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All of Wolverine’s Successors, Ranked

Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, at least if you listen to him tell it. He’s been fighting in some way, shape, or form for over a hundred years, battling the monsters we call men and the demons within himself. Logan has been a little bit of everything over the years, but he’s become most known for his time as a superhero. As Wolverine, he’s created quite a legacy for himself, whether it be on his own, with the X-Men, the Avengers, the New Fantastic Four, X-Force, Weapon X, and basically any other group he’s been a part of. He’s played a huge role in a million different places at a million different times.

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Over the years, he’s moved on from numerous groups for a variety of reasons, including death, and someone has had to step up and replace him. Many different heroes and villains have tried to walk a mile in his shoes, whether it be in the X-Men, X-Force, Weapon X, or any of the other places he’s made himself a legend. These Marvel characters have all succeeded Wolverine at one time or another, trying to be the best there is.

10) Old Man Logan

Old Man LOgan, crossing his hands over his chest with his claws out, with friends and family standing behind him
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

After Wolverine died in 2014’s Death of Wolverine, a massive vacuum was left in the Marvel Universe and the House of Ideas found that just filling it with Laura as Wolverine wasn’t enough. So, after Secret Wars rebooted the multiverse, Old Man Logan came to Earth-616 from the Wasteland. Old Man Logan was a brilliant series, showing this older version of the ol’Canucklehead deal with a past he never got to have. He ended up taking Wolvie’s place on the main X-teams while Laura ran around doing her own thing. Even though he didn’t wear the colors, in a lot of ways he was the main Wolverine from 2016 to 2019.

9) Fantomex

Fantomex in X-Force
Image Courtesy ofย Marvel Comics

Fantomex is something of a distant descendant of Wolverine in a way. Charlie Cluster-7 was created in the World, a laboratory set up by the Weapon Plus program, the same people who ran Weapon X. He’s Weapon XIII and much like Logan before him, was able to escape into the real world and become something of a superhero… after years of being an art thief, using his enhancements and EVA, his bio-UFO, to defeat anything he was up against. He even played the same role in New X-Men as Wolvie did in previous X-Men series, as the mouthy man of mystery who always ended up doing the right thing.

8) Sabretooth

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Wolverine and Sabretooth are arch-enemies but something strange happened to Victor Creed around the time that Wolverine died. He was involved in AXIS; he helped battle Red Onslaught and had his morality inverted along with a group of the worst villains out there. When the other villains were changed back to evil, he stayed good and ended up being inspired by Wolverine’s example. He took Logan’s place in the Uncanny Avengers and even helped Laura, Daken, and Mystique in Wolverines. He ended up joining Magneto’s strike team around the time of the Inhumans conflict before he was reverted to his old evil self, but for a time he did his best to be the new Wolverine.

7) Magik

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Cyclops and Wolverine had their problems, but they eventually forged a great working relationship. Cyclops was in charge, with Wolverine as his trusted lieutenant, the person he could trust to tell him when he bit off more than he could chew. X-Men: Schism broke their relationship for years and someone else slotted into Logan’s old spot with Scott: Magik. Illyana Rasputin has become ‘Clops’s right-hand mutant, doing the dirtiest work with glee. Just like Logan, she loves to fight and she has no problem speaking her mind to Slim. She’s become his new Wolverine and if we’re being honestly, she’s better at it.

6) Psylocke

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Psylocke is an X-Men legend and she has the convoluted backstory to prove it. For this entry, we’re talking about former Psylocke Elizabeth Braddock. Wolverine and Betsy had a long friendship and she ended up joining him in his second X-Force team. She became his second in command and when he left the group after killing his son Daken, she took over as leader of the team. She led them for a while on her own, using what she learned from Logan over the years to become a great leader.

5) Deadpool

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Deadpool has become one of Marvel’s biggest superstars, slotting into Wolverine’s spot as the violent character that everyone loves. However, that’s not the only way that he’s Logan’s successor; Wade Wilson joined the Weapon X program and became Weapon XI, his physical attributes increased and a souped-up version of Wolvie’s healing factor curing his cancer. He worked for them for a while before escaping and becoming a mercenary, and has since done his best to become the kind of person that Wolverine wants to hang out with.

4) Spider-Man

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Spider-Man and Wolverine have become the best of friends, so Logan’s death had a big effect on Peter. At the time, Wolvie was starring in Wolverine and the X-Men and Marvel didn’t just want to get rid of the title. So, they decided to put their other super-popular solo hero in the lead role and created Spider-Man and the X-Men. The book followed the Wall-Crawler and several different students that Logan had worked with at the Jean Grey School on various adventures. Spidey was able to clinch his spot as the third hero to be a member of the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four (along with Wolvie and Storm), doing his best to pay homage to his fallen friend.

3) Storm

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

The X-Men are an amazing team and even among that number Storm is something special. She’s long been one of the greatest mutant heroes ever, and she and Logan have been close for ages. They got together romantically around the time he died and afterwards, Storm took his place as the headmaster of the Jean Grey school, a position she kept until the end of the conflict with the Inhumans. She stepped up and took over the school he founded, helping forge the next generation of mutants.

2) Daken

Hellverine in Marvel Comics
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Daken is Wolverine’s son and the two have had quite a relationship over the years, finally having the kind of relationship they always should have had. They were bitter enemies for a time and during this period, Norman Osborn recruited him to be the Wolverine of the Dark Avengers. This was the first time that he replaced his father, but it wouldn’t be the last. Daken is currently Hellverine, a role his father first played not that long ago. He’s even wearing the Fang costume Logan wore for a short period.

1) Wolverine II

Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Laura Kinney was created to replace her father as an assassin, but she’s become so much more than that. She was able to escape the facility where she was created, becoming the superhero X-23. She eventually ended up with the X-Men and has worked alongside her father numerous times, learning the ropes from the best there is at what they do. After his death, she was able to prove herself worthy of wearing his colors and she became the second Wolverine. Once he returned to life, she went back to being X-23 for a time but eventually, she and him decided to share the name. She’s earned name the mantle her father made famous and he couldn’t be more proud.

Who’s your favorite Wolverine successor? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!