Wolverine has grown a lot as a hero over the years, but the animal is always there. Logan has always been a more vicious fighter than those around him, something that not only comes from his mutation but also his past. The ol’Canucklehead has been a soldier for much of his long life, and has done a lot of things he isn’t proud of. Today, he’s one of the best heroes around, someone who will sacrifice everything to help the innocent. However, that’s not always the person he’s been on Earth-616 and beyond. There have been times when he used his powers for evil, and it was just as terrifying at times as you can imagine.
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Wolverine has been on the straight and narrow for a long time, but he lives in a world of mind control and doppelgangers and body switchers and everything else you can think of. There have been times when even his vaunted control slipped, and he used his powers for evil. Wolverine went to the dark side these seven times, showing just how dangerous he could be on the wrong side.
7) Beast’s Assassin
Wolverine has long been one of the deadliest members of X-Force, and that was used against him in the Krakoa Era. Logan was the field leader for the team while Beast was running it, and McCoy had his own plans for his old friend. He paid to have Wolverine killed at Legacy House, a supervillain auction house, and then had him resurrected as a beastly assassin. He was basically a trained attack dog; Hank sent him out and he killed. Beast was targeting US military brass with these attacks, and Logan was caught on camera – he was smart enough to follow orders, but not smart enough to sneak in. He was imprisoned in the Pit for his actions, and when he came out, he wasn’t happy at all.
6) The Horseman of Death
Once, the X-Men got thrown back in time to the destruction of the Skrull homeworld by Galactus. They were put into stasis to wake up in the present, but Wolverine was removed and replaced with a Skrull before the team woke up. He was taken to Apocalypse, who was working with the Skrulls, and was forced to fight Sabretooth for the right to become one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. Logan won and was given back his adamantium skeleton, becoming Death. He was sent after a group of mutants and fought the X-Men, killing the Skrull version of himself. He also battled the Hulk and the X-Men, before Archangel helped him break the programming.
5) Sins of Sinister Wolverine
“Sins of Sinister” kind of gets overshadowed in X-Men lore. The end of the Krakoa Era drained all of the oxygen out of the room, and a lot of people forgot about this story while complaining about “Fall of X”. Mister Sinister had suborned the Krakoan resurrection process and made everyone like him. Wolverine was one of the first activated and he became one of the X-Men’s main hatchet men. First, he killed Doug Ramsey before he could warn the world, and then battled against the Avengers and other heroes of the Earth during the X-Men’s conquest. At some point, he was killed and not resurrected, with his daughter used in mutant chimeras, but not him.
4) Wolverine, Lord of Vampires
Wolverine’s relationship with vampires has always been pretty interesting. Sometimes, he’s immune to their bite, sometimes he’s not, sometimes his healing factor allows them to walk the sun, sometime it doesn’t. It’s crazy. Back in the day, we got two separate What If… issues about what would have happened if he became Lord of Vampires during one of the X-Men’s fights with Dracula (everyone fought Dracula in the late ’70s to mid ’80s). Logan created his own brood of vampires and attacked New York City. He was as dangerous as you can imagine, killing numerous heroes with his vampiric abilities.
3) Team X
Wolverine was a spy in the Cold War, working alongside Maverick and Sabretooth as Team X. They went on various missions behind the Iron Curtain, in Asia, and South America, battling against the various communist governments of the world. They would often be given orders to element entire villages, which Logan always carried out. He even turned a blind eye to Sabretooth when he went too far in their attacks as well. His spy years were some of his most grey, with him doing the dirty work of the Cold War.
2) “Enemy of the State”
“Enemy of the State” is one of Wolverine’s most accessible stories, and it answered the question of what would happen if the ol’Canucklehead wasn’t so nice. He was lured to Japan and killed by the Gorgon, a leader of the Hand. They resurrected him as one of their assassins, and sent him on missions against Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, SHIELD, Daredevil, and the X-Men. He was able to mostly keep himself under control, but did end up killing Northstar. He eventually broke his programming and took his revenge.
1) Age of Apocalypse Weapon X
“Age of Apocalypse” is a legendary story and Weapon X was one of its best parts. It introduced readers to the Logan of this universe. He left the X-Men to save Jean Grey, the two working together until she left him when she learned the truth about their missions, helped bring about the nuclear assault on Apocalypse, and would go into hiding. Eventually, he rejoined the X-Men, reuniting with Jean after her supposed death. The two of them fought for their world, but Logan found the Death Seed and decided to take its power, in order to save his world. He became the new Apocalypse, leading a war against his former allies that would end with his death.
Which is your favorite evil Wolverine? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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