Wolverine Is Marvel’s Most Tragic Hero and These 5 Stories Prove It (Including His Most Heartbreaking Kill)

Wolverine has become one of Marvel Comics‘ most popular character over the decades. When he debuted in the ’70s, he was one of the first major antiheroes, which made him rather novel, helping him get noticed during a stacked period of Marvel history. He was the ultimate loner with a heart of gold, with a mysterious past that made his stories all the more compelling. Logan’s stories are known for their two things above everything else – violence, which makes sense for the man with unbreakable claws that can cut through anything, and sadness. Wolvie is easily one of the most tragic characters in the Marvel Universe, a man who has truly been through the wars.

Superhero fans are used to tragic backstories and calamities defining a hero’s life, but Wolverine takes that to another level. I’ve been a Wolverine fan for my entire time reading comics and some of the saddest moments I’ve ever experienced came from his stories. This undercurrent of tragedy has become an important part of the character, informing some of his best stories. These five Wolverine stories are some of his saddest, including the one kill he regrets the most.

5) “Old Man Logan”

Over the decades, readers have been introduced to numerous alternate future versions of Logan. All of them are sad in some way, but even among those, the future of “Old Man Logan” is one of the most harrowing out there. In this alternate timeline, the villains came together for an “Acts of Vengeance”-style attack, with villains changing up the heroes they usually fight. Mysterio was able to use his powers to make Wolverine kill the X-Men, with the villains able to decimate the hero community and take over the US. Logan become a farmer in the Hulk’s territory, marrying a woman named Maureen and having two children.

The story saw Logan in debt to the Hulk Gang, agreeing to go on a trip across the country with Hawkeye, a travelogue through a twisted timeline. “Old Man Logan” is an undisputed classic, taking place in a broken world, so it’s generally a sad story but it gets worse when Logan gets home with the money to pay his debt – the Hulk Gang has already killed his family, leading him on a bloody rampage of revenge. It’s a story that starts out with a general undercurrent of sadness and then shifts that into high gear to make the ending hit ever harder.

4) Ultimate X-Men #41

The first volume of Ultimate X-Men, in a lot of ways, is the reason the original Ultimate Universe died in microcosm. It kicked off as one of the poster boys of the edgy comics of the ’00s and was at its most successful in the beginning. However, the loss of its superstar creators and a succession of creators who never really had anything to say with the book saw it die with a whimper as the years went on. That said, there are some fantastic stories from the later stages of the book, including the one of the most heartbreaking Ultimate comics ever – Ultimate X-Men #41.

This story sees reader following a teen as he wakes up for school. However, something weird is going on; everyone seems to disappear whenever he comes into a room. Eventually, he watches people melt around him and realizes that something is very wrong. He’s confronted by Wolverine, who lets the kid in on a terrible truth – he’s a mutant and his new mutant is causing everyone around him to melt. The X-Men can’t really do anything to make his powers safe and they can’t have a mutant whose entire power is killing people, because then the racists would have even more ammunition to use against mutants. He shares some beer with the kid and then kills him, the issue ending with him walking out into the night. This story is a gorgeous little tragedy, one that has joined the pantheon of great tragic comics.

3) “The Final Execution”

The introduction of Wolverine’s son Daken was an interesting addition to the Wolverine mythos and it would lead to one of the most tragic moments in the hero’s history. The two clashed numerous times and all of them led to “The Final Execution”, the story that ended the first volume of Uncanny X-Force. Daken has failed to kill his father numerous times on his own, so he decides to create his own Brotherhood, made up of his father’s foes like Sabretooth, Omega Red, and Mystique, with the Shadow King and the Skinless Man rounding out the team. They attack the Jean Grey School and kidnap Apocalypse’s clone Evan Sabah Nur, all in an attempt to bait out Logan and X-Force.

Daken’s plans are simple – push Evan to become Apocalypse, something that Wolvie and X-Force have been trying to avoid, to hurt his father and then drown him while the new Apocalypse kills the rest of his school. It all leads to one final showdown, one that sees father and son tear into each other with a burning hatred. Logan is able to get the upper hand on his son and ends up drowning him, all the while thinking about the life they could have had if things hadn’t went insane. It’s one of the most heartbreaking moments in Logan’s history and the fact that it isn’t number one should tell you everything about how bad the ol’Canucklehead’s life can get.

2) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10

Over the years, Marvel drip-fed the readers parts of Logan’s origin, with one of the finest examples of this being Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10. This story from the legendary team of Chris Claremont, John Buscema, and Bill Sienkiewicz took place on Logan’s birthday, a day that has always been terrible for him because of Sabretooth. He spends the night paranoid in Madripoor, doing his best to keep himself and the people around safe, ruminating on the worst birthday he ever had – once upon a time, on another birthday in the Canadian wilderness, he left his girlfriend Silver Fox to go fishing for their dinner and returned to find her brutally slain, the smell of Sabretooth everywhere. He brought her corpse into town, confronting Victor Creed and starting what would be their first fight.

Creed beats him nearly to death and so began a new tradition, one that would see Sabretooth do something to hurt Logan badly on his birthday every year. It was one of the biggest Logan origins reveals until “Weapon X” came out two years later and it took readers back to one of the saddest days ever. It became one of the formative tragedies in Logan’s life and the issue really brings home and the fear and pain that have defined the ol’Canucklehead’s birthdays.

1) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #55-57

Mariko Yashida was the first Wolverine girlfriend readers met, playing a big role in the character’s evolution in the early ’80s. The two of them were almost married, with Mastermind, Viper, and Silver Samurai ruining their wedding and Mariko leaving Logan because of her shame for being manipulated. The two remained close over the years, especially after Mariko took over the Yashida Yakuza family. She eventually found herself in conflict with Matsuo Tsurayaba and the Hand, calling in her former beau to help her. Unfortunately, it was destined to end in tragedy.

Logan, who was helped by Gambit and Jubilee, was able to get the two sides to the bargaining table and they agreed to a truce, with each of them having to cut off one of their pinkies to seal the deal. However, Matsuo poisoned the knife with blowfish toxin, cursing Mariko to a terrible death. She turned to Wolvie, who agreed to kill her so she wouldn’t suffer. Logan saved her from greater suffering and started a new yearly tradition of his own – every year, he cuts something off Tsurayaba. Matsuo has tried to stop him, but every year, the mutant berserker always get his piece. Logan killing the woman he loved to save her from greater pain is the saddest thing you can imagine and this is hands down one of the saddest Marvel comics ever.

What’s your favorite sad Wolverine comic? Am I wrong about any of these? Sound off in the comment section below.

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