ROSE WU
Real Name: Rose Carling-Wu
Identity/Class: Hybrid human-extradimensional (Kageumbra), citizen of Madripoor
Occupation: Bar owner, formerly operative of Landau, Luckman & Lake
Group Membership: Landau, Luckman & Lake (Chang, unidentified others)
Affiliations: Archie Corrigan, Jessica Drew, Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Harriers, Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, Lindsay McCabe, Mr. O'Donnell, Psylocke (Betsy Braddock), police chief Tai, Tyger Tiger (Jessán Hoan), Wolverine (James 'Logan' Howlett)
Enemies: Prince Baran, General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Kimora,
Known Relatives: Doctor Carling (father, deceased), Ruth Wu (granddaughter), unidentified mother (deceased), unidentified husband, unidentified child(ren)
Aliases: "Rosie" (nickname used by Wolverine)
Base of Operations: Lowtown, Madripoor;
formerly Hong Kong, China;
formerly Kageumbra (place of birth)
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men I#257 (November, 1989)
Powers/Abilities: Rose Wu's hybrid nature granted her the ability to morph her bodymass, resulting in limited shapeshifting abilities. She could alter her form to appear younger, taller or slimmer than her malleable base human form. She could reshape her hands, extending the fingers into claws. Rose Wu was exceptionally long-lived. Rose had limited extrasensory perception. She was trained in the use of bladed weaponry. As an employee of Landau, Luckman & Lake she had access to advanced technologies, including the firm's WC teleporters. Rose Wu was a smoker.
Height: Variable (approximately 3'5")
Weight: Variable (approximately 100 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Grey
History:
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Rose Wu was born in the
dimension known as Kageumbra. Her mother was a native, her father was
doctor Carling, a human scientist who had devised a technological
process for dimensional travel and had been living in Kageumbra for
years.
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Kageumbra's ruthless ruler
Kimora learned of Carling's presence and wanted to force the scientist
to build him a portal so he could conquer other dimensions. When Carling
refused, Kimora had his wife killed. Carling fled to Earth with Rose,
arriving sometime in the early 1930s. He soon found himself chased by
Kimora who had followed him through the rift and was now stuck on Earth.
After years of getting chased, Carling realized he had to turn to the
research firm of Landau, Luckman & Lake.
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1) - Young Rose and her father had
arranged to meet with Chang and Logan, representatives of Landau,
Luckman & Lake. Before the meeting could take place, they were
captured by Kimora and his operatives and ultimately rescued by Logan
who watched as the doctor decapitated the man who had slaughtered the
love of his life.
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Several years after World
War II, the now adult Rose was working as an operative for Landau,
Luckman & Lake.
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Kimora made his presence
known again, somehow surviving decapitation he found a way back to
Kageumbra where he gathered his forces. He had access to a tiny,
unstable rift that allowed him limited access to Earth. He used it to
have Carling captured again. In response, Rose also made her way back to
Kageumbra where she lied in wait for backup.
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1) - Rose met up with Logan and Chang when
they arrived on Kageumbra to rescue Carling. Logan was momentarily taken
aback when he realized the little girl he once rescued was now a
ruthless, shape-shifting operative. When they were attacked by Kimora's
operatives the Shadow Walkers, Logan was stabbed with a poisoned blade.
Rose, familiar with this usually lethal poison, was ready to quickly put
Logan out of his misery. However, Chang convinced her his healing factor
would resolve the issue.
(Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1) - After Logan recovered, the trio made
for Kimora's base where they started plans to bypass his army guarding
the facility. The solution came when one of the teleporting Shadow
Walkers attacked again. He kidnapped Rose, but Chang forced open his
dimensional portal so he and Logan could follow the villain straight to
Kimora's inner sanctum where the battle was joined. Rose was unable to
stop Kimora from granting her father an 'honorable' death. However, she
proved instrumental in the villain's defeat, handing Logan the weapon
that caused him to remain stuck in the rift between worlds.
(Uncanny X-Men I#257 (fb) - BTS) - Rose returned to Earth with Logan and
Chang and resumed her work for Landau, Luckman & Lake. She went on
several unspecified missions with Logan, one of them including a visit
to a futuristic city where they posed for a snapshot she had later
framed.
(Wolverine II#87 (fb)
- BTS) - When Logan was still around, Rose posed for a saucy, boudoir
style painting of herself, sprawled naked on a bed with a rose in her
teeth. The work became one of her prized possessions.
(Uncanny X-Men I#257 (fb) - BTS) - As the years passed, Rose got
married, took her husband's last name Wu, raised a family and eventually
welcomed a granddaughter called Ruth who over time began working with
her at Landau, Luckman & Lake's Hong Kong offices.
(Uncanny X-Men I#257
(fb) - BTS) - Rose Wu became a known and respected presence in Hong
Kong. Even criminal cabals such as the Triad and the Tong dared not
cross her because she was too valuable and potentially dangerous.
(Uncanny X-Men I#257) - Rose was delighted to see Logan when he showed
up at Landau, Luckman & Lake's Hong Kong location along with his new
associate Jubilee. She summoned her granddaughter Ruth to bring her
guests some tea. Rose then told Ruth to take Jubilee shopping so she and
Logan could catch up in private. Rose quickly realized her old friend
was in rough shape, both physically and mentally (see comments).
He confirmed her suspicions, telling Rose he had almost died at the
hands of the Reavers and was now a quest to locate the missing X-Men.
Rose had problems of her own: the Mandarin was asserting his dominance
over the Hong Kong underworld, leading to a growing conflict with the
local crime syndicates. Logan assured her he would be out of her hair
long before anything could come to ahead.
(Uncanny X-Men I#257 - BTS) - When Ruth and Jubilee were kidnapped by
the Hand during their shopping trip, not even Rose's well-informed
sources could get any leads on who had taken them.
(Uncanny X-Men I#261 -
BTS) - When Wolverine allowed himself to be kidnapped by Hardcase and
the Harriers in Madripoor, Rose traveled to the island nation to help
out Jubilee and Psylocke.
(Uncanny X-Men I#261) - Not wanting to risk the seemingly elderly lady's
safety, the women told Rose to use her contacts in Madripoor to gather
backup should they fail to rescue Wolverine.
(Uncanny X-Men I#261) - After securing the services of Jessica
Drew, Lindsay McCabe and other Madripoor locals, Rose led the charge
against the Harrier's hideout only to find the mercenaries inside having
pizza with Wolverine, Jubilee and Psylocke. Logan explained the need for
the subterfuge: he wanted his teammates to have some impromptu Danger
Room style practice. Rose and the others were invited to join the pizza
party.
(Wolverine II#87 (fb) - BTS) - Rose eventually retired from Landau,
Luckman & Lake and was succeeded by Zoe Culloden. She used her
annuity to buy the Princess Bar in Madripoor from Mr. O'Donnell. Wu was
hoping to make a fresh start in Madripoor's Lowtown but found herself
getting involved in the patrons' complicated and dangerous lives.
(Wolverine II#87) - Rose threw Logan a surprise party at the Princess
Bar, which he and his fellow X-Man Gambit initially mistook for an
ambush. Logan was thrilled to see Rose again, surprised she was now
using her metamorphic abilities to change her appearance again. As she
gave him the grand tour of the bar and its patrons, she casually pointed
to the boudoir painting she had commissioned years ago.
(Wolverine II#98 - BTS) - During one
of Logan's visits to the Princess Bar, Rose was lethally wounded when
Prince Baran and general Nguyen Ngoc Coy fired a rocket grenade at the
place. Shrapnel ripped into friends and associates, instantly killing
Archie Corrigan, Chang and O'Donnell.
(Wolverine II#98) - Wolverine survived the attack, but in his dazed
state he mistook the shrapnel wounds for claw marks, leading him to
believe he could have caused the massacre. Finding Rose dying in
the wreckage, Logan asked her if he had caused the carnage. She tried to
console her old friend, but succumbed to her injuries before she could
tell him what had really happened.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Josef Rubinstein.
Imagine that, getting your big origin story in a deluxe
one-shot the same month you get killed along with most of Wolverine's
Madripoor era supporting cast... It sadly happened to Rose Wu.
The full extent of her superhuman abilities was never explored. Apart
from her mass shifting and retarded aging, Wu also seemed to have
enhanced senses. She was aware of the lifelike hallucinations of Nick
Fury and Carol Danvers that accompanied Wolverine in her first
appearance.
It's hard to say how old Rose was, time seems to pass differently in
Kageumbra. By Earth standards, she was born sometime in the 1930s, but
already in her early twenties by the time Wolverine and Chang came to
her dimension after World War II. Though unconfirmed on panel, it stands
to reason that Rose's father was the one who supplied Landau, Luckman
& Lake with the technological means to build their vast network of
Warp Chambers.
It's been about 30 years since her demise, but given her
extra-dimensional nature it shouldn't be that hard to bring her back.
Especially since other natives of Kageumbra like Kimora have shown to be
able to survive apparent death. The biggest dangler, however, is
whatever happened to her granddaughter Ruth who wasn't even mentioned
again after she and Jubilee were captured by the Hand.
Profile by Norvo
CLARIFICATIONS:
Rose Wu should not be confused with
Ruth Wu worked for her grandmother Rose at Landau, Luckman and Lake's Hong Kong offices. She was on hand when Patch and Jubilee arrived to get Rose's help. After serving them tea, Ruth took Jubilee shopping so Rose and Patch could talk in private. Ruth and Jubilee were quickly captured by Lady Mandarin and the Hand.
--Uncanny X-Men I#257
Images: (without ads)
Uncanny X-Men I#257, p12, pan3 (main)
Logan: Path of the warlord I#1, p29, pan3 (body morphing)
Uncanny X-Men I#257, p13, pan2 (Blade Runner city)
Uncanny X-Men I#257 p14, pan1 (meeting Logan and Carol)
Uncanny X-Men I#261, p23, pan6 (rescuing Wolverine)
Wolverine II#87, p4, pan3 (retired)
Wolverine II#98, p7, pans5,6 (dies)
Uncanny X-Men I#257, p13, pan3 (Ruth Wu)
Appearances:
Uncanny X-Men I#257 (January, 1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Jim Lee
(pencils), Josef Rubinstein (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#261 (May, 1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Marc
Silvestri (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Wolverine II#87 (November, 1994) - Larry Hama (writer), Adam Kubert
(pencils), Mark Farmer, Dan Green, Tim Townsend, Joe Rubinstein (inks),
Bob Harras (editor)
Logan: Path of the Warlord I#1 (February, 1996) - Howard Mackie
(writer), John Paul Leon (pencils), Shawn Martinbrough (inks), Mark
Powers (editor)
Wolverine II#95 (February, 1996) - Larry Hama (writer), Ramon Bernardo
(pencils), Nick Napolitano, Al Milgrom, Mark Morales (inks), Bob Harras
(editor)
First Posted: 11/20/2025
Last Updated: 11/20/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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