Elektra in the MC2

 

After my recent post covering Wolverine in the MC2 thanks to the new Deadpool & Wolverine movie ushering the pair into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it feels like the right time to detail Logan’s romantic life partner in the MC2 Universe so today’s post will be all about Elektra in the MC2.

 

Elektra Natchios first appeared in Daredevil #168, and reportedly she was intended to be a one-off character, former love interest and foil for Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, according to creator Frank Miller. Elektra proved popular enough to make regular appearances in the series until her death at the hands of Kingpin’s assassin  Bullseye in Daredevil #181. Elektra returned from the dead by ninja cult The Hand soon after in Daredevil #190 and eventually went on to be a consistent fan favourite character.

 

A part of Elektra’s published history which proves very relevant to the MC2 begins in Wolverine #100 (written by long-time Wolverine scribe and MC2 alumni Larry Hama) where Natchios begins a mission to help restore Logan after the loss of his Adamantium left him in a feral and bestial state. With the backdrop of the Onslaught event raging, Elektra helps re-train and guide Wolverine back to himself and the two grow close as they begin to understand each other resulting in a friendship that continued into Elektra’s own series (Wolverine #100-#106).

 

Now, on to the MC2 proper! With the introduction of Rina Logan aka Wild Thing we also saw the arrival of her mother, Elektra Natchios in J2 #5. Here we learn that the relationship between Elektra and Logan has developed into a long-term romantic one resulting in the couple raising their teenage mutant ninja daughter together. Elektra informs Logan their daughter is pursuing J2, leading him to head to New York to find her.

 

We get our first glimpse of the relationship between Rina and her mother in a two page story from J2 #7 where we learn she and Elektra sometimes fight crime together, discuss weaponry, attend international mercenary conventions and build bombs together and have apparently even clashed with notable villains such as the ninja cult The Hand and Bullseye.

 

In J2 #11, alongside Cyclops, Logan and Elektra watch on as Rina runs the gauntlet against Jubilee’s team, the X-People. After Wild Thing proves herself, Jubilee declares she has passed the initiation and may join the X-People as a probationary member. Rina declines, stating she only did it because her father asked her to which Cyclops remarks she reminds him of Logan, who asks Elektra if she thinks he’s mellowed with age.

 

While at the Mall with her daughter Rina, Elektra visits a local martial arts dojo for some training. Targeted by her old enemy Kuroyama, the villainous assassin of the Hand, now rebuilt as a cyborg with a built-in attack computer that uses a virtual reality matrix. Elektra battles her old foe until Kuroyama is inadvertently defeated with one hit after appearing within Rina’s hacked video game (Wild Thing #2).

Elektra Natchios is seen alongside various other major Marvel female heroes in Spider-Girl #60 on both the issue’s cover and within the thoughts of May ‘Mayday’ Parker as the latter reflects on her place amongst the other superheroines who came before her. The real-world reasons for these cameos was to acknowledge prior female heroes as the Spider-Girl title reaching its 60th continuous issue, something only one other solo female superheroine title at Marvel had achieved, that being none other than Sensational She-Hulk. The Spider-Girl title would go on to surpass this, reaching issue 100, a feat still unbeaten to this date.

 

While temporarily working with the crime lord The Black Tarantula, Spider-Girl receives martial arts training from Elektra. While rocking a black variant of her classic costume, Elektra educates Spider-Girl by noting she is telegraphing her moves and repeating patterns. After correctly deducing she is the daughter of Spider-Man based on her mannerisms and body language, Elektra advices Spider-Girl she must not hold back if she hopes to defeat Lady Octopus (Spider-Girl #75).

 

Spider-Girl demonstrates she has quickly improved under Elektra’s tutelage by running a gauntlet without a single nick. Despite Spider-Girl’s confidence in her ability to defeat Lady Octopus, Elektra warns the heroine that there will be more challenges ahead, seemingly alluding to the threat of her employer the Black Tarantula (Spider-Girl #77).

 

With Spider-Girl parting ways with the Black Tarantula shortly afterwards, Elektra was not seen again in the MC2. Thus, we come to the end of today’s post with a bit of an anticlimax. As such, I would love to see the Greek assassin make her return to the MC2 someday, perhaps in a tightly plotted Wild Thing revival series?

 

Until I commit to watching the Director’s Cut of the Elektra movie, I remain

 

frogoat

Wolverine in the MC2

It’s been a good year to be an X-Men fan with the animated revival series X-Men ’97 and the upcoming third Deadpool movie in the series with Deadpool & Wolverine due for release in mere days. As you’d expect by now, today’s post will be focused on the MC2 incarnation of the mutant who’s the best there is at what he does: Wolverine in the MC2.

 

The short, hairy, Canadian mutant known as Wolverine first appeared in a cameo on the final page of Incredible Hulk #180 before making his first full appearance in Incredible Hulk #181, where Wolverine reveals to the Hulk his claws are ‘forged of diamond-hard Adamantium’.. We first see Wolverine without his mask in X-Men #98, which is also where we first learned his claws came from within his body, not his gloves. His current name ‘Logan’ was first used by a leprechaun in X-Men #103, as odd as it might seem.

 

Logan clarifies he has a healing factor in X-Men #116 and mention is made of his ‘unbreakable bones’ in X-Men #124 before X-Men #126 has Logan outright state he has ‘a skeleton made of about three million bucks worth of Adamantium’. We see this ‘Weapon X’ experiment play out in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents #72-#84. Logan survives the experiment due to his mutant healing factor but loses his memory.

 

Then we come to the X-Men storyline known as Fatal Attractions, during which Magneto returns to his villainous ways and uses his powers to rip the Adamantium from Wolverine (X-Men (vol. 2) #25), nearly killing him and shortly afterwards revealing Logan had bone claws beneath the Adamantium the whole time (Wolverine (vol. 2) #75).

 

The final major point I need to touch upon is the fact that despite the mini-series Wolverine: The Origin being published after the MC2 universe branched from the Main Marvel Universe, it’s revelations can or may be considered canon to the MC2 version of the character as it is the resolution to a pre-existing and long-running plot about Wolverine’s origin and past. The main take away for now, barring any future implementations from ‘Origin’, is Logan’s real name was James Howlett and he really is Canadian (The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005).

 

Now let’s get our claws into Wolverine in the MC2! With the introduction of Rina Logan aka Wild Thing we also saw the arrival of her father, Wolverine in J2 #5. Here we learn that Logan is in a relationship with to Elektra Natchios when he heads to New York to find their daughter after she targets J2 to learn what he knows about the fate of the original Juggernaut. Logan arrives to end the fight in his full classic yellow and blue costume (notably without his X-Belt) and tells J2 that Jubilee has vouched for him.

 

 

 

The next time we see Wolverine is in a flashback where, after a few references to the original mutant team in the series, we get our first glimpse of the X-Men in J2 #7 via a flashback to 'The Last Days of the Original Juggernaut'. It's here we learn Cain Marko aka the Juggernaut reformed and joined the X-Men, eventually being lost on a mission while at the Crossroads of Infinity though some details would remain unrevealed. Wolverine leads the X-Men team that Cain Marko joins and other teammates included Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), Synch (Everett Thomas), Siryn (Theresa Cassidy) and 'Hopper'. As Rina mentioned in J2 #5, Logan feels responsible for the disappearance of Marko.

 

Aside from single panel flashbacks to his early X-Men adventures, Wolverine next appears in a fun two-page story from J2 #9 where he spars with Wild Thing, demonstrating just how proud he is of his little girl.

 

We get a great issue featuring J2 on the road with Wolverine when they journey to Madripoor seeking Logan’s daughter Rina after receiving word she was there and assuming she’d been kidnapped. Zane, a huge Wolverine fanboy, gets a very different experience than he bargained for teaming up with his idol. The pair eventually learn Rina is safe and sound with the mutant Daze and the mistress of magnetism Magneta, with the latter attempting once again to recruit other mutants in hopes of forming a super team (J2 #10).

 

In J2 #11, alongside Cyclops, Logan and Elektra watch on Rina runs the gauntlet against Jubilee’s team, the X-People. After Wild Thing proves herself, Jubilee declares she has passed the initiation and may join the X-People as a probationary member. Rina declines, stating she only did it because her father asked her to which Cyclops remarks she reminds him of Logan.

 

In Wild Thing #1 briefly appears after Rina as Wild Thing stops the kidnapping of her classmate Cameron Bryce-Jones. Picking Rina up on his Harley Davidson bike, he assures her that if she were ever kidnapped he would track her down himself and let nothing stop him.

 

Around this time, Wolverine made an appearance in Wild Thing #0 where in he calls upon Doctor Strange to attempt to remove the cure of the Wendigo from the land around Hudson Bay. With the aid of the Hulk, Wolverine and Wild Thing, Doctor Strange successfully lifts the curse.

 

Rina and Logan spend some quality father-daughter time together embracing their animal instincts until they encounter a member of the other-dimensional demon race the N’Garai in the middle of Central Park. The two manage to drive it back and destroy the cairn it used to arrive before they head home (Wild Thing #4).

 

While bonding with his daughter Rina by tracking her through the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Logan is the first super hero to be abducted in a plot secretly masterminded by the Asgardian Loki (Spider-Girl #85, Last Hero Standing #1-#2).

Under the dark influence of Loki’s enchantment, Wolverine is among the super heroes who are returned to Earth and filled with malice, engage their fellow heroes in battle. When Loki enthralls and enrages the Hulk he fights the various assembled heroes including Wolverine. In the end the sacrifice of Captain America ultimately saves the day and Wolverine is among those present to witness his death (Last Hero Standing #3-#5)

 

With Galactus enacting his final solution to resolve his hunger and in the process destroy the universe, the combined forces of the super hero community working to penetrate his force field and combat his doomsday weapon’s launch. Wolverine is among the heroes who inadvertently inspires The Vision to finally join the fray, going against orders from President G.W. Bridge. This issue also appear to be the only time Logan interacts on-panel with his son, Hudson aka Sabreclaw (Last Planet Standing #4). Wolverine soon after witnesses the birth of a new entity composed of the Silver Surfer and Galactus which could harness a new form of energy known as The Power Essential (Last Planet Standing #5).

 

Wolverine’s last appearances are also cameos in the pages of Avengers Next #4 and off-panel in #5. When Loki's daughter Sylene attempts to restore the devastated Asgard by recreating it on Earth, she creates energy duplicates of various super humans to serve her purposes. Logan is among those rendered comatose in the process of creating these duplicates. When Sylene is defeated, Wolverine’s duplicate dissipates, and Logan is presumably restored.

 

I know I’m not alone in hoping we see more from the MC2 incarnation of Canada’s favourite son, especially given the Wild Thing series was abruptly cancelled so we never got to see Sabreclaw, Wild Thing and Wolverine together.

 

Until I can get early tickets to see Deadpool & Wolverine to get ahead of spoilers, I remain

 

frogoat