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Weapon XWeapon X a clandestine government project in the Marvel Universe, which turns mutants into living weapons. The project often captures mutants and experiments on them to enhance their superpowers. It also conditions them to be savage killers. It is most famous for bonding the metal alloy adamantium to the skeleton of the X-Men member Wolverine. Weapon X is also a name used by several characters associated with the program, including Wolverine himself and several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, most of which involve the program. The Exiles comic book also presented an alternate version of a team called Weapon X. Variations of the Weapon X program have also been featured in the X-Men film franchise and Ultimate X-Men, a series featuring modernized, simpler variation of the X-Men, set outside the regular Marvel universe. Marvel Universe The Weapon X/Weapon Plus Project Since the popular anti-hero's first appearance in 1974, it had been implied that Wolverine was connected to a shady and malevolent government program. In the 1991 miniseries Weapon X, the project was named and it was revealed that it was responsible for bonding the adamantium to Wolverine's skeleton, making it unbreakable, and for conditioning him to bring out his more animalistic instincts. Also, Wolverine was not a willing participant. Early 1990s issues of Wolverine's solo series, revealed that the Weapon X project also erased the memories and/or created false memories in the minds of several of its subjects and the project also produced the savage Sabretooth and the mercenary Maverick among others. The X-Men spin-off X-Force introduced two other products of the Weapon X program: Garrison Kane a former ally of X-Force's war hawk leader Cable and Deadpool, a mutant mercenary who volunteered for the program in the hopes of curing his cancer. Originally it was implied that Weapon X was a Canadian government project, since Wolverine is Canadian, but later developments seem to have retconned it to be a United States government project. Events in the series New X-Men revealed that the full project was actually called Weapon Plus, and that the X in Weapon X was the Roman numeral 10, thus meaning that Wolverine was the 10th product of the larger program. Weapon I was the World War II-era super soldier Captain America. Nuke, a foe of the vigilante Daredevil was also a creation of the Weapon Plus Project. The mysterious super-thief Fantomex is Weapon XIII (13), and the telepathic, quintuplets the Stepford Cuckoos are alleged to be Weapon XIV (14). Currently, Weapon X is active once again and has drafted (sometimes forcibly) several hard-edged characters previously seen in various X-Men series including Sabretooth, Garrison Kane, Marrow, Sauron, Aurora, Wild Child, Mesmero, Washout and Maverick, now called Agent Zero. The group was originally formed by the mysterious Director to hunt down other mutants and either recruit them for his team or send them to Neverland, a secret mutant concentration camp. Weapon X is now led by Director Brent Jackson and has recruited the one-time X-Man Chamber (not knowing that Chamber is infiltrating the project on behalf of the X-Men) and seems to have different goals than before. Characters called Weapon X While the project was underway, Weapon X was the name given to Wolverine. In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Wolverine is at present still known by that name. Garrison Kane has been called Weapon X. Series called Weapon X 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 mini-series Weapon X, written and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and published in installments in the anthology series Marvel Comics Presents in 1991. 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 then reverted to the original name after the storyline ended). Weapon X is also the name of an ongoing series published by Marvel, featuring the last variation of the project mentioned above. The series began in 2002 and is slated to end in 2004. Weapon X (in the Exiles series) In the series Exiles, whose cast is a group of characters from alternate timelines who travel to other realities, 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 Hulk. At the time, the membership of Weapon X consisted of Sabretooth (Victor Creed of the Age of Apocalypse, the father figure of the Exiles' leader Blink), Deadpool, and Garrison Kane. All three had been connected to the Weapon X Project in Earth-616, although the history of the Exiles characters prior to joining the team is largely unrevealed. 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 Venom), Storm (Ororo Munroe, here only sixteen years old), the Vision, 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, Angel (now a gun-toting assassin) replaced Iron Man and the team leader was now Gambit (comics) instead of Sabretooth. Later, the Hulk was replaced by Colossus, and eventually Angel was replaced by Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers). When Storm died, she was replaced by Hyperion. Later, Colossus and the Vision were replaced by the Hulk (Bruce Banner) and 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, the entire Weapon X team was killed in battle. Ultimate Marvel Universe 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 was also responsible for bonding adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton. However, the Weapon X project is lead by the savage Colonel Wraith and is an international program. It also captured and attempted to condition all of the X-Men in the second major story arc of the series. With help from The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the X-Men ended the program. Weapon X in televison & film In the X-Men film franchise, thus far consisting of 2000’s X-Men and 2003’s , Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, is an amnesiac searching for clues to his past, which definitely includes unwilling participation in a paramilitary program that bonded adamantium to his skeleton, although the program was not named. He also encounters Lady Deathstrike, who has been put through an in identical procedure. X2 introduced Colonel William Stryker, a military scientist who invented the adamantium bonding process and has performed other experiments on mutants. The Marvel Universe version of Stryker has no affiliation with Weapon X. In fact, Stryker was a reverend in the demi-classic 'God Loves, Man Kills' story, upon which X2 was based. In the cartoon television series , another Weapon X project, the young female clone of Wolverine, X-23, was introduced. She was eventually worked into the Marvel Comics universe too.
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