The X-Men hero Wolverine has come to share his title with a new hero. Laura Kinney, Wolverine's daughter, became a hero and a Marvel Comics star in her own right when she took over her father's name after his death. After Logan's return, Marvel has two Wolverines: the classic hairy berserker, and a younger version at the peak of her career. But as soon as Marvel Comics established that the two heroes now coexist with the same name and the same team... the X-Men comics have shoved Laura into a hole and hasn't checked in on her since. Literally.
Laura Kinney first appeared on the television series X-Men: Evolution. Laura, then known by the serial number X-23, featured in a storyline revealing that she was Wolverine's clone, created as a mind-controlled assassin in order to duplicate Weapon X. The character was created by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost as a version of Wolverine that younger viewers might better identify with. She soon crossed over to the comics, where she joined the New X-Men's student program, transferred to Avengers Academy, and eventually joined the X-Men proper. When the father Wolverine died, Laura landed in the series All-New Wolverine as his successor by birthright. Upon Logan's return, she took the name X-23 again, a massive step back for her character. Then the Dawn of X relaunch brought Laura-as-Wolverine back. But the clawed heroine disappeared in the very same issue.
X-Men #5, release in January 2020 features a set of mutant-like beings called the Children of the Vault. In their original appearance, the cyborgs tried to wipe mutants out; in the new series, they are only described as "highly dangerous" and "very bad." Even so, Cyclops gathers three mutants to deal with the problem: Synch, Darwin, and Laura, now wearing the Wolverine costume again. Time passes at a much faster rate in the Vault, which would be deadly to the average person, but Wolverine can heal from anything, Darwin can adapt to anything, and Synch can copy their powers. That gives them a chance to sneak in, retrieve info on the Vault's plans, and get out. Logan even gives Laura a pep talk, reminding her that she is every bit as deserving of the Wolverine name as he is. Then, the trio enters the Vault.
Readers have no idea what happened next. X-Men #5 ends with Cyclops realizing that his plan was a terrible mistake; the group hasn't returned from inside the Vault after three months... a timespan that translates to over five hundred years inside the vault. Laura's only other appearance in Dawn of X was in Fallen Angels, a book that ended in March after six issues, in which she went by X-23. She hasn't shown up anywhere since.
What's the intent behind shoving Laura into a dark closet indefinitely? She's likely a casualty of X-Men's plot structure. So far, the main mutant series has consisted mostly of isolated one- and two-part stories, tasked with setting up massive plot developments that get dropped to cover the next in line. One issue establishes that a minor X-Men character is king to trillions of aliens; the next shows that Cyclops' brother has been turned into a sleeper agent. The payoff to this setup could be months or years away, at this pace, so fans of one of Marvel's best new creations will have to wait to see Marvel's underrated (and underserved) Wolverine again.