The Little Girl Who Played X-23 Is Starring in His Dark Materials and I Am SO Here For It!

Dafne Keen of X-23 Fame Is BACK

Confession: I never got into Philip Pullman’s classic fantasy novel The Golden Compass. Or any other of His Dark Materials books. I picked it up twice as a kiddo. The first time, when I was ten and just finished binge-reading all of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books, and was high on that epic fantasy trip I grabbed The Golden Compass. I read a chapter and promptly put the book down when I rediscovered a collection of New England ghost stories in my closet. Because GHOSTS.

The Golden Compass found its way back to the library shelf through an unceremonious drop into the dark void of the book return drop. 

The second time I was in 7th grade and picked up the book again but this time from my middle school library and media center. I made it through half of chapter one this time before my best friend at the time introduced me to a book by Tamora Pierce. A book called Alanna. A book about a teen girl who switches places with her twin brother to become a KNIGHT. A sword-swinging, red-blooded, KNIGHT in a world of magic and sorcery and ASDFGHK I caps lock smash LOVED it and left the Golden Compass to wither and die, untouched and ignored like Henry VIII’s first wife-- Catherine of Aragon. 

Then a movie came out… with some little blond girl named Dakota who wasn’t Dakota Fanning, Nicole Kidman who wasn’t a midnight margarita making witch here, and a CGI polar bear that looked straight up st00pid. Interest was zero. Why pick up the book again when the movie was this… well… this. I didn’t want an Eragon repeat. *shudders*

Well, 12 years have passed since that blunder of a movie and I’d largely forgotten about His Dark Materials until HBO announced it’d be adapting the trilogy into a mini series. A mini series featuring such big name talents as James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. A mini series starring Dafne Keen as Philip Pullman’s lead protagonist Lyra Belacqua.

DAFNE. KEEN. PEOPLE. 

The now 14-year-old British-Spanish actor was just 12-years-old when she headlined 2017’s Logan as the badass little mutant X-23/Laura Kinney alongside Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. 

Keen more than proved her mettle as Marvel’s little powerhouse when she tore through the movie like a feral Arya Stark. Now, it looks like she'll be carrying on her winning streak of playing take-no-prisoners heroines as Lyra in the upcoming HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials. And I couldn’t be more stoked about it! I might even attempt to pick up the book again. Third times the charm?

In celebration of Lyra, Dafne Keen’s new badass role, I’m going back to her OG badass role, the lethal mutant tween, X-23, and rounding up the things I love most about her like:  

1. She can rock a dope pair of shades. 

2. She doesn’t take anyone’s bulls***

3. Being a fighter is in her nature. 

4. She doesn’t underestimate the power of a damn good bowl of cereal.

5. She doesn’t bottle her emotions.

6. She ain’t afraid to bring out the claws when the occasion calls for it. Or, doesn't, for that matter.

And her coolest Marvel comics facts! 

Marvel Comics Fact 1: Unlike Wolverine, her genetic "template", X-23 has Adamantium-coated razor-sharp bone claws in both her hands and feet! She also has an extraordinarily powerful healing factor that also enables her to fully regrow her arms and legs if they're severed or seriously damaged!

Marvel Comics Fact 2: X-23 has killer instincts. Literally. She was cloned from a corrupted sample of Wolverine’s DNA by the nefarious Weapon X Program scientists and engineered to become a human weapon. 

Marvel Comics Fact 3: X-23 is in her early twenties in most of her comic appearances. Just like in the MCU she underwent intense combat training in her childhood, was mercilessly experimented on, and exposed her to dangerous levels of radiation to forcibly accelerate and activate her mutations.  

Marvel Comics Fact 4: After her bouts of scientifically sanctioned radiation poisoning (what the actual hell) the next phase of her training made the most of her superhuman senses. A “trigger” scent was designed to activate all of X-23’s rage and power and send her into a killing frenzy. In other words, girl goes KILL THEM ALL berserk, Targaryen style. 

Image Source: X-23: Innocence Lost #3, Art by Billy Tan, Marvel, 2005

Marvel Comics Fact 5: A near mindless killing machine once “activated” Weapon X made the most of X-23’s lethal talents by “lending” her to the highest bidder as a contract killer. X-23’s savage success record made her one of the world’s most sought after assassins when she was as young as 11-years-old.

Marvel Comics Fact 6: X-23 only started to go by the name Laura when her adoptive mother, Sarah Kinney was bleeding out. The cause of death? X-23’s own claws. A geneticist in the Weapon X program that created her, SarahKins ends up getting caught in the crossfire of X-23’s attack mode. Welp. 

Marvel Comics Fact 7: Laura ends up breaking away from the corrupt Weapon X facility and becomes a fighting force for good. Laura enrolls in Avengers Academy and later joins the elite X-Men black ops team the X-Force under Wolverine’s leadership. 

Are you an X-23 fan? A Dafne Keen fan? A His Dark Materials fan? Just here for the gifs? Let's chat here or on Twitter- I wanna hear your take!