Fictional history of Wolverine

The fictional history of Wolverine.

Origin

Set in 19th century Alberta, Canada, James Howlett, the second son of John Howlett, Jr. and Elizabeth Howlett, is born and is a sick and frail boy in contrast to the quickly healing Wolverine. His parents hire a young Irish girl named Rose to watch over James and keep his spirits up. On the rare days that James is allowed to go outside, he and Rose spend their time playing with a young boy they know as "Dog" Logan, the son of Thomas Logan, the groundskeeper of the Howlett Mansion.

After Dog commits acts such as killing James' pet dog, John Howlett fires Thomas and has him thrown off the property. This only adds to Thomas' hatred and, in a rage, he and his son, with the forced help of Rose, break into the Howlett Mansion at night armed with shotguns. Thomas attempts to get Elizabeth, with whom he had been having an affair, to go away with him, but John walks into the room. Awakened by the noise, James enters the bedroom just in time to see Thomas shoot and kill John. Enraged and horrified at seeing his father murdered, James leaps at Thomas. Thomas begins bleeding profusely from the abdomen and dies. It is then seen that James now has claw-like bones protruding from each hand. James then slashes Dog across the face, and becomes strongly disoriented. James and Rose then run out of the house after being scolded by Elizabeth, who states that something similar to this has happened before. A glimpse is then given of the grave of John Howlett III, James' older brother. Elizabeth is shown to have scars similar to one's from James'. It is strongly implied that John III had similar powers to James' and he was killed out of discrimination. However it is implied that he is still alive. Elizabeth, upon witnessing the death of her husband, her lover, and the emergence of James' claws, kills herself. Rose then takes James to the barn to try and sober him up. James tells Rose that the smell in the barn was too strong, hinting that his mutant abilities had awakened. After being turned away by James' grandfather, Rose takes James and runs off into the night. The police are summoned to the mansion and they question Dog, who blames the killing entirely on Rose. With Rose blamed for the death of the Howletts and James exiled by his bitter grandfather, they set out for parts unknown.

They join a mining colony in British Columbia. James has lost all memory of his parents, his childhood, and his name, due to his trauma; by this point his hands are healed despite the claws emerging through his skin earlier. To explain why they are together, but to avoid scandal, Rose claims that they are cousins. When asked what James' name is, Rose knew she couldn't use his real name since the police would be looking for James Howlett. Instead, Rose gives the first name that comes to mind, "Logan."

"Logan" struggles under the harsh working conditions of the mining colony. As his mutant abilities develop, James becomes strong, acquiring the nickname "Wolverine" from his fellow miners. During his time at the mining colony, James speaks less and less of the past to Rose, often immersing himself in hunting and the physically demanding work of daily life in the colony.

On his deathbed, James' grandfather asks Dog to find his grandson, and unbeknownst to James and Rose, Dog tracks them to British Columbia. Dog is still nursing a deep grudge against James for killing his father as well as scarring his face and against Rose for spurning his advances. Following their trail, Dog finds Rose and James at the mining colony and attempts to beat James to death in front of a large crowd. Just as James prepares to extend his claws and kill Dog, Rose is accidentally knocked into the fray by the crowd and is inadvertently impaled by Logan. She dies right by Logan's side. Overcome with grief, he runs off, turns feral, and takes to living in the woods along with wolves.

Early years

At some point in time, Logan travels to another frontier community in the Canadian Rockies. Employed by The Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trader to the Blackfoot Indians, he defeats the demonic snake-worm known as Uncegila, a feat which earns him the Blackfoot warrior name of "Skunk-Bear". ["Marvel Comics Presents #93-98, 1991] He meets a young Blackfoot woman named Silver Fox, with whom he falls in love. The two share a cabin together and live happily for a time. On Logan's birthday, Sabretooth rapes and murders Silver Fox. Enraged, Logan battles Sabretooth only to be defeated. ["Wolverine" vol.1 #10, 1989] Sabretooth and a mysterious cloaked figure then convince a feral, mindless Logan to slaughter the inhabitants of the town he had been living in at the time. A broad, largely unseen conspiracy then begins to shape Logan, now robbed of his conscience and free will, into the perfect killer. Wherever Logan goes, Sabretooth, one of his handlers, is not far behind.

World War I

Before the war Logan joins a unit in the Canadian military known as the Devil's Brigade. Logan's commanding officer is a superhumanly strong man known as Cyber. A sadist, Cyber kills Logan’s girlfriend, a woman named Janet. The two men fight and during the battle, Cyber defeats Logan and gouges out his left eye. Afterwards, Cyber and Sabretooth track him down. They find a feral Logan in the woods and convince him to return. He does so and is sent overseas to Madripoor where he meets a woman named Seraph. It is here that Logan develops his “Patch” persona.

While fighting in Belgium on April 22, 1915, Logan encounters a being called Lazaer. Lazaer is armed with a large broadsword and has been using it to kill soldiers on the same battlefield. They soon begin to fight one another, with Lazaer initially gaining the upper hand. After being impaled with Lazaer's sword, Logan pulls it from his chest and stabs it through the chest of his surprised opponent.

Logan is sent to the Romanov family in Russia where he learns espionage and befriends the young Natasha Romanova, who will later be known as the Black Widow.

In 1936, Wolverine works alongside time-traveling Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers to fight Nazi villains Baron Strucker and Geist, who have allied themselves with the Shadow King to dethrone King Edward VIII and replace him with a fascist heir.

World War II

During World War II, Logan teams up with Captain America in Madripoor. They rescue Natasha Romanova from being transformed into a Hand assassin. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker becomes involved, causing Wolverine and Captain America to turn their attention towards a fledgling HYDRA. ["Uncanny X-Men" #268] Soon afterwards, Seraph is killed by Sabretooth, presumably under the orders of the forces who have been manipulating Logan for years.

Wolverine also sees action in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's, along with good friend Puck. [cite news|publisher=Marvel Comics|title="Wolverine" vol. 2 #35] [cite news|publisher=Marvel Comics|title="The Essential Wolverine Vol. 3" "Weapon X: The Origin of Wolverine"]

Eventually, Logan returns to Canada and again enlists in the Armed Forces, joining the First Canadian Parachute Battalion. [cite news|publisher=Marvel Comics|title="Wolverine" vol. 2 #34] It is with this battalion that Logan first encounters Bloodscream, an immortal being with vampire-like qualities and powers. At some point, Logan is captured and spends time in a German concentration camp.

After WWII, he travels to China, where he meets a Chinese businessman named Chang, an employee of Landau, Luckman, and Lake. In Shanghai, Logan meets Ogun, an immortal Japanese samurai and sorcerer. Impressed by Logan’s skill, Ogun offers to instruct him in the martial arts, and even teaches him Sun Tzu and ideograms. Wolverine soon develops a deep and lasting love for Japan.

After his training with Ogun, Logan travels to the village of Bando Saburo in order to learn how to be a man. There, he meets and falls in love with a local woman named Itsu. They are married and conceive a child together. After an explosion caused by the demon swordsmith Muramasa causes Logan to accidentally stab a villager with his claws, he is banned from the village. Before he leaves, Logan finds Itsu murdered. Unknown to Logan, the mysterious cloaked figure (who later accompanies Sabretooth when he murders Silver Fox) takes the child from Itsu's womb and raises him as the assassin Daken.

Logan gives himself to Muramasa, thinking the villagers are responsible for the murder of Itsu. Muramasa vows to build a sword capable of killing even Logan himself. Logan is later rescued by the Winter Soldier, the man who murders Itsu and the baby, and taken to Madripoor.

Soon after Logan begins working for the American CIA. He is instrumental in the creation of the unbalanced super-soldier, Nuke. On one occasion, Wolverine teams up with Ben Grimm (during pre-Thing years) to participate in a Cold War era government mission. He is then recruited by Team X, a Black Ops section of the CIA.

Team X

Despite his many unusual feats of resilience and regeneration, Logan remains unaware of his mutant nature while with Team X. During this time, he is given false memory implants in order to better control him. His overseers create the Shiva Scenario, an armada of armored robots whose only directive is to terminate Team X agents if they go rogue. Other members of Team X include Sabretooth, Silver Fox, John Wraith, Maverick and Mastodon. Mystique, under the name of Leni Zauber, also assists Team X on occasion. Due to having his memories tampered with, Wolverine doesn't recall his memories of Sabretooth, Silver Fox, or many of the events that have shaped his life.

On one of Team X's final missions, Logan and Sabretooth are ordered to assassinate the Soviet super-agent Epsilon Red. The mission is called off but Sabretooth murders Epsilon Red's wife for enjoyment. In Logan's final mission with Team X, he is dispatched to East Germany with Sabretooth, Maverick, and John Wraith to sabotage a Soviet super-soldier program in Berlin, steal an item called the carbonadium synthesizer and extract a double agent named Janice. Team X fights another super-agent, Omega Red. Sabretooth murders Janice after realizing that Logan has recovered his emotions and conscience, reminding Logan that whenever he strays from the narrow path his unseen masters have laid out for him, innocents, most often the women he loves, inevitably die. ["X-Men" Vol. 2 #5-7]

Logan learns that he is a mutant and resigns from Team X. He then joins the Canadian Department of National Defence. On one occasion, Logan works with Richard and Mary Parker, government agents and parents of Peter Parker. Logan also first meets Carol Danvers during this time and works with her on a number of occasions.

Weapon X

In the serialized story "Weapon X", ["Marvel Comics Presents" #72-84, 1991] Barry Windsor-Smith created the backstory for the man who would become Wolverine.

Logan is kidnapped by agents of the Weapon X Program. The man known only as the "Professor," Dr. Abraham Cornelius, and Carol Hines begin to examine Logan. After performing many tests, the Professor learns Logan is a mutant and will thus make the perfect weapon. Logan's bones and claws are bonded with the indestructible metal known as adamantium. This adamantium bonding process was stolen by the Weapon X Program from the Japanese scientist known as Lord Dark Wind.

Logan proves too difficult for the Weapon X Program to control and shortly thereafter, Wolverine escapes the facility with the help of Winter Soldier, killing nearly everyone except for Professor Cornelius, Hines, and Malcolm Colcord.

Driven into a feral-like state by the experiment, Logan wanders the forests of the Canadian Rockies for months. It is during this feral period that he first encounters the Hunter in Darkness.

Department H

Logan is eventually discovered by James and Heather Hudson, who help him recover his humanity. Following his recovery, Logan, this time under the supervision of Department H, once again works for Canadian Intelligence.

Logan becomes Wolverine, one of Canada's first superheroes. In his first mission, he is dispatched to stop the destruction caused by a brawl between the Hulk and the Wendigo. ["Incredible Hulk" #180-181]

Another documented Department H mission is Wolverine's involvement in a hostage situation in Iraq. Iraqi militants and a group of hired mercenaries seized an American embassy in Iraq and took hostages, giving various ransom demands. Because there are Canadian hostages in the embassy, Wolverine is dispatched to handle the situation, along with an American/Canadian Delta Force. The reclaiming of the embassy is successful. However, following the battle, Wolverine finds a Canadian nun dying from a bullet wound she received in the crossfire. She tells him about how the hired American mercenaries had harassed her daily and subjected her to extreme psychological torture. Wolverine promises the nun he would avenge the suffering, and years later he hunts down the mercenaries in North America and kills them. [cite news|publisher=Marvel Comics|title="Wolverine" vol.2 #9]

James Hudson soon creates Alpha Flight and recruits Logan with the intention of making him team leader.

X-Men

Professor X recruits Wolverine to a new team of X-Men. Disillusioned with his Canadian intelligence work and intrigued by Xavier's offer, Logan resigns from Department H. ["Giant-Size X-Men" #1]

Professor X gathers a new team of X-Men to free Cyclops' team from the mutant island known as Krakoa. Logan and the other new X-Men successfully rescue the previous team, marking the beginning of a new period in Logan's life. Logan forms an immediate friendship with Nightcrawler and a strong attraction to Jean Grey, which causes frequent clashes between him and Cyclops.

James Hudson eventually finds Wolverine and tries to force him to return him to Department H, but is defeated quickly. Later, in Japan, Wolverine encounters Lady Mariko Yashida, heir to an extremely powerful Yakuza family in Tokyo. ["Uncanny X-Men vol.1 #118 February, 1979] During an intimate scene in a garden Wolverine begins to tell Mariko his name but is interrupted by Mandroids and Moses Magnum. After the battle and before leaving Japan, he finally tells Mariko his name is "Logan" and presents her with a white chrysanthemum. ["Uncanny X-Men" vol.1 #120 April, 1978] It is the first time he reveals the name he calls himself. As time passes, he falls for Mariko, as Jean Grey is attached.

Vindicator returns as the leader of Canada's first superhero team Alpha Flight. With his new team, he attempts to capture Wolverine. Not long after the X-Men defeat Alpha Flight, Jean Grey, possessed by Phoenix, dies. Cyclops leaves the team in grief, and Storm takes up the mantle of the X-Men's leader. Kitty Pryde joins the team and eventually becomes one of Wolverine's closest friends.

Wolverine, donning his brown and tan outfit for the first time, travels to Canada with Nightcrawler in tow to make peace with Alpha Flight by helping them take down the Wendigo once more. ["Uncanny X-Men" vol.1 #139 November, 1980] During this adventure, Wolverine's teammates finally learn his name.

In his first solo limited series, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Frank Miller, Wolverine seemingly overcomes his feral nature in order to win the love and respect of Mariko Yashida. The two are engaged after Wolverine kills Lord Shingen Harada. ["Wolverine" #1-4] However, the wedding is broken off by Viper and the Silver Samurai, as well as the manipulations of the villain Mastermind. ["Uncanny X-Men" #173]

In another story, Wolverine rescues and takes it upon himself to watch over Amiko Kobayashi (sometimes written Akiko), daughter of a woman killed in the aftermath of a fight between the X-Men and a giant dragon over Tokyo. ["Uncanny X-Men" #181] In subsequent stories Logan continues to visit Amiko, although she is now under the care of his close friend and sometime lover Yukio. ["Uncanny X-Men" vol.1 #186 October, 1984]

Wolverine later travels with Kitty Pryde to Japan to confront his former mentor, Ogun, who was killed years earlier. Ogun possesses Kitty and makes her his assassin, but Logan helps her overcome him and force him from her body. During a savage battle with Ogun, Wolverine realizes that his feral side will always be there and that it is something that he must always fight to keep under control. Afterwards, Logan and Kitty become very close friends, and she becomes like a daughter to him. ["Kitty Pryde and Wolverine" #1-6, November 1984-May 1985]

When Storm's powers are lost and she leaves the X-Men for a time, Wolverine briefly becomes leader of the X-Men. His team consists of Havok, Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot. This team is mainly featured in the crossover events The Fall of the Mutants and Inferno.

After the events of Fall of the Mutants, the X-Men, who sacrifice their lives, are reborn in the Australian Outback. There, runaway mutant Jubilee saves Wolverine's life from an attack by Lady Deathstrike and crucifixion by the Reavers. ["Uncanny X-Men vol.1 #251 May, 1989] She eventually becomes, as Kitty and Amiko did before her, another surrogate daughter. Wolverine also returns to Madripoor during this time and reassumes alias 'Patch.'

Apocalypse tricks Wolverine into journeying to the Savage Land. While there, Wolverine sleeps with the female chieftain, Gahck, of an indigenous tribe. He discovers an insane robot duplicate of Apocalypse, which he destroys, putting an end to Apocalypse's experiments on the tribe. He unknowingly sires a son with Gahck, whom she names "Erista." ["Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure"]

Wolverine later renews his feud with Cable, but then assists Cable and the New Mutants against Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Front. ["New Mutants" #93-94] Wolverine's filial relationship with Sabretooth is revealed to have been a memory implant, and he then returns to his original costume. ["Wolverine" #50]

Return to Weapon X

After the X-Men return to America, Wolverine returns to the Weapon X base in Canada. There, he learns many of his memories are implants and his personality becomes much darker. He also fights the robot Shiva for the first time. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #50 1992]

Wolverine travels back to Japan and reunites with Mariko, though she refuses to rekindle their love until her clan ceases all illegal activities. However, she is soon poisoned by a "Yakuza" assassin working for Matsu'o Tsurayaba, who bears a grudge against Wolverine. Mariko asks Wolverine to end her life quickly, and he reluctantly complies. This changes Wolverine's character significantly, making him even more disciplined and emotionally distant. Wolverine vows to Matsu'o that on each anniversary of Mariko's death he will visit him and slice off a body part until there is nothing of him left. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #60 1992]

Shortly after Mariko's death, Wolverine is shocked to learn that Silver Fox is still alive. The two former lovers rejoin their former Team X teammates Sabretooth, Maverick, John Wraith, and Mastodon, with Jubilee and Caroline Hines of the Weapon X Program in tow, in hunting down Aldo Ferro a.k.a "Psi-Borg," a powerful psychic who brainwashed many of them for Weapon X. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #64 December, 1992] Ferro kills Hines and then forces Sabretooth to kill Silver Fox before dying himself.

Wolverine suffers a mental breakdown after the deaths of Mariko and Silver Fox. Thinking he is on a prior Team X mission to assassinate someone named "Terry Adams", Wolverine breaks into a Russian space program facility and encounters Epsilon Red, a genetically-engineered cosmonaut with powerful psychic abilities. Red, the "Terry Adams" Wolverine is after, breaks down many of the mental blocks in Wolverine's mind in return for help escaping the facility. With this greater knowledge of which memories are true and which are false, Wolverine is finally able to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #68 1993]

Bone claws

This happiness is short-lived, for at the end of the "Fatal Attractions" crossover, the adamantium is ripped from Wolverine's skeleton by Magneto. ["X-Men" (2nd series) #25 October, 1993] This act injures Wolverine so severely his mutant healing factor burns itself out in order to keep him alive. In fact, most of Wolverine's other natural abilities including his heightened senses, strength, stamina, agility, and reflexes are weakened as well.

Unwilling to accept his severely weakened state, Wolverine begins training in the Danger Room. In a fit of rage and frustration, his claws, now bone, extrude. Furthermore, each time he extrudes them, they pierce the skin of his hands and cause severe tissue damage and blood loss. Feeling useless, Logan embarks on a series of solo adventures, leaving a note with Jubilee to explain his views on the matter. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #75 November, 1993]

During these adventures, he encounters some past enemies, such as the adamantium-skinned Cyber, the Reaver Cylla, and the vampiric Bloodscream. Cyber ends up being the first to break Wolverine's newly discovered bone claws. While traveling alone, Wolverine stops for a training session with Generation X and encounters his Weapon X ally Maverick and his X-Men teammate Gambit in Madripoor, before learning Sabretooth is staying at Xavier's. Wolverine returns and defeats Sabretooth in battle while the X-Men are away. The battle ends with Wolverine puncturing Sabretooth's brain, temporarily altering Sabretooth's vicious personality until the injury is fully healed. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #90]

Later, tests and studies jointly conducted by Professor Charles Xavier, Beast, and Heather Hudson show the mutation endowing Wolverine with his powers is an ongoing process. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #91-100] Unlike most mutants, he continues to mutate slowly over the course of his life. As a result, Wolverine's powers, particularly his heightened senses and accelerated healing, slowly increase. However, after Wolverine's skeleton was bonded with adamantium by the Weapon X Program, this mutation was completely halted. The studies also reveal, aside from suppressing his ongoing mutation, the presence of adamantium also slowed his mutant healing factor. The adamantium laced to his skeleton is treated as a foreign substance by his healing factor, which constantly devotes a great deal of effort attempting to remove the metal, ["Wolverine: Inner Fury"] causing him to heal slower from other injuries. After Magneto ripped the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton, and his body completely healed from the injuries, the mutation resumed, at a greatly accelerated rate. The studies show accelerated mutation has increased his powers beyond any other point in his life. It is also revealed during this time that Wolverine's mutation process will eventually cause him to degenerate physically into a more primitive, bestial state.

Some time later, the villain known as Genesis, who is the son of Wolverine's ally Cable, kidnaps Wolverine and attempts to re-bond adamantium to his skeleton in an attempt to transform Wolverine into a Horseman of Apocalypse. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #100] The attempt is unsuccessful, and the process pushes Wolverine so far to the edge that he becomes purely feral. Enraged, Wolverine stalks the Dark Riders in their headquarters and eventually kills them all before fleeing. With the help of Elektra and Stick, he is able to regain his humanity and reverse the bulk of his feral regression, though his increased powers remain. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #101-110]

Death: Horseman of Apocalypse

Wolverine lives without adamantium for some time before being kidnapped by the villain Apocalypse. Apocalypse sets up a contest between Wolverine and an adamantium-bonded Sabretooth to determine who would become the new leader of his Four Horsemen. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #145]

Although he knows winning means being brainwashed and turned against his friends, Wolverine supposes that Sabretooth would enjoy being set loose as a killing machine, while he himself might be able to fight it. Emerging victorious he is made the Horseman Death, and Apocalypse strips the adamantium from Sabretooth and bonds it to Wolverine's skeleton once more.

While Wolverine serves Apocalypse as the Horseman Death, a Skrull impostor takes his place on the X-Men. The real Wolverine later kills the Skrull impostor. ["Astonishing X-Men" vol.2 #3] Wolverine eventually overcomes Apocalypse's conditioning with the help of Jubilee. ["Wolverine" vol. 1 #147]

Weapon Plus

Some time later, Wolverine is captured by the Weapon X program, restarted under the leadership of Director Malcolm Colcord, a soldier Wolverine disfigured when he escaped from the original Weapon X facility. It is revealed that the mental implants installed by the original program are still functional, as Colcord uses them to force Wolverine into tracking down and eliminating former members of the program. Wolverine's mental implants are finally destroyed when he assassinates the previous director.issue

Soon after, it is revealed that the "X" in "Weapon X" was a Roman numeral, making Wolverine "Weapon Ten" in a sequence of living super-weapons that began with Captain America and Isaiah Bradley. The Weapon X program that experimented on Wolverine spun out of a larger "Weapon Plus" program, leading Wolverine to join Cyclops and the mysterious Fantomex, himself Weapon XIII, on a mission to bring down Weapon Plus and discover Wolverine's true identity. During the assault on Weapon Plus, Wolverine kills Weapon XV, also known as Ultimaton. ["New X-Men" vol.1 #142-145]

Wolverine then gains access to the Weapon X files that describe his genesis, though this happens largely off-panel and it is not clear to the reader precisely what he learns. What is known is that he was intended to be a living Sentinel and that, to test the extent of his brainwashing, he was forced to exterminate the populace of a small Midwestern town called Roanoke. Wolverine becomes depressed and angry after learning he was created to hunt and exterminate his own people, though Jean Grey is able to convince him that no matter what his makers intended for him, he is still a good man. ["New X-Men" vol.1 #148] Shortly thereafter Jean Grey is killed and Wolverine, in a feral rage, slices off the head of her killer, "Magneto". ["New X-Men" vol.1 #150]

Enemy of the State/New Avengers

Wolverine is brainwashed into becoming an agent of an alliance between HYDRA and the Hand. While under their control, he kills Northstar. He is eventually rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D. and he uses their resources to exact his revenge. Soon after, Wolverine is recruited by the New Avengers, because he is willing to "cross the lines they refuse to cross;" [New Avengers #6] after the events of "Avengers Disassembled," Iron Man recognizes the need to have someone who is prepared to kill on the team should something like what happened to the Scarlet Witch occur again. He serves alongside such notable Marvel heroes as Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Luke Cage.

Post House of M

At the end of "House of M", Wolverine's memories are completely restored. This causes a panic for some of the major powers and governments across the Marvel Universe because of their involvement in Wolverine's past. The United States and Canada purge all records of Wolverine's involvement in anticipation of his revenge.

Their fears are proved correct. Wanting to find others' knowledge of a mysterious weapon called the "Muramasa Blade", Wolverine confronts the Silver Samurai, who tells him that he did not escape the Weapon X program alone. Bucky, Captain America's World War II partner, now known as the Winter Soldier, helped him break out. Wolverine travels to Serbia to confront Bucky, who reveals that he murdered Logan's previously unrevealed Japanese pregnant wife, Itsu.

Wolverine then reflects on his life with Itsu. After completing his training with Ogun, Wolverine was sent to a village where another master, Bando Saburo, taught warriors how to regain their humanity. There, Wolverine met Itsu. They soon married and conceived a child. Saburo's village was surrounded by mountains belonging to the demon swordsmith Muramasa. After Bucky murdered Itsu, Wolverine, believing it was the people of the village who killed her, allied with Muramasa, who made the Muramasa Blade, the only weapon capable of killing Wolverine. After remembering this, Wolverine returns to Muramasa's mountains and reclaims the Muramasa Blade in order to exact vengeance on those who have been manipulating him throughout nearly his entire life. ["Wolverine: Origins"]

As Wolverine searches for those responsible for all the horrors in his past, Nuke is dispatched to stop him. Wolverine, remembering his role in Nuke's creation, feels responsible for taking him down. In the jungles of South Vietnam, they battle. Captain America joins the fray, as do Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Hellion of the X-Men. Emma Frost tells Wolverine that earlier she had a vision of Daken, Wolverine's previously unrevealed son. Wolverine reasons that Daken is now under the control of the same men who once controlled him. Wolverine gives Cyclops the Muramasa Blade and tells him to kill him with it should he ever come under the control of another again. Wolverine then sets out on an adventure to rescue his son.

However, before Wolverine can begin searching for Daken, Nitro murders over 600 Stamford, Connecticut residents, setting off the superhuman Civil War. Wolverine embarks on a mission to bring Nitro to justice, coming up against Namor and a group of his double agents.

Post-Civil War

After the events of Civil War, Wolverine remains a member of the New Avengers, now underground after the surrender of Captain America and provided with secure accommodations by Doctor Strange. Their objectives are twofold; to save people "the way [they] want to," and to investigate the reason why the world has been turned upside-down recently. After rescuing Echo from Elektra and the Hand, the team discovers that Elektra had been replaced with a Skrull some indeterminate time ago. Wolverine is the first to suspect his teammates in the New Avengers are secretly Skrulls. [ [http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/796/796467p1.html Interview: Marvel's Massive Avengers Conspiracy] ] Doctor Strange later casts a spell revealing that no one on the team is a Skrull. ["New Avengers" #34]

Between missions with the X-Men and the New Avengers, Wolverine searches for his son Daken. He battles Omega Red for possession of the carbonadium synthesizer, reasoning that since carbonadium disables his mutant healing factor, it will enable him to defeat Daken should he ever need to. He first encounters Daken in Berlin where they fight each other, as well as Wolverine's old foe Cyber. Daken manages to escape, though he is punished by his masters for going after his father without their permission. Wolverine then contacts Bucky and gives him three carbonadium bullets for future use.

Wolverine takes a brief respite from his mission and visits the Captain America memorial where he reflects on his history with the famed super-soldier.

Meanwhile, Wolverine is frequently haunted by dreams of two battling feral armies that he refers to as the Lupines. Wolverine returns to the X-Mansion and immediately renews his rivalry with Sabretooth, which leads to a number of one-on-one confrontations between them. Upon arriving in Wakanda, Wolverine and Sabretooth encounter Storm and her new husband, the Black Panther. While being held captive, Sabretooth is questioned by Wolverine about a being called Romulus, who is a prominent figure in Wolverine's dreams. However, he fearfully refuses to answer any questions regarding him. The Black Panther later reveals a possible connection between Wolverine's dreams and a graveyard filled with the skeletons of humanoid beings with fangs and claws. The Black Panther theorizes that some mutants that have various animal-like powers and physical features evolved from canine ancestry rather than apes.

Soon afterward they are joined by Wolfsbane, Feral, Thornn, and Sasquatch at the request of the Black Panther and make their way to the original Weapon X compound in hopes of uncovering some answers. While separated from the group, Sasquatch is attacked and severely injured by Wild Child. Wild Child provides hints to Wolverine that Romulus has always been watching him and that he is responsible for a noticeable upgrade in Wild Child's mutant powers. Sabretooth escapes and, before Wolverine is able to track him down, viciously attacks and kills Feral.

Wolverine journeys back to the X-Mansion and asks Cyclops to give him the Muramasa Blade, meaning to put an end to the threat Sabretooth represents, once and for all. Cyclops reluctantly gives Wolverine the sword (on the urging of Emma Frost) and he sets off to track Sabretooth down. Wolverine finds Sabretooth at the cabin that he and Silver Fox once shared, which is the place where Wolverine considers his rivalry with Sabretooth began. Wolverine then kills Sabretooth using the Muramasa Blade.

Wolverine's next adventure finds him battling a new terrorist organization known as Scimitar. After raiding one of their safehouses, he uncovers a plot to kill Tony Stark and races to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters aboard the Blackbird. Upon arrival, he soon discovers the entire facility is disguised via an image inducer and is actually another Scimitar base. He is attacked by an unknown assailant wearing an adamantium laced uniform. After killing Amir, Logan's latest romantic interest, the assailant shoves an explosive device down Wolverine's throat and detonates it. Wolverine's body is found later by S.H.I.E.L.D agents, with Tony Stark present. Stark notes that Wolverine's body is fully healed, but he is brain dead and his consciousness didn't regenerate along with his body, as it normally does.

Doctor Strange removes Wolverine's body from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and discovers that Wolverine's soul is trapped in Purgatory. While in Purgatory, Wolverine battles Lazaer, the swordsman he first encountered during World War I. The name, Lazaer, is revealed to be an anagram for Azrael, the Angel of Death. While Wolverine's body always fully heals from his injuries, the return of his consciousness to his body depends upon the outcome of these battles with Lazaer. After losing another loved one, Wolverine's will to survive fades. Azrael is able to defeat him and Wolverine's soul is sent onto some semblance of the afterlife. ["Wolverine" vol.3 #58 (Oct. 2007)] With Dr. Strange's help, Wolverine discovers the reason why his will to survive has faded: when he was killed and resurrected by the Hand and HYDRA, something within him was changed. Ever since, he has slowly been losing his will to live. After making this discovery, Wolverine is returned to life. Alive, he now searches for a woman named Phaedra who was present at his transformation by the Hand and HYDRA. When he finds her, he is shocked to learn that she has been working for a resurrected Shingen Yashida, whom Wolverine killed long ago.

Shingen and Wolverine do battle once again in the presence of Phaedra, and Wolverine comes out the victor using the same move he used to kill Shingen before. He then converses with Phaedra as to why this woman has it out with him. It is then revealed that Azrael has been working with Phaedra as well, as Wolverine is brought into conflict with both Azrael and Shogun, the man in the adamantium-laced suit that killed Amir. It is then revealed that Phaedra has a little bit of Azrael's power within her, and in the effort of getting it back, Azrael has put himself closer to her. With that, Wolverine offers to kill Phaedra for the restoration of his soul frees Azrael's uneasiness by killing Phaedra. By killing Phaedra, Wolverine accepts that he ends the arrangement with Azrael. As a result, if Wolverine dies again, it's permanent. Azrael also informs him that he can't promise that his healing factor will remain as strong as it has been. Wolverine accepts this and leaves, stating that he has no intention of dying.

Messiah Complex

Wolverine is part of the X-Men team that investigates the detection of a new mutant born in Alaska. Believing that Mr. Sinister and his allies have the child, Wolverine, Storm, Angel, Nightcrawler, and Colossus search for Sinister's base. Wolverine's team confronts Sinister and the Marauders at Sinister's base, where a battle breaks out. During the fight Wolverine confronts Gambit and stabs him through the abdomen. He then questions his former teammate and learns that it is in fact Cable who has the mutant baby. Later in the arc, Cyclops orders Wolverine to assemble the X-Force (a team consisting of Wolverine, X-23, Wolfsbane, Warpath, Hepzibah, and Caliban) to hunt down Cable and retrieve the new mutant baby by any means necessary.

Tracking Cable to Canada, X-Force finds Cable already in battle with the Purifiers, led by Lady Deathstrike. Wolverine leads his X-Force into the battle and leaves his personal history with Deathstrike aside and allows X-23 to battle her so he can capture Cable. As Wolverine, Caliban and Warpath chase after the fleeing Cable, Caliban throws himself before a bullet meant for Warpath. Cable uses the confusion to double-back on the team and steal their Blackbird jet and escape. Wolverine blames himself for Cable escaping. Later on, the X-Force attack the Marauders, however, the X-Men arrive, and in the ensuing battle, Wolverine destroys Predator X by letting him swallow him, and slashing his way out of the Predator's stomach.

Get Mystique

Mystique is the focus of the next Wolverine story arc, appropriately titled "Get Mystique." The story begins with a brief flashback revealing that Logan and Mystique first met in Mexico in 1921. Back in the present day, Wolverine is in the Middle East tracking Mystique, presumably to kill her for betraying the X-Men in Messiah Complex. Mystique evades Logan by blowing up a Mosque in Tehran, then travels over the border to Afghanistan. There she impersonates Wolverine and kills a local village girl, tricking the villagers into going after Wolverine. Mystique does not appear to be suffering from any lasting effects from being touched by Rogue. It is hinted at that Mystique's recent betrayal is not the only reason Logan is out to kill her, as they apparently have a common history of friendship, love, and ultimately, betrayal. After a heated fight Wolverine manages to fatally wound Mystique, but he chooses to deny her the mercy blow. Instead, he drops a gun and leaves in the sunset, leaving Mystique to scream and curse behind him.

Secret Invasion

Wolverine was with the New Avengers when they went to the Savage Land to investigate a downed Skrull ship. When the ship is opened by Luke Cage, out comes superheroes in their 70's looks that claimed they had made it back to Earth. One of them was Wolverine who asks both the Mighty Avengers and New Avengers who they are. After an ensuing fight, the Wolverine from the ship disappears into the jungle. The New Avengers Wolverine later caught up with Iron Man and Black Widow and is shot. But he survives with hints that he is not a Skrull.

Wolverine: Origins

"Wolverine: Origins" is a second ongoing series, starring Wolverine in his quest as a result of the "Origins & Endings" storyline. At the beginning of the series, he encounters a Shiva robot while trying to extract information from a government foe. After defeating the robot with the Muramasa Blade, those in the government hiding from Logan send Frank Simpson a.k.a. Nuke against him. It is revealed through flashbacks that Wolverine takes Nuke from his family as a child, during the Vietnam War, and is responsible for implanting a trigger word into Nuke that causes him to massacre a Vietnamese village. All this is apparently part of an attempt to recreate Wolverine, already a living weapon prior to Weapon X. Exactly who is controlling Wolverine at this point remains unclear at this time.

After defeating Nuke in South Vietnam, he then fights Captain America who has been sent to stop Wolverine's path of vengeance once and for all. Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Hellion of the X-Men enter the fray and stop Wolverine (driven berserk by a slash from the Muramasa Blade Captain America managed to take from him) from killing the famous hero.

Emma calms the combatants telepathically and reveals to Wolverine his son is still alive and that the boy's name is Daken. Emma also warns Wolverine his boy doesn't seem to have any thoughts of his own, similar to how Wolverine has been controlled so many times before. Wolverine remembers when Sabretooth killed Silver Fox all those years ago, and how her murder was arranged by those who want to bring out the beast in him and turn him to their side. He assumes something similar has been done to his son by his enemies in order to gain control over him.

Emma advises Wolverine to end his mission of revenge as he has a son to rescue. He entrusts Cyclops with the Muramasa Blade, explaining that the captors of his son will most likely brainwash him if they are able to capture him. Wolverine makes Cyclops promise to use the sword to kill him if that time ever comes. Emma informs Wolverine that, above all else, his son hates him. Wolverine tells her that he hates himself, as well, for all the terrible things he's done under his enemies' control.

Wolverine remembers carbonadium weakened his mutant healing factor and thinking it may provide him with a way to take down his son without killing him, he travels back to America to find Maverick. Maverick was part of Team X during Wolverine's first encounter with the carbonadium synthesizer and the villainous Omega Red. He had also been entrusted with it by Wolverine a few years back. Wolverine tracks Maverick to a building in New York City where mutants, powered and depowered alike, are taking refuge and is surprised to see Jubilee there. Their reunion is shortlived, however, as Omega Red mysteriously bursts into the building, nearly killing Jubilee and demanding Maverick tell him where the carbonadium synthesizer is. Wolverine and Omega Red fight while Maverick and Jubilee evacuate the depowered mutants. Wolverine remembers his first encounter with carbonadium, when his handlers in Team X tested it on him before they rewrote his memories like they did after every one of his missions. As they were taking him to the device that would brainwash him, he fought back, killing one of the scientists with a blow to the throat. He threatened the other scientist, popping his (bone) claws accidentally. Seeing his claws made him remember everything that Team X had taken from him. He asked the scientist who gave the orders and he said he didn't know. Wolverine, smelling that he was not lying, ordered him to tell him what he did know. The scientist is contacted via telephone every time Wolverine needs to be mindwiped. When he completes his task, he tells Wolverine that he barely made it out alive of whatever mission he was on and then gives him a dossier detailing his next mission. Wolverine asks for the dossier he would normally be given. He tells the scientist to tell whoever was in charge that the brainwashing was successful and then leaves, intending to participate in this mission. The mission is in Berlin, where he first encountered Omega Red.

In the present, Wolverine is overpowered by Omega Red. Red tackles him through a wall where they land on the rooftop of an adjacent building. Wolverine is briefly knocked unconscious, while Omega Red makes his way back to the building where Maverick last was. Wolverine, hearing Jubilee scream for him, rushes back into the building. He finds a wounded Maverick who tells him that Omega Red has Jubilee and that he told the villain to whom he gave the carbonadium synthesizer.

With Dum Dum Dugan and S.H.I.E.L.D. hot on his trail, Wolverine travels to Berlin where he reminisces about his Team X mission there. He had undertaken the mission (to steal the carbonadium synthesizer from a German laboratory), pretending he was still under the control of his handlers, to see if he could get any answers as to who was directing him. Remembering his past with Sabretooth, he intended to use the carbonadium synthesizer on his old adversary since it shorted out mutant healing factors. Before he could do so, Omega Red attacked. As Team X fled with a defecting German scientist, Sabretooth realized Wolverine had regained control and executed the scientist. The scientist was a woman, and Sabretooth was advised to kill any available female targets when Wolverine broke free of his masters' control, since it showed him that whenever he wasn't kept on a tight leash, "pretty things die."

In the present, Wolverine meets up with the Black Widow. The details as to how Wolverine first became involved with the Widow and her father are revealed, as are the details of his first mission as a covert operative in a number of flashbacks. During a brief skirmish with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Jubilee is severely injured. Wolverine surrenders to the agents after they promise to save Jubilee's life. After being taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base and placed into restraints, Wolverine's son, disguised as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, enters the room where Wolverine is being held, after using his bone claws to wound Dum Dum Dugan (despite the apparent seriousness of the injury, Joe Queseda recently confirmed Dugan was not killed [ [http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/NewJoeFridays_38.html NEWSARAMA.COM: NEW JOE FRIDAYS - WEEK 38, A WEEKLY Q&A WITH JOE QUESADA ] ] ). A tear rolls down Wolverine's cheek as, he notes to himself, just how much his son seems like him. Wolverine's son announces his disgust at how "weak" Wolverine is and uses his claws to slash him across the stomach, before leaving him to bleed on the floor. ["Wolverine Origins" #10] Wolverine quickly heals from the injuries, however, and escapes from the facility. ["Wolverine Origins" #11]

He later finds his son, but he is soon confronted by his old foe, a reborn Cyber. Cyber fights Daken, and is about to defeat him, until Wolverine grabs Cyber from behind, letting Daken escape. An enraged Cyber attacks Wolverine, but has a heart attack in the middle of the fight. However, Cyber came for his son and Wolverine later learns that Cyber trained his son in the field of combat. Wolverine gets this information in exchange for saving Cyber's life.

After confronting Cyber, Wolverine decides to take a moment of rest and heads to the Captain America museum, where he reflects on his first meeting with the former hero during the events of World War II.

Deadpool is hired by an unknown party to kill Wolverine. After fighting throughout San Francisco, Deadpool eventually captures Wolverine. With Wolverine tied up and suspended over a pool of water, Deadpool prepares to drop him into the pool, intending to drown him. However, Daken soon arrives and slices off Deadpool's hand before pulling the lever that drops Wolverine into the pool. Daken and Deadpool battle until Wolverine recovers. The Winter Soldier shoots Daken in the head with a carbonadium bullet, incapacitating him. Wolverine explains he hired Deadpool and called on a favor from the Winter Soldier to knock out Daken and get him some help.

References