Kimura (character)

Kimura is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in New X-Men #31 in 2006 as the handler of Laura Kinney (X-23). She is generally considered to be X-23's main antagonist.

Kimura
Cover art to X-23: Target X #4.
Art by Mike Choi.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceNew X-Men #31 (December, 2006)
Created byCraig Kyle
Christopher Yost
Mike Choi
In-story information
SpeciesHuman Mutate
Team affiliationsThe Facility
AbilitiesHighly skilled armed/unarmed combatant
Indestructible skin

Publication history

The character was created by writers Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost as well as artist Mike Choi. Her first appearance was in New X-Men #31 from 2006. She was introduced as the handler of X-23 and a villainous character.[1] The name Kimura (木村) is Japanese and means "tree village", it is a common surname in Japan.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Kimura was born to an abusive alcoholic father and a negligent mother. Her school life was similar, as she was abused and tormented by her peers. Through unspecified means and at some point in time, Kimura's grandmother became her caregiver. At once, her grandmother tried to heal the emotional damage inflicted upon Kimura through nurturing, love, and understanding. However, by that point in time the emotional scars were permanent and her grandmother's attempts to reach her were futile. After her grandmother's fatal heart attack, Kimura took off, eventually coming into contact with the Facility. She then underwent some unspecified procedure that granted her physical invulnerability, density control, and reconstruction. She then exacted revenge against those in her past who had wronged her. During her time at the Facility, Kimura eventually assumed the same abusive role as the people who victimized her in the past, particularly to Laura Kinney.[2][3]

The Facility

As an agent of the Facility, Kimura became X-23's handler. She abused X-23, finding any excuse to bully her, regardless of whether X-23 failed or not. After X-23 escaped the Facility, Kimura made it her duty to track down X-23, bring her back to the Facility, and kill anyone X-23 has come in contact with.[4]

She eventually tracks X-23 to San Francisco, where Laura is living with her Aunt Debbie and her cousin Megan. During a raid on Debbie's house, Kimura breaks X-23's neck. She then uses adamantium handcuffs to handcuff herself to Laura and drags her downstairs to Debbie and Megan where she threatens and begins to put her finger through Megan's heart. Laura recovers from her injuries, cuts off her own hand and handcuffs Kimura to a pipe. Laura tells Megan and Debbie to get her duffel bag and take what they absolutely need and that they have 3 minutes to leave the house. Laura reattaches her hand while Kimura says that everyone she loves will die and that she will be the one who kills them. Laura cuts open a gas pipe and turns on the light, causing an explosion.[5][6][7]

Encounter with the New X-Men

Eventually she tracks X-23 to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Kimura proceeds to lure "her" out in the open so that she can capture her, but it turns out that Kimura is actually after Mercury, whom she easily captures. She and X-23 fight but she injures Laura and gets away with Mercury.[8]

When she arrives back at the Facility, she watches as they perform experiments on Mercury and eventually unleash their new creation, Predator X upon the mutant Mammomax, much to her pleasure.[9] X-23 and Hellion set out to rescue Mercury and track Kimura to the Facility and confront her. Hellion manages to subdue her and Laura tells him to kill her but he refuses, using his telekinesis to fire her into the air and miles away.

Kimura eventually makes her way back to the Xavier Institute and makes another attempt to kill X-23. Emma Frost detects her and telepathically subdues her, revealing Kimura's history of child abuse and neglect at the hands of her parents and peers. Emma tells Kimura that she is nothing but a bully who harms others like Laura despite knowing how painful it is to make up for her own abusive childhood. She then mind-wipes her, making her forget about her grandmother—the only influential and positive person in her life—creating "a deep void that will cause [her] pain for a lifetime." Emma then implants telepathic instructions in Kimura's mind to make her hunt down the leaders of the Facility, particularly Professor Harkins, who oversaw the experimentation done on Mercury.[10] After going through 6 months of getting her brain rewired to stop Emma's psychic command, Kimura begins selling clones of Predator X for the Facility. She later encounters Wolverine and The Punisher during a transaction with Madame Hydra.[11] The two manage to stop her, though she eventually escapes.[12]

X-Force

Kimura returns after H.A.M.M.E.R. captures X-23 and bring her back to the Facility. Her brutality only seems to have increased as she cuts off Laura's arm with a small chainsaw for "being a bad girl" X23 then uses the trigger scent to her advantage and with help of agent alisande morales eascapes.[13] X-23 manages to escape, causing Kimura to become enraged. Kimura threatens to find Laura's aunt and cousin Megan to kill them in retaliation.[14]

All-New Wolverine

Kimura is seen in All-New Wolverine, being responsible for helping the four sisters, clones of X-23, escape Alchemax. She made a deal with Bellona, the white haired X-23 clone, to exchange the nanites within Bellona's body killing her, for her help escaping and destroying the genetics division of Alchemax.[15] She is killed by X-23 by being pinned down and drowned in water.[3][16][17]

Characterization

Kimura's main characteristic is her sadism towards others.[18][19] As a character she has been presented in the comics as the one character X-23 has never been able to truly defeat.[20]

Powers and abilities

Kimura has indestructible skin, strong enough to withstand anything from grenade blasts to adamantium blades. She is also highly skilled in armed and unarmed combat. These abilities were given to her sometime after joining the Facility.[3]

Reception

Kimura has been widely identified as Laura Kinneys' archenemy.[21][22][23][24][25] Several publications such as Screen Rant, Comic Book Resources, GamesRadar+ and PopMatters. have compared Kimura to Sabretooth, the archnemesis of Laura Kinney's father Wolverine.[3][26][27][28][29] Not all reactions of Kimura as X-23's biggest foe has been well received, Eric Nierstedt of ComicsVerse, felt that the retroactive addition of Kimura to X-23s history seemed "like a lame attempt to give Laura an archenemy", he also expressed that she felt that the character was annoying and couldn't match the previous villain Zander Rice from earlier X-23s series.[24] Jessie Schedeen of IGN has stated that the rivalry between the two characters defined X-23 in her early days.[30][31] Andy Kubai of Screen Rant has stated that he believes that the character would make an excellent adversary for X-23 in a film.[32][33]

References
  1. James Egan; 1000 Facts about Superheroes Vol. 3 - page: 126
  2. New X-Men #31
  3. Tessier, Colin (September 18, 2018). "Lethal Weapons: 10 Weapon X Graduates Deadlier Than Wolverine (And 10 That Aren't)". Comic Book Resources.
  4. X-23: Target X #4
  5. X-23: Target X #5
  6. "Logan: 15 Most WTF Things X-23 Has Ever Done". ScreenRant. 2017-02-26. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  7. "23 Times X-23 Was an Even More Savage Wolverine Than Logan". Ranker. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  8. New X-Men: Childhood's End vol. 4 #33
  9. New X-Men: Childhood's End vol.4 #34
  10. New X-Men: Childhood's End vol.4 #36
  11. Astonishing Tales Vol. 2 #2
  12. Astonishing Tales Vol. 2 #6
  13. X-Force #18
  14. X-Force #19-20
  15. All-New Wolverine #6
  16. https://comicnewbies.com/2017/03/13/all-new-wolverine-kills-kimura/
  17. https://www.cbr.com/wolverine-laura-kinney-overcomes-spoiler/
  18. "After 12 Years, The All-New Wolverine Finally Overcomes [SPOILER]". CBR. 2017-02-09. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  19. http://www.multiversitycomics.com/reviews/x-force-not-forgotten/
  20. "Marvel Comics FULL AUGUST 2014 SOLICITATIONS". Newsarama. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  21. White, Brett (March 28, 2017). "ResurrXion Rundown: Everything We Know About Marvel's X-Men Relaunch". CBR.com.
  22. Francisco, Eric (February 23, 2017). "Laura's X-23 Mutant Powers in 'Logan,' Explained". Inverse.
  23. Alin Rautoiu (November 5, 2018). "The Road to X-23, the Superior Wolverine". ComicsVerse.
  24. Eric Nierstedt (May 10, 2017). "The Origins of X-23: Objectification, Rape, and Redemption". ComicsVerse.
  25. Andrea Fornasiero (March 10, 2017). ""Inhumans vs. X-Men" cambia tutto per non cambiare niente" (in Spanish). Fumetto Logica.
  26. Nicholas Conley (March 13, 2017). "X-23: Laura Kinney's Most Iconic Moments". Screen Rant.
  27. Zoe Delahunty-Light (March 15, 2017). "7 reasons X-23 should be the new Wolverine - everything the Logan movie didn't tell you". GamesRadar+.
  28. Fisher, Jack (March 16, 2017). "The Enemy Within (and Beyond) in All-New Wolverine #18". PopMatters.
  29. Karbank, Octavio (May 14, 2018). "Weapons Of Mass Destruction: The 15 Most Lethal Weapon X Members, Ranked". CBR.com.
  30. Schedeen, Jessie (October 26, 2016). "Essential X-23 Comic Books To Get You Ready For Logan". IGN.
  31. Schedeen, Jessie (March 8, 2017). "All-New Wolverine #18 Review". IGN.
  32. Andy L. Kubai (November 22, 2017). "Comic Stories the X-23 Spinoff Should Adapt". Screen Rant.
  33. Schmidt, JK (October 25, 2017). "X-23 Co-Creator Developing 'Logan' Sequel Script". Comicbook.com.
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