It's complicated. In the traditional sense, she's not his daughter. In other words, Logan and a woman did not conceive Laura Kinney. She's actually a genetic clone of Wolverine, created by a program called The Facility which was attempting to restart the Weapon X program that had turned Wolverine into a living weapon by bonding adamantium to his skeleton decades ago. Using DNA from Wolverine, X-23 was created in a laboratory, and she was the 23rd attempt after 22 unsuccessful tries to isolate the genome (hence her name). So biologically speaking, Laura Kinney is Logan's clone — not his daughter. However, biology isn't the only thing that determines fathers and daughters, and their relationship certainly goes deeper than the genetic level.
After the pair meet in the comics and get to know one another, with X-23 moving into Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, she grows to look up to Logan, and even replaces him as Wolverine after he dies. And while he isn't always the greatest father figure, he in turn became protective of her as if she were his daughter while he was alive, since he sees so much of himself in her (not a shocker since they share the same genetic material). Their relationship was so close, in fact, that Wolverine made plans to legally adopt X-23 as his daughter in X-23 #2. The adoption was never completed, probably due to Wolverine's death, but at the time he proposed it, Laura noted that the two were already family even without any legal ruling.
After the pair meet in the comics and get to know one another, with X-23 moving into Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, she grows to look up to Logan, and even replaces him as Wolverine after he dies. And while he isn't always the greatest father figure, he in turn became protective of her as if she were his daughter while he was alive, since he sees so much of himself in her (not a shocker since they share the same genetic material). Their relationship was so close, in fact, that Wolverine made plans to legally adopt X-23 as his daughter in X-23 #2. The adoption was never completed, probably due to Wolverine's death, but at the time he proposed it, Laura noted that the two were already family even without any legal ruling.
The shocking change to the character's origin comes in Hunt For Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #4 with X-23 a.k.a. Laura Kinney searching for Logan along with Iron Man, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Their hunt has them investigating Mister Sinister's genetic mad science, ending up in a massive bunker. It turns out that Sinister had been collecting and cataloging the DNA of everyone on earth (including mutants) and selling off that DNA to the highest bidder. The team chose to destroy the database, but not before Tony Stark took a look... and discovered that Laura's origin as a clone of Wolverine's wasn't the full story at all.
After the team destroys the database and returns home, Laura calls Tony out on the fact that he's learned something, now that he's his avoiding her eyes and his heart rate rises around her. His hesitation makes sense, finally explaining that her DNA shows she is not a clone of Wolverine carried to term by Dr. Sarah Kinney, whom she considered her adopted mother. Laura has Wolverine's DNA, but it's actually entirely mixed with Sarah's.
The result, Tony explains, is that Laura is no clone, or even a "genetic twin." Laura is Wolverine's biological daughter, and Sarah is fully her biological mother.
Fans of the character may remember the appearance of Sarah Kinney in X-23: Innocence Lost, the title that fully explains Laura's backstory. Originally, it was explained that X-23 was not exactly a clone of Wolverine, but a "genetic twin." The DNA that the Weapon X project had was too damaged to clone Wolverine completely, but Sarah (the scientist working on the project), found a way to replace the damaged Y chromosome with a duplicate of the existing X. It would make a mutant who is a clone of Wolverine in every way except for gender - and Sarah wound up carrying it to term as a surrogate.
This latest reveal means that Laura's own DNA makes her more Wolverine's daughter than anything else, with Sarah Kinney just as responsible for her resulting genes. For fans who now realize Logan has a daughter, and that Laura really was raised by her mother, it's a moment that needs further appreciation - and investigation in coming issues.
In practical terms, this may end up affecting X-23's powers. As we saw in an earlier issue of All-New Wolverine, Laura is dying in the not-so-distant future. Perhaps the fact that her DNA is only half Wolverine's is going to connect to this, preventing her from becoming the kind of near-immortal her father has shown himself to be.
Otherwise, it may mean that readers get another look at her backstory, as we discover how this came about. Was there some element of the healing factor that caused a fetal Laura to take on Sarah's DNA in utero? Or did Sarah intentionally add some of her own for reasons we can only guess at?
Either way, Wolverine now has another twist waiting for him when he makes his true debut in Return Of Wolverine, which hits shelves on September 19th. In the meantime, though, Marvel is still wrapping up a few storylines from the Hunt For Wolverine event - and launching a few new ones through shocking revelations like these.
