Warning: major spoilers for X-Men #16 aheadThe X-Men’s recent journey into the Children of the Vault’s home led by Forge and Caliban ended in a shock twist with the reveal in X-Men #16 that “Old Woman Laura,” an older version of Laura Kinney’s Wolverine, had survived within the Vault, meaning there are now two Laura Kinneys alive simultaneously. Time passes differently in the Vault, and during a recent excursion inside by Wolverine, Synch and Darwin, the three heroes were there for hundreds of years while a relatively short amount of time passed in the outside world.
The discovery of Old Woman Laura raises a lot of questions and concerns for the X-Men and Krakoa’s leadership group the Quiet Council, related to the mutants power of resurrection, Laura’s romantic relationship with Synch, and the threat posed by the Children of the Vault. Incidentally, this is not the first time Marvel has had an “Old Woman Laura,” as a future version of Kinney featured in an arc of All-New Wolverine, and an alternate reality “Old Man Logan” was in the mainstream Earth-616 continuity for years.
It was recently revealed that Forge, the newest member of Cyclops’ X-Men team, had devised a way to keep Krakoa and the world safe from the Children of the Vault, the post-human inhabitants of the Vault who seek to become the dominant species on Earth. Forge’s plan involved capturing and placing the Children in stasis pods where they were psychically convinced that they had already left the Vault and taken over the world. To accomplish this Forge must travel into the Vault, wearing a dubiously consenting Caliban as a suit, to attempt to rescue Darwin who has supposedly been captured by the Children. When Darwin, Wolverine and Synch took on the dangerous mission to enter the Vault and learn what they could about the Children, all three of the mutants lived within the Vault for centuries because of their various abilities, growing deep bonds. Readers initially saw that Darwin was captured, and Wolverine and Synch were killed, but not before Synch was able to telepathically update the X-Men on what the three had seen. However, X-Men #16 – written by Gerry Duggan with art by Joshua Cassara – shockingly reveals that Laura Kinney was never killed, instead captured and kept in stasis by the City and its Children.
Wolverine’s Resurrection Breaks a Major X-Men Rule
While this may not have come as a major surprise to some readers, since Wolverine’s death was never actually shown on page and was just assumed, this is a major revelation for Laura, the X-Men, the Quiet Council, and of course Synch, who was in an intense centuries-long relationship with “Old Woman Laura” within the vault. It was truly heartbreaking to see Synch attempt to rekindle his love with Laura only for her to rebuff him, as she had no memory of their time together, but now there is real hope that Synch and Wolverine may be able to be together again. Yet, this will come at a price, as the laws of Krakoa are very clear on double resurrection, with strict protocols in place to ensure that no mutant is ever resurrected without their death being confirmed. This means that the young Laura who has been living on Krakoa since being resurrected is now the second living Laura Kinney, a truly disturbing concept to a woman who only just recently got over her incorrect belief that she was a “knock-off” clone of Logan. The reveal that Darwin was killed is also terrible news for Krakoa, because it means that the Children were able to successfully adapt their own evolution using Darwin’s abilities, which will certainly make the next generation of Children devastatingly resilient and powerful.
Fans have been clamoring for a continuation of Synch and Laura Kinney’s Vault romance, and while the reveal that “Old Woman Laura” is still alive may be wonderful news to Synch and his fans, it could prove to be truly tragic to Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men, and end up destroying the current status quo of Krakoan resurrections.
X-Men #16 is available in stores now.
