"Son of X" begins in "Wolverine: Origins" #26, on sale June 25

Professor Charles Xavier and Wolverine are X-Men on a mission. In "Wolverine: Origins," the title character is looking to get back in touch with his past and exact revenge on the conspirators who tortured and manipulated him. In "X-Men: Legacy," Charles Xavier is out rediscover a past that was stolen from him at the end of the recent "Messiah CompleX" storyline, when a bullet struck him in the head.

This September, these two separate quests will intersect when, "Dark Deception," a multipart Marvel Comics crossover between "Wolverine: Origins" and "X-Men Legacy" begins. CBR News spoke with "Origins" writer Daniel Way about the crossover as well as the book's most recent and upcoming storylines.

When "Wolverine: Origins" began, Logan discovered Daken, the son he never knew, was alive and well and now a conditioned pawn of the conspiracy he was looking to bring down. This revelation prompted Wolverine to shift his focus from revenge towards freeing his son from the conspiracy's grip. "Wolverine: Origins" #25, the finale of the most recent arc, "The Deep End," saw that plan finally pay off when Daken was lured out of hiding and shot in the head by a carbonadium bullet, designed to neutralize and slow down the mutant healing factor he inherited from his father.

The sniper who took out Daken was none other than Bucky Barnes, the man currently known as Captain America and formerly known as the Winter Soldier. Barnes took the shot as a way of repaying an old debt he owed Wolverine. However, Barnes was not wearing his Cap costume while neutralizing Daken.

Pages from "Wolverine: Origins" #26

"This was not a mission for Captain America. This was Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, paying his penance for what he'd done in the past," Daniel Way told CBR News. "This was him making good on a promise."

After he took his shot, Bucky revealed he had two more carbonadium bullets and two more targets. Way couldn't say when Bucky would appear again but hinted that in the future, Bucky and Wolverine's interactions may not go as smoothly. "The character is always changing and it may come about that Bucky no longer thinks it's appropriate for him to be hanging out on a window sill with sniper rifle and working for Logan," Way remarked. "Because maybe Logan is going to do something fucking heinous."

Wolverine was able to lure Daken out of hiding in "The Deep End" by tricking the mercenary Deadpool into trying to kill him. When it looked like Deadpool had the upper hand, Daken emerged because he wasn't about to lose the chance to kill his hated father to anyone else. After Daken was neutralized, Wolverine warned Deadpool against trying to come after him again. Whether Deadpool listens to Logan has yet to be revealed, but with Daniel Way also writing the new "Deadpool" ongoing, anything can happen.

Now that Wolverine has successfully liberated his son from the conspiracy, many are wondering about the next move of the mysterious Romulus, the conspiracy's head and Daken's master. "Romulus is always looking at everything from a strategic point of view. That's how he's been able to stay in the shadows for so long," Way explained. "He won't be happy that the prodigal son has been taken off the board but Romulus always has an angle. So there might actually be a contingency plan in place and that's actually quite a bit of what 'Dark Deception' is about."

Pages from "Wolverine: Origins" #26

Romulus has bedeviled Wolverine since the first "Origins" arc, but readers have yet to see what the master manipulator looks like. Way promised the character would step out of the shadows soon.

"Wolverine Origins" #26 hits stores on June 25 and kicks off the two-part "Son of X" storyline, which picks up mere hours after "The Deep End." "The carbonadium slug in Daken's brain is keeping his healing factor from fully kicking in. He's alive but he's essentially a vegetable," Way explained. "Now that Daken is off the board the question is where to sequester him so he can be safe and not get picked up again? Wolverine needs to find a place that's absolutely secure."

His quest for a secure place leads Wolverine to a location near Tulelake, California and a confrontation with a frightening adversary. "It's a bit of a metaphor but you can't bury your past. Wolverine tried that once back in the '40s," Way said. "And now his past is back�"it physically comes shambling out of the dark to get him."

While Wolverine fights his past in "Son of X," Daken relives his in fever dream-style flashbacks. "Daken's life is flashing before his eyes and it's pretty cool stuff," Way remarked. "It's scary. He comes from a scary place. It almost seems like he never could have been anything other than what he became."

"Wolverine: Origins" #27

Stephen Segovia is the artist drawing "Son of X," and Way is happy to have him on the book even if it is only for the two issue arc. "Stephen has an extremely mainstream style and yet he doesn't have these super clean lines. It's very distinctive. I don't know exactly where Stephen is from but he draws all the Japanese stuff from Daken's past like he's intimately familiar with it," Way stated. "I've been really impressed with Stephen's stuff. He really delivers and has got real enthusiasm for his work."

In September's "Wolverine: Origins" #28, Way welcomes aboard new regular artist Mike Deodato, Jr. with a prologue issue that sets up the "Dark Deception" crossover with "X-Men: Legacy." After the prologue, "Dark Deception" continues in a one-shot co-written by Way and "Legacy" scribe Mike Carey. The story than spreads to "Legacy" and "Origins" with the plan being for each writer to tackle two chapters of the storyline. "There will more than likely be some sort of trade dress on the covers of 'Origin' and 'Legacy,'" Way said. "In some way it will be made abundantly clear that the two books with colons in the title are in a crossover!"

"Dark Deception" spins out of developments in "Son of X." "Wolverine needs help and time is of the essence. Every second counts. So he's finally reaching out for help and what he finds is a variety of X-Men, but who he really needs to talk to is Professor X," Way explained. "As far as Wolverine knows Professor X is dead, so he's not exactly happy to find out that the fact the Professor is alive has been kept from him.

"We proceed directly to San Francisco for an ass whooping that happens between Wolverine and Cyclops," Way continued. "The thing is though, Cyclops isn't a boyscout anymore. He's done gone bad ass on us."

"Wolverine: Origins" #28 on sale in September, beginning Mike Deodato, Jr's run

Once Wolverine discovers Xavier is still alive, it becomes clear the Professor is the best man to help him with his current problems -- but that doesn't necessarily mean Wolverine and Xavier's reunion will be a happy one. "You have to remember that Wolverine remembers everything now. So there are a couple of things that are going to come out," Way said. "Professor X was like a father to him and I don't know about you but my relationship with my dad wasn't always smooth.

"And as far as Charles is concerned, Wolverine is probably the worst mistake he ever made in his life. We explore the relationship between the two and reveal some pretty massive stuff as far as who did what when," Way said. "We go all the way back to Wolverine's encounter with the Incredible Hulk in his first appearance. Why was he there? What was he doing? Why did Wolverine join the X-Men? Why did Professor X bring Wolverine into the X-Men instead of deploying them to take him down? What was Charles Xavier's plan? You already saw in 'X-Men: Deadly Genesis' that he did some pretty bad things for the greater good and I think people can connect the dots."

"Dark Deception" will also be full of shocking twists and turns. "Wolverine came to Professor X for help before and it didn't exactly work out, so will it work it out this time? And is there someone lurking in the shadows counting on one of them to be who they are?" Way remarked. "Anything these guys do plays into Romulus's plans as long as they don't do something completely against their nature.

"We're not just brining in the leads," Way added. "We're brining in all the shady characters from both 'Legacy' and 'Origins' as well. We've got a couple of villains from the X-Men's past coming in."

"Wolverine: Origins" #28 on sale in September

"Dark Deception" is a fast moving tale with an ebon hued tone. "This isn't a story weighed down with exposition," Way remarked. "Everything is communicated with action. Even the psychic plane is going to be a landscape rife with landmines."

For Way, collaborating with Mike Carey is proving to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of the "Dark Destiny" crossover. "I'm a pretty big fan of Mike's writing. I love 'Legacy' and I really liked his DC work. Out of all the current guys, his 'Hellblazer' stuff was just out of this world," Way stated. "I've thrown out ideas in creative round table settings but this is the first time I worked directly with another writer. I'd do an outline than fire it off to Mike who'd do revisions and eventually we'd end up with something that's all revisions, which we'd break into parts that we wanted to keep. Then we started building it up again. Mike was really cool and it was a great experience especially when things started to coalesce into a real story. That's when you feel like a real creator. It's a great feeling and I'm really proud of this story.

"When I initially outlined 'Origins,' there was no allowance for a crossover but this is just a happy convergence," Way continued. "I'm still getting the same story beats across but now I'm doing it in this fucking fantastic crossover where I get to work with another writer and make an event out of it. We're still hitting the points we need to hit but on a much grander scale, which is what comics are great at. When it comes to epic scale, you just can't beat comics."

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