Wolverine: 10 Losses That Cost Logan The Most

Wolverine has become one of Marvel’s most important heroes over the last 51 years. He is one of the first major antiheroes in modern-day comics, a mouthy loner always ready to go to extremes that no one else would. He was the entertaining curmudgeon, but even back in the old days, we knew there was more to him. Over the years, readers have been introduced to the tragedy of Wolverine’s life, learning that his dour, cynical attitude was born from years of suffering. Logan has lost so much over his seemingly endless life, each loss leaving scars on his soul that a healing factor can never erase.

The tragedy of Wolverine is one of the more important parts of who he is. Looking at the many Wolverine comics out there, some losses stand out more than others. These 10 losses cost Wolverine the most and have helped define who he is as a character.

10) Fall of Krakoa

The Krakoa Era was the X-Men’s most inventive era in years. While Krakoa ended very badly for everyone, there was a time when it was the hope of the mutant race: a home, one where they were finally safe. Wolverine was deeply affected by this shift, and even more affected when the era ended.

While he still went out and killed people to protect mutants, Krakoa gave Logan a feeling that he hadn’t had in years; the loss of Krakoa was a huge deal for a man who had never known peace in that way. Wolverine sequestered himself away from his friends in the days after Krakoa, trying to come to terms with the loss of a place that was a beloved home to him.

9) The Death of Rose

Origin told readers the stories of the beginning of Wolverine’s life, back when he was still James Howlett. James had a nursemaid, a red-haired woman named Rose O’Hara, and fell in love with her as a boy. After his mutant powers manifested, he killed his biological father (who had killed the man James thought was his father), an event which caused his mother’s suicide; Rose and James then ran off.

They ended up in a logging camp, and Rose fell in love with someone else. Eventually, James’ brother Dog found them. James and Dog fought, James went into a berserker rage, and stabbed Rose accidentally. Rose’s death caused Wolverine to go completely feral, and he ended up running off into the woods, losing himself to the animal inside. Rose’s death would stay with him even when he didn’t remember it, coloring his life forever (see: Jean Grey).

8) The War With the Red Right Hand

Wolverine has many dangerous enemies, whose attacks all damage him in some way. However, few of them were able to defeat Wolverine in the same way that the Red Right Hand was. The Red Right Hand was made up of the families of people that Wolverine killed, who banded together for revenge.

First, they found a way to have a demon take over Wolverine’s body, throwing his soul to Hell while the demon went after his friends in the X-Men. Wolverine overcame this, but then he was attacked by the Mongrels, a group of mercenaries whom Wolverine killed. Finally, the Red Right Hand commits group suicide and leaves behind a message — the Mongrels were illegitimate children of Wolverine. They made Wolverine kill his children and then killed themselves so he couldn’t take revenge. It was the most perfectly damaging attack on Wolverine ever.

7) The Death of Silver Fox

Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10 is one of the greatest Wolverine stories ever, and it gave readers one of Wolverine’s formative tragedies. The story took place in the Canadian outback. Wolverine was living his Blackfoot girlfriend Silver Fox. While he was out fishing on his birthday, Sabretooth went to his cabin and killed her.

Wolverine came home to the love of his life’s death and went wild, hunting Sabretooth down and attacking him. The tragedy of Silver Fox’s death stayed with Wolverine for the rest of his life, forever making his birthday a traumatic event – another terrible loss in a life full of them.

6) The Death of Mariko

The ’90s were a pivotal decade for Wolverine. Logan suffered some heavy losses in the ‘decade of extreme,’ but one of the first — and one of the worst — was the death of Mariko Yashida. Wolverine and Mariko fell in love in his early days with the X-Men, with Wolverine killing her Yakuza boss father. They almost married, but Mastermind, Viper, and Silver Samurai ruined the whole thing, using mind control to make Mariko step away from the alter.

Despite learning the truth, Mariko didn’t go back to Wolverine out of shame. Later, she asked him for help against the Hand, and was poisoned during a peace ceremony. Dying slowly, she begged Wolverine to put her out of her misery. He did so, killing the woman he loved to save her from pain. It was a terrible moment in Wolverine’s life, and he takes his rage out against her poisoner, Mat’suo Tsurayaba, every year.

5) The Death of Itsu & the Loss of His Son

Wolverine loves Japan and has spent a lot of time in the country. After World War II, he found himself back there, eventually marrying a woman named Itsu. Itsu got pregnant, and Wolverine was ready to live a quiet life with his family. However, the world wouldn’t leave the former soldier/spy alone, and The Winter Soldier came to his home to kill Itsu, while she was pregnant.

The Winter Soldier succeeded, as Wolverine arrived too late to intervene. Wolverine’s son, Akihiro, was cut from his mother’s corpse by Logan’s nemesis Romulus, and Wolverine lost his entire family in one fell swoop. This would lead to a rivalry between Wolverine and Akihiro (who took on the name “Daken,” or “mongrel”), giving Wolverine years of pain and even impersonating his father in Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers.

4) Lost Memories

Wolverine’s memory has been a big problem for the character over the years. Wolverine’s healing factor doesn’t just heal physical damage; it also heals mental damage, and it does that by blanking out Wolverine’s painful memories. This made it easy for Weapon X to root around in Wolverine’s mind, implanting new memories and getting rid of old ones.

Wolverine didn’t know the full truth of his past for years, and Weapon X did their best to obfuscate Wolverine’s attempt to learn the truth about his mind. It wouldn’t be until after House of M that Wolverine would regain his memories, learning the truth about the tragedies of his past.

3) Healing Factor Loss

Wolverine has always grown as a hero, something which led to him becoming an Avenger. He was called in to deal with a hostage situation, one that turned out to be the vanguard of a Microverse invasion. Wolverine was able to stop the invasion, but the only way he could do so was to give up his healing factor, burning it out so that the Microverse’s invasion would fail.

Wolverine’s vaunted healing factor being gone made him actually have to face death for the first time, forcing him to change the manner of fighting against his enemies. The loss of Logan’s healing factor would later lead to his death (although he honestly would have died from being doused in liquid adamantium regardless of whether he had his healing factor or not).

2) Magneto Tearing Out His Adamantium Skeleton

X-Men (Vol. 2) #25 served Wolverine one of the most grievous defeats of his life. Xavier led a team of X-Men to Magneto’s new satellite of Avalon, all to finally kill the mutant master of magnetism. Wolverine was a member of the team and was able to get the jump on Magneto. Wolverine almost killed Magneto with his first attack, but then stopped to sass the villain instead of finishing him off. Magneto retaliated immediately, using his magnetic powers to tear the adamantium off Wolverine’s skeleton.

The loss of his unbreakable skeleton forced Wolverine to re-evaluate his life and the way he fought, as well as allowing a more feral mutation to take effect, transforming him into a more bestial form for a time.

1) Life as James Howlett

Wolverine was born as “James Howlett, a sickly rich boy born to John and Elizabeth Howlett. However, the Howlett family had their secrets, as Elizabeth was having an affair with groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Thomas was actually James’s father, living on the Howlett estate with his other son, Dog.

The Howletts would hire Rose O’Hara to look after their son. Thomas decided that he wanted Elizabeth for himself, and one night came to the big house to kill John and James. John would die; James’s mutant powers would kick in. He killed Thomas and gravely scarred Dog, with James and Rose being kicked off the estate by John’s father. James lost everything he had, and his life would have been completely different if Thomas hadn’t decided to destroy his family.

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