Whether you call him James Howlett, Logan or simply Wolverine, this X-Man is one of Marvel Comics’ best-known and most popular comic book characters. A Canadian mutant, Wolverine is known for his exceptional fighting skills, a great and deeply complex (back)story, as well as his antiheroic personality. Wolverine is very far from your typical comic book superhero, but there is no doubt that he is among the best heroes on Marvel’s roster. Wolverine is an epic character in many ways and that is why I have decided to dedicate today’s article to him and his horrible fates in the comic books.
Today’s article is actually going to be a list. Namely, I have decided to compose a list of 10 situations in which Wolverine has died in the comic books. This is, of course, not going to be a complete list of Wolverine’s comic book deaths but rather a brutal selection of the most horrible ones that have appeared in the comic books.
This list is, of course, going to include just those horrible deaths that have been shown in the comic books, meaning that those portrayed in various derivative materials will not be included on this list. Enjoy!
Wolverine’s 10 horrible comic book deaths
In this section, I am going to bring you a list of Wolverine’s most horrible deaths as they happened in the comic books. This is a selection of some important and horrible events that have happened since the 1980s and that give an insight into both Wolverine’s character history, as well as Marvel’s narrative history. Let us begin!
1. Uncanny X-Men #142 (1981)
This storyline is actually from the event that is known as Days of Future Past, which depicts a dark future ruled by the robotic Sentinels, who wish to destroy the rest of the planet. The aging Storm, Colossus and Wolverine arrive at a facility and wipe out a few sentinels before they encounter a higher-ranking Sentinel when they exit an elevator. Colossus and Wolverine try to do a major attack combo, but the Sentinel is quicked and manages to wipe out Wolverine in mid-air, ultimately killing him.
2. Uncanny X-Men #227 (1988)
This story is also part of a larger narrative event, known as the Fall of the Mutants saga. In this storyline, a demonic trickster named Adversary appears on Earth and starts to cause trouble; this is all “thanks to” Forge, who is ultimately responsible for sealing the Adversary away. The only way to seal the demon away is by sacrificing nine souls so Forge, using the souls of the nine heroes present at the scene (Wolverine included), manages to seal their opponent thanks to their sacrifice. Luckily for the comic book fans, Wolverine and the eight other heroes have been resurrected in secret by the magical character Roma.
3. Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe (1989)
Fred Hembeck was an actual Marvel Comics author who did a very interesting one-short where he talks about his idea to do a comic in which he would destroy the whole Marvel Universe, until he is convinced by Stan Lee not to do it. The reason? To go down in history as a well-known author! Well, in his idea, he had a very easy and creative idea for all the X-Men, Wolverine included. The Sentinels are able to kill the mutants easily, but they are large and noisy. The solution? Ninja Sentinels, who would ambush the mutants while sleeping and then chop them up into hundreds of little pieces.
4. Infinity Gauntlet #3 (1991)
One of Marvel’s most important and most famous sagas, the Infinity Gauntlet, showed us what happened when Thanos managed to get a hold of the six Infinity Gems and the Infinity Gauntlet. The omnipotent villain caused all sorts of trouble around the universe and the universe’s heroes united against the common threat. During one panel of the heroes’ fight against the Mad Titan, Wolverine jumps out of nowhere and rams his adamantine claws into the villain’s chest. Thanos dies, right? Wrong! With the help of the Infinity Gauntlet, the Mad Titan defeats his opponent with a thought as he turns his skeleton into spongy rubber and leaves him to die.
5. New Warriors #11 (1991)
In this storyline, the Sphinx manages to warp time and space so that his thousand-year rule over Egypt becomes the new reality. He is also the leader of the Avengers, now called Sphinx’s Avengers, whose members include Captain Assyria, Nova, Storm, Sceptre, Iron Man, and the powerful god Horus. The Avengers attack the New Warriors but luckily, Wolverine intervenes in the battle and manages to save them. Assyria manages to subdue him, while Horus fires a powerful energy blast at the hero, a blast so strong that it completely eliminates all of the flesh from Wolverine’s body, leaving only some dust and his skeleton.
6. Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe (1995)
Marvel Comics is known for having their characters (or writers, see above) kill the rest of the large(r) fictional universe. Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher, was one of them in Garth Ennis’ cult classic storyline, where he faces off against the whole Marvel Universe. In this story, Punisher tricks all of the X-Men and their villains to go to the Moon, where he simply nukes them into oblivion. Due to being in Japan at the time, Wolverine was spared but Castle does trick him into a one-on-one battle, during which he stabs Wolverine with his own claws before throwing him into an electric fence, where his skin fries off.
7. Exiles #4 (2001)
In this story written by Judd Winnick, the Exiles arrive into a dimension in which the X-Men are destined to win their ordeal against the Shi’Ar. Shortly after this battle, Dark Phoenix (in this story, Dark Phoenix is actually Jean Grey, not just the Phoenix thinking it’s Jean Grey) goes on a rampage and kills her friends, which is then the Exiles reach out to Wolverine (and Angel, but nevermind him now). Blink creates a portal soon after and Angel carries Wolverine through it, which the latter uses to impale Dark Phoenix in the back. The reality is safe, but Wolverine dies in the explosion caused by the Phoenix’s death.
8. New X-Men #154 (2004)
Grant Morrison’s brilliant run on the New X-Men ends with a dystopian story set 150 years into the future; Cyclops has closed the school down over his grief for Jean’s death and the whole future is quite chaotic. Long story short, Beast is a villain and Jean, as Phoenix, is alive again. Jean warns Wolverine not to engage Beast, but he – of course – does not listen. With his healing factor shut off, Wolverine takes a beating and after seeing Jean defeat Beast, finally dies in peace.
9. Ultimate Fantastic Four #22 (2005)
Ummm… this is a weird one, set within the Marvel Zombies storyline. Superman Sentry somehow comes into Marvel’s reality and spreads a disease that turns the heroes into zombies. How did that happen? No clue, really, the guys at Marvel never explained it but it doesn’t really matter now. Wolverine is ambushed by a large(r) group of different superheroes and although he is ready to fight all of them, there are just too many and he is unable to do anything so they end up subduing him and turning him into a zombie as well. Yay?
10. Ultimatum #5 (2009)
This is a very ”majestic” death, I have to warn you. Jeph Loeb and David Finch co-created this story in which Magneto *ucks things up by removing Earth off its axis. The Ultimates and the X-Men, with Ultimate Wolverine on their side, decide to face the powerful mutant in hope of defeating him. Magneto’s pretty badass here so you can guess that things didn’t really go all that smoothly. Ultimate Wolverine tries to slash Magneto, but the villain controls Iron Man’s armor and Cyclops’ visor, using them to blast Wolverine at the same time. This causes significant damage as Wolverine looks like a lump of coal, but he still has enough energy to give Magneto an adamantium claw through his chest, which angers Magneto even more, so he uses his powers to completely destroy Wolverine’s skeleton and thus kill the mutant.
I have to say that I only opted for the larges stories that featured Wolverine’s death. Although they’re not all set on Earth-616, they’re also not part of Marvel’s famous What If? series, which includes even more scenarios in which Wolverine dies in the most brutal ways imaginable. Now, since What If? is a story for and in itself, I have decided not to use these narratives here and possibly prepare a separate article on how Wolverine dies in the What If? storylines published by Marvel throughout the years.
And with this, I can conclude today’s article. I sincerely hope you had fun reading this list and that it might inspire you to read some of these stories and explore the narratives even further.