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Wolverine has helped many younger X-Men “find” themselves, but never before did it lead to such a powerful change of identity.
Despite his gruff exterior, Wolverine has regularly proven himself to be a highly effective mentor to younger members of the X-Men, helping troubled young mutants like Jubilee and Armor hone their abilities while simultaneously providing them with much-needed emotional support and advice. While Wolverine has had a deep impact on all of his proteges, none of them has been as drastic or as positive as the one he left on Katherine “Kitty” Pryde.
Although Wolverine and Kitty’s relationship didn’t begin on the best of terms, an unbreakable teacher-and-student bond was forged between them after Kitty embarked on a disastrous solo mission to Japan during Kitty Pryde and Wolverine (by Chris Claremont, Allen Milgrom and Glynis Wein). After falling under the influence of one of Wolverine’s oldest enemies and being trained as a ninja against her will, Wolverine’s skills as both a warrior and a teacher not only helped Kitty regain control of herself but helped her hone her newfound abilities and truly make them her own.
While visiting her estranged father Carmen after her recent break-up with Colossus, Kitty walked in on her father, who was speaking with members of the Yakuza. Unwilling to believe that her father would willingly get involved with criminals, Kitty decided to follow him to Japan alone and investigate. Unfortunately, Kitty’s limited understanding of the Japanese language and her lack of experience with the country’s laws and customs quickly left her penniless, sick and wanted by the police. After making a short emergency phone call to the Xavier Institute, Kitty finally discovered hard evidence that her father was working with the Yakuza, only to be discovered and captured by the crime syndicate’s enforcer Ogun, Wolverine’s martial arts teacher.
Originally an honorable ninja, Ogun became obsessed with immortality and devoted his life to studying the ways of black magic to find a way to live forever. After many years, Ogun finally discovered a way to achieve a gruesome form of immortality by creating a spiritual copy of himself that he can imprint into others’ minds. After imparting all of Ogun’s skills onto their hosts, the copies then took complete control over their minds, essentially creating another Ogun. Upon capturing Kitty, Ogun placed her into deep hypnosis and implanted one of his copies into her mind. Reduced to a childish form within her psyche, Kitty was trained from “birth” by the spirit of Ogun in the ninja arts, acquiring a lifetime of skill within the span of a few days. By the time Kitty emerges from her comatose state, she is a fully-trained ninja under Ogun and the Yakuza leader Shigamatsu’s control.
Fortunately, Kitty’s time as a brainwashed ninja is fairly short-lived, as Wolverine soon arrives in Japan to investigate her disappearance. With the help of his unreciprocated love interest Yukio, Wolverine managed to track down and confront Shigematsu, demanding to know where Kitty was. Soon after, he was confronted by a brainwashed Kitty, who ruthlessly battled him across the rooftops of Tokyo. With her newfound martial arts skills, Kitty nearly killed Wolverine before getting knocked out by Yukio and brought to the home of Wolverine’s former fiance, Mariko Yashida. Recognizing what Ogun did to her, Wolverine helped Kitty purge Ogun from her mind through a brutal series of intense physical exercises meant to strengthen both her body and spirit. During this process, Wolverine keeps Kitty going with harsh but honest advice, telling her that she alone can take what Ogun did to her and make something good out of it.
Eventually, Kitty managed to overcome Ogun’s influence and fully purge the villainous ninja’s soul from her mind. With Wolverine at her side, Kitty confronted Ogun and defeated her former master with the very skills he’d forced upon her, re-taking control over her life. Upon returning to the United States, Kitty officially changed her X-Men codename from “Sprite” to “Shadowcat” to better reflect her newfound skills and the more confident and mature personality that came with them. Taking Wolverine’s advice to heart, Kitty would go on to put Ogun’s training to good use, acting as the X-Men’s primary stealth operative and regularly keeping a sword at her side. She would also maintain a very close relationship with her teacher and rescuer Wolverine, abandoning whatever fear of him might have still been lingering in her since their first meeting.
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