Wolverine has had quite a time the last 52 years. Born in the mid-19th century in Canada, James Howlett’s mutant powers ruined his early life and sent him a road that would take him through heartache and tragedy that would kill anyone else. He became a man who couldn’t die but who brought death with him everywhere he went, fighting against the beast inside of him. He’s tried his best over the years and has been able to become one of the greatest heroes ever, saving the world and the entire universe along with the X-Men and the Avengers. While he’s taken many, many lives, he’s saved way more.
Logan’s life has been very difficult and he’s often been presented with some dark choices over the decades. Sometimes, he’s made some rather tough calls, doing things that would take his life down some dark roads. These are the seven darkest decisions Wolverine’s made in the last 52 years, choices that forged him into the person he is today.
Romulus was one of Wolverine’s most dangerous foes, but there was a time when they weren’t exactly blood rivals. In fact, for an unknown period around the time Logan ended up in the Weapon X project, the ol’Canucklehead was working with the ancient mutant manipulator. In fact, he volunteered for the project because of Romulus. During this time, he worked closely with Sarbretooth and Romulus’s sister Remus, doing whatever terrible things they were commanded to do.
Wolverine’s bone claws years took him in unique directions and Wolverine (Vol. 2) #91 would drop a bombshell on readers – the adamantium was holding his mutation from making him more feral and without it he was regressing. Eventually, he was captured by Cable’s son Genesis, who was trying to resurrect Apocalypse and wanted Wolvie as the Horseman of Death. He killed Cyber and took his adamantium to bond to Logan’s skeleton, capturing him and Cannonball. With Cannonball’s life in danger, the wildest X-Man violently rejected the adamantium being bonded to his skeleton, becoming feral and killing Genesis and the Dark Riders in order to save his friend. He gave up his humanity to save a life, showing the type of person he was.
Wolverine’s healing factor is his most important attribute. It’s allowed him to survive everything thrown at him, including the adamantium-bonding process, letting him survive long enough to become the hero he is today. However, at one point he decided to give it up, over the course of Wolverine (Vol. 5). He ended up getting embroiled in a Microverse invasion and the only way to stop it was to use his healing factor to destroy the swarming invaders. He could have chosen to keep it and warn his friends, fighting alongside them to try to stop the invasion. Instead, he gave it up, saving the most lives and leading him on the road to the end of his own.
Fans wouldn’t find out about the early years of Logan until Origin, with the miniseries revealing the formative tragedy of his life. In Origin #2, Howlett manor groundskeeper Thomas Logan and his son Dog decided to kill John and James and take Elizabeth, who Thomas had been having an affair with. That night, James’ mutant powers kicked in and he went completely feral. He killed Thomas and scarred Dog’s face after they killed John. Elizabeth went mad that night, with James and his nursemaid Rose escaping thanks to her father-in-law, and would kill herself not long after.
New X-Men was amazing for the X-Men, with Logan playing a key role in several stories. The book’s penultimate story “Planet X” would see Magneto devastate the team, throwing Wolverine and Jean Grey at the sun after they were tricked into going to Asteroid M. They did everything they could to survive, but Jean was suffering and would have slowly died before hitting the sun. So, Wolvie took the woman he loved in his arms and killed her. This would actually awaken the Phoenix Force in her, saving both of them, so maybe he knew that would happen. However, he would end up killing her again years down the road in Wolverine (Vol. 7) #1, when he was mind-controlled by the Flower Cartel.
Mariko Yashida came into Wolverine’s life not long after he joined the X-Men and changed it. She made him want to become a better person and he loved her enough to try his best. Their relationship led to them almost getting married but mind control ruined it, as Mastermind made her leave him. Even after learning the truth, she refused to go back to him, feeling she had dishonored him and their love. She later asked for his help against Matsuo Tsurayaba and the Hand and was fooled into making peace with them. He poisoned her during the ceremony with blowfish toxin, a painful, terrible death. She asked the man she loved to end her suffering and he did, sparing her pain. Tsurayaba would pay dearly; Wolvie promised to visit him once a year on the anniversary of her death and cut something off him. He’s kept this date for years.
Uncanny X-Force was a best of all-time comic and it ended with Wolverine having to do the most terrible thing you can imagine. “The Final Execution” saw his son Daken bring together a new Brotherhood of Mutants to destroy Wolverine and reveal him for the monster he was in Daken’s eyes to the world. The whole thing ended with a battle between father and son, with Logan drowning his son – the death that the younger mutant had planned for him – holding his head in a puddle and regretting every decision that led them there. It was a chilling sequence, one that showed the barbarism and brutality that Wolverine was capable of.
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