The X-Men have been dropped into an all-new alternate universe storyline — “The Age of Revelation”. This story takes readers ten years into the future, after Revelation has taken control of mutantkind. This is umpteenth time that readers have been given this kind of story, and one of the most fun parts of these stories is seeing the way the X-Men have changed. “The Age of Revelation” has showed us the fate of numerous mutants, including the most popular mutant of them all — Wolverine. In this dark future, Revelation has been able to take control of Wolverine, using him as the “Angel of Death”. Wolverine already has a pretty impressive body count, killing Magneto, Forge, Xorn, and Archangel, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this.
Amazing X-Men #1 has its problems, but the idea of Wolverine as a killing machine for the bad guys is one of the cooler ideas in the story. Wolverine is the perfect target for villains who want the perfect weapon, and Revelation snagging Wolverine at some point does two things — takes away a deadly enemy and gives him the perfect killing machine. However, the issue also reveals the ultimate evolution of Wolverine, taking ideas from some of the greatest Wolverine stories ever.
Wolverine as a weapon is one of those ideas that has been around for decades. It was teased that Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton was given to him by a government agency, with the truth revealed in the Wolverine classic “Weapon X”. Wolverine was meant to be used as a living weapon, and while he’s fought it numerous times over the years, Wolverine stories have used this idea over and over again.
Apocalypse was able to make him into the Horseman of Death in 1998 and 1999’s X-Men books, with Apocalypse scaling his powers up and setting him loose. The Hand have been able to take over Wolverine’s mind and pit him against his friends in “Enemy of the State”. During the landmark Krakoa Era, Beast was able to take over Wolverine’s mind and make him into weapon. Ultimate Wolverine made him into the Winter Soldier. Revelation used his powers to do so yet again in “The Age of Revelation”, but there’s a difference. The Revelation version of Wolverine may be the best Wolverine so far.
Usually, when someone controls Wolverine, he goes feral; he’ll follow orders but he is mindless and easy to beat for this reason. However, looking at Wolverine in The Age of Revelation: Overture and Amazing X-Men #1, this new Wolverine is smart and crafty, using all of his skills to tear through some of the most powerful and skilled X-Men. Revelation’s ability to use language to control people has made Wolverine into the killing machine that Weapon X, the Hand, Apocalypse, and Beast wanted him to be — a skilled, intelligent weapon.
However, we’re also shown something else in Amazing X-Men #1 — Wolverine is able to resist Revelation’s powers until they’re boosted by Fabian Cortez, Khora, and Chance. This is the ultimate evolution of Wolverine. Sure, Wolverine survived a black hole and was able to run through the X-Men, faster and stronger than he’s ever been. However, Wolverine has only shown the ability to resist telepathic control when he was feral, his brain changing to a wilder state keeping him from being controlled. Somehow, Age of Revelation Wolverine has regained this ability to extent, which is why it’s so hard for Revelation to transform him back in the Angel of Death. Wolverine has regained his ability to fight mind control, which is a very interesting development.
The Age of Revelation Wolverine’s transformation into the Angel of Death plays off many older Wolverine stories. Wolverine has been used against his friends numerous times over the years — Ultimate Wolverine‘s first four issues this year were all about that — but “The Age of Revelation” brings something different to that. Revelation doesn’t have complete control of Wolverine, which feels like it’s going to lead somewhere as the story goes on. There are some out there who find Wolverine’s weakness to mind control to be a problem, but I think it’s the opposite.
Wolverine has always been able to break through the programming that others try to use against him. Every time Wolverine has been controlled, he has done a lot of damage — Wolverine is definitely a formidable enemy — but he always rebels against the control, with his love for his friends being the main reason he’s able to rebel. Wolverine may seem like he’s always being controlled, but this has always given him something else to fight against. He keeps fighting for redemption, keeps fighting the beast inside him. Wolverine’s battles against mind control shows what kind of person he is, and why he’s such a great hero.
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