*Beware of spoilers* Fifty years ago the villains won. The heroes fell and Wolverine was no more-in his place stood a man named Logan who dedicated himself to the life of a farmer, family man and pacifist. That is, until a fateful visit from a former ally shakes up his world. The first issue deals with Logan’s current situation as a farmer and his debt to the Hulk Gang. After receiving a brutal beating as a warning, he is visited by the former Hawkeye, Clint Barton. Clint has an offer for Logan; join him on a quest to deliver a package across the country and get paid money to cover his rent. Knowing he has no other choice he takes the offer, jumps into Clint’s vehicle and the journey begins.What got me hooked on this issue and the subsequent series is the story. It features a future where the heroes are downtrodden but still may arise again. This is now a world where the villains have triumphed and the heroes are dead. Logan isn’t striving to be a beacon of hope. He’s given up and just wants to be left alone.While not much happens in issue one, I do have a favorite part and it’s when the Hulk Gang first comes calling on Logan. After a few brief words from one of the members, Logan pops his claws and guts one of them almost in half. Sadly, this turns out to be just in his mind and instead of fighting, he gets beaten. This scene is rather important to his character. Not that he’s so against using his claws that he’d take a beating, but that the brutal, savage Wolverine is still in there, wanting to come out and play.In the second issue, the traveling pair is attacked by a biker gang where Clint is knocked down. While protecting the cargo, Logan is attacked, severely beaten and accosted by a gang member to fight back until Clint quickly dispatches all them with arrows Eventually they get to Hammer Falls, the place where Thor was taken down. The former Las Vegas has ironically been turned into the biggest superhero tourist attraction. There, they learn that Clint’s daughter Ashley and some friends have gone to the new Kingpin’s headquarters to take him down and have been captured themselves.To me this issue was just more filler and a bit of insight into what has happened to more heroes as well as what occurred with Logan 50 years ago. Also, the fact that Logan wouldn’t even fight back when faced with death shows how traumatizing the events in the past have affected him. The next part in the series continues where the last one left off, with Logan and Clint planning to use their vehicle to ram into the stronghold where Clint wants to take out the bad guys to rescue his daughter.When Ashley is freed, it’s revealed she didn’t come to stop the Kingpin but to take over his territory. So she knocks Clint on the head and right as she’s about to kill him Logan gears up the car and prepares to doing a little saving himself. On the outside, this just seems like more filler on how bad the world has become but I feel it’s also showcasing how even though Logan still won’t kill anyone or pop his claws, he seems to be, for lack of a better term, blossoming bit by bit into his former self. Before, his old resistance would have probably kept him from ramming a car into a building, possibly endangering lives, but now he does it full force to save Clint. Issue four starts off with Logan and Clint escaping the gangs following them from the Ashley’s stronghold. As they are getting ahead, an earthquake occurs and everybody is sent into the earth. Under the earth, the enemies are eaten by moloids and the pair jumps into their vehicle and escapes back to the surface. Next it cuts to a bar where Logan and Clint are talking about how the attack went down and how Logan fears that his Wolverine persona might be coming to the surface after all these years. During the talk, one of the local rednecks decides to poke some fun at Logan’s conversation, which prompts Logan to leap across the bar, tackle the guy and threaten him with death. Right before Logan can kill the man, he stops and storms out. Outside, an angry Clint asks Logan what happened 50 years ago and a sad-eyed Logan says “I’ll tell you.” As with the previous articles, this one is mostly filler leading up to an important issue. The only part that seems to have any real significance to Logan and his storyline would have to be the end. Even though he’s been a pacifist, recent events have made him come close to killing a man and almost break his vow of not showing the claws he’s kept hidden for 50 years. This issue begins 50 years ago with Wolverine and Jubilee at the Xavier Institute when alarms start coming in from all over the world. An explosion occurs which kills Jubilee and reveals that all of the earth’s supervillains have banded together to take down the superheroes. Around 40 bad guys have joined together to take down the X-Men. Wolverine is the first on the scene and he pops his claws, starting to kill villain after villain. Soon, it’s just Wolverine and Bullseye who fight for almost an hour until Wolverine finally manages to land a fatal blow, ending the villains’ assault on the institute. Right away the world goes grey, Mysterio walks out and Wolverine looks down to realize he’s holding Jubilee’s corpse instead of Bullseye. Wolverine looks up in horror and has realized that it wasn’t supervillains he was fighting but his teammates, the X-Men. Traumatized with what he’s done, Wolverine wanders for days. Eventually he puts his head on some train tracks and kills his Wolverine persona, thus becoming Logan for good.Continuing on their journey, Clint and Logan are chatting about the newly revealed events which have shown that a Venom-controlled T. rex is chasing them down. While this isn’t the last issue, I feel that most of the series has been leading up to this big reveal. This is the event that killed Wolverine and led Logan to live a life of pacifism. I think that not only is this a huge issue for the big reveal but the fantastic twist that it wasn’t some big name villain who ended Wolverine and the X-Men, it was Mysterio and his illusion powers. Apart from the story, it’s nice to see Wolverine go crazy on some enemies. Even though it’s not really the present Logan, it’s satisfying to see some adamantium-based action. During the chase they encounter Black Bolt who dispatches Venom with a sound blast. The group is immediately transported to Emma Frost’s castle and there they have a quick chat with Emma about what they’re transporting. Eventually their car is fixed and Logan and Clint are off again to New Babylon so as to deliver their precious cargo. Upon delivery the cargo is revealed to be super-soldier serum meant for a new avenger team. The buyers riddle Logan with bullets and shoot Clint, revealing themselves as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents working for the President. Again, this is another filler issue used to lead up to the surprise ending. Most of the story is spent showing bits and pieces of the aftermath of the big fight. In another flashback, The Red Skull is standing over Captain America telling him how the US will be divided among the villains and that he will be president. It cuts to the White House 50 years later with the Red Skull wearing the Captain America outfit and admiring his trophies of heroes’ outfits. When the bodies of Clint and Logan are being presented to Red Skull, Logan heals and puts down his attackers. Against the Red Skull, Logan can’t land a hit until he grabs the Captain’s shield, knocks down Red Skull and cuts off his head. Logan then puts on Iron Man’s armor, grabs a suitcase of cash and then flies back home. Coming home he learns that the hulk gang got bored and came collecting early. Opening his door, Logan sees the dead bodies of his family and his eyes go dark. With his neighbor pleading with him to not do anything stupid, Logan says that his name is Wolverine and he pops his claws for the first time in 50 years. From start to finish, this article kept me riveted. With the fight between Logan and Red Skull ending with Logan usage of Captain America’s shield, that was ju
st awesome and the perfect way for Red Skull to go. Then the way the artists had Logan’s eyes go dark as the Wolverine inside came out gave me chills, especially since they dedicated two pages for just the sound of his claws coming out after 50 years. Another part that made me excited to see this issue end was that I knew that the upcoming issue was going to be the Wolverine I had waited to see, the Wolverine who was lost 50 years ago and would kill with no remorse. For the final issue Wolverine goes all out against the Hulk Gang. Traveling across California, Wolverine slaughters Hulk after Hulk until he reaches Bruce Banner’s hideout. There they fight until Banner gets mad, turns into a giant Hulk and eats Wolverine. A few hours later Banner gets a cramp in his belly and with the realization that he ate a healer, Wolverine explodes out his back, killing him and finally avenging his family. One month later, Wolverine has buried his family and decides to travel the country righting the wrongs that happen. He remarks that it’s a bit of poetic justice that his new avengers start with the Hulk’s grandson. Wolverine is my favorite character because he’s brutal, he pops those claws, and wrecks people left and right. This entire issue, Wolverine goes after every Hulk alive and makes sure there aren’t any left alive. The final fight is also satisfying except for the fact that I wish it had less human Banner and more Wolverine-on-Hulk fighting.