merc for hire and was later transformed into Agent Zero. With a cool code-name and costume, we would definitely want to see a “Maverick” as part of the next Weapon X.
Mesmero
The green skinned mind controlling mutant once turned the X-Men into circus freaks in one of my favorite two-part tales from the Chris Claremont era. The Weapon X program recruited him to try and control Sabretooth and upgraded the villain so he could control huge crowds of people at once. Mesmero’s abilty to mass sway a crowd was effective in a war zone but he was de-powered on M-Day.
Weapon X aka Garrison Kane.
The second man to bear the mantle of Weapon X was a member of Cable’s Six Pack mercenary group during the ’90’s X-Force era. Left behind and dismembered on a mission gone wrong, Kane was rescued by Weapon X and weaponized into a cyborg.
Wild Child
Kyle Gibney was born with abilities similar to Wolverine and Sabretooth and was first a member of Canada’s Department H Flight (aka Alpha and Beta Flight) program, then X-Factor before joining the Weapon X program where he devolved into a pure animal and looked more like Nosferatu. Wild Child was exterminated by Omega Red when the killers turned on each other while on a mission to eliminate Logan. I will always cheer for the Age of Apocalypse version of Wild Child who was Sabretooth’s “pet” as the two savage mutant fought on the side of Magneto’s X-Men. It would be a thrilling throwback to have Creed and Kyle chained together again for the new Weapon X.
Fantomex
One of the most bizarre products of the program dreamed up during the Grant Morrison New X-Men era. Fantomex aka Weapon XII (aka Weapon Eleven) was among the super soldiers created in an artificial “World” by the Weapon Plus program. Along with a various physical and mental powers, Fantomex was paired with a vehicle called EVA which was part of his nervous system. The soldier with a the fake French accent once sacrificed himself to save the X-Men and was reborn as three clones and has a dangerous on-again, off-again, love/hate relationship with Psylocke.
Other notable alum include Sauron, Reaper and Wildside of the Mutant Liberation Front, Chamber of Generation X and Aurora of Alpha Flight. In Death of Wolverine, Logan discovered new test subjects of the sinister scientist (Dr. Abraham Cornelius) who transformed him into Weapon X. The Weapon X aka Weapon Plus legacy stretches back into Marvel history even going back to the origin of Captain America.
There’s no official word on a team roster or creative team on the title yet but the Weapon X program is filled with a killer alumni ready for resurrection when ResurrXion rises in Spring 2017.
By Editor