Daken

Publication history

Akihiro made his debut in Wolverine: Origins #10 in March 2007, brought to life by writer Daniel Way and artist Steve Dillon. Way described Logan as trying to steer his own fate, while Akihiro goes in the opposite direction, acting wildly and violently.

He added that Akihiro desperately needs guidance, something his father finds hard to provide, and that killing Romulus is a necessary step for them to move forward. Way also noted that Akihiro’s role would grow in 2009, and that his backstory would stay deliberately unfinished at the end of Origins, leaving room for many future stories. Besides appearing in Origins and the main Wolverine series, Akihiro got his own solo title, Daken: Dark Wolverine, which lasted 23 issues.

After his Origins arc and the Dark Reign storyline, Akihiro joined Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers, taking on the Wolverine name in Dark Avengers #1 in March 2009. Brian Michael Bendis called Akihiro one of the best additions from Origins, saying joining the team was a perfect way to annoy his father. During the Utopia crossover in mid-2009, Osborn also placed Akihiro on the Dark X-Men.

Matt Fraction, who wrote him there, described Akihiro as well-spoken, polished, and flashy, dubbing him the metrosexual Wolverine. Fraction explained that Akihiro signed up partly for the spotlight and partly because it infuriates his dad. Akihiro stayed with Osborn’s group until Dark Avengers #16 in July 2010, when he slipped away before being caught.

Fictional character biography

In 1946, while Wolverine lives in Jasmine Falls, Japan with his pregnant wife Itsu, Romulus sends the Winter Soldier to kill Itsu. After her death, a mysterious man cuts the baby from her womb, and the infant survives due to his mutant healing factor. Sometime in 1946, he is placed at the doorstep of Akihira and Natsumi, a wealthy Japanese couple who raise him as their own. Teased by other boys, Akihiro develops a cold personality.

Natsumi confesses she does not love their adopted son and is pregnant; Akihiro overhears and plots. After the baby's birth, Akihiro confronts his mother, claiming he killed her son. Akihira disowns him, and Akihiro angrily responds that Akihiro is not his true name. Natsumi tries to run him through, triggering his claws; he accidentally slashes her.

Akihira commits suicide. Romulus appears and tells the boy he is what he will become; Akihiro embraces the slur Daken as his name. He is trained harshly, including nannies who show motherlike love before trying to kill him, forcing him to kill them. In the present, Akihiro disguises as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, stabs Dum Dum Dugan, confronts his father, slashes Logan across the stomach, and leaves him to bleed, aiding his father's escape for non-benevolent reasons.