Wolverine has made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, with Hugh Jackman returning to play the mutant in Deadpool & Wolverine. Jackman’s return reminded everyone why he’s the longest tenured superhero actor and showed off Wolverine at his best. Wolverine is hot right now and MCU fans can’t wait to see him again. Luckily for them, there are fifty years of amazing comics they can read to get the best Wolverine stories imaginable.
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Comics can be very hard to get into and Wolverine comics are no different. It’s hard to know where to start, but luckily this list has you covered. These ten Wolverine stories are the ones that MCU fans need to read. They’ll show MCU fans Wolverine in new ways and are among the best Wolverine stories of all time.
Weapon X-Men
The MCU loves multiverse stories and Deadpool & Wolverine showed off multiple versions of the character. For MCU fans that want a story that brings Wolverines from around the multiverse together, Weapon X-Men, by Christos Gage and Yildray Cinar, will scratch that itch. The story brings together five versions of Wolverine to travel the multiverse and try to stop the nigh-omnipotent villain Onslaught.
This is an exciting story, and is one of the best multiverse stories of the last decade. However, what makes it work so well for MCU fans is that the book goes into detail about each of the Wolverines. It answers any questions they’d have about them and takes each of them on an interesting journey. Weapon X-Men is perfect for fans who want to see Wolverine in a completely different light and succeeds in basically every way.
Weapon X (1995)
Weapon X-Men and Deadpool & Wolverine both feature one of the best multiversal Wolverines – the one-handed Wolverine from the blockbuster X-Men event The Age of Apocalypse named Weapon X. Weapon X #1-4, by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert, takes place in an alternate universe where Professor X was killed in the past and Apocalypse took over. The series begins with Logan and Jean Grey working for the Human High Council and battling Apocalypse’s forces. When Logan volunteers to guide the Human armada into North America for a nuclear attack, Jean leaves him, and Logan has to figure out how to get past Apocalypse’s defenses on his own.
Weapon X is one of the better miniseries from The Age of Apocalypse. It tells an interesting story, showing off a very different Wolverine. Many fans wondered who the one-handed Wolverine from Deadpool & Wolverine is, and this book will tell them his best story. Hama is one of the best Wolverine writers of all time – this won’t be the last time he appears on this list – and this story shows that he can work with any kind of Wolverine, even one from a completely different universe.
Old Man Logan
Old Man Logan, by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, is quite familiar to fans of Deadpool & Wolverine and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Old Man Logan appeared as one of the multiversal Wolverines that Deadpool tried to recruit and Logan is very loosely based on this story. Old Man Logan takes place in a future where the Marvel villains won. Logan is now a pacifist, working a farm in the Hulk’s territory. In debt to the Hulk Gang, he’s approached by Hawkeye for a bodyguard job, one that will allow him to pay off his debt. The two set off across the US, going on a bloody adventure that readers will never forget.
Old Man Logan is one of the best dystopian future stories out there. It’s dark and violent, with a reveal in the middle that will surprise readers. It’s an amazing piece of Wolverine fiction which perfectly understands the character. While the writing is very good – it’s almost certainly Millar’s best Marvel work – it’s the art that truly makes it sing. McNiven was sensational in this comic, his visual storytelling helping capture the flavor of this dystopian nightmare world.
Enemy of the State
Old Man Logan wasn’t Mark Millar’s first dance with Wolverine. The writer worked on the character before, with the year-long action epic known as Enemy of the State, alongside artist John Romita Jr. Enemy of the State sees Wolverine lured to Japan by the Gorgon, a leader of the magical ninja clan known as The Hand. Gorgon murders Wolverine and resurrects him, controlling his mind and making him join up with Hydra. The mind-controlled Wolverine becomes the greatest weapon of the two terrorist factions, battling the superhero community.
Enemy of the State was originally published as two six-issue story arcs – the first titled “Enemy of the State” and the second titled “Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, which should give readers an idea of where the story goes. These 12 issues are filled with amazing action scenes, showing off why Wolverine is one of the most formidable characters in the Marvel Universe. This story is pure excitement and will impress MCU fans who loved the Wolverine action scenes of Deadpool & Wolverine.
The Shiva Scenario
Wolverine’s past in the Weapon X program changed his life and The Shiva Scenario digs into what they did to his mind. Published in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #48-50, by Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri, the story followed Wolverine as he tried to plumb the depths of his memory. With the help of Professor X and Jean Grey, he finds clues to where Weapon X vivisected his mind. What he finds there is Shiva, a robot planted there to destroy Weapon X subjects who dig too deeply into their memory implants. This leads to a climactic battle against a machine built to kill people like Wolverine.
This story came out in 1991, around the same time as hyped books like X-Men (Vol. 2) #1 and X-Force #1. It was the first Wolverine story of many ’90s fans and did an amazing job of hooking readers. It’s an exciting story that showed just how deep of a character Wolverine can be, setting up his relationships with his friends in the X-Men, and ended with an action-packed bang. It also plays off another Wolverine story on this list, one that digs even deeper into Wolverine’s past.
Related: 3 Times Wolverine Should Have Died (And His Healing Powers Worked Overtime)
Weapon X (1991)
In the early ’90s, Wolverine appeared monthly in the X-Men books, his own solo series, and the anthology book Marvel Comics Presents. In 1991, writer/artist Barry Windsor Smith took over that last book’s Wolverine feature and gave readers Weapon X, which ran through Marvel Comics Presents #72-84. This story focused on the heads of Weapon X as they oversaw the adamantium bonding process on the subject known as Logan. However, something goes terribly wrong, and Logan is able to escape, cutting a bloody swath through Weapon X.
It’s the second story on this list with the title Weapon X, but this story is also one of the most important Wolverine stories of all time. Fans were rabid for information about Wolverine’s origin in 1991, and this story gave them a part of it. Windsor-Smith is one of the comic industry’s greatest talents, and he definitely brought his A-game to this story. Fans got a glimpse of Weapon X in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: Apocalypse, and this comic inspired those, making it a must-read.
Not Dead Yet
Wolverine: Not Dead Yet, by Warren Ellis and Leinil Yu, takes place during the bone claw years of Wolverine. These years contain some amazing stories, showing off Wolverine having to learn to fight without his unbreakable claws and skeleton. This plays into Not Dead Yet, as an assassin who knew him in his black ops days known as the Gweilo sets his sights on Wolverine. The Gweilo is among the greatest assassins on the planet, an expert at creating death traps for his quarry. However, the Gweilo’s information is a little out of date and he’s prepared to kill a Wolverine with an unbreakable skeleton.
This story is yet another masterpiece of action storytelling. Wolverine weathers the Gweilo’s assaults, trying survive long enough to strike at the assassin. This story shows Wolverine at his most desperate, but also at his most resourceful. This makes it a great story for MCU fans who want to see the character tested in ways they’ve never seen on the big screen. It’s a gem of the bone claw years.
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #90
Wolverine and Sabretooth have fought wars over the years. Sabretooth is Wolverine’s greatest foe, and there are lots of great battles between the two for MCU fans to explore. The next two entries on this list show off two of the best. The first comes from Wolverine (Vol. 2) #90, by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert, which takes place during the bone claw years. Wolverine has returned to the X-Mansion – he had left because he feared his loss of adamantium would make him a liability – and finds Sabretooth a prisoner there. He holds himself back from executing his hated enemy, but that changes when he realizes that Sabretooth is about to escape. The two have a knockdown, drag-out fight, one that ends in a way that no one ever would have guessed.
This issue has some amazing fold-out pages that give the story a larger than life feel. Every page is excellent. Hama has written several Wolverine and Sabretooth fights, and he cuts to the core of their hatred for one another in this issue. Kubert, himself one of the greatest Wolverine artists of all time, gives readers a visceral showdown between the two characters, his art capturing the enmity and brutality. This Wolverine/Sabretooth fight is one of the ones MCU fans need to experience. It could easily be called the best Wolverine/Sabretooth story if it wasn’t for the next entry on this list.
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10, by Chris Claremont, John Buscema, and Bill Sienkiewicz, is considered by many to be the single greatest single issue of Wolverine ever. The story takes place on Wolverine’s birthday on the island of Madripoor, as he tries to lay low. The reason why is revealed in the issue’s flashbacks, which take place far in the past on his birthday. Coming home from a fishing trip, he finds his girlfriend Silver Fox brutally murdered, with Sabretooth’s stink all over her and their cabin. This leads him to town, where he attacks Sabretooth and learns a painful lesson. Meanwhile, he’s not able to stay out of trouble in the present, constantly looking over his shoulder for his longtime foe.
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10 presents an important part of Wolverine’s past, from a master of Wolverine. Claremont made Wolverine famous during his run on Uncanny X-Men, and this is easily one of Claremont’s finest forays with the character. John Buscema was a Marvel veteran and this issue saw him inked by Bill Sienniewicz, giving his fluid pencils a very special feel. This is an amazing story, a taut story that gives readers everything they could ever want from a comic. It shows the origins of Wolverine and Sabretooth’s vendetta, making it a must-read for any MCU fan.
Wolverine (Vol. 1) #1-4
Wolverine became a big star in the late ’70s and early ’80s because of his place on the cast of Uncanny X-Men. It was only a matter of time before he got his own solo series, and that moment came in 1982. Wolverine (Vol. 1) #1-4, by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, saw Wolverine going to Japan to help the love of his life Mariko Yashida. Her father, Yakuza boss Shingen, has married her to one of his flunkies. Wolverine steps in and the more skilled Shingen beats him within an inch of his life. The rest of the story sees Wolverine team up with the wild ninja Yukio, learning to think about how he fights in time for a rematch with Shingen.
This story will be somewhat familiar to longtime fans of the Wolverine movies – The Wolverine partly adapted it. However, the original comic is vastly superior. Claremont is at his finest – few writers can cook like early ’80s Claremont – and working with fellow legend Frank Miller on pencils makes him even better. Miller also turns in some of his best art, capturing the man and warrior that is Wolverine. MCU fans need to experience Wolverine in Japan and this is the finest Wolverine in Japan story of them all.
These Wolverine comics are available from Marvel.
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