Weapon X

Original installment

Weapon X was originally mentioned in the first appearance of Wolverine in The Incredible Hulk #180 (1974). 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 brainwashing Wolverine to become an assassin and binding adamantium to his skeleton. Wolverine later escapes from Weapon X, killing Dale Rice and dozens of other members.^[1]

The project's original test subjects were the members of Team X, a covert ops CIA team (consisting of Wolverine, Sabretooth, Maverick, Silver Fox, Mastodon, Arthur Barrington, Psi-Borg/Aldo Ferro, Wildcat/Noel Higgins, and Kestrel). Psi-Borg was involved in the creation of the victims' memory implants, in exchange for being given immortality. The test subjects were policed by an adaptive robot enforcer, called Shiva, should any of the agents go rogue.

Subsequent attempts at recreating the success seen by Weapon X with Wolverine include Native, Kimura, and X-23 (a clone of Wolverine who was designed to hunt down rogue agents). The Weapon X Re-Creation Project, also known as the Facility, is headed by Martin Sutter, Dale Rice's son Zander Rice, and Sarah Kinney. Later creations of the Facility, now under the direction of Dr. Adam Harkins, include Predator X.

Second installment

At some point, Weapon X branched off from Weapon Plus' control and is solely headed by Canada's Department K. A new generation of agents were created and given healing abilities using Logan's DNA. However, the batch produced many additional failures, which were sent to a facility for dissection to determine the cause of their failures. These rejects are freed by Deadpool when he escapes from the facility.

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 Weapon X, suffered severe facial lacerations during an escape attempt by 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 where mutants are either executed or forced to serve Weapon X. Unbeknownst to all except Sabretooth, Mister Sinister is disguised as Robert Windsor, the head scientist at the Neverland facility. As Windsor, Sinister rescues mutants from Neverland for his own use.^[2]

After some time, Brent Jackson takes over as director, during a mutiny by the team in conjunction with an attack by mutants from the Underground. Cable leads this group in a mission to destroy Weapon X. Colcord flees Weapon X with Madison Jeffries, Aurora, Wild Child, Sauron, Agent Zero, Mesmero, Jack-in-the-Box, and the newly recruited Chamber, who is brainwashed into Jackson's service. Following M-Day, Chamber and Mesmero lose their powers. Neverland is shut down and the remaining prisoners are executed.

Fourth installment

As part of the RessurXion event, a fourth installment of the Weapon X project debuted. During the Weapons of Mutant Destruction storyline, Weapon X is interested in Lady Deathstrike, Warpath, Domino, Wolverine, and Sabretooth for a new experiment. It is shown that Weapon X is turning civilians into cyborgs made of adamantium sent to hunt a specific group of mutants, forcing Old Man Logan to team up with Sabretooth to stop them. Weapon X goes on to create H-Alpha, a mutate with the abilities of Amadeus Cho and Wolverine.^[3]

1991 storyline

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 a 28-issue ongoing series published by Marvel from 2002 to 2004, featuring the third installment of Weapon X. It was written by Frank Tieri, who previously wrote the ongoing Wolverine title and had created the group's most recent incarnation in the pages of said book. 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. Tieri was forced to drop nearly all of his subplots, including the introduction of a mutant concentration camp run by Mister Sinister, and take the book into the controversial direction involving the introduction of X-23, and Wolverine and Sabretooth's quest to find 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. The series was cancelled, with its storylines unresolved.^{[citation needed]}

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 is kidnapped by the new version of Weapon X.^[4]

Exiles

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 are forced to jump from reality to reality, repairing the broken links in the chain of time. Unlike their more heroic counterparts, the Exiles, Weapon X resorts to any means necessary to attain their goals. The initial membership of Weapon X consists of Sabretooth (Victor Creed of the Age of Apocalypse timeline), Deadpool, and Garrison Kane. It is later 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. Other members of Weapon X include Deadpool, the Spider, Storm, Vision, the Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Iron Man, Angel, Gambit, Colossus, Ms. Marvel, Hyperion, the Hulk (Bruce Banner), and Firestar.^[5]

Ultimate Marvel

An alternate universe iteration of Weapon X appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint.^[6] This version is based on Finland, is headed by John Wraith and Abraham Cornelius, and was sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. sometime before or during the Gulf War to capture mutants and force them to carry out covert missions for the United States government.

Ultimate Universe

An alternate universe iteration of Weapon X called Directorate X appears in Ultimate Wolverine. This version is run by the Rasputin family.^[7]

X-Men Noir

An alternate universe iteration of Weapon X appears in the Marvel Noir imprint. This version is a German government agency led by Amanda Sefton.^[8]

Television

• Weapon X appears in X-Men: The Animated Series,^{[citation needed]} consisting of Professor Oyama and Abraham Cornelius.
  • Weapon X appears in the X-Men '97 episode "Weapon X, Lies and DVDs".^[9]
• Weapon X appears in X-Men: Evolution.^{[citation needed]}
• Weapon X appears in Wolverine and the X-Men,^{[citation needed]} led by Professor Andre Thorton and Abraham Cornelius.
• Weapon X makes a cameo appearance in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Behold...The Vision!".^{[citation needed]}

Film

• Weapon X appears in X2,^{[citation needed]} with Colonel William Stryker as a prominent member.
• Weapon X appears in Hulk vs Wolverine,^{[citation needed]} with Professor Andre Thorton as a prominent member.
• Weapon X appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.^{[citation needed]}
• A Weapon X facility called the Workshop appears in Deadpool, with Ajax and Angel Dust as prominent members. Though unstated in the film, actors Ed Skrein and Ryan Reynolds revealed to MTV via San Diego Comic-Con 2015 and Screen Junkies via Honest Trailers respectively that the Workshop is part of Weapon X.^{[citation needed]}
• Weapon X appears in X-Men: Apocalypse, with a young Colonel William Stryker as a prominent member.^[10]

Video games

• Weapon X appears in X2: Wolverine's Revenge.^{[citation needed]} This version of the organization runs a maximum security mutant prison called the Void and employs the Shiva virus as a failsafe to control their test subjects further.
• Weapon X appears in a flashback in X-Men Legends.^{[citation needed]}
• Weapon X appears in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.^{[citation needed]}
• Weapon X appears in X-Men: The Official Game.^{[citation needed]}
• Weapon X appears in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine tie-in game,^{[citation needed]} with William Stryker, Abraham Cornelius, and Carol Hines as prominent members.

First series

Second series

Third series