Weapon X

PHASE 1

Organization: Weapon X
First Seen:	pre-X2

Details

Weapon X was the codename of a joint program between the United States government and Canada's Department H, designed to create enhanced soldiers for various military operations. It would later become the operational name for a covert group of agents controlled by Colonel William Stryker for his own agenda. The full information about the project is currently known only to a handful of people; what is known through classified government and military records is only that its operatives were used in various covert operations through the 1980s and 1990s.

Weapon X began as part of the WEAPON series of projects; a group of joint initiatives between the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and various domestic and foreign groups exploring the potential effects and applications of mutant powers. At the time, mutants were considered as an element of biological warfare, which required most of the WEAPON projects to be conducted secretly. It is believed that a total of 24 WEAPON projects were funded between the early 80s and into the mid-90s before they were all shut down and research into mutants passed from USAMRIID into regular military channels. Noted geneticist Dr. Nathaniel Essex was part of WEAPON IX, XIV, and XIX.

WEAPON X was initially designed to see how technology and genetics could be used to augment existing mutants, to better adapt their powers to covert operations. Department H, the Canadian agency in charge of mutant research paired with USAMRIID on the project, and they attracted noted scientists like Kenji Oyama.

The project was overseen by Colonel William Stryker, a former decorated Vietnam helicopter pilot who had moved into covert operations for the US military. Stryker had already been assembling and using mutant operatives for his own missions, not all of which were known to the US military. Stryker saw great potential in the program, but did not want to see it co-opted out from under his control. As a result, he pushed through an aggressive series of experiments using his own operatives as subjects.

Stryker successfully blackmailed Senator Graydon Creed into keeping his funding going, and co-opted the name Weapon X as the title of his personal black-operations squad. In the mid 90s, Stryker would reduce his operations in favour of new programs linked closer to his growing obsession of the mutant threat. Many of his older operatives such as David North found themselves put under deep cover, or quietly retired or eliminated.

One of Stryker's operatives, Wolverine, escaped the Alkali Lake facility not long after his experimental treatments were completed. The backlash from the security breach killed the funding to WEAPON X, and it was officially shut down. However, Stryker had been planning for this very opportunity, putting himself put in charge of securing the remaining assets of the WEAPON X project and making sure the project never became public knowledge. Department H severed ties with the program at this point, believing it to be a failure and that it would be rendered defunct by the US government. Department H currently holds what is believed to be the only surviving official records of the project prior to its termination, secretly archived by Director Malcolm Colcord. It is unknown whether or not Colcord is aware that Logan was a WEAPON X subject.

Stryker relocated all his facilities to Alkali Lake, believed to be completely closed down by the government. His new initiatives involved the Shiva program, a failsafe in case any of the old operatives were to go public with their knowledge of Weapon X, or endanger his program in some way. There was also considerable research into a second generation of Weapon X operatives, ones more closely controlled and secretly tied to Stryker. Following Stryker's death after the events of X2, the remnants of the Weapon X project passed to Daniel Lyman, Stryker's long time lieutenant. While Lyman held control of most of Weapon X's assets, much of the research and data on the various experiments and agents were lost with Stryker's death.

Roster

Colonel William Stryker (deceased)

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William Stryker

The force behind the Weapon X project, Colonel Stryker operated as the commanding officer of the group before eventually turning it into his own personal strike force, often used to further his anti-mutant agenda.

Daniel Lyman

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Daniel Lyman

Daniel Lyman was William Stryker's right-hand man during the Weapon X days and after, eventually taking over what was left of the covert organization's assets following Stryker's death at Alkali Lake.

Logan - Wolverine

Wolverine

The centerpiece of Weapon X's field team, Wolverine was one of Stryker's finest soldiers, and touted by the Colonel as his "masterpiece". Stryker claimed to Logan that he had been one of the few individuals to volunteer for everything that had been done to him by the project, but with Stryker's death, the truth may never be known.

David North - Maverick

Maverick

The Weapon X field team's "backstop", Maverick acted as support, communications, and occasionally direct field operations for the project. After the Weapon X team was shut down in 1994, Maverick was one of the field agents put into deep psionic cover, later to be targeted by the Shiva program.

John Wraith - Kestrel (deceased)

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Kestrel

A short-range teleporter with the ability to blur the senses of observers, John Wraith was the team's scout and infiltrator, as well as a trained assassin. In 2009, he was activated by the Shiva program and sent to assassinate his former teammate, Maverick. However, Wraith's second attempt led him into a sting by X-Force, and he was killed.

George Thompson - Mastodon (deceased)

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Mastodon

Mastodon was the field team's "heavy", a specialist in crew-served weapons, acting as a one-man wrecking squad aided by his super-strong mutant physiology and titanium-reinforced skeleton. In the mid-90s, was placed under deep cover with a false identity until being reactivated by the Shiva program and eventually killed by Maverick.

Carol Danvers - Warbird (presumed deceased)

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Warbird

A mutant with the power to manipulate "zero point energy", Warbird was the field team's "big gun", a walking weapon of mass destruction. When the Weapon X project went underground, she was given the cover identity and memory implants of a US Air Force pilot, eventually fading into administrative obscurity. Upon meeting David North, however, her old memories began breaking through. Unfortunately, following Wraith's death, Carol was the next to be activated by Shiva, and was presumably killed by Maverick to break the chain.

Vole (deceased)

Little is known about Vole, save that he was of Quebecois descent. Along with Marten, Vole was one of the first Weapon X sleeper agents to break their conditioning. Maverick was activated by the Shiva program, and killed both Vole and Marten before resuming his cover identity.

Marten (deceased)

Marten's personal details and role with the Weapon X team are unknown, save that he went rogue along with Vole, and was eventually killed by a Shiva-controlled Maverick.

Yuriko Oyama - Deathstrike (deceased)

Deathstrike

The daughter of scientist Kenji Oyama, Yuriko possessed a healing factor similar to Wolverine's, allowing her to be the perfect candidate for a second generation version of the adamantium bonding process, giving her an unbreakable skeleton and retractable claws implanted under her fingernails. She acted as Stryker's personal attache and bodyguard, eventually meeting her death under Alkali Lake at the hands of Wolverine.

Other individuals with ties to Weapon X

• Malcolm Colcord
• Dr. Nathaniel Essex
• Graydon Creed
• Jason Stryker (deceased)

Plots

X2

Shiva

PBs

Stryker (Brian Cox), Lyman (Peter Wingfield), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Maverick (Max Ryan), Wraith (will.i.am), Mastodon (Matt McColm), Warbird (Anna Torv), Deathstrike (Kelly Hu)