Comics

7 Deadliest Versions of Wolverine, Ranked

Wolverine is the best he is at what he does, and what he does is rip people to shreds with his unbreakable claws. His mutation granted him savage instincts like those of the most brutal animal, which his namesake more than represents. Combine those natural killer instincts with years of mental conditioning, centuries of trauma, a skeleton coated with adamantium, and a healing factor thatโ€™s downright unfair, and you have one of the deadliest people in the entire world. Of course, as great as taking names as the regular Wolverine is, that doesnโ€™t mean thereโ€™s not still room for improvement.

Videos by ComicBook.com

Logan is the best he is at what he does, but that doesnโ€™t mean that heโ€™s the most murderous version of himself. In fact, the 616 Wolverine is far and away one of the most heroic of the bunch. It begs the question, then, which Wolverin is truly the best there is at what they do? Today, weโ€™ll be answering that question by looking at seven of the deadliest Wolverines throughout the multiverse. This isnโ€™t necessarily about raw power, either, but ferociousness and the ability to take lives and keep on trucking. With all that said, letโ€™s dive right into it.

7) Ultimate Wolverine

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

In the new Ultimate Universe, the Weapons X program was stopped by the Maker, only for a new version to be implemented under the Rasputinsโ€™ rule. Wolverine was mindwiped and brainwashed by an enslaved Jean Grey to become the Winter Soldier. He was an emotionless and cold-blooded monster, killing without hesitation or delay. While this Wolverine was at his deadliest under their control, it necessitated burying his fury, which is where his insane ferocity comes from. This Wolverine is a true assassin and left a trail of bodies in his wake, but lacks as much of the berserker rage that the others wield even more liberally.

6) Weapon X

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

The mainline Wolverineโ€™s transformation into the hero we know today started in the Weapon X program. Loganโ€™s humanity was stripped away through mind-altering drugs and torture. He was transformed into a mindless assassin with all the instincts of an animal. Wolverine had become a monster and was the ultimate assassin that the greater Weapons Plus organization had been trying to perfect. He was so deadly that, even years later, people are constantly trying to either recapture him or recreate the experiment with another mutant. He was the ultimate killing machine, and slaughtered every person in the building the second he got the chance. Heโ€™s the wildest Wolverine around, easily.

5) Hydra Wolverine

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Earth-1720 is home to versions of the worldโ€™s greatest heroes as operatives of HYDRA. In this world, Wolverine is HYDRAโ€™s number one killer and is even the lover of Madame Hydra herself, Sue Storm. This Wolverine isnโ€™t any more powerful than the original, but heโ€™s a completely different kind of monster. It takes a certain kind of ruthlessness to be second in command of an organization like HYRDA, and this Logan thrived in hunting down those he deemed lesser. Where Weapon X was animalistic, this version was a monster by choice and cold, calculating use of his unyielding rage.

4) Brother Xavier

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

In this reality, Wolverineโ€™s life followed the 616 versionโ€™s to the letter, until he was captured and transformed into Apocalypseโ€™s Horseman of War. Wolverineโ€™s strength and rage were raised to unparalleled levels, and eventually, not even Apocalypse could control him. Wolverine slaughtered Apocalypse, then hunted down every villain, big or small, and proceeded to wipe out the heroes when he ran out of bad guys. By the end of his bloody rampage, Wolverine had been nicknamed the Enemy, but one day, he vanished. A government division named the War Watch was trained to destroy him, should he return, with everyone unaware that Wolverine had finally regained his senses and renamed himself Brother Xavier, training a team to kill him if he ever lost control again.

3) Zombie Wolverine

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

If we judged this list by body count alone, then Zombie Wolverine would stand at the top by a very wide margin. All of Earthโ€™s heroes were infected with a zombie virus that awoke an insatiable hunger for living flesh. No one could resist the call to consume anything that moved, and Wolverine sank his teeth into friend, foe, and innocent alike. After eating nearly every person on Earth, the zombified heroes consumed the Silver Surfer and even Galactus. The galactic flesh imbued Wolverine and a few others with a portion of his Power Cosmic, letting him teleport infinite distances and fire powerful energy blasts. Being undead meant he lost his healing factor, but that can easily be overlooked when he helped eat literally every living thing in the universe.

2) Hellverine

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Wolverine is dangerous enough, but he was made infinitely deadlier when the demon Bagra-ghul possessed him, transforming him into the Hellverine. On top of all of Wolverineโ€™s powers and skills, Hellverine possessed abilities like those of a Ghost Rider. Though he lacked a Penance Stare, he could summon and control hellfire and conjure near-unbreakable chains. Of course, this massively buffed his physical stats, but what really makes him extra deadly is that a literal demon was in charge. His sole purpose was to create bloody, abominable monuments to Mephisto with corpses and copious amounts of blood, which he was more than happy to do.

1) Weapon Omega

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

The deadliest Wolverine comes from the Age of Apocalypse timeline, where Wolverine was augmented by Celestial technology and became the heir to Apocalypse. He was just as strong, if not stronger, than the mad mutant who had taken over North America, and redoubled the monsterโ€™s dream. Weapon Omegaโ€™s culling crusade killed billions, with him emotionlessly slaughtering his former allies and friends. He was a mastermind, plotting conquest that would make even the original Apocalypse blush, and nothing and nobody could stand in his way. He was utterly unstoppable and definitely one of the deadliest villains in the Marvel Multiverse.

Which Wolverine do you think is the best he is at what he does? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on theย ComicBook Forums!