Weapon XV: After 17 Years, X-Men Finally Unmask Wolverine’s Weapon X Successor!!

The Weapon X Program was launched to replicate the success of the Super Soldier program and give scientists with a technique to recreate a champion on the same lines as Captain  America With Doctor Abraham Erskine’s death, the secretive combination of the Super Soldier Serum and Vita Rays was lost forever but governments the world over have tried to use other means to achieve similar results. The Weapon X program targeted mutants with special abilities and enhance their abilities to make them unstoppable biological machines of death. The most well-known result of the Program was Wolverine.

Logan underwent a procedure that bonded his body with Adamantium, the indestructible metal that can cut through anything. After the painful process, a berserk Wolverine slashed his way out of the Weapon X facility and escaped captivity. It was only recently revealed that The Weapon X program still existed and they had created their most complete and ultimate living weapon of mass destruction after taking lessons from their previous projects. Weapon XV is the culmination of everything the researchers of Weapon Plus learnt throughout the project. While he was introduced almost 17 years ago, his identity remained a mystery to many.

But with Giant Size X-Men: Fantomex, the real identity of Weapon X has been finally revealed. We warn you there will be a lot of spoilers ahead.

Still here? Alright you have been warned!

It was around 15 years ago that Fantomex, Cylcops, and Wolverine went on a mission deep inside a Weapon Plus facility. The Weapon Plus program is the one that funded and established the Weapon X project. Inside said facility, the trio encounter an entire ecosystem of self-evolving machines. This ecosystem is being guarded by a powerful entity called Weapon XV. Weapon XV later refers to him-self as Ultimaton. Ultimaton’s true origin story remained a mystery because he was not given much panel time.

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The Assault on Weapon Plus issue gives us some much needed insight into Ultimaton’s history. Ultimaton was Weapon Plus’ greatest creation. The most advanced and destructive of Weapon Plus’ subjects, Weapon XV was given the task of guarding a Weapon Plus nurturing station called the World. Fantomex makes a comparison between Weapon XV and Wolverine. He says that Wolverine is like a dinosaur compared to Ultimaton. It is later revealed that Fantomex and Weapon XV are actually brothers. Fantomex was cats out of the World because he was revealed to be unfit for further exploration and experimentation.

While Fantomex travelled to the human world and began life as a mercenary there, Ultimaton stayed back and looked after the World, guarding its many children from external threats. The issue reveals many hidden details about Ultimaton. Turns out Fantomex had tried infiltrating The World and persuade Ultimaton to leave the facility. Ultimaton would refuse to abandon his duties every time his twon brother would ask him to. After a certain point of time, he decided to wipe out Fantomex’s entire mutant team as a message to stop his brother from coming for him the next time. After his brother agreed to never return, Ultimaton became even more powerful.

As his powers kept increasing, Ultimaton had to wear a suit to better channel his energy manipulation abilities. With time, Weapon XV started questioning his place in the universe and why he was always fated to be a mutant hunter. Ultimaton would deny his programming of being Weapon Plus’ ultimate sentinel. He would go to the Weapon Plus Space Station in search for answers. When Wolverine destroyed that facility with explosive mines, Ultimaton was thought to have died in the explosions.

Also Read: 9 Mutants Who Could Replace Wolverine in MCU’s X-Men

The World still had enough data of Ultimaton to recreate another copy using his DNA. This second Ultimaton ended up being Fantomex’s allies since he lacked many of the memories of the real Weapon XV. He was tasked with watching over Kid Apocalypse aka Evan Sabah Nur, a younger clone of Apolcaypse created during the adventures of Uncanny X-Force. During the events of Inhumans vs. X-Men, he was used to prevent the psychic mutants from containing the Inhuman Karnak within The World. As it turns out, Ultimaton’s resurrection was the result of a hidden, secret motif of Fantomex that was only revealed now.

In New X-Men, Fantomex and Weapon XV met again. It is there that Fantomex claims that there is a high chance that the pair could be related by blood. That sentence is now confirmed to be a truth that is at best extremely blurry. It was a lie told by Fantomex to either keep the X-Men present there confused or it was a trial to test Ultimaton’s allegiance. Weapon XV maybe the least human among all other Weapon Plus experiments but he has a rather complicated backstory. His ever-changing allegiance and persona would probably lead to Ultimaton becoming an X-Man and a mutant savior as opposed to his original programming to be a mutant hunter.

That would be ironic. Since Wolverine is also an outcome of the Weapon Plus that ended up joining the X-Men and became a superhero, this might be the time Marvel is trying to push in another such mutant into the fray. Weapon XV might be the natural (and logical) successor to Wolverine in the X-Men. Here’s to hoping that our predictions actually do come true this time. There is a lot riding on Weapon XV.