Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and that seems to be selling comics. Wolverine first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #181, and seemed destined for an existence as a C-list Canadian hero, but all of that changed when Wolverine co-creator Len Wein rebooted the X-Men with Giant-Size X-Men #1. Wolverine joined the team and was put on the road to superstardom. Wolverine was the breakout star of those early days of the X-Men and would get his first miniseries in 1982. More miniseries and one-shots would follow, and he’d get his own solo series in 1989. For 36 years, we’ve never been without some kind of Wolverine solo ongoing (it’s honestly kind of funny to call any book an ongoing nowadays as they are constantly rebooted for short term sales boosts, but alas).
Videos by ComicBook.com
Over the five decades of Wolverine’s existence, we’ve gotten many, many different versions of the characters. There have been alternate universe versions, movie and TV versions, entirely new people in the mantle, and various changes to the character the himself. Wolverine is big money for Marvel and the publisher has given us so many different versions of the character; there’s a Wolverine for some. While for some of us, the original Wolverine is the best, these ten versions are the next best thing to the original.
10) Feral Wolverine
I’m in the minority on this one, but I love Feral Wolverine. Feral Wolverine first appeared in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #100. The concept was teased in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #77, after Wolverine lost his adamantium and visited his friends Heather Hudson (Alpha Flight member Vindicator/Guardian II) and Puck. As events progressed in the books, Cable’s son Genesis decided to make Wolverine into the Horseman of Death for the soon to be resurrected Apocalypse, killing Cyber to take his adamantium, and capturing Wolverine to bond it to his skeleton. X-Man Cannonball tried to save Wolverine, but failed and Wolverine violently rejected the adamantium pumped into him and slaughtered Genesis’s allies the Dark Riders. Wolverine’s mutation, held in check by the adamantium, made him into a beast. Fans mocked his lack of nose (more pronounced when artist Val Semeiks drew him), and Marvel abandoned the concept quickly; however, it was kind of awesome to watch Wolverine fight back the beast inside of him and do his best to become a human again. Eventually, he started using an image inducer to hide his feral looks, and it wouldn’t be until Wolverine (Vol. 2) #145 where he would finally go back to normal. There are some amazing stories during this 45 issue run of Wolverine, and it’s one of the more interesting times in Wolverine’s existence.
9) Zombie Wolverine
Zombie Wolverine first appeared in Marvel Zombies #1. On Earth-616, Wolverine’s healing factor protected him from most viruses, but the zombie virus was able to overcome it on Earth-2149, and he joined the ranks of the undead. Unlike the other zombie heroes, Wolverine didn’t feel the same regret over killing as many of the other heroes did. He sort of embraced his zombie nature and was one of the most entertaining members of the zombie survivors. He was definitely a monster, but he made the best he could of his zombie life, which is the most Wolverine thing ever. His most recent appearance was in the excellent Weapon X-Men, where he was able to keep his appetite at bay and help the other Wolverines defeat Onslaught. Zombie Wolverine has a lot of potential as a character — both as a character to be explored and a monster to be fought — and maybe we’ll get more of him as the years go on. There’s also been a Vampire Wolverine, who appeared in several issues of What If…, but Zombie Wolverine is way cooler than he is.
8) Daken
Daken is the son of Wolverine. Akihiro, the name his parents meant to give him, was conceived after World War II, when Logan lived in Japan and was married to a woman named Itsu. While off on one of his black ops missions, Itsu was killed by the Winter Soldier while pregnant. Romulus cut the unborn Daken out of her corpse and had him raised by a Japanese family who named Daken, which meant “mongrel” in Japanese. He was also taught to hate Wolverine, and became a part of Romulus’s campaign against Logan. When Norman Osborn was given control of the Superhero Initiative, he recruited Daken to act as the Wolverine of the Dark Avengers. Daken got to wear the superior brown and orange costume and took to being an Avenger very well, loving the adulation and the fame. He battled his father as Wolverine several times, and helped the Dark Avengers in their attack on Asgard. Later, Daken would take up the name Dark Wolverine, working to take over the underworld of Madripoor. Daken made a pretty good Wolverine, but eventually just went back to being Daken, leading the Brotherhood of Mutants against his father. where he was killed by his father before being resurrected by the Apocalypse Twins. He made up with Logan after Wolverine came back to life and becoming a member of the Wolverine family of heroes.
7) Patch
Logan started going to Madripoor at some point in the early 1900s, and fell in love with the lawless island. While there, he took up the identity of Patch, in order to keep himself off the radar of his many enemies. Patch became a legend on the island, and when Wolverine would return there, he would don the eyepatch and white tuxedo. During the Outback Era of the X-Men, the world thought the mutant team was dead, so he dusted off the Patch identity, making his base of operations when he needed a break from the X-Men the Princess Bar, where he went so many years before. Wolverine’s time as Patch is one of the most interesting times in his life; he would drink, gamble, and fight, all while protecting the weak on the island. Patch doesn’t show up very often anymore, although fans did get an excellent Patch flashback miniseries from legendary Wolverine writer Larry Hama and artist Andrea Di Vito, but most hardcore Wolverine fans wish there was more. Maybe if he becomes a major part of the MCU, we’ll get our wish; he did end up appearing in Deadpool/Wolverine, so there’s definitely hope.
6) Laura Kinney
Laura Kinney first appeared as X-23, and was thought to be a clone of Wolverine. It was later found out that she was actually his daughter of sorts. She was used as a weapon by the Weapon X program and eventually broke out. She worked with the X-Men and New X-Men for a time, went to the Avengers Academy, and joined her father in X-Force. After the death of Wolverine, she would be the one to take up the mantle of Wolverine. Laura’s first tenure as Wolverine is one of the more disappointing periods in Marvel history. Not because it was bad, but because Marvel didn’t really trust her as Wolverine. They never put her on the A-list X-Men team, and even brought Old Man Logan in to hedge their Wolverine bets. She would go back to X-23 after the return of Wolverine, but he decided to share his name with her, and she became Wolverine again in the Krakoa Era. She starred in some of the best stories of the Krakoa Era — X-Men (Vol. 5) #5 and #18-19 — but things get kind of confusing after that: she was left in the Vault and also resurrected outside it. Eventually, there were two versions of Laura — the resurrected one and original, who ended up taking on the name Talon and dying at the end of the Krakoa Era (honestly, we try to forget about the end of the Krakoa Era for Laura; she was part of Gerry Duggan’s middling X-Men (Vol. 6) and the two Lauras thing is more confusing than it needs to be). Laura is still going strong as Wolverine.
5) Ultimate Wolverine (Earth-6160)
The original Ultimate Wolverine was a sometimes cool, sometimes creepy version of Wolverine created by the master of edgelord comic writers Mark Millar. He isn’t among the best versions of Wolverine, but the current Earth-6160 Wolverine is a much better version of the character. Logan was a member of the Opposition, the mutants and humans fighting against the Eurasian Republic of Colossus, Magik, and Omega Red. While on a mission with Sabretooth, he was captured, and transformed into the Winter Soldier, given an adamantium skeleton and brainwashed to kill anyone he was ordered to. After the murder of Nightcrawler and Mystique, something broke through his programming, and a later battle with Sabretooth allowed the Opposition to break the mental control over him. That’s where the character is now, and Ultimate Wolverine is easily the best solo Wolverine title being published right now. It’s an excellent reinvention of the character, and there’s so much potential with the character. Plus, he has an awesome beard under that mask and his costume is amazing.
4) “Days of Future Past” Wolverine
“Days of Future Past” is one of the most important X-Men stories of all time. Not only did it establish the X-Men’s ultimate fate — that mutants would be destroyed by the Sentinels and the X-Men would become ragtag rebels — but it also made the dark alternate future popular. Readers were also treated to one of the best versions of Wolverine ever. He fought his hardest against the Sentinels and his death in Uncanny X-Men #142 is the most iconic moment of that classic story. Since then, we’ve gotten a forgotten Wolverine: Days of Future Past miniseries and the more recent X-Men: Days of Future Past: Doomsday miniseries, which showed the events leading up to the classic story. He also appeared in Paradise X, helping to save the universe from the machinations of Mephisto. Days of Future Past Wolverine is awesome, and remains one of the best alternate universe versions of the character.
3) Weapon X (Age of Apocalypse Wolverine)
The Age of Apocalypse is one of the most beloved X-Men stories of all time, and it gave us an amazing Wolverine. In this universe, Logan never became Wolverine (there was a Wolverine created by Apocalypse, but the X-Men killed him), and was instead known as Weapon X. He was recruited by Magneto for his X-Men, where he met and fell in love with Jean Grey. She reciprocated that love in this universe and the two made a great couple until she was kidnapped by Mister Sinister and Cyclops. Weapon X went to save her against Magneto’s orders and had his left hand destroyed in battle with Cyclops, costing the other mutant his eye in return. Weapon X and Jean Grey left the X-Men and started working with the Eurasian High Human Council, saving humans in North America and softening up Apocalypse’s defenses. When the humans were preparing their doomsday nuclear strike against the mutants, Jean left him to try to save the innocent in North America, but he soldiered on, recruiting Gateway and stopping the cyborg Donald Pierce from destroying the flotilla. He got to America just as Jean was mortally wounded by Havok, and avenged her. Jean used the Phoenix Force to save everyone before she died, and Wolverine stayed in North America and was eventually recruited by his daughter Kiriko (who he had conceived with Mariko Yashida before he met Jean) and came back to the X-Men, where he helped free jean Grey, resurrected as Phoenix, from Sinister. Eventually, he fell under the sway of the Death Seed and became the new Apocalypse in a doomed attempt to save the world, forcing Jean and the X-Men to use a clone of Scarlet Witch to depower the mutants and defeat him. A heroic version of the character appeared in Weapon X-Men, and with Marvel bringing back the Age of Apocalypse reality with X-Men of Apocalypse, it remains to be seen what version of the character we’ll see.
2) Old Man Logan
“Old Man Logan” was insanely popular, and for good reason. This story by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven gave readers a story that was like Unforgiven meets Wolverine meets “Acts of Vengeance” meets “Days of Future Past”, and quickly became a fan favorite. After the death of Wolverine, Marvel brought this version of the character back in 2015’s Secret Wars and he came over to Earth-616 after the defeat of God Emperor Doom, where he had adventures with the X-Men, until his death in Dead Man Logan. Old Man Logan starred in the best Wolverine stories of the ’10s, his growth as a character making him one of the most interesting versions of Wolverine ever. Seeing Wolverine as a sad, grizzled old man was awesome, and watching him struggle against his failing body took away the aura of invincibility that had become one of the more annoying parts of Wolverine over the decade. Old Man Logan is an excellent comic, and it will make anyone love this version of the character.
1) Bone Claw Wolverine
Wolverine’s bone claw era was amazing, and that’s all there is to it. Wolverine lost his adamantium skeleton in X-Men (Vol. 2) #25, and fans soon learned that his claws were made of bone. There are two phases of bone claw Wolverine — the one from Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75-90, where he learned to deal with his new weaknesses while dealing with an overstressed healing factor, and Wolverine (Vol. 2) #91-100, as he dealt with the beginnings of his feral regression, trying to hold back the ravening beast within. Marvel took a huge gamble with bone claw Wolverine; Wolverine was at the height of his popularity in 1993, with fans of X-Men: The Animated Series picking up Wolverine from spinner racks and newsstands across the world for more Wolverine adventures. They took away one of Wolverine’s defining features, and sales not only didn’t fall, but actually went up, thanks to legendary Wolverine writer Larry Hama and artist Adam Kubert. This is the best version of Wolverine, and if you want to see why, pick up Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75-100 and prepare to be amazed.
What do you think is the best version of Wolverine? Sound off in the comment below.
Most Viewed
-
Amazon Prime Video
