“Irascible, cynical, brooding, gruff,” Marvel says; we say “Wolverine.” Right? Correct, but not quite. Because, unlike the rest of the cinematic universe, we want to do Akihiro justice. Unfamiliar name, eh? Movie buffs going all round-eyed and scrunching their brows… You are probably not to blame. Let us start by introducing Wolverine and Itsu, Wolverine’s Japanese sweetheart. The latter’s successful HYDRA murder plot and the early birth of the couple’s kid Akihiro, a.k.a. Daken – as he was mockingly dubbed at first because of his mixed heritage.
Daken has created on the page of Wolverine Origins #4 in the astral plane thanks to the narrative talent of Daniel Way and the graphic prowess of Steve Dillon. He does, in fact, have a turbulent past that is ideal for an origin tale, ideally, one that can be traced all the way back to his birth.
As we connect to the greater Marvel universe, Daken continues to enchant, impose, and carve out a place in our minds, if not our hearts. Let us take a step back and look at the whole image of Daken, Wolverine’s long-lost son, as we have not seen as much as we have read about him.
Origin: As Tragic as it Gets
Itsu was in her last stage of pregnancy with Daken when she was killed by Winter Soldier on instructions, to lure Wolverine back to the island nation of Madripoor. Romulus arrived on the scene after the killing and cut through Itsu to reach the premature but alive Daken.
Daken was then left to be taken care of by Akihiro and Natsumi, a wealthy, young, and traditional Japanese couple who had since long, been praying for a child. Daken was named Akihiro by his adoptive parents and raised as their own. Akihiro’s quick healing from the grievous hurt and pain caused to him is often attributed to his mutant healing factor possibly inherited from his birth father.
Having to live with the knowledge that your birth mother was murdered by someone seeking your birth father would inevitably have an impact on your life. Akihiro was thus raised with a twisted perspective on his father “abandoning” him after his mother’s death. Nothing but hatred for those at fault grew profoundly in Akihiro’s heart, as he had no soft spot for anyone except his adoptive father to an extent.
To make things worse, Akihiro’s lack of control over his manifesting pheromone powers caused others to mimic his moods, which one day led him to overhear his stepmother admitting her lack of love for him, as after several years of trying she finally bore a child with the blood of Akihira and her own. His hatred showed in his actions when this child was born – in what can only be called a reaction to his position in the house being threatened, Akihiro nonchalantly informed Natsumi that he had in fact, ended the newborn’s life.
Akihira reacted by asking Akihiro to never show his face to them again, and Natsumi tried to take Akihiro’s life with a rifle’s bayonet. This ended with Akihiro being orphaned once again, as Daken’s mutant capabilities took over and the claws jutted out, slashing Natsumi’s chest. Akihira couldn’t fathom harming his adopted son, and killed himself with the rifle instead.
Essentially, most of Akihiro died too that day as Daken was born to prevail. Before the sheer magnitude of what had happened could crush Daken though, Romulus appeared before him for the first time in the latter’s conscious memory. Romulus projected that Daken would eventually, someday become who he wanted – Weapon X in its newest form.
Daken: Up and About
Post his adoptive parents’ loss, Daken was sent to a boot camp by Romulus who was eager to manipulate him into a man of many benefits. As it turns out – because why not – not only was it the same camp headed by ruled by Frederick Hudson that Wolverine had been trained at more than forty years ago, Daken’s trainer was also the same as his birth-father’s.
The trainer went by the name of Silas Burr and ended up playing a pretty important role…that we will discuss ahead. While in training, Daken disappeared one day, only to reappear at Romulus’ bidding to kill everyone at the camp except Burr.
Using his pheromonal powers to alter Burr’s thoughts, Daken was prepared to kill but Romulus stopped him again, revealing that he had plans with Burr. Those ‘plans’ were centered around – or rather, exactly were – the indestructible metal ‘Adamantium’ being surgically administered to him. Years later, Burr went on to be known as Cyber – his first task being an acting enforcer for a drug cartel, who was sent to Madripoor to oversee the distribution of a new hallucinogenic drug.
Romulus unsurprisingly continued to emotionally manipulate Daken, revealing years later that his father Wolverine was very much alive but also the individual who actually killed Itsu and attempted to kill Daken who was then still in his mother’s womb. Cunningly enough, he portrayed himself as the hero to gain Daken’s faith and trust and to be able to continue spinning the web of lies around him. Vengeance seems to be the least Daken could seek, knowing things from the perspective he did.
Bearing the brunt of these rough times, Daken decided to join a criminal organization that went by the name of ‘The Red Right Hand’, led by who Daken knew as another man who sought revenge from Wolverine. As Daken kept track of his father, he decided to keep going at establishing contact with all of his father’s children from around the world and turning them against him, straight into the hands of the said villainous organization.
The Red Right Hand grew with an objective of hurting Wolverine to the worst extent possible – he would have to kill his own children who then went by the name ‘The Mongrels’, even if they themselves couldn’t actually win against him. Honestly, that just reinstates the whole aspect of Daken thriving on and making pain the entire purpose of his life as is shown in the entire trajectory of stories that Daken has been a part of, so far.
When Daken met Wolverine, the former had disguised himself as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Not only did his long-manifested rage show in the way he acted upon confronting his imprisoned father, but also in the way he caused Wolverine the fatal – albeit temporary – injury, as he slashed Wolverine’s stomach reminiscing the tale of his mother Itsu having been left many years ago to die the same way. He gave way to his next act of brutality in Berlin, leading a woman who he was seeing for a while to believe that he had forged an affair with another man to obtain his passport.
Using his pheromonal powers to make her believe in the lies he told, he managed to eventually poison and kill her as well. The sadistic nature of this could as easily be attributed to Daken finding murder easy – even thrilling – to commit, as he purposefully wanted to tie up any loose ends that could point others to his crimes. Once again, the reader is made aware of how fuelling rage can be and how it can normally drive a person to the borders of what might appear to be insanity to most.
Several stories and character arc developments later, we have Daken become the cause of Cyber meeting his death – not before learning all of his secrets, though. Wolverine was left behind to deal with the remains and Daken had a little win for himself there – obtaining a chunk of the ever-revered Muramasa Blade that Wolverine possessed. Daken went on to request the Tinkerer to fuse that metal fragment with his own claws.
Story plots aside, Daken’s character is marked by several factors that truly set him apart. He has been portrayed as bisexual, a rarity in the comic Universe as it is. Using his pheromones, Daken managed to trick Lester (Bullseye) into kissing him and had an established relationship with a HYDRA agent who went by the name of Kim.
What truly sealed the deal, setting aside all speculations ever was the power move from writer Marjorie Liu in 2016, when she revealed that her hints of sexual tension between Daken and Johnny Storm for ‘Daken: Dark Wolverine’ were quite intentionally written. Daken’s relationship with Aurora, however, was clarified as outside of the impact of Daken’s pheromones as that ability of his could not actually create attraction and could only be used to manipulate an already existing mindset.
What to Expect: DAKEN’s Tales at Their Finest
Simply because the X-Men world is littered with notoriously overlapping plots – so is the whole of the Marvel Universe, but – let’s just give Daken his due glory for now.
Can’t really start a journey except at the beginning, can we? Daken showed up in ‘Wolverine: Origins #10’ as an infiltrator in arguably the coolest way ever – it was a SHIELD base after all. He met his father for the first time and released all the pent-up hatred by causing the latter’s (temporary, unbeknownst to Daken) death the same way Daken believed he had killed Itsu.
As much as you want to hate Daken, you kind of get where his anger and distaste are coming from and if not rationally and morally, his complicated relationship with his father Wolverine makes some sense on the emotional side of matters. At a turning point in the arc, Daken and Wolverine seem to find something to agree on, as Logan involves Professor Xavier in his attempts to get his son back from years of brainwashing committed by Romulus.
Upon realizing the truth, Daken recognizes how he had become a weapon and convinces himself to help bring down Romulus. However, the lure of power played its part as Daken sought to join Norman Osborn’s ‘Dark Avengers’. It was right here Marjorie Liu’s *chef’s kiss* writing showed up and gave Daken his own solo series. ‘The Prince’ truly exhibited Daken’s emotion-altering abilities for cunning purposes, scheming and creating his own place outside the veil of his father and Romulus.
The emotional mess-up of Daken’s storyline is strangely beckoning. The number of people who would be able to relate to Daken being torn between his father and another father-like figure is a heart-wrenching reality disguised as a comic book plot. I would go as far as to say that Daken’s attempts to pit Logan and Romulus against each other were a coping mechanism so that he wouldn’t have to make decisions. Wolverine did outsmart Daken before he could kill Romulus out of hatred. It is painful to see the realization dawning upon Daken that Romulus never really saw him as a son, only as a sacrificial pawn.
Daken and Laura’s relationship is based on considerate affection and is the focal point of ‘Collision’. Daken points out that Laura as X-23 lost his admiration because she refuses to use her powers to make a better life for herself, while Laura says Daken does not care about people and hence restricts himself. The complexity unraveling between the two of them as they meet for the first time and then interact which leads to simultaneous character development is captivating, to say the least. Weapon X was about to be restarted but their efforts despite emerging from their own battles stopped the catastrophe that could have been.
On the other hand, Wolverine’s death exposes us to a different, new, respectful side of Daken that you would not expect. The protectiveness towards Wolverine’s legacy, the culmination in a funeral that he made sure to attend and say his goodbyes at….all these things just unwrap Daken’s depths in emotions and a hope glimmers, of character development for the better. This is undoubtedly the most human side of Daken we see.
The Power Game: Why You Need to Look Out for DAKEN
Daken’s survival at birth itself is marked by one of his most significant powers – the mutant power of accelerated healing that he inherited from Wolverine. At 60 years of good, ripe age, the man doesn’t look a day older than twenty-five! The ability to recover from broken or otherwise harmed body parts in a jiffy and more extensively than a normal human being would give Daken a good start, but overtaxing can make that harder for him.
Items made of ‘carbonation’ are known to weaken him if they enter his body but that risk is seen is minimal, because the three bullets that the Tinkerer made for Wolverine are the only source of pure carbonation. Essentially, it is only the lack of adamantium in his skeleton that makes Daken vulnerable to death by beheading.
The bone claws are signature at this point, and Daken has three in each forearm. Needless to say, they are sharp and can-cut-through-Iron-Man’s-armour kind of durable. The lack of adamantium gives Daken a significant advantage over his opponent since it makes his claws lighter and hence more flexible in the air. Add that to the electricity-emitting glove that Reed Richards gave Daken, and we have a stun gun in place too!
Wolverine not only passed on the awe-inspiring ability of quick healing but also superhumanly heightened senses to Daken. The ability to see with clarity in light and in darkness, to hear sounds beyond human-comprehensible pitches, and of course the sense of smell to catch up with a target is something Daken swears by, and rightfully so. Especially with the sense of smell and his additional ability to manipulate through pheromones, he can suppress his own scent to a great degree.
It can be easily determined that as fancy as it may sound, the pheromonal advantage creates impacts more physical in nature, rather than psionic. His conscious ability to resist telepathy is ample evidence of the statement. Pheromones also enable Daken to reach speeds in movement that seem to make him able to teleport to a safer area where an opponent may not have sight, a power honed by Romulus. Even characters such as Deadpool and Spider-Man who have heightened reflexes fall prey to Daken’s enhanced abilities.
Not many can claim that they beat their all-powerful father in a physical fight, but Daken here can truly…BRAG. Trained by the top-notch fighters of the Universe – including the likes of Cyber as well as Romulus – Daken emerges excellent at altercations that go hand-to-hand. He is clever and cunning and accurately assesses his surroundings, using his opponent’s arsenal against them at times. Outsmarting people isn’t a new concept to him, and his intelligence is also cemented in the fact that he is fluent in German.
DAKEN: What Lies Ahead
Featuring multiple stories with increasingly complex behavioral tendencies that make it pretty difficult to take sides per se, the X-Men mythos and its loyalists ought to recognize the OG ‘grey character traits’ exemplified. While Daken exhibits his treatment of others quite like humans often do each other – quite likely a dig on the reader’s reality – where they tend to view other people as a source of ‘getting work done, more than anything else. His concerns and emotional depth are only brought forth when he truly believes in someone and considers them to be a loved one, for instance, his sister Laura and some of his team and some of his teammates on X-Factor.
Be it the main Marvel universe or the alternate MC2, Ultimate, Mutant X, Earth-295, etc. universes – Daken has not been seen on the big screen or the small one, for that matter, despite his irrefutable presence in stories. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has so far had a – *whispers* disregard – for his importance, and one can only hope that it is attributed to him being preserved for something bigger.
The layers to Daken’s character, the sheer brilliance that has gone into creating perhaps the most human of comic book characters, and the potential of Daken making it big are immense. The key to the long-locked door of the LGBTQ+ community in superhero comics is Daken, and another avenue could easily open up here if only Marvel decided to get exploratory with their films.
With ‘Avengers: Endgame’ bringing the main team to closure in terms of movies, new characters are definitely peeking from behind the curtains. The ‘Captain Marvel’ series is widely anticipated, as fans are looking forward to the further set-up of the next phase in the Marvel World.
Ever since there were rumors about a Dark Avengers script being developed back in 2018 – something that died down quite quickly – not much has been heard that could raise hopes for seeing Daken being represented on the big screen or small. However, the Marvel Universe continues to expand and we continue to believe that Daken will find his truly deserved and long-due place on Tinseltown’s superhero franchise side.