Did Marvel Just Introduce a Wolverine and Sabertooth Hybrid?

Jonathan Hickman’s “Dawn of X” story event has been the major re-invention of Marvel’s X-Men that was promised to fans. Both of Hickman’s X-Men event series (House of X and Powers of X) introduce some revolutionary new ideas that drastically realign fan perception of virtually every major character and piece of history from the X-Men’s mythos – including one that most fans may have yet to pick up on.

After the most recent insights revealed in Hickman’s fourth chapter of this Dawn of X storyline (Powers of X #2), it seems that one X-Man has possibly undergone a major transformation fans will be buzzing about: a Wolverine/Sabertooth hybrid!

WARNING – Spoilers for Powers of X #2 Follow!

Powers of X #1 threw quite a lot of information at X-Men fans – so much so that some of the finer details may have easily been overlooked. However, with the additional information revealed by later chapters has given rise to theory about a major twist: that Powers of X‘s vision of the future Man-Macine-Mutant War, is actually Moira Mactaggert’s 9th lifetime – and not the future of her 10th life, which is the era when House of X takes place, and the timeline many assumed the Future War took place in.

That twist in Hickman’s Powers of X storyline immediately reframes what we saw before learning all about the many lifetimes of “Moira X” – especially the introduction of the last surviving X-Men in the Man-Machine-Mutant War (Wolverine, Magneto, Xorn, Krakoa, Rasputin, Cardinal, and their leader – Apocalypse). Hickman showed us a page revealing the Future X-Men team, but even that “reveal” was apparently still wrapped in secrets!

Initially, fans took it for granted seeing and aged Magneto and Wolverine as part of the Future X-Men. However, assuming this future is actually Moira’s 9th Lifetime – as well as the scattered details of the Man-Machine-Mutant War Hickman provides in charts – it seems this Future X-Men team isn’t at all what it initially seemed. The timelines of the various lives Moira lived reveal that in her 9th life, she allies with Apocalypse, and they within three years of that union, Moira and Apocalypse kill both Xavier and Magneto, then head into space to rescue “The First Horseman,” eventually starting their own X-Men team upon returning to Earth.

At the same time, we know the Man-Machine-Mutant War future also included an entire storyline of Mr. Sinister breeding his own warrior mutants using combinations of X-Genes – and experiment that went through four generations of “Chimera” mutants. The Future X-Men team members Rasputin and Cardinal are 3rd generation Chimera, made from multiple X-Genes and powers combined into one person; however, the previous generation, the Chimera 2 line, was made by taking two X-Genes from mutants with similar power sets, and combining them. Based on their respective ages in the scene, it now stands to reason that Wolverine, Magneto, and Xorn are all 2nd Gen Chimera mutants from the Sinister breeding pens.

The artwork makes clear hint that Future Magneto is Chimera-spliced with Polaris; but Wolverine’s change is a lot more subtle. It went undetected in Powers of X #1, but Powers of X #2 drops much bigger hint that this future Wolverine is actually a Wolverine/Sabertooth hybrid. Those clues include Wolverine’s speech patterns, which are a lot more gruff and “Sabertooth-y,” with the character calling Apocalypse “boss,” or saying things like “I should’ve been born with brains.” The artwork of Wolverine in his brown and yellow costume mask a lot of potential tip-offs about Sabertooth – with the exception of the bulkier “bruiser Wolverine” frame, and scowling facial expression. The final clue comes from Apocalypse, who tries to excuse Wolverine’s gruff assessment of Rasputin and Cardinal’s mission. According to Apocalypse:

“You’ll have to forgive him. War has a way of limiting perspective. It’s a shortcoming of that seed, but the benefits… Well what do we have that is not a product of its spoils.”

That terminology “that seed” all but spells out that Future Wolverine is indeed a chimera creation. For now, it remains to be seen just how big of a role these future X-Men will have in “Dawn of X” and the larger Marvel Universe. Given the nature of the story, all of this wonderful future world-building Hickman has done could be erased along with the entirety of Moira’s 9th life. Sill, if this is indeed a Wolverine/Sabertooth hybrid character, fans are going to want to see more of him going forward, for sure.

Powers of X 1 & 2, and House of X 1 & 2 are all now on sale, with new issues of each book released in alternating weeks.