A Guide To Reading ’10s Wolverine Comics

The 2010s weren’t the best time to be a fan of any mutant, and Wolverine fans felt the bite as well. The success of the MCU meant that as the decade went on, Marvel began to marginalize the mutants and push the rest of the Marvel Universe, especially those with movies. However, Wolverine sat pretty for a long time in the decade. Years of character growth had paid off, and Wolverine was moving up in the Marvel Universe. As the 2010s dawned, Wolverine would be at the head of an entire family of Wolverine-related titles, although that wouldn’t last long.

Wolverine would also miss out on the worst of Marvel’s mutant marginalization with his death in 2014. What came next was a surprise for many, but not that big of one, as Laura became Wolverine. However, Marvel seemingly got a case of cold feet because they also brought Old Man Logan to the main Marvel Universe and put him in all the major X-Men books and his own series. As the decade ended, Wolverine returned, although even that was a bit weird, putting to bed his strangest decade.

The Wolverine Family Was Adamantium Strong

When 2010 began, there were three Wolverine titles – Dark Wolverine starring Daken, Wolverine Origins which followed Wolverine plumbing the depths of his dark past, and Wolverine: Weapon X gave readers more Logan adventures. All three of these books would end before the end of 2010. Dark Wolverine would only last until the end of Dark Reign, after which Daken would get his own book, Daken: Dark Wolverine. Wolverine Origins would finish Wolverine’s war against Romulus for about two years, and Wolverine: Weapon X would spin off into Wolverine (Vol. 4).

This period of Wolverine saw the rise of writer Jason Aaron, who would become an important part of Wolverine right up to his death. Aaron’s Wolverine: Weapon X was considered the best Wolverine book on the stands, although Wolverine Origins had its share of fans. Dark Wolverine did fine and sold well enough to guarantee the character another series. Marvel was extremely high on Wolverine in 2010, and the year would prove fruitful for the character.

In the X-Men books, Wolverine also saw some of his best development. X-Force (Vol. 3) was just finishing up, which was the first superhero team that Wolverine led. 2010 would see Uncanny X-Force (Vol. 1) debut, with Wolverine leading another team of mutants out to protect the mutant race from threats before they surfaced. This wasn’t technically a Wolverine book – the opening arcs were more about Psylocke, Fantomex, and Archangel – but it remains a highlight of the decade as far as mutant books go. Wolverine (Vol. 4)dawned, with Aaron joined by artist Renato Guedes for “Wolverine Goes To Hell.” The story opens with Wolverine dead and in Hell while his body is controlled by a demon. This would lead to Wolverine’s battle against the Red Right Hand, a shadowy group looking for revenge against Wolverine.

Daken: Dark Wolverine took the son of Wolverine into the greater world to begin building his empire. Meanwhile, Laura would also get a book called X-23 to join the other two Wolverine books. The Wolverine portion of the X-Men line would start 2010 with three books and end the year with three. 2010 would also see Jason Aaron team up with Wolverine art legend Adam Kubert for Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine. This book teamed up the two bickering superheroes for a cross-time caper that would end with them as great friends. 2010 was a banner year for Wolverine fans when it came to great stories, but Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine is considered by many to be the best of the bunch.

A New Path Dawned For Wolverine

2010 was a pretty good year for Wolverine fans who wanted a variety of types of Wolverine. However, 2011 saw the series X-Men: Schism split the mutants of the Marvel Universe into two separate camps after Wolverine and Cyclops had a philosophical row that turned into a fistfight. Wolverine And The X-Men (Vol. 1) saw Wolverine become the headmaster of the new Jean Grey School.

This book combined the mutant school dynamics of books like New Mutants, New X-Men, and New X-Men (Vol. 2)with X-Men mayhem and picked plot threads from Origin and Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine. Wolverine (Vol. 4) would soon return to the numbering of Wolverine (Vol. 2)for the three hundredth issue of Wolverine’s combined ongoing series, and Daken: Dark Wolverine and X-23 would end in 2012. Wolverine And The X-Men and Wolverine (Vol. 2)would be the only two remaining series with Wolverine in their name.

Jason Aaron’s run as Wolverine’s main solo writer ended with Wolverine (Vol. 2) #304 in 2012. Cullen Bunn took over for a short arc before Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi returned for the continuation of Evolution—Sabretooth Reborn. This story saw Romulus and Sabretooth return, revealing that the Sabretooth Wolverine thought he killed was a clone and that the real deal was working with Romulus.

A new redhead named Remus was introduced in Wolverine’s life, with Wolverine, Remus, Cloak—who had helped Wolverine take out Romulus before—and Dagger ending the threat of Romulus forever. This story would be the height of 2012’s Wolverine book, and 2013 would see a massive overhaul with a new writer and a shocking change to the character.

2013 would see writer Paul Cornell and artist Alan Davis, who had been drawing Wolverine stories since Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men run in the ’80s, launch Wolverine (Vol. 5) with the story “Hunting Season.” This first story ends with the Microverse invader shutting down Wolverine’s healing factor. So began the epic that would lead to Death Of Wolverine, as Wolverine has to deal with the fact that his healing factor is gone. Wolverine (Vol. 5)only lasted thirteen issues and really dug into Wolverine as he faced something he never did before – inevitable death.

Wolverine had been in life-or-death situations for years, but he could fight his way out of all those. Without his healing factor, he was looking at a real death, whether in combat or by old age. Wolverine faced off against Black Panther over his relationship with Storm in Wolverine (Vol. 5), and the final story of the series would see Wolverine and Kitty Pryde team up against Sabretooth, who has learned about Wolverine’s dilemma and decided to torture his old enemy. The series ends with a broken Wolverine, who Sabretooth wouldn’t even kill, at his lowest ebb.

Wolverine (Vol. 6) saw Cornell return with artist Ryan Stegman. This volume had Wolverine leave the X-Men, wear a special armored costume, and start carrying a gun. He’d link up with a band of small-time supervillains as he worked to build himself up again for his next battle against Sabretooth. This series would see him work with Shang-Chi and Iron Fist to relearn how to fight and even encounter Mistress Death herself. The last three issues see Wolverine go up against Sabretooth, whose newest scheme uses a device to alter reality and create his perfect world – one of predators and prey.

This is one of those stories that reminds readers that Sabretooth isn’t just some berserker but an intelligent, crafty enemy. These two Wolverine series are amazing, and there’s no other way about it. Much like Wolverine losing his adamantium years before, Logan had to learn to live in an entirely new way. The lack of the healing factor was also entirely new for readers, as it allowed them to see Wolverine feel fear for the first time. It was an excellent set-up for the next and seemingly final stage.

Unfortunately, Death Of Wolverine couldn’t stand up to what came before. Marvel made a big deal of signing writer Charles Soule to an exclusive contract and immediately gave him Wolverine. Death Of Wolverine, as a story, is thematically correct. The first issue sees Wolverine in seclusion, knowing his enemies will come after him. He was first attacked by Nuke, who was part of the Weapon Plus Program, which included Weapon X.

He then teamed up with Kitty Pryde to dive back into his past before finally arriving at an abandoned Weapon X facility, where Dr. Cornelius, the last living chief scientist of Weapon X, reveals that he wants to make more weapons like Wolverine and needs his healing factor. Wolverine tells him the truth about its loss, and Dr. Cornelius begins the adamantium bonding process with his new subjects before trying to escape. Wolverine cuts the lines and is doused in adamantium. Before the adamantium hardens, he kills Cornelius and then dies encased in the hardening metal.

All of that makes sense for the death of Wolverine. It hit all the major points and had all the right characters, but it often felt like something was missing. The art by Steve McNiven was amazing, but the story never rose to that level. It was a perfectly fine story, but for many Wolverine fans, that was a problem. Wolverine’s death should have been special, and it felt like it was trying to be, but it hit all the marks with no soul, which is ironic for a writer with the last name Soule. Wolverine’s death would have major repercussions, which would be felt immediately across the Marvel Universe.

An All-New Wolverine, An Old One, And A Return

Death Of Wolverine was followed by Death Of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy, a six-issue miniseries by Soule. The first six issues focused on Laura, Daken, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, and Mystique, each getting one issue after the first, where they learn about Wolverine’s death. The last issue had them team up to take down a new threat, which led to Wolverines, a twenty-issue biweekly series that would name one of them the new Wolverine as they faced off against the vampiric enemy from The Logan Legacy.

Much like Death Of Wolverine, these two series had a mixed reception. Soule hit all the right notes again – he knows how to tell a comic story, but something was always missing. A decade has passed, and these two books are barely talked about, except they crowned Laura, the former X-23, the new Wolverine. Laura as Wolverine would spin off into her own series, All-New Wolverine, by writer Tom Taylor. She would join the team of time-displaced original X-Men in All-New X-Men (Vol. 2).

Laura’s time as Wolverine was a hit with fans, and for good reason. The great thing about Laura was that she gave a whole new generation of Wolverine fans their own Wolverine. They got to see, in real-time, her struggle with her new mantle and the beast within her. The series introduced readers to her clone sister, Honey Badger, who would become a fan-favorite character in her own right. Laura’s series sold well enough, and most agree that the best story is “Enemy Of The State 2”, which occurred in the aftermath of Civil War II, where Laura’s tie-in issues were generally well-received.

This wasn’t a redux of the original story, instead focusing on Laura on the run for a murder and her questioning whether she was truly cut out for the life of a hero. She also got an excellent Generations issue during the Secret Empire event, as she went back in time to team up with her father. Laura’s story was similar to Wolverine thematically – two weapons learning to live in a new world – but the details of Laura’s life made the journey unique. However, Laura quickly became the B Wolverine after the Secret Wars event.

The Return of Old Man Logan

Secret Wars (2015) had great tie-in comics and one of the best-starred Old Man Logan. This series, by Brian Michael Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino, took Logan across Battleworld to discover what was happening during the event and would end with Logan showing up in the 616 universe. This set the stage for Old Man Logan (Vol. 2), which was kicked off by the team of Jeff Lemire and Sorrentino, with Filipe Andrade and Eric Nguyen joining the book on art over Lemire’s twenty-four issue run. Lemire’s run on the book was about Logan coming to terms with the ghost of his past and embracing his new life on a new Earth.

Lemire’s run contains several best-of-all-time Wolverine stories, like Berserker and The Last Ronin, and is a gem for hardcore Wolverine fans. During this time, Logan would join the cast of the Lemire-written X-Men flagship book Extraordinary X-Men and play a key role in Inhumans Vs. X-Men. He then joined the cast of X-Men Gold and Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 4), played a key role in Phoenix Resurrection, and basically acted as the main Wolverine of the Marvel Universe, despite Laura carrying the name Wolverine.

Writer Ed Brisson would come onboard Old Man Logan (Vol. 2)for its last twenty-five issues, telling action-packed stories that didn’t hit the emotional highs of Lemire’s run but were still very good. Brisson would also bring about the character’s end in Dead Man Logan, a twelve-issue series that tied a bow on Old Man Logan’s adventures.

2017 would see Marvel try to replicate the success of DC Rebirth #1 with Marvel Legacy #1, a middling, overpriced comic that failed to generate much excitement for the publisher’s new line. However, the book would have one rather hype moment, as it showcased Wolverine. From there, multiple comics across Marvel’s line would have “Where’s Wolverine?” back-ups, as well as appearing in Infinity Countdown, all hinting at a big return.

Charles Soule returned for Hunt For Wolverine #1, a one-shot with artist David Marquez that had the X-Men searching for Wolverine and revealed that he was being held by a shadowy agency. This reveal would lead to four Hunt For Wolverine miniseries, which were just meant to hype readers for The Return Of Wolverine and are all completely forgettable and barely contain any Wolverine or even do much setup for The Return Of Wolverine. One of them even sees Elizabeth Braddock get her British body back and Kwannon returning and becoming Psylocke. The Return Of Wolverine is an interesting beast, where Soule was joined by Steve McNiven and Declan Shalvey, but not all fans agree that it was a good comic.

The Return of Wolverine

The first issue opened with an amnesiac Wolverine waking up after a rampage against a bunch of soldiers who were holding him. From there, it reveals that he can now superheat his claws at the expense of his healing factor and clues readers in on the fact that the Wolverine they had been seeing throughout the Marvel Universe wasn’t the real one. The book would see Wolverine learn about a group called Soteira, a shadowy organization led by the mysterious Persephone. Persephone was a mutant who could raise the dead, which is how Wolverine returned to life. She had evil plans for the world, which Wolverine stopped. It’s generally agreed among the fan community that this is a terrible comic, although the art is really good.

Soule tried to introduce a new villain group and a new power to the Wolverine mythos but neither took. The Return Of Wolverine was a failure in every way, taking all the set-up Marvel had done for Wolverine’s return and throwing it out the window. Fans would have to wait until Wolverine: Infinity Watch, which spun out Gerry Duggan’s Infinity Wars, to discover that the Logan appearing before The Return Of Wolverine was the Phoenix Wolverine of the future. He was working with King Thor at the end of time to save the people who bonded with the Infinity Stones. Overall, things were disappointing for Wolverine fans, although 2019 would see Wolverine in House Of X/Powers Of X, which made the previous few years worth it.

The 2010s were an interesting time to be a Wolverine reader. They began on a high, with Wolverine having his own family of titles. They ended well enough, but that was mainly because of the stellar HoX/PoX and not his own books like The Return Of Wolverine or Wolverine: Infinity Watch. There were definitely some bad Wolverine comics – mostly written by Charles Soule – but there were also some amazing ones. Wolverine wouldn’t get his next solo series until 2020, in the second wave of Krakoa Era books, and is getting another solo in the From The Ashes X-Men event. The 2010s showed that not even death could stop Wolverine, and he remained among Marvel’s most popular characters.