Warning: contains spoilers for X-Men #18The X-Men's hero Synch has finally been reunited with his presumed dead partner Laura Kinney, and while it is a blessing that Old Woman Wolverine has returned to Krakoa, the events surrounding her discovery and rescue are more than suspect.
The latest issue of X-Men saw Old Woman Wolverine's full integration back into the X-Men, fighting alongside her lover Synch and her younger self as they battled an army of vampires spinning out of the X-Terminators series. Beast, the now fully evil leader of X-Force, is incredibly suspicious of Laura's return, and even though Jean Grey pushes back on his pessimism the disgustingly unethical Hank McCoy might actually be on to something, as Old Woman Wolverine could be planning on consciously or unconsciously betraying Synch and the rest of Krakoa because of her connection to the Children of the Vault.
Jean Grey, Emma Frost, and the rest of the Quiet Council, along with many readers, are hoping that Synch and Old Woman Wolverine could actually get a happy ending, but as any longtime reader of X-Men comics knows, it is very rare for X-Couples to not experience horrific trials and tribulations, which often lead to death or betrayal. The X-Men franchise is fully built on familial and romantic drama - most famous of which are the love triangles between Emma, Jean, and Scott, and Logan, Jean, and Scott - so it would be rather surprising if the X-Office simply decided to allow Everett and Laura to live happily ever after. That being said, their relationship could run into real trouble but still survive. However, Laura's discovery in the center of the Children of the Vault's home is incredibly worrying, as the Children are wildly powerful, manipulative, and dead set on destroying mutantkind. In X-Men #18 - written by Gerry Duggan with art by Carlos Villa and Matt Milla - Beast is attending a Quiet Council meeting and acting like a truly pretentious piece of work, pedantically admonishing the Council for allowing Old Woman Wolverine out into the field.
Beast Is Rarely Right These Days, But He Might Be On To Something With Laura's Wolverine.
Beast's recent descent into straight-up villainy has clearly warped the way he views the world, something deftly pointed out by his longtime friend and colleague Jean Grey. And yet when looking at the history of X-Men comics it seems like the Quiet Council should be listening to the inarguably terrible Hank McCoy. As the saying goes, "A stopped clock is right twice a day," and while Beast's recent decisions are obviously horrible, his suspicion over how easy it was to retrieve Laura from the Vault, and her quick acceptance by the X-Men, is definitely cause for concern. Jean Grey shoots down Beast's paranoias by saying her powerful psychic energy did not detect anything wrong with Laura, and neither has Synch who has known her for hundreds of years, and yet the Children of the Vault also have powerful psychics. Laura was found deep within the Vault by Forge in X-Men #16, and while Forge had to fight his way out with the help of the transformed Darwin, it still seemed awfully easy to rescue Laura from the Children. There are no actual hints yet that Old Woman Wolverine is planning on betraying Synch and the X-Men, and there is a high likelihood that if she does, it will be without even her knowledge, but it would be a truly heartbreaking and drama filled turn of events, one that would recenter the Children as main antagonists to the X-Men.
The reunion between Synch and Old Woman Wolverine was truly beautiful, but there is still a chance that the emotionally damaged Beast might be right about her return to the X-Men being "too good to be true," and that Laura Kinney may end up betraying her people and the man she loves.
X-Men #18 from Marvel Comics is available now in stores!