Ultimate Wolverine has been a more cerebral look at Wolverine as the mind-controlled Winter Soldier of Earth-6160. Ultimate Wolverine #6 is the turning point; last issue, readers got an excellent fight between Wolverine and Ultimate Sabretooth, a battle that ended with Wolverine vanquished and taken by the Opposition. Ultimate Wolverine #6 is the patented X-Men psychic combat scene, as Wolverine awakens in his head and has to fight his own demons. Luckily, he has the help of one of Marvel’s most overpowered characters: the son of Professor X known as Legion. Legion in Earth-6160 is quite different from the one that readers are familiar with (more on that later), and he’s able to guide Wolverine through the worst parts of his mind, giving him the strength to fight against what the Eurasian Republic has done to him.
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Legion is a very interesting character in the history of the Marvel Universe. Born David Haller to future Israeli ambassador Gabrielle Haller, Legion developed disassociative identity disorder, partly because of his natural mental powers, and each personality gained a unique mental power. David became one of the most dangerous threats on the planet, and the X-Men had to battle against him many, many times. Legion is having something of a comeback in the Marvel Universe lately, with two very different versions of the character making appearances. The Legion of Earth-6160 makes a major move in Ultimate Wolverine #6, and it shows the potential the character always had.
Legion Is Always a Wild Ride of a Character
Legion is one of the more interesting characters in X-Men lore, and Ultimate Wolverine #6 finds a new way to use him. The character’s origin is revealed in the data pages at the end of the comic. In this universe, Xavier isn’t as well-known, and no one knows that Legion is his son on Earth-6160. Legion was found by the new Ultimate Beast, as he was hacking the Eurasian Republic’s computer system. The Eurasian Republic had control of Charles Xavier and Jean Grey, and got their hands on Legion. It looks like his body died at some point — much like Xavier’s did, as revealed in Ultimate X-Men #4 — and Legion’s mind was able to get into the Eurasian computer systems. Beast and Legion made friends, and the mutant scientist was able to take the fractured part of David’s psyche, all hidden in lines of code in the computer system, and bring them back together. Instead of being Legion, David became One, and became a ghost in the machine for the Opposition. The Opposition learned that they could hook One into other people’s minds by linking them to their computer system, and that’s what happened in Ultimate Wolverine #6. Thanks to One’s godlike powers, he’s still able to use is telepathy, and with it is able to break the Eurasian Republic’s control over the ol’Canucklehead.
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This is one of the most interesting conceptions of Legion ever. In recent years, Legion has become less fractured mentally, much like One has on Earth-6160, and even played a large role in the Krakoa Era. Legion was the catalyst for The Age of Apocalypse as well, accidentally killing his father while trying to kill Magneto in the past. He was also part of the reason that the AoA throwback story The Age of X-Man happened, but we don’t really talk about that. What’s cool is that One isn’t the only different Legion that fans are getting right now, as it was revealed that Legion is the villain behind Ms. Marvel’s time travel adventures with the X-Men in the Giant-Size books that Marvel is putting out. This version of Legion is one that is without David, with his other personalities taking control. It’s really cool that Marvel is using Legion in new ways, taking a character that is always a lot of fun and using him in ways that no one ever expects.
One Has His Work Cut Out for Him
One is as powerful as any version of Legion that we have seen before, and looks to be the Opposition’s chief telepath. With One’s help, Wolverine was able to break through the mental conditioning that the Eurasians put him through, giving the rebels an all-new weapon. However, it’ll be really interesting to see One down the road as the Opposition’s war against the Eurasian Republic intensifies for one big reason — the Eurasian Republic has mental control of Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force. That could lead to a very interesting change down the road.
Jean is connected to the Eurasian computer systems, and that leaves her open to One. Readers have wondered how this particular plot line would get resolved, and there’s a good chance writer Chris Condon was setting this up for the future. The Opposition is going to need all the help they can get, and One is definitely going to be an important weapon in their arsenal.
Ultimate Wolverine #6 is on sale now.
