X-23's Creator Gives His Spin-Off Ideas

Dafne Keen's X-23 was the breakout star of Logan, and the character's creator knows where he wants to see the mutant go next. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Craig Kyle, who created X-23 in 2003 for the animated X-Men: Evolution, said that he would like to see a spin-off focusing on X-23's origins and on the atrocities of "what she was forced to do and commit."

Kyle's "Innocence Lost" storyline in the comics introduced Laura as a lab-created genetic twin of Wolverine who is forced to become an assassin, something which weighs on her heavily, since she does not have Wolverine's history of mind wipes and memory implants. "The bulk of who X-23 and Laura killed in the comic books were bad people, but she did kill some children," Kyle said. "She did kill a whole press corps. I think there's something powerful about watching her go through those horrors without any say and without any ability to not take those actions."

Kyle said he wants to see a story that focuses on Laura's "redemption," following her going back to face the families of the people she had to kill. "She can go through them one by one and face everyone affected by the murders she was forced to commit, if she can get to the end of that road without being killed by those that remain, there's something on the other side of that," he said. "I think it would truly be transformative for the character."

The writer said he was "so grateful" for Keen's portrayal of Laura in Logan, commending director James Mangold for not sexualizing the character at all, a pitfall that many female heroes often fall into (and something which Kyle disliked about the way Laura was treated in comics he was not involved in). "I just wanted her to be young and powerful and just rich in character," he said. "I wanted people to see what was so wonderful about her and have the sexuality really not be a part of it. With James doing what he's done, he's given us a chance to champion her story and love her... without making her a sexpot. I want a hero that my daughter, when she's old enough to see heads be turned into bologna slices, can get behind of and proud of an excited by. And I think she has a real shot of filling a missing piece."

Mangold and Keen have both said they are interested in a spin-off, and, with Kyle's blessing and the character's complicated history, there would be plenty of stories to be told. All we need now is for 20th Century Fox to give the movie a green light.