Recently, it was announced Hugh Jackman will be coming back as Wolverine, aka Logan/James Howlett, for Deadpool 3. The character and actor are beloved by fans, and Jackman now has the space to play in a much broader comic book franchise. As the Fox films did not get into too many of the wilder concepts, some are wondering if Daken will follow. But who is the character with a name similar to a rad metal band, what is his relation is to the gruff and short Canadian?
To begin with, Daken (born Akihiro) is Wolverine’s son in the pages of Marvel Comics. He first appeared as a cameo in 2006 before fully appearing in in 2007 and is a mutant like his father. He is the result of one of Wolverine’s many periods spent living in Japan where the character fell in love with a woman named Itsu. Wolverine did not know his son was still alive after his wife was murdered by the Winter Soldier. From here, the character experienced a traumatic childhood, and his nickname, “Daken,” comes from the Japanese word for mongrel, which was used as an insult by the other children due to his mixed-race background. This caused him to resent his famous father. When the pair met for the first time, their reunion was far from a Hallmark greeting card scene.
Wolverine is imprisoned, and Daken sneaks in with a disguise to see him. He refers to Logan as “weak” before cutting him on the stomach and fleeing. After this, the pair would fight each other multiple times while Wolverine would try to give his son guidance in order to prevent him from going down his dark path. At times, Wolverine’s fatherly advice has worked, but for the most part Daken has manipulated heroes and villains to pursue his own agenda while generally being evil.
Indeed, co-creator Daniel Way has told Newsarama that Daken is intended to be the version of his father who gave into his worst instincts and is someone who is “hacking, slashing and going nuts.” He has killed Frank Castle, sent Wolverine to Hell, and tried to manipulate him into killing his half-siblings as well. It is not known whether Daken will appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at any point, but, we argue it would be smart to do so. After all, Jackman is not getting any younger and exercising is hard.