Thanks to his indestructible adamantium skeleton and accelerated healing factor, Wolverine
is one of the most ‘unkillable’ characters in comic book history.
But despite this, he has actually been killed many times in the comics, or at least, presumed
dead.
In this video, we will explore 10 different stories from the comics in which Wolverine
dies.
So let’s begin…
Number 1.
A Sentinel Kills Wolverine.
Cause of death: Energy blast Days of Future Past was possibly the first
Marvel story to show that Wolverine could be killed.
You see that scene from the movie where the X-men are killed by sentinels is taken straight
from the comic Uncanny X-Men #142.
Days of Future Past imagined a future where the mutant-hunting Sentinels had taken over
the world.
Most of the X-Men are dead, and only a small resistance group that includes Wolverine,
Kate Pryde, Franklin Richards, and Magneto are left to fight the Sentinels.
In a desperate attempt to fix the situation, they project Kate's consciousness into the
past and into the body of her teenage self, so that she can help the X-Men stop the assassination
of Senator Robert Kelly and the resulting wave of anti-mutant sentiment…
The Wolverine of this timeline is a worn-out, greying Logan well past his prime, which tells
us that perhaps his healing factor is not what it used to be.
Not long after, we see Wolverine destroyed by a Sentinel's energy blast.
The assumption is that His flesh is vaporised, leaving nothing left to regenerate.
Number 2.
Horde kills Wolverine.
Cause of death: Heart ripped out In this story, the X-Men are threatened by
a near-omnipotent villain called Horde in order to find an artefact called the Crystal
of Ultimate Vision that would allow him to rule all of existence.
Sounds familiar.
The team which includes Wolverine, Storm, Dazzler, Longshot, and Psylocke, are left
with no choice but to enter the Citadel of Light and Shadow to retrieve the Crystal.
Once inside, the X-Men are tormented by visions of how their lives might have turned out and
the heroes are tempted by the Crystal to remain in this fantasy world forever.
The X-Men finally reach the quarry as Horde appears.
Wolverine tries to shield Storm and the Crystal but is impaled by Horde's javelin.
Horde then goes over to the incapacitated Wolverine and rips his heart out.
Unfortunately for Horde, a drop of Wolverine's blood has landed on the Crystal, allowing
Wolverine's body to regrow itself from a single drop of blood.
Number 3.
Hulk kills Wolverine Cause of death: Broken neck
The hulk and wolverine have been rivals for decades, with the first encounter possibly
starting with The Incredible Hulk #181 published in 1974.
One of the early What If? issues even explored what might have happened if Wolverine had
succeeded in his mission to kill the Hulk.
But Marvel eventually turned the tables on this storyline with the Incredible Hulk #340
published in 1988.
In this version of the Hulk/Wolverine fight, Wolverine stabs the Hulk through the heart
and leaves him for dead.
But the Hulk, having a healing factor of his own, quickly recovers and starts smashing
Wolverine’s head with his heavy fists.
Eventually, he dislodges a vertebrae in Wolverine’s neck and severs his spinal cord.
Number 4.
Punisher kills everyone Cause of death: Stabbing and Electrocution
Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe by Garth Ennis was set up pretty much like a What If?
comic.
It realises a world where Castle's family weren't gunned down by mobsters, but were
instead collateral damage caused by the Avengers, kind of like the plot of the movie Civil War…
The Punisher is born, only now the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and others are on his
kill list.
With a little help from Microchip, the Punisher proceeds to systematically murder every super-powered
individual on the planet.
Wolverine manages to survive for a while, but he and Frank Castle eventually cross paths.
The two engage in a violent brawl until Wolverine’s impaled by his own claws and is then thrown
into an electrical transformer, which vaporises his flesh…
Number 5.
Beast kills Wolverine Cause of death: Disembowelment
In this story, Grant Morrison imagines a future where humans are practically extinct and the
X-Men are waging a never-ending war against The Beast of the Apocalypse and his genetically
engineered armies.
As it turns out, the Beast in question is actually the X-Men's Beast, possessed by the
sentient bacteria Sublime and driven to harness the power of the Phoenix.
Just like the Days of Future Past storyline, Wolverine is alive and well, and looking even
younger.
When he and the X-Men finally confront Beast/Sublime, Sublime uses his newly acquired Phoenix powers
to effortlessly switch off Wolverine's healing.
He then proceeds to slice open Wolverine’s stomach, spilling his intestines…
Number 6.
Gorgon kills Wolverine.
Cause of death: Stabbing Ok so far, most of the Wolverine ‘deaths’
have taken place in alternate storylines…
But in the "Enemy of the State" plot in which we see the Hand and HYDRA merge into one giant
terrorist organization, Wolverine dies for real… kind of…
Gorgon's master plan involves killing the superheroes and using Hand sorcery to resurrect
them as braindead assassins, and Wolverine is next on his list.
Gorgon theorises that the best way to kill Wolverine is to stab him quickly in many critical
areas at once, before his healing factor has a chance to kick in.
He gets to test his theory when he later ambushes Wolverine in a cemetery, stabbing him several
times and indeed killing him.
Number 7.
Zombie Avengers eat Wolverine.
Cause of death: Zombie bites Wolverine’s healing factor also covers most
diseases, but zombie bites are a different story.
Mark Millar first introduced the Marvel Zombies concept in his Ultimate Fantastic Four run.
By the time the Ultimate Universe's Reed Richards crossed over in the Marvel Zombies Universe,
it had been completely overrun by flesh-eating zombie superheroes.
In the Marvel Zombies: Dead Days comic published in 2007, Wolverine is part of the resistance
against the zombified Avengers until he is bitten by Hawkeye on one arm and Captain America
on the other.
Shortly after the hunger begins…
Number 8.
Storm kills Wolverine.
Cause of death: Lightning strike This story picks up from X-Men #3 published
in 1991.
Already messed up from his latest encounter with Magneto, Wolverine is destroyed by a
massive lightning blast from Storm.
Apparently electricity is a weakness.
Wolverine is quickly replaced by Sabretooth as the X-Men's resident grizzly bear, and
the X-men even learn that Victor was Logan's father.
Number 9.
Magneto kills Wolverine.
Cause of death: Total obliteration In this story Magento flips Earth's magnetic
poles, causing massive environmental havoc and killing millions.
Even many superheroes such as Dr Strange are killed.
Magneto proves in the final issue of Ultimatum that the best way to kill Wolverine is to
be very thorough about it.
First, he takes control of Iron Man's repulsors and Cyclops' visor, blasting Wolverine until
he’s a smoking flesh covered skeleton.
As a final guarantee, Magneto then shatters the adamantium covering his bones, leaving
a pile of dust…
And Number 10.
Wolverine kills Wolverine.
Cause of death: Stabbing
In this story, Wolverine and Invisible Woman attempt to travel back in time to kill Hank
Pym before he can create Ultron.
Wolverine succeeds in this task, but the alternate future created as a result is even worse.
After seeing enough of Iron Man and Morgan le Fay waging war on each other, Wolverine
travels back in time again, this time to stop himself from killing Pym.
And it's just as well he did, because Pym had already created a failsafe by inserting
a virus into Ultron's programming, ensuring that he would self-destruct in the crucial
moments before the Age of Ultron came to pass.
Still, the fact that 2 wolverine’s exist was still a problem.
Both knew that only one of them could live, and the Wolverine who had killed Pym and seen
the future it caused volunteered to die.
So basically, Wolverine B kills Wolverine A off panel.
Apparently, Wolverine knows exactly how to do it, suggesting he has a weak point on his
body…. or maybe he just took off his head…
So, that's it, those are 10 instances where Wolverine was killed in the comics.
If you can think of any other instances, please leave a comment below.
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