A villain with a deep history in the Marvel Universe is getting a Wolverine-level upgrade. Wolverine is keeping pretty busy nowadays, with appearances in Uncanny X-Men, Deadpool/Wolverine, his own solo series, and now Weapon X-Men. The series brings together some of the X-Men‘s heavy hitters like Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, Thunderbird, and Chamber. The first issue is already in stores and the second issue of Weapon X-Men releases this week, but writer Joe Casey is already spilling the beans on his future plans, and how they relate to former Hydra leader Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker.
Joe Casey wrote about creating and leveling up supervillains in a Substack post. After going over the history of creating Zodiack for Marvel’s Dark Reign publishing initiative and his return more than 13 years later in Moon Knight, Casey transitioned to revealing similar plans for Baron Von Strucker in Weapon X-Men.
“Over the subsequent fifty plus years, he’s shown up every so often with new — albeit minor — tweaks to his character but, to me, he’s been stagnant for quite a while,” Casey wrote. “And he didn’t deserve to be. So, when I was finally cleared to use Baron Strucker, I immediately went to work on leveling him up a few notches.”
Casey then spoils a bit of Weapon X-Men #2, where readers will meet a new, more dangerous iteration of an LMD (Life Model Decoy), which will be rebranded as Wolverines of Mass Destruction, or WMD. Baron Von Strucker has uploaded his consciousness into the WMD, along with Wolverine’s berserker rage, to turn them into the ultimate killing machine. The end result is Baron Von Strucker taking on a new form and identity.
image credit: joe casey/substack
“Ultimately, as the result of events that I don’t want to completely spoil here, Strucker’s mind will end up in a single WMD… which will itself further evolve into a unique, autonomous, pure engine of destruction that he alone occupies. He even takes on a brand-new name to mark the occasion — ‘Weapon Exile.’”
Weapon Exile will serve as the ultimate arch-nemesis for Weapon X-Men, akin to how the Avengers have Ultron, the Fantastic Four have Doctor Doom, the X-Men have Magneto (when he isn’t on the team), and the New Teen Titans have Trigon.
“And Weapon Exile is formidable, possessing all the berserker savagery of the WMD’s as well as the cunning mind and ruthless personality of Baron Strucker,” Casey teased. “Not to mention, he’s got Wolverine-style claws and he knows how to use them. And, as a cherry on top, he’s got additional adamantium-based powers unlike any ever seen before in Marvel Comics.
The artwork that Joe Casey shares is of a Life Model Decoy that takes on Wolverine’s design, right down to the pointy ears on its head. It’s robotic in nature, but we know that this LMD (or WMD) is what Baron Von Strucker will eventually become: Weapon Exile. Surprisingly, Casey decided to spill the beans so quickly and not save Weapon Exile as a big reveal, but Marvel may have already given it away in future solicitations for Weapon X-Men.
Weapon Exile’s first appearance comes in April’s Weapon X-Men #3. Let us know what you think about this new development in the comments below!
Joe Casey reveals that future issues of Weapon X-Men will see Baron Von Strucker transform into an evil Wolverine called Weapon Exile. Read More