History
Weapon X was a code name for a secret U.S. Government project intended to deliberately induce superpowers for military purposes. It was the tenth installment of the Weapon Plus Program. In the case of Weapon X, the mechanism was genetic engineering, specifically, creating mutations in normal humans and enhancing existing mutations. The successive projects had Roman numerals, so Weapon X was the tenth such project. Some confusion has arisen because this same name has applied to several different projects as well as several of the project's "graduates."
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First incarnation of the Weapon X Program with Dr. Cornelius and the Professor
The original Weapon X Program started in the United States during the 1960s by Professor Thorton under Romulus' influence.[3] Sponsored by American Central Intelligence Agency, Weapon X recruited skilled intelligence operatives to form a squad named Team X, composed of Romulus' agents Logan, (codenamed Subject X[4]) Victor Creed and Silver Fox, and C.I.A. operatives David North (codenamed Maverick), John Wraith (codenamed Kestrel) and Mastodon. During these years, Team X members received memory implants via several methods, including low-quality stage scenarios,[5] machines provided by Romulus,[4] and psychic manipulations by one of the Weapon X's allies, Aldo Ferro.[6] In 1963 Silver Fox fled Weapon X for her own reasons during a mission in Cuba, allying with enemy soldiers.[7]
In 1968 Romulus had Weapon X operatives in Dallas, Texas, experimenting on Logan with Carbonadium pills;[4] Team X later had a mission in Berlin, where they obtained the Carbonadium Synthesizer and C.I.A. double agent Janice Hollenbeck;[8][9][10] they were opposed by Omega Red, but they successfully escaped while Wraith distracted him.[7] Team X later disbanded after that mission, with Logan and Creed returning working for Romulus while Maverick, Mastodon and Wraith remained under C.I.A.'s authority. The Weapon X Program then continued operating under the cover of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.[2]
In the 1970s former Team X member Logan briefly joined Canadian's Department K as an intelligence member,[11] also working with C.I.A. agents Richard and Mary Parker.[12] During this time, Department K found a way to replicate Logan's healing factor and implement it into other subjects; one of such subjects was Wade Wilson, a man who suffered from cancer who had enlisted in Department K searching for a cure. Weapon X implemented healing factor in Wilson's body, temporarily regressing his cancer.[13] Department K then formed an early installment of Weapon P.R.I.M.E. squad composed by Wilson, Sluggo, Kane and Slayback; they were later joined by Wade's girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle, codenamed Copycat. Under unknown circumstances, Wilson killed Slayback during a mission;[14] his health then got worse and worse, so he was taken to the Hospice, a Weapon X Facility directed by Dr. Emrys Killebrew and his assistant Francis Fanny, codenamed Ajax. There, Killebrew and Ajax made terrible experiments on Wilson, who was also tortured by Ajax. Adopted the name Deadpool, Wade led a massive breakout from the Hospice, and the Canadian branch of Weapon X was shutted down afterwards.[13]
Meanwhile, criminal mastermind Romulus eventually decided to revamp a new iteration of Weapon X,[3] again formed by Truett Hudson, a.k.a. Professor Thorton, F.B.I. scientist Dr. Abraham Cornelius and former N.A.S.A. operative Carol Hines.[1] This installment, codenamed Esperiment X, operated in a Department K Facility[15] located near Roanoke in Alberta, Canada.[16] Agent Logan was selected by Romulus as the first Esperiment X's subject; he was captured by Weapon X agents and taken to the facility, where Hudson and Esperiment's staff bonded Adamantium with Logan's skeleton; under Weapon X's control, he slaughtered the entire population of Roanoke;[17] made insane for his pain, Logan broke free and escaped from the facility, killing several Project members,[18] including Dr. Dale Rice,[19] and nearly killed Malcolm Colcord, the head of security.[20]
A new Weapon X
Eventually, the Team X members recovered their repressed memories. As a result, Silver Fox (then working for Hydra) killed Thorton;[2] Psi-Borg killed Hines; and Maverick killed Cornelius. Despite this setback (or because of it), Sublime, the new head of Weapon Plus, brought the Weapon X project under his control. He appointed Malcolm Colcord, a survivor of the Roanoke massacre, as its new director. He gave the project two additional goals: to monitor mutants in the general population and to set up concentration camps where they would be recruited, held for study, or executed. Colcord brought in Brent Jackson, a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as Sabretooth, Deadpool, Copycat, and Mauvais.[21]
The new Weapon X team's first success was to psionically gain control of Wolverine and direct him to track down the "alumni" of previous Weapon X projects. They were forced to detain him, though, when he regained his volition. The Shiver Man freed Wolverine, upon which Colcord and the others fled.[22]
Colcord next brought in Box to build a concentration camp called Neverland. The Weapon X project had reached the height of its power. They recruited Aurora, Sauron, Mesmero, Marrow, Wildchild, Washout, Garrison Kane, and many more mutants. Some joined willingly. Most did not.
Cable organized the Underground, a mutant movement to counter the atrocities going on at Neverland. With assistance from Agent Jackson, they led an assault on Neverland, in which Kane was killed. Jackson's help, however, was a ploy to help him take over the Weapon X project.[23] Learning of the camp, the X-Men sent Chamber there undercover. Jackson ordered him to assassinate Sublime, at which point Chamber disappeared[24] --as did everyone else at Neverland. The Weapon X project moved to another facility they named the Program.
Jackson scored another success when he subverted Maverick, who arrived at the Program in critical condition after a battle. In exchange for his life, Maverick agreed to another treatment and became Agent Zero. Now working for Jackson, he neutralized Marrow's team. Apparently considering the debt satisfied, he teamed with Wolverine and Fantomex (a product of the Weapon XIII project) to uncover the truth about Weapon Plus. They found Neverland and the Program abandoned[25] but managed to track down Sublime. Only then did Wolverine learn what had happened at Roanoke.
A new Weapon X project, whose staff included Dr. Martin Sutter, Dr. Sarah Kinney, and Dr. Zander Rice (son of Dale Rice), followed. They produced Native, who was rescued by Wolverine and Sabretooth, and a female clone of Wolverine, X-23, who escaped after killing Rice and Kinney.
Later, Colcord and Jackson appeared to be running separate, competing Weapon X projects. Also, Nathaniel Essex (Mister Sinister) was still working with the project, using the name Dr. Robert Windsor. Sinister's journal, chronicling his experiments in a Nazi death camp, inspired Thorton to work on one of the original projects; the full extent of Sinister's influence on the Weapon X programs is still unknown.
Weapons of Mutant Destruction
Under the direction of Reverend William Stryker, a new Weapon X program emerged, which focused on the creation of undetectable killer cyborgs that could eventually eradicate mutantkind. These cyborgs were created from regular humans Stryker lured into his cause.[26] As part of the process to refine their cyborgs, Weapon X targeted several mutants with special abilities of their interest, namely Logan, Sabretooth, Warpath, Domino and Lady Deathstrike.[27]
Once Weapon X captured Lady Deathstrike and harvested genetic material for their cyborgs, they sent their robots after the remaining four targets. While they failed to capture Logan and Sabretooth, they acquired tissue samples.[28] Meanwhile, Warpath was successfully apprehended.[29] By the time Weapon X's cyborgs attacked Domino, Logan and Sabretooth had joined forced to investigate their attackers, and managed to rescue her. In order to improve the resistance and strength of the cyborgs, Weapon X set their sights on the Hulk.[30]
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Even though the cyborgs that attacked the Hulk managed to have a blood sample sent to their command center before being defeated and forced to self-destruct, their attack prompted Cho to investigate the situation and join forces with Weapon X's other targets. Data retrieved from a partially preserved cyborg allowed Hulk and his new allies to determine the location of one of the cyborgs' production centers.[31] When said facility was raided by Hulk and the mutants, Stryker had it self-destruct, killing its employees in the process. The mutants and Hulk survived, and even managed to rescue Warpath and Lady Deathstrike from containment.[32] With the Hulk's blood sample still in their possession, Weapon X moved to the creation of mutant-Hulk hybrids.[33]
After further investigating Weapon X, Hulk and the mutants located and raided their central command, forcing most of the facility to be evacuated. Weapon X's leading scientist, Dr. Alba had already finished experimenting on her best and last two subjects, H-Alpha and H-Beta,
[34] who were eventually released to confront the intruders. H-Alpha proved to be much less docile, to the point of killing H-Beta and attempting to turn on his creators. Hulk held him back, giving Stryker, Dr. Alba, and the remaining staffers the chance to flee in a helicopter. During the ensuing fight between Hulk and H-Alpha, Weapon X's central command collapsed.[35]Notes
- "Weapon #" is normally used to denote specific known agents. Weapon X is unique in that it has had entire teams, not to mention multiple agents (Wolverine, Garrison Kane, and the bacteria colony) with the name.
- Hints of the various projects and members occurred in Grant Morrison's New X-Men and Weapon X series.
See Also
- 131 appearance(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 7 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 22 minor appearance(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 97 mention(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 8 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 18 image(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 6 victim(s) killed by Weapon X (Earth-616)
- 54 member(s) of Weapon X (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marvel Comics Presents #72
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Wolverine (Vol. 2) #50
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wolverine: Origins #33
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Wolverine: Origins #6–7
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #48–49
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #63
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wolverine (Vol. 2) #61
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #5–7
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #60–61
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #8
- ↑ Logan: Shadow Society #1
- ↑ Untold Tales of Spider-Man #-1
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Deadpool and Death Annual #1998
- ↑ Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1
- ↑ Old Man Logan (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ Marvel Comics Presents #72–84
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #25
- ↑ Marvel Comics Presents #84
- ↑ X-23 #1
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #166
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #160
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #162–166
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #7–13
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #16–18
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ Weapons of Mutant Destruction #1
- ↑ X-Men Prime (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 3) #3
- ↑ Totally Awesome Hulk (Vol. 19)
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 3) #4
- ↑ Weapons of Mutant Destruction: Alpha #1
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ Totally Awesome Hulk #22