Summary
- Wolverine, transformed by Weapon X, faces a new threat in the form of Weapon XVI aka Allgod, an ultimate monster created by the Weapon Plus Program.
- The Children of the Vault, who have experienced thousands of years of evolution, awake from stasis and plan to reshape the world in their perfect image with the help of brainwashing and mind-control, including Allgod.
- Cable, Bishop, and Wolverine team up to take on the Children of the Vault and Allgod in order to save mutantkind, but the outcome is uncertain and the ultimate monster may succeed in killing all mutants.
Warning! This article contains spoilers for Children of the Vault #1 Weapon X transformed Wolverine from a powerful mutant into an unstoppable weapon, though even with all of Wolverine’s strength, he’s nothing compared to the ultimate monster created by the Weapon Plus Program. And now, that ‘ultimate monster’ is back, and it’s already playing an integral role in the extinction of all mutantkind.
When James “Logan” Howlett was a younger man – though already well experienced in the art of combat – he was abducted by an organization known as Weapon X. Its goal was to turn mutants, specifically, into living weapons. In Wolverine’s case, given his inherent bone claws and healing factor, that meant having adamantium grafted to his skeleton. Not only that, but Wolverine was forced to undergo systematic brainwashing and mind-wiping procedures, as he was being programmed to follow orders and then remember nothing of the atrocities he was forced to commit before the next mission. Wolverine was to be the perfect weapon, both in mind and body. However, even at his peak, Wolverine was nothing compared to Weapon XVI aka Allgod.
Allgod Makes Its Villainous Return In Children Of The Vault
In Children of the Vault #1 by Deniz Camp and Luca Maresca, the Children of the Vault awaken from their forced-stasis following the massacre and near-extinction of all mutantkind that took place during the latest Hellfire Gala. The Children of the Vault have lived their entire lives inside what’s known as the Vault, where they experienced thousands of years of evolution, making them as close to perfect as life forms can be. The Children were meant to raze the Earth and begin life anew in their ‘perfect’ image once their time in the Vault was complete. For this reason, the mutants of Krakoa trapped them in stasis, forcing them to live in a dream reality where they believed they had already conquered the Earth. In this issue, the Children wake up (as most mutants on the planet are gone), and they begin their dark mission. Except, it doesn’t seem so bad. The Children share the technology they developed after millennia in the Vault, and humanity seems to accept them with open arms. However, upon further investigation, it seems humans aren’t accepting the Children of their own accord. They have, instead, been brainwashed into doing so, and one component of that brainwashing seems to be Allgod.
Allgod was first introduced in Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine #1 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, where it was explained that Weapon XVI was something of a virus that latched onto humans’ belief in a ‘god’, no matter the denomination. It then twists their minds into believing that it is the ‘one true god’. Allgod then uses that undying devotion to force these people to do whatever the prime artificial consciousness of the Weapon Plus Program (known simply as The World) wants. Allgod was destroyed in this very issue, but the mind-control process was near-perfect for manipulating the masses. Because of that, the Children of the Vault integrated Allgod into its own mind-controlling process, which they are using to reshape the world in their image and finish what Orchis started in Hellfire Gala: kill mutantkind.
Cable and Bishop uncovered this dark secret after they teamed up to take on the Children of the Vault following the fall of Krakoa, and, in fact, all of mutantkind. Luckily, Wolverine was another one of the survivors of the Mutant Massacre, which means he could be a resource these two surviving mutants could use to take on this old threat. However, just because Wolverine tackled this other product of the Weapon Plus Program before does not mean he’s equipped to beat it now, meaning Weapon X’s ultimate monster may very well succeed in killing all mutantkind.
Children of the Vault #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.