Contributed by Hope
Son of Wolverine and his Japanese wife, Itsu. Wolverine believed he was dead when his wife was murdered by Bucky Barnes, but possibly due to his healing factor (same as his fathers) Daken survived and was adopted by a wealthy, childless couple. Daken however, is not his true name, being named Akihiro by his adopted father, he was branded ‘Mongrel’ on account of his obvious white heritage. His adopted mother never took to him and when she found out that she was pregnant, confessed this to her husband, which Daken opverheard. Shortly after the child was born, Daken murdered him out of jealousy, and in an accident which showed that he had inherited his fathers claws as well as healing factor, killed his adopted mother. His father committed suicide after seeing this.
Daken becomes an assassin under the guidance of Romulus, Wolverines enemy who had ordered Daken’s birth mother killed.
When Daken finally meets his birth father, his rage at being abandoned causes him to lash out and almost kill him. Although their relationship has improved somewhat due to psychic interference by Charles Xavier, it is an unsteady truce. In an interesting twist, he replaces his father on Norman Osborne’s group of Dark Avengers, even to wearing the same costume.
Although approximately 60 years old, Daken appears to be in his early twenties and projects himself as such. Unlike his father, Daken has an additional mutation which leads him to project pheromones that enable him to influence anyone he wants. He often uses this sexually, on both men and women, to cause them to desire him and then manipulates them to do what he needs them to do. Notably he can also project pheromones to cause desire between people such as when he suggested to The Thing that he wanted to sleep with his team-mate Johnny Storm, causing the Thing to lash out at Daken in confusion. Daken is confirmed bisexual and has slept with both men and women, but never so far out of any personal desire for them. He is skilled at manipulating people, and projects a hedonistic and sophisticated persona to the public, but at little provocation easily loses his control and becomes savage, like his father’s famous ‘berserker rages’.
Daken first appeared in Wolverine Origins #10. Art by Phil Jimenez from the Pride themed cover of Wolverine #13 (2021).
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