Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, but it’s hard to tack down exactly what that is. He’s one of the best fighters in Marvel history, is amazing in team books, gets to star in numerous solo ongoings and miniseries, and has teamed up with basically everyone. He’s had quite an interesting existence and has become one of the most popular superheroes of all time. The character has been resonating with fans for 50 years, and has been a part of some of the most important events in comics. He’s starred in movies, video games, and animated series, and is an icon for multiple generations.
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Wolverine has starred in amazing stories, and those stories have made him into who he is today. He’s passed many milestones over the decades, with some of them being more important than others. These Wolverine milestones are the biggest in the hero’s history and made the character into who he is today.
10) Death of Wolverine
Death of Wolverine, by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven, isn’t an amazing story, but it’s still extremely important to the character’s history. Wolverine had lost his healing factor in Wolverine (Vol. 5), with the next two years of stories leading inexorably to his death. Death of Wolverine was a travelogue through the character’s history, ending with him sacrificing his life to save people who were taken by Weapon X’s Doctor Cornelius. This led to Laura Kinney becoming Wolverine (a mantle she still holds along with her father) and brought Old Man Logan to Earth-616, kicking off five years of a Logan-less Marvel Universe.
9) Origin
Joe Quesada became Marvel’s editor in chief in 2000, and he wanted to bring the publisher back to prominence. One of the most important things he did came in 2001, when the House of Ideas finally gave readers the truth about Logan’s past in Origin, by Paul Jenkins and Andy Kubert. It told the story of James Howlett, a sickly Canadian son of privilege, and Rose, his nursemaid. The book shows us the day his powers manifested and established that tragedy has always been a huge part of his life. It was a huge moment for fans of the character and is one of the defining comics in the early ’00s.
8) X-Men: Schism
X-Men: Schism, by Jason Aaron, Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Acuna, Alan Davis, and Adam Kubert, changed the perception of Wolverine in the years to come. The story saw Cyclops and the ol’ Canucklehead come to blows, breaking the X-Men in half. Half the team followed Logan back to Westchester, where he would open his own mutant school and become the leader of his own team of X-Men. While it wasn’t the first time that the hero led a team, it was his highest profile leadership berth, and showed how much Wolverine had grown over the years.
7) Joining the Avengers
Once upon a time, in Captain America Annual #10, Cap told Wolverine that he would never let the mutant join the Avengers. However, there’s no such thing as never in superhero comics. New Avengers brought together a new team of Avengers, and one of the most important additions to the group was Wolverine. As one of the most popular characters in comics, he deserved a shot with the team and it honestly turned out better than most people expected. Wolverine proved to be an amazing Avenger, and it helped make him an even more important hero in the Marvel Universe.
6) Bone Claws
The ’90s were a great decade for Wolverine. There were numerous reveals about the character in those ten years and one of them changed the character forever. Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75, by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert, took place in the aftermath of him losing his adamantium, and revealed that his claws were actually made of bone that the adamantium was bonded to. This made sure that Wolverine still had his main weapons after losing his metal skeleton and played a major role in the way the character rebuilt himself after his greatest defeat. It was a game-changing moment for Logan.
5) First Fight with Sabretooth
Wolverine has survived some brutal battles, and the best of them are his tussles with Sabretooth. The two are perfect enemies and have become linked in the minds of fans. All of this stems from their first battle in Uncanny X-Men #212-213. This fight took place during “Mutant Massacre”, with the two of them battling with the fate of Psylocke at stake. This fight is one of the most important between the two of them, as it set the tone for what every battle they’ve had since and started a rivalry that has more than paid off over the years.
4) Losing His Adamantium
X-Men (Vol. 2) #25 saw Wolverine take his greatest loss. “Fatal Attractions” saw the X-Men battle against Magneto, with Logan almost killing the mutant master of magnetism. However, he took a second to sass Mags and the villain tore the adamantium from his skeleton. This happened in 1993, the second year of the X-Men’s dominance of the ’90s, and changed the character and his story until the end of 1999. Wolverine’s bone claws years get some flack from readers, but it was one of the most inventive eras in the character’s history.
3) Joining the X-Men
Wolverine has become a solo superstar, but the only reason he got to that level is because of his time on the X-Men. Wolverine first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #181, where he was a third wheel in a battle between Hulk and Wendigo. It wasn’t exactly an auspicious beginning, but it would lead to him joining the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1, which was written by Wolverine co-creator Len Wein. He quickly became the breakout star of the team, and has since grown into one of the most popular superheroes ever.
2) Team X
The existence of Team X wasn’t shown until X-Men (Vol. 2) #6. Readers had always known that Wolverine had been a secret agent of some type, but this story would reveal some of the particulars of this time. Logan was put on a team with Sabretooth and Maverick, working together against the Soviets and their allies. We’ve seen Team X several times over the years, and saw how the team developed the relationship between Logan, Sabretooth, and Maverick. Strangely enough, Marvel has rarely set any full stories during this period, usually showing moments from it in flashbacks. It’s a time that is ripe with potential, and it helped mold Wolverine into the character he’s become.
1) “Weapon X”
Wolverine was the perfect man of mystery over the first 17 years of his existence. We got glimpses of what had gone on before he joined the X-Men, but we knew very little about his past. All of that would change with writer/artist Barry Windsor-Smith’s “Weapon X”. This tale told the story of Logan’s time at Weapon X, while the scientists experimented on him and put the adamantium on his skeleton. This story is basically a monster horror story, except everyone in the story is a monster, from the scientists to Logan himself. It answered so many questions for fans and has gone down as one of the greatest origin stories of all time.
What’s your favorite Wolverine milestone? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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