Ultimate Wolverine Flips the Hero's Script, Making His Past More Important Than Ever
Contains Spoilers for Ultimate Wolverine #1!Marvel’s new Ultimate version ofWolverineputs a major spin on the character's traditional origin story, subverting the familiar trajectory of his character arc from a living weapon to a mutant hero. The Ultimate Wolverine series reverses that, leading readers to question how much they truly know about this incarnation of Logan.
Ultimate Wolverine #1 – written by Chris Condon, with art by Alessandro Cappuccio – hints that there is more to be revealed about Logan’s mysterious past, with what is shown emphasizing how it’s almost the exact opposite of his classic counterpart’s origin.
The issue reveals that in this reality, Wolverine was part of an X-Men-like group before this world’s Weapon X turned him into an amnesiac killer. This is the opposite of Logan’s classic journey, which saw his joining the X-Men as the first step in many towards reclaiming his lost past.
Ultimate Wolverine's Backstory Twists What Readers Know About The Character, With Chilling Results
Ultimate Wolverine #1 – Written By Chris Condon; Art By Alessandro Cappuccio; Color By Bryan Valenza; Lettering By Corey Petit
This world’s version of Weapon X is Directorate X, a body of evil Russian mutants set up by the despotic Maker to control the world’s larger mutant population. Like classic Weapon X, Directorate X’s mandate includes inhumane experimentation on mutants and some classic brainwashing. This provides an explanation for why this world’s mutants are so unknown, and why so many classic heroes haven’t popped up yet. Logan was part of the Opposition, a group of escaped rebel mutants fighting this order before he was captured and brainwashed; now, he serves those he fought against as this world’s Winter Soldier.
If Ultimate Logan is going to discover his past, he’s going to have to stop killing anyone who knows it.
If classic Logan and the Winter Soldier are any indicators, then Logan’s not going to remain mind-controlled forever. However, if Ultimate Logan is going to discover his past, he’s going to have to stop killing anyone who knows it. That includes his first victims in Ultimate Wolverine #1, Mystique and Nightcrawler. Otherwise, he might wake up to a world where the answers about who he was are just as opaque as his classic counterpart found them, and he’ll have to build another entirely new identity for himself, not an X-Man, not an assassin, but something in-between.
Ultimate Wolverine Must Have Some Ties To His Classic Counterpart, But Fans Are Still Trying To Figure Them Out
The More Things Change...
What remains unclear is how much Ultimte Logan’s past mirrors his mainstream continuity. Nightcrawler’s sermon, as printed in Ultimate Wolverine #1, indicates that he and Logan were close friends like in classic comics, and Logan was found by Directorate X in the equivalent of the Canadian wilderness, but those might only be minor similarities. There are already some differences. Logan didn’t have his adamantium when working for the Opposition, and for all the classic members involved, the Opposition never called themselves X-Men. It’s not just Ultimate Wolverinewho’s missing parts of the backstory then, but also readers.
Ultimate Wolverine #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
- NAME
- James "Logan" Howlett
- Alias
- James "Logan" Howlett
- Created By
- Roy Thomas, Len Wein, John Romita Sr.
- POWERS
- Retractible claws and Adamantium skeleton. Superhuman senses, stamina, and strength. Healing factor and longevity.
- Franchise
- X-Men, Marvel
- Age
- 197 (in the MCU)
The human mutant Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan) was born James Howlett, blessed with a superhuman healing factor, senses, and physiology. Subjecting himself to experimentation to augment his skeleton and claws with adamantium, Logan is as deadly as he is reckless, impulsive, and short-tempered. Making him the X-Men's wildest and deadliest member, and one of Marvel Comics' biggest stars. He's played in Fox and Marvel's movie franchises by Hugh Jackman.
