A recurring theme in X-Men is found family. Being a blood relative isn’t the key to relationships, instead they are forged through shared experiences. Culture, however, puts special emphasis on the importance of bloodlines. Look at nearly any story with a “Hero’s Journey” and you will find a revelation about the protagonist’s heritage that proves they are special. It’s why the anti-climax of Rey’s parentage in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI was so refreshing to me, ancestries meant nothing. It’s also what makes me disappointed with a big reveal from HUNT FOR WOLVERINE: ADAMANTIUM AGENDA #4.
During an investigation to find an apparently resurrected Logan (it’s a long story that hasn’t even finished being told so just roll with me here), Iron Man reveals something to Laura Kinney (X-23, Wolverine, etc.) that redefines who she thinks she is. She always believed herself to be a clone of Logan, and that hasn’t changed, but there is a bit more to the story. Tony Stark shares with her that she is also a genetic clone of Sarah Kinney.
Sarah, for those who don’t know, carried Laura to term using in vitro fertilization. From a genetic stand point, the egg Laura came from was believed to be artificially created from Logan and only Logan’s DNA (it’s comic book science, don’t think too hard about it). Sarah was a surrogate and nothing more. She was the only person to show kindness to Laura in her horrific childhood as a brainwashed assassin and Laura saw her as her mother. She took Sarah’s last name as her own and bonded closely with Sarah’s sister and niece after escaping her prison (check out my X-23 article if you want more background). Laura cared about Sarah as if she were her genetic daughter, and because of that, the revelation that she literally is, upset me.
I realize that I am going to need to explain. I was not adopted, but my dad was. My grandparents lost a child shortly after birth and complications meant they couldn’t safely conceive any others. Being a working-class couple in the 60’s, their options were limited. After some time, they chose to adopt my father. He was a toddler in the foster system and came from an abusive household. They gave him their name, they took care of him, they loved him, they saved him. I’m not going to claim they were perfect, no parent is, but they made him part of their family. Years later they did the same thing with a new baby girl, a girl who would become his sister.
That being part of my family history always shaped how I looked at families. Genetically, I had nothing more in common with my grandparents than a stranger walking down the street. It turns out, most people don’t look all too close to genetics. It’s why after my parents divorced and remarried I never saw step-parents as lesser. I had a fundamental understanding as a child that family was more than blood. It’s why I was always frustrated with stories where the chosen one secretly came from some noble lineage or adopted children go on a quest to find their “real” parents who never meant to give them up. Those ideas about family never lined up with the truth I had lived.
Which brings us back to HUNT FOR WOLVERINE: ADAMANTIUM AGENDA #4. While I know some fans were thrilled to see Sarah become Laura’s “real” mom, I wasn’t. To me, it is just another story perpetuating the lie that bloodlines dictate who your family is. I don’t think the creative team meant any harm by this decision, Tom Taylor is the first writer to make me care about Laura, so he has earned the benefit of the doubt from me, but it is deeply disappointing to see this trope repeated again.
If someone told me that they had proof that my grandparents were actually related to me it would change nothing. It wouldn’t improve the time I spent with them and it wouldn’t deepen the loss now that they are gone. It would be a non-entity in the tale of our relationship. I wish Marvel would have continued to let Laura and Sarah be another example of found family in a franchise all about them. To make them related feels like cheap fan-service at best. Moving forward, I hope there will be less emphasis on family being defined by the water of the womb and instead by the blood of the covenant. X-Men stands for inclusion, and that should include adoptive families.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
