Stage 0: Previous Incarnations
Untold centuries ago, near Jerusalem, the man-demon Ba'al is seemingly destroyed by a so-called divine warrior known only as the Hand of God. In recent years, a being claiming to be Ba'al comes into conflict with Logan, whom this Ba'al appears to believe is the reincarnation of the Hand of God. Although Logan experiences "deja vu" while battling Ba'al, he has no direct memory of any such previous incarnation.
(Ba'al and the Hand of God from Wolverine #13-16.)
On one occasion, Logan dreams about encountering the entity known as Uncegila during the 1840s; since Logan, although long-lived, does not appear to have been born significantly before the dawn of the twentieth century, it might be assumed that this dream's timeframe was a result of Logan's subconscious denial of its reality, but it is at least possible that this chain of events in fact occurred during an earlier incarnation of Logan's soul. It should also be noted that one report claims that on one occasion the Logan of the modern era traveled back in time to the year 1870 to prevent an extraterrestrial invasion in the western United States, but the validity of this report is open to debate.
(Uncegila in the 1840s from Marvel Comics Presents #93-98. 1870 from X-Men: Millenial Visions)
Stage 1: From Birth To World War I---Late 1890s To Mid-1910s
In about 1892, James Howlett, later to be known as Logan, Wolverine, Patch, Weapon X, and various other names, is born in Alberta, Canada, to John and Elizabeth Howlett. James is the second of the Howletts' two sons, the elder, John Jr., having been born in 1885. Unknown to his family, James is a mutant who will eventually develop several superhuman powers, including preternatural agility and skill, heightened senses, an enhanced healing factor which greatly retards his aging process, and retractable claws in his hands.
(Howletts from Wolverine: The Origin #1; year of birth conjecture.)
According to one account, the second child of the Howletts died in childbirth, and the Howletts found and adopted a infant member of the Moon Tribe, a bestial race which has co-existed with humanity for hundreds of thousands of years. Supposedly, it is this Moon Tribe child who was named James Howlett and would grow up to become Logan, the hero called Wolverine; however, certain other allegations made in the account in question remain dubious at best, and its claims about Logan may not be accurate.
(Moon Tribe claim from Paradise X #4.)
In 1897, shortly after the construction of the Howlett family estate, John Howlett, Jr. dies at the age of twelve, allegedly of illness; Elizabeth Howlett's reaction to the tragedy is so extreme that she is confined to a mental institution for an unspecified period of time. There is some reason to believe that John Jr.'s death is due to the manifestation of mutant abilities similar to those that James will later demonstrate.
(Death of John Jr. et al from Wolverine: The Origin #1-3.
In about 1904, a young Irish girl named Rose is brought to the Howlett estate to be James's companion; the two children befriend a third youth, "Dog" Logan, son of groundskeeper Thomas Logan.
(Rose and Dog from Wolverine: The Origin #1; year estimated from James Howlett's apparent age of twelve as of #1.)
In about 1907, Thomas and Dog Logan are dismissed from the Howlett estate due to Dog's misconduct, but the two return shortly afterward, Thomas Logan killing John Howlett in the presence of James, Rose, and Elizabeth Howlett. The grief-stricken James, in his mid-teens at this time, extends his mutant claws for the first time, wounding Dog and killing Thomas Logan. Elizabeth becomes hysterical and drives James from the house, and James's grandfather orders James and Rose to leave Alberta by train; as they travel, James's mutant healing factor helps him to recover from his ordeal. The two find refuge at a stone quarry in northern British Columbia, where Rose gives James's name as "Logan" and claims to be his cousin. Within a few months, the rough environment provokes a change in "Logan," causing him to become rougher and more violent, perhaps an indication of his mutation's further development; he takes to hunting in the wild, bringing down game with no more than his claws and an increasingly bestial nature.
(James Howlett takes the name of "Logan" in Wolverine: The Origin #3, and since this is the name that he will use for the rest of his life, he will be referred to as such for the rest of this chronology. Deaths, quarry, etc. from Wolverine: The Origin #2-4.)
In about 1910, after a few years in the quarry community, Logan becomes estranged from Rose when she decides to marry Smitty, the camp's foreman; Logan works off his frustrations in a series of cage fights, and his fighting prowess wins him the nickname of "the Wolverine." Following a fight with Smitty, whom he allows to win and with whom he makes peace, Logan is confronted by his former friend Dog, who has been sent by the ailing elder Howlett to retrieve him but who intends to instead kill him. During his fight with Dog, Logan accidentally kills Rose; horrified, Logan flees the quarry community, into the surrounding woods. Smitty searches for him to no avail; Dog's fate remains unrevealed. It will later be claimed that Logan's healing factor suppresses his painful memories of this incident and others of his youth but, considering that Logan will later demonstrate the ability to successfully retain memories that are at least as traumatic as these, this claim seems questionable; it may be that in later decades Logan's healing factor will, for one reason or another, cease to affect his memories as it allegedly does at this time.
(Dog, Rose's death, and aftermath from Wolverine: The Origin #6. Healing factor's effect on memory from Wolverine #175.)
It is not known how long Logan lives in the wild nor what experiences he undergoes during that time; decades later, Logan will tell a young boy a story about a boy who "had been cast out by his people," to be adopted by a pack of wolverines, but to what extent, if any, this story is based upon Logan's own experiences is unknown. Over the years, Logan's fragmented psyche attempts to restructure his youth with limited success, leaving him with only vague memories of his father and none of his mother. Among Logan's apparently false memories of his childhood are recollections of attending the first grade, where he got "in trouble...for not listenin' to instructions," and of receiving a knife from the effects of his deceased father. It remains unclear at precisely which point Logan lost his accurate memories of the first eighteen or so years of his life, although it appears that knowledge of his superhuman traits passes from his memory almost immediately, but presumably they are definitively erased when he is victimized by the Weapon X Program decades later.
(Story about wolverines from Wolverine #25. Logan's supposed knowledge of his father from Wolverine Limited Series #1; his unfamiliarity with his mother from Marvel Comics Presents #72 and Havok and Wolverine #1. First grade from Marvel Comics Presents #44. Knife from Wolverine #49.)
After an unknown length of time living in the wild, Logan takes up residence in another frontier community in the Canadian Rockies, where white settlers co-exist, sometimes uneasily, with the Native American tribes of the region, including the Blackfoot; decades later, Logan will express uncertainty about whether or not he himself is partially Blackfoot in descent, an impression that may derive from this point in his life. Among the community's residents is a man who will become Logan's deadliest enemy: Victor Creed, although the community knows him only as "Sabretooth." Logan will later recall that Sabretooth had "always helped himself to whatever was mine, challenging me to stop him. Something always held me back. Knew he hated me, hadn't a clue why." It is possible that Sabretooth, himself a mutant with abilities remarkably similar to Logan's (and, according to one account, a member of the Bear Clan, a second tribe of the same bestial race as the Moon Tribe), senses Logan's powers and wishes to maintain "dominance" over him like one wild animal over another, while Logan himself, although as yet unaware of his mutant nature, may subconsciously sense the similarity between them, leading him to restrain himself against someone so like himself. Another resident is a young Native American woman named Silver Fox, with whom Logan soon falls in love; the two homestead a cabin together and live happily for several months; decades later, even after learning of his memory implants, Logan will be confident in the accuracy of memories of knowing Silver Fox during his childhood, implying that such false memories were developed independently of the Team X Project.
(Logan's uncertainty about potential Blackfoot heritage from Wolverine #34. Sabretooth, Silver Fox, etc. from Wolverine #10. Sabretooth's alleged status as member of Bear Clan from Paradise X #4. It should be noted that some accounts claim that at least some of these events in Logan's life were only memory implants based upon his later association with Sabretooth and Silver Fox in Team X; Logan and Silver Fox may have lived together not at this time but during their years in Team X. Childhood memories of Silver Fox from Wolverine #106.)
On Logan's birthday (or at least in late May, which is when Logan will later believe his birthday to be), Sabretooth brutally attacks Silver Fox, apparently raping her and leaving her for dead; Logan apparently witnesses at least part of this attack, and the experience traumatizes him severely, a trauma that the Team X Project will later use as a basis for many of his memory implants. Enraged, Logan attempts to avenge her by battling Sabretooth, apparently undergoing a berserker rage which he will later remember as perhaps the first one he ever experienced, but the older man defeats Logan after a harsh battle. Unable to bear this defeat, Logan leaves the frontier community, apparently never to return; he will not see his and Silver Fox's cabin home again for nearly a century. As far as is known, the two men will not meet again until both serve in Team X, although it is known that Sabretooth eventually develops the habit of stalking and battling Logan on his birthday as a reminder of this earliest tragedy in their shared history. Logan will later note that he "threw away" his chance to go home years ago, possibly a reference to this incident. Unknown to Logan, Silver Fox is not dead and eventually recovers from the assault. Silver Fox's activities after this remain unknown for decades; when next seen, she appears little older than she is now, suggesting that she found some method of retarding the aging process, a trait that will be shared by many of Logan's subsequent friends and enemies. Decades later, Logan will be reunited with both Sabretooth and Silver Fox in Team X.
(Supposed month of birth from Official Marvel Index to the X-Men Vol. I #5. Sabretooth and Silver Fox from Wolverine #10; additional details from Wolverine #64. "Chance to go home" from Marvel Comics Presents #40. It should be noted that some accounts imply that these events took place not early in Logan's life but during his career with Team X, with details of his recollections altered by implanted memories.)
Venturing into the eastern Rockies, Logan obtains work for the Hudson Bay Company, a British corporation. Among his co-workers are Crawlface Bob and Du Bois, both of whom are killed by Blackfoot Indians. Venturing into Blackfoot territory himself, Logan encounters the demonic creature known as Uncegila, whom he slays after a pitched battle. At this time, Logan is already using as personal weapons two steel knives, "Spanish-made and Mexican-forged," which he claims to have received as a gift from "a little gambler from Natchez," whom he evidently encountered either in the frontier town or while working for the Hudson Bay Company; they are the first of many bladed weapons that Logan will wield throughout his long life. The Blackfoot, impressed by Logan's battle prowess, name him "Skunk-Bear," or "Wolverine"; Logan takes a liking to the name, but, as far as is known, he will not use it again for decades. These events, Logan's first known encounter with the supernatural, eventually prove so troubling to him that he suppresses them from his conscious memory, unless his inability to recall them can be traced to his time with Team X; decades later, he will recall them in a dream, which his subconscious sets during the 1840s, although the possibility that these events in fact happened not to Logan but to an earlier incarnation of his soul cannot be dismissed.
(Hudson Bay Company, Uncegila, et al from Marvel Comics Presents #93-98.)
Logan travels into more populated areas of Canada, eventually joining the Army. Still a part of the British Empire, Canada's armed forces become involved in World War I. Although, as yet, Logan has not realized that he possesses superhuman powers, his abilities quickly call him to the attention of the authorities, and he is assigned to a special unit of the Canadian military known as the Devil's Brigade; it may be during this period that he first becomes familiar with the uses of explosives and the Fairbourne dagger. Logan's commanding officer is a superhumanly-strong man known only as Cyber, whom Logan will later recall as "someone I looked up to in my misbegotten youth." Although a severe disciplinarian who strikes Logan on some occasions, Cyber still commands respect as one of Logan's first teachers. In this new life, Logan again begins to find love, as he romances a young woman named Janet. It is possible that he meets American author Ernest Hemingway, an American correspondent during the war, during this period. Still troubled by his encounter with Uncegila, Logan seeks solace in Christianity; he will later pronounce this effort to be "a mistake." According to one account, at some point during World War I, Logan encounters a German agent named Eikert; Logan and Eikert will meet again decades later, during World War II.
(Mostly conjecture, a combination of items from Logan's past that do not seem to fit in any other segment of his biography. Devil's Brigade from Alpha Flight #33. Explosives and the Fairbourne dagger from Wolverine #106. Cyber as Logan's superior officer from Marvel Comics Presents #88; in Iron Fist #15, after being struck by Iron Fist, Logan notes that he "ain't been hit like that since [he] was a kid," suggesting that he had been struck by a superhuman during his youth. Janet from Marvel Comics Presents #134. Acquaintance with Ernest Hemingway implied from Wolverine #35. Logan and religion from Uncanny X-Men #164. Eikert from the Marvel/Image crossover WildCATs/X-Men: The Golden Age.)
Under circumstances and for reasons which have yet to be revealed, Cyber murders Janet; Logan does not learn of this until after a battle engagement with the Devil's Brigade. When confronted, Cyber, beside whom Logan had fought so recently, brutally beats Logan and gouges out one of his eyes, presumably for daring to confront a superior officer in such a manner. Logan's Christian faith does not survive the death of Janet and this experience with Cyber. His injury at Cyber's hands is the most severe wound that Logan has suffered up to this time. It will be months before his mutant healing factor regenerates his lost eye; however, still unaware that he is a mutant, Logan simply assumes that his eye, although severely damaged, was not in fact removed. It will be decades before he realizes the true nature of his healing abilities; presumably, he wears a patch over his eye until it heals, and it may be during this period that he first uses the alias "Patch," a name he will periodically use for the rest of his life. Still a young man, Logan is so shaken by these events that he blocks much of them from his conscious memory, remembering only that he suffered this severe wound "in the war---with the Devil's Brigade"; the experience continues to haunt his dreams for decades until, finally, he confronts Cyber once more and removes one of Cyber's own eyes in repayment.
(Janet's death from Marvel Comics Presents #134; surrounding details conjecture. Cyber, Logan's lost eye, and nightmares from Marvel Comics Presents #85-92. His first severe wound and his ignorance of his mutant nature from Alpha Flight #33.)
Stage 2: Between World War I And
World War II---Late 1910s To Early 1940s
In either the later years of or directly after World War I, Logan leaves the army and, taking passage aboard a ship, travels to China, where he meets Chang, a Chinese businessman with whom he shares undisclosed adventures. Although Logan does not realize it at the time, Chang is an employee of the agency known as Landau, Luckman, and Lake, with which Logan will later become very familiar; in later years, LL&L will expand into interdimensional operations, eventually having operatives on many alien worlds, but the precise nature of their activities during this period is unclear. It will be many years before Chang feels that Logan is suitably prepared to learn the truth about his employers' activities. At one point, Logan and Chang are photographed on nineteenth century tintype at a shipyard, although whether the use of this medium should be taken to indicate that the pair had traveled back in time is open to debate.
(China from Marvel Comics Presents #41 et al. Ship implied by Logan's clothes in Wolverine #113. Chang and photograph from Wolverine #5. In Wolverine #98, Logan notes that he and Chang "went back a long way" even during his freelance days of the 1950s, suggesting that they first met some time prior to that. Landau, Luckman, and Lake from Logan: Path of the Warlord and other sources.)
In Shanghai, Logan first makes the acquaintance of Ogun, a Japanese samurai and sorcerer whom some claim to be immortal, when Logan prevents soldiers under Ogun from assaulting a Chinese mystic and his young westerner pupil, noting that "you don't make war on old men and children"; Logan's comment in this instance may be indicative of some of his experiences with the Devil's Brigade. Ogun, at this time a Captain in the Japanese Imperial Army, is impressed by Logan and offers to instruct him in the martial arts at the Ogun Ryu Dojo in Kanasawa, Japan, while the unnamed mystic, similarly recognizing Logan's potential, offers to instruct him in "plumbing the mysteries of the universe." Logan, determined to avoid responsibility after his disastrous stint with the Devil's Brigade, declines both offers, claiming that he has "places to see and things to do." It may also be in China at this time that Logan meets Adam Destine, a man granted indestructibility and immortality centuries ago; as yet, Logan does not realize that he himself, to some extent, shares these qualities with Destine. Logan and Destine develop a great respect for each other and share at least one adventure, which culminates in the bombing of a mountain fortress by someone named Chen Yu. Destine believes Logan to have been killed in the explosion and departs the area, but Logan survives and recovers from his wounds; it will be decades before the two meet again. It is possible that Ogun and Destine are the first centuries-old individuals that Logan has encountered; they will not be the last.
(Ogun and the mystic from Wolverine #113. Ogun's supposed immortality from Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #4. Destine from X-Men/Clan Destine #2.)
Although details are vague, it may be during this period that Logan first encounters two centuries-old sorcerers, the benevolent Gomurr the Ancient and the malevolent Mister Jip. Gomurr will later comment that Logan has never known how to "respect [his] elders," while Jip will recall Logan as "impetuous"; Logan and Gomurr will meet again years later, after Logan has become skilled in the art of the samurai, while he will encounter Jip as part of an adventure with the X-Men. It may also be during this time that Logan first meets a man called Black Crane; decades later, Logan will speculate that Black Crane might be a mutant, because he has seen Black Crane do some remarkable things. According to one account, Logan will later express familiarity with the Cult of Si-Fan, servants of the notorious criminal Fu Manchu, and it may be during this period that he first encounters the Si-Fan and other strange secret societies. During his Chinese exploits, Logan adopts a carefree, irreverent attitude, but his past sufferings and his various encounters with the supernatural and other unexplained phenomena tear at his veneer of humanity; feeling himself the pawn of forces he does not understand, he eventually assumes a "predator" persona to intimidate those around him. Logan will later categorize his activities during this period as an effort "to run...an' fight his way beyond the pain," claiming that he "fought his way clear 'cross the world."
(Gomurr the Ancient from Uncanny X-Men #329-330. Mister Jip from Uncanny X-Men Annual #13. Black Crane from Uncanny X-Men #363. Si-Fan from the Marvel/Image crossover WildCATs/X-Men: The Golden Age. Logan as predator from Wolverine #126; running from Wolverine '96 Annual.)
After an indeterminate number of years, during which he may or may not have ventured out of Asia, Logan's travels lead him to the island nation of Madripoor, where he meets a woman known only as Seraph, proprietor of the Princess Bar. Seraph, unimpressed with Logan's attitude, takes him under her wing and helps him deal with the tragedies that life has dealt him thus far; through his friendship with her, Logan learns lessons about responsibility, morality, and grace. Logan will later credit Seraph with giving him "free will." Logan makes many other friends on Madripoor, most notably the prostitute Madame Joy, and will eventually become part-owner of the Princess Bar. Logan learns that Seraph has appointed herself the guardian of Madripoor against the Hand, an ancient order of mystic assassins. Logan develops a deep devotion to Seraph, and he will fight by her side a number of times over the decades; like Logan, Seraph seems to age little if at all during this period, but the secret of her apparent immortality has yet to be revealed. Logan, still using the alias "Patch," develops a notable reputation in Madripoor which will linger for decades to come; news clippings of Patch's Madripoorian exploits remain in his possession to this day.
(Madripoor, Seraph, and the Hand from Uncanny X-Men #268 and Wolverine #126-127. Madame Joy from Wolverine #10. News clippings from Wolverine #79.)
Driven to reshape his spirit in order to better assist Seraph, yet unable to shake his bestial side alone, Logan remembers Ogun's offer and travels to Japan for the first time; still, in his own words, "a punk kid" when he makes this journey, Logan will eventually come to regard Japan as his second home. Logan spends years studying under Ogun, whom he comes to regard as a father figure. While in Japan, Logan also takes up diving, which gives him a sense of peace he has never before achieved. According to one account, while in Japan at some point in the early 1920s, Logan is instrumental in saving the life of the leader of the Kage Ryu', or Dragon Clan, a society of mystic warriors who have been locked in a secret war with the rival society known as the Kyoto Sohei since the tenth century; as a result of his heroism, Logan is accepted into the Kage Ryu' and serves as its elite soldier, or Montra Warrior, against an opponent from the Kyoto Sohei, a role in which he succeeds and which he will take up anew every twenty-five years.
(Logan's first visit to Japan from Uncanny X-Men #118 and Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #3; second home from Uncanny X-Men #162 and other sources. Ogun from Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #4-6. Diving from Marvel Comics Presents #41. Kage Ryu' from the Marvel/Crusade crossover Wolverine/Shi: Dark Night of Judgment.)
A few weeks after beginning his training, Logan observes a battle between Ogun and a band of ninjas hired by crimelord Ugama Hana, one of Ogun's many enemies. After easily defeating the ninjas and battling Hana, Ogun allows Hana to drive a sword into his chest. Despite this seemingly fatal wound, Ogun removes the sword from his own chest and mocks Hana's efforts, decapitating him shortly thereafter. This is the first demonstration of Ogun's true mystic power that Logan witnesses; over the
years he will see Ogun cheat apparent death many times.
(Ugama Hana from Wolverine #169.)
Despite his newfound devotion to martial arts, Logan's wanderlust proves too great a temptation, and he does not complete his samurai training at this time, instead, it would seem, traveling periodically throughout Asia and Europe, apparently using Japan as a home base. Little is known of these adventures, but it is possible that, at some point during these years, Logan works alongside Irene Adler and "Mr. Raven," an identity which may be an alias of the shapechanging Raven Darkholme; decades later, Adler and Darkholme, as Destiny and Mystique, will found the second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and clash with Logan and the X-Men many times. The precise nature of this work is unknown, but in 1936, on behalf of Adler and Raven, Logan aids the time-traveling American mutants Shadowcat and Phoenix, both of whom are Logan's teammates and friends in the X-Men some decades in the future, in their encounter with the ancient entity known as the Shadow King and the German agents Baron Strucker and Geist, all three of whom Logan will clash with in later years. However, it is possible that it is not the "contemporary" Logan of 1936 who aids the two X-Men on this occasion, but the Logan of several decades in the future, brought back into the past under circumstances that remain unclear, perhaps directly related to the arrival of Shadowcat and Phoenix, which Adler, a precognitive, could easily have foretold. Interestingly, a verified instance of Logan time-traveling from the future occurs less than a year later; during April of 1937, the Logan of nearly sixty years in the future arrives in northern Spain, where he encounters, among others, Ernest Hemingway and adventurer Eugene Judd, whom Logan will later know as Puck. A later version of Judd in fact travels back in time with Logan, apparently merging with his past self. As far as is known, the "contemporary" Logan, whose activities at this time are unknown, never learns of this incursion by his future self; it is possible that, during the years of 1936 and 1937, Logan was involved in some set of circumstances, perhaps under the auspices of Landau, Luckman, and Lake, which rendered this period unusually prone to time travel by his future selves, although this is mere conjecture. Following these events, apparently after Judd has departed the area, Logan himself sees action in the Spanish Civil War, although no details of his role in the conflict are available; records of his role in the war remain in Logan's possession to this day.
(Adler, Raven, et al from X-Men: True Friends #2-3. The possibility that Logan traveled through time to participate in these events is suggested by the fact that he is depicted with his adamantium claws and the knowledge that he is a mutant, both attributes that he allegedly did not receive until decades later; since he recognizes neither Shadowcat nor Phoenix, it seems probable that "this" Logan originated from his years in Canadian Intelligence under Department H. 1937 from Wolverine #35-37. Spanish Civil War from Wolverine #79.)
At some point during the late 1930s, Logan develops a close attachment to the Romanoff family in Russia, particularly young Natasha Romanova, who comes to call him "little uncle." Logan's connection to the Romanoffs remains unrevealed, but it may relate to Romanova's natural aptitude for the martial arts, which will later make her a target of the Hand; it is, in fact, possible that at least some of Logan's activities during this period were part of a search for such gifted children undertaken on behalf of either Seraph or Ogun, although this is only conjecture. Upon reaching adulthood, Romanova will, under circumstances yet to be revealed, be exposed to a process which will retard or arrest her aging process, and she will eventually become the espionage agent known as the Black Widow. If the archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones is in fact a historical figure and not a fictional character, Logan may encounter him during this period; decades later, Logan will be impressed enough by the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to watch it at least thirteen times. It is also possible that Logan spends time wandering alone through an unspecified jungle during this period, although his later references to such adventures may actually refer to Team X-related work in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
(Natasha Romanova from Uncanny X-Men #268. "Raiders" from Micronauts #37. Jungle from Marvel Comics Presents #117.)
Stage 3: World War II---Early To Mid-1940s
With the outbreak of World War II, Logan, as a westerner, is no longer welcome in Japan. He returns to Madripoor, where he uses his newer skills, including swordsmanship, to aid Seraph against the Hand; Logan's enmity toward the Hand will eventually come to the notice of Stick, leader of the Chaste, a sect of warriors who have opposed the Hand for untold years. During the summer of 1941, Logan and Seraph work in cooperation with the American adventurer Captain America against the Hand and the Nazi Baron Strucker, rescuing Natasha Romanova from being transformed into a Hand assassin; during the war, Strucker will work with Japanese criminals in the foundation of HYDRA, a worldwide terrorist organization that will play a major if peripheral role in Logan's life and with which he will clash many times. Although the 1940s are the first recorded period of extreme superhuman activity throughout North America and much of the rest of the world, this is the only known instance in which Logan works alongside one of the several costumed adventurers who were active during this period. As far as is known, Logan and Captain America do not meet again for decades, when Logan has joined the X-Men and Captain America, his youth preserved by suspended animation, has joined the Avengers; to this day, it remains unclear whether or not Captain America is aware that the X-Man Wolverine is his wartime comrade Logan.
(Stick from Wolverine #100. Swordsmanship, Captain America, et al from Uncanny X-Men #268. Strucker and HYDRA from various sources, including Marvel Universe #1-3.)
Eventually, perhaps at the urging of Seraph to embrace responsibilities in his homeland, Logan returns to Canada and again enlists in the Armed Forces. Achieving the rank of corporal, he is sent to Greece where, under the alias "Canada," he teaches resistance fighters the use of explosives and the Fairbourne dagger, which he himself wields on a number of missions. By June 6, 1944, Corporal Logan is a member of the First Canadian Parachute Batallion at Ranville, Normandy, where he and other Canadian soldiers parchute behind enemy lines from a burning C-47; Canada's role in the Normandy invasion is featured in the 6/7/44 edition of the Toronto Star, a copy of which Logan retains as a souvenir to this day. Among the Nazi soldiers that Logan encounters on this mission is Bloodscream, an immortal quasi-vampire whom Logan will encounter again decades later. Logan's memories of these events will later be adversely affected by the memory implants he receives as a member of Team X, but he eventually regains them.
(Greece from Wolverine #106. Normandy from Wolverine #34 and #85. Toronto Star from Wolverine #79. Bloodscream from Wolverine #78.)
It may also be during this period that Logan first meets Nick Fury, a noted American soldier who will, like Logan, go on to become famous in the espionage field. Like Logan before him, Fury suffers an eye injury during the war, although it will not become permanently debilitating until later years, prompting Logan to call him by the same nickname Logan once used, "Patch." According to one account, Logan and Fury, not yet injured, are already acquainted when both are part of a joint American-Canadian intelligence operation; on this occasion, Logan is dispatched by Canadian Intelligence to retrieve an arcane scroll from Nazi Germany. During this mission, he again encounters Eikert, now a Nazi officer, and is briefly drawn into a minor skirmish between two warring races of extraterrestrials. In this account, Logan claims to "have a history" with a being named Kenyan, who is intimately involved in this war, although no details are given.
(Conjecture; although the friendship between Logan and Fury, first mentioned in Marvel Fanfare #24, is well-established, it has never been made clear when the two first met. However, when experiencing hallucinations in Uncanny X-Men #252, Logan envisions Fury as an army sergeant, suggesting that the two first met under such circumstances. "Patch" from What If (Volume II) #7. Canadian Intelligence et al from the Marvel/Image crossover WildCATs/X-Men: The Golden Age.)
Few other details about Logan's World War II service are known, although he is known to have spent at least one winter below Monte Cassino, in Italy, presumably serving with Allied forces. Decades later, under the influence of a powerful hallucinogen, Logan will, in a dream, live through the Nazi invasion of an unspecified country, as well as a brief encounter with Adolf Hitler and the cyborg Nazi Geist; it is not known if the events of this dream are based in reality. Logan will also later speak of the British invasion of Dresden as though he had witnessed the aftermath of that battle, but, again, whether or not this is the case is unknown.
(Monte Cassino from Uncanny X-Men Annual #4. Nazi dream and Geist from Wolverine #21. Dresden from Wolverine #61.)
Stage 4: Post-War Years---Late 1940s
Following World War II, Logan resigns from the military and again travels to Japan, hoping to participate in the reconstruction of that nation following the collapse of the imperial government. During this time, in Kyoto, Logan encounters a man named Kimora, who, unknown to Logan, is an extradimensional despot temporarily stranded on Earth; the two men battle, with Logan proving victorious, but, perhaps recalling his moral lessons from Seraph, he does not kill Kimora when given the chance. The precise circumstances under which the two came into conflict are unknown, but years later Kimora will note that he "once saw in [Logan] a worthy adversary"; it is possible that Ogun played some role in their meeting, but this is only conjecture. Logan may also meet the young Asano Kimura during this time; years later, Kimura will join the Japanese Secret Service and again encounter Logan, who will eventually categorize him as one of his oldest and best friends. Although the similarity of the names "Kimora" and "Kimura" is suggestive, no known connection between the two men exists.
(Conjecture, based upon Logan's devotion to Japan. Kimora from Logan: Path of the Warlord. Kimura from Wolverine Limited Series #1 and #3.)
From Japan, Logan travels to China, where the People's Republic is forming; he may also spend some time in Europe. Logan is deeply troubled by what he sees during the rise of communism in both "Stalin's Russia" and "Mao's China," as some of the most talented citizens of these nations are imprisoned or slain for their refusal to submit to totalitarian rule. He and Black Crane meet for the last time in decades during this period, and Logan incurs a "blood debt" to Crane which remains unpaid to this day; it may be during this period that Logan was temporarily enslaved by unknown parties, although the timeframe for this experience has not in fact been established, and his freedom may be the "blood debt" he owes to Black Crane. Logan keeps this period of enslavement, like many other aspects of the first half of his life, under great secrecy; years later, not even Carol Danvers, one of his closest friends, will know about it.
(Mostly conjecture. People's Republic from Uncanny X-Men #363. Stalin and Mao from Daredevil #249. Blood debt from Deadpool #27. Enslavement from Uncanny X-Men #238.)
Stage 5: Freelance Years---The 1950s
Discouraged by his failure to positively affect political events in his old stomping grounds, yet having retained a taste for intercontinental travel and adventure, Logan returns to his earlier, carefree attitude and enters freelance intelligence work. Hoping to earn "some quick and easy bucks," "see the world," and "make a name for [him]self," Logan contacts his friend Chang, who arranges for Landau, Luckman, and Lake to find work for Logan and handle his business affairs, in exchange for Logan's occasional services. Among Logan's assets during this period is a bank account in Edinburgh, Scotland, which LL&L maintains until recent years. Operating mostly out of Ottawa and Calgary, Logan establishes a base of freelance clients that includes a number of government operations, including Canadian Intelligence, for whom he does "odd jobs," little realizing that he will one day work full time for that agency; he develops a reputation as "one of the most dangerous free agents ever to rise through the ranks of the intelligence agencies." Another government employer is an agency known only as "Central"; this may be the American CIA, for which Logan will also later work full-time. Logan will continue to perform occasional "dirty work" for Central even after joining the X-Men, long after his freelance days are over. During this phase of his career, Logan often uses a pair of blades as weapons, as he did early in his life.
(Chang and blades from Logan: Path of the Warlord. Landau, Luckman, and Lake from Wolverine #98; Edinburgh from Wolverine #79. Ottawa from Marvel Comics Presents #51; Calgary from Uncanny X-Men #120. Canadian Intelligence from Classic X-Men #26. Reputation as a free agent from Captain America Annual #8. Central from Classic X-Men #25.)
In Calgary, Logan often works with a woman named Cracklin' Rosa, with whom he becomes romantically involved; like Seraph, Rosa is a business owner, proprietor of the Hotel St. Cecil, and Logan becomes her partner in various business enterprises. Although now over fifty, Logan has retained the physical appearance and vitality of a much younger man, and he will later recall himself as "a wild kid" during these years. Logan's involvement with Cracklin' Rosa, although never serious, leaves a lasting impression upon him, perhaps because she is, as far as is known, the first woman who has not been killed as a result of his affections toward her. Like Logan himself, Rosa never realizes that Logan has superhuman powers during these years, although she recognizes that he can recover quickly from physical abuse.
(Cracklin' Rosa from Uncanny X-Men #120, Uncanny X-Men #123, and Classic X-Men #26.)
Few details of Logan's freelance years are known. It may be presumed that he again encounters Nick Fury during these years, forging a friendship that continues to this day. Another close friend of Logan's during this period is a woman known only as Charlemagne, with whom he works in various intelligence operations. At some point in their friendship, the two become lovers, and Logan will later consider Charlemagne one of his best friends. Like Logan, Charlemagne ages little if at all over the ensuing decades, although the source of her apparent immortality, like Silver Fox's and Seraph's, is unknown. In addition, one account indicates that Logan again takes up the role of Montra Warrior of the Kage Ryu' at some point during these years, again defeating a Kyoto Sohei opponent.
(Charlemagne from Spider Man Vs. Wolverine #1. Kage Ryu' from the Marvel/Crusade crossover Wolverine/Shi: Dark Night of Judgment.)
At one point during this period, Logan spends a year in Brazil, where he works as a bouncer at the Devil's Grill, owned by Antonio Vargas. In Brazil, Logan apparently continues his freelance activities, with his bar employment as a cover, and he becomes known as "the Man of Harsh Business." It may also be during this period that Logan is active in Mexico, where he frequents what he categorizes as the "rowdiest cantina on the gulf of California"; it is possibly at this time that Logan encounters the Nazi geneticist Arnim Zola, who is known to have operated in Central America following World War II and who will later claim that Logan has "long been a nasty thorn in [his] side." During his freelance years, Logan also returns to Madripoor on occasion, where Chang maintains a Landau, Luckman, and Lake office in Lowtown; unknown to Logan, LL&L has by now entered the field of interdimensional research, a field that will one day provide the backbone of their business transactions.
(Brazil from Wolverine: Black Rio. Mexico from Uncanny X-Men #242. Zola from Wolverine #148. Madripoor and Chang from Wolverine #97.)
On one occasion, Logan accepts an assignment directly for Landau, Luckman, and Lake to arrange transportation and security for Dr. Carling, a scientist who has discovered a method of interdimensional travel, and his daughter, Rose; unknown to Logan, Carling is the scientist responsible for bringing his enemy Kimora into the Earth dimension. Kimora kidnaps the Carlings in an effort to learn the method by which he may establish large-scale transportation between the Earth dimension and his own; when Logan intervenes, Kimora, deriding his opponent as "a beast in a man's clothing," defeats him in battle and is only prevented from killing him when Chang apparently decapitates Kimora, who in reality manages to return to his own dimension. Shaken by Chang's apparent act of cold-blooded murder and haunted by Kimora's words, Logan ends his freelance operations. The precise nature of his next activities are unknown, but he eventually returns to Japan, where, more interested in self-control and inner peace than in martial arts per se, he seeks instruction not from Ogun but from an unnamed sensei in Jasmine Falls, under whose tutelage he spends the next five years or more. His sparring partner and friend during these years is another student, Miyagi. In Jasmine Falls, Logan strives to gain control of his violent nature but never quite succeeds; nevertheless, he attains a level of tranquility that has eluded him for years, and he seems prepared to remain in Japan indefinitely. It may also be during this period in Japan that Logan befriends Bando Suburo, a man who teaches him much about achieving spiritual peace.
(Carling et al from Logan: Path of the Warlord. Suburo from Wolverine #26.)
Logan's studies with the sensei are interrupted by Chang, who has tracked Logan down to request his assistance in opposing Kimora's efforts to conquer the Earth dimension by wresting the full secrets of interdimensional travel from the captive Carling, who eventually dies from his mistreatment; in the intervening years, Carling has constructed a large interdimensional travel mechanism for Landau, Luckman, and Lake, which intends to use this new technology to play an important role in the "great change" and "certain strife" that some believe will soon sweep the world, apparently a reference to to the sudden outbreak of superhuman activity that will occur within less than four decades. Chang leads Logan into Kimura's dimension, apparently Logan's first venture into such an environment, where the two, joined by Carling's half-extradimensional daughter Rose, invade Kimora's stronghold. Logan, loathe to resort to brutal force after his years of meditative training, proves adaptable in dealing with the stronghold's non-human defenders, but he only manages to defeat Kimora at the cost of releasing the animal savagery that he has spent the past few years repressing. Returning to the Earth dimension, Chang offers both Rose and Logan employment with Landau, Luckman, and Lake. Logan declines, although he admits that he will consider the offer and rethink his way of life. Rose accepts Chang's offer, becoming an operative with LL&L and eventually heading an office in Hong Kong, where she uses the name "Rose Wu"; whether this is an alias or an indication that Rose married a human at some point is unknown. Logan and Rose remain friends for many years after these events; it is not clear if they ever worked together on any subsequent missions, although a photograph taken of the two in a futuristic, alien city suggests that they shared at least one additional extradimensional experience.
(Kimora et al from Logan: Path of the Warlord. Rose Wu from Uncanny X-Men #257-259.)
Little is known of Logan's subsequent activities as he works to change his own nature, although he apparently resumes his career as a freelance agent. On one occasion, in Tehran, Iran, Logan, under unknown circumstances, incurs a debt to a man who, after achieving status as a crimelord years later, will use the name "Morrow"; Logan knows him by another name during this period, but that name has not been revealed. While at this time Logan continues to embrace the moral lessons taught to him in Japan, which he hopes to integrate into his life, "Morrow" is unimpressed, later characterizing Logan as "a murderer...so proud and arrogant in [his] "principles.," a remark suggesting that Logan once again proved incapable of fulling restricting his violent nature. It will be years before "Morrow" finally calls in the favor owed to him, but over the intervening time he often tantalizes Logan with the knowledge of this debt. Logan will later note of "Morrow": "I don't like [him]. I never have. But he's a man I have to respect."
("Morrow" from Wolverine #25.)
Under circumstances which have yet to be revealed, Logan suffers a severe wound, his most serious since Cyber's attack; it is possible that his survival of this incident is the debt that he owes "Morrow." He is treated after this injury in Canada by a Dr. Giloski, whom Logan can count on to "keep quiet" due to Giloski's own experience in freelance espionage, and whom Logan will occasionally consult in later years. Despite his recovery from a wound that would have killed any other man, Logan still does not realize that he is a mutant. Unknown to Logan, Giloski reports the incident to an intelligence contact, and Logan's name is submitted for consideration in Team X.
(Wound from Alpha Flight #33. Giloski from Marvel Comics Presents #52. Team X contact conjecture.)
Stage 6: Team X---The 1960s
Under circumstances which have yet to be revealed, Logan is recruited for Team X, a multi-national intelligence operation overseen by the Black Ops Special Services Section of the American CIA. The Team X Project, also known as the Weapon X Program, although employing a number of super-agents for various missions, most notably in conflict with the super-agent programs of communist powers, is ultimately intended to selectively suppress those agents's memories and awareness of their super-powers, to be renewed as necessary, or even to control their actions from afar, making them the perfect sleeper agents; memories are also implanted as deemed necessary by the Team X Project's ally Psi-Borg, usually bonding such implants to actual memories of severe trauma. Although Logan himself remains unaware of his mutant nature, the scientists of the Team X Project recognize his unique age suppression factor and, without his knowledge, isolate it and implant it within other agents; Psi-Borg is also promised such an age-suppression implant in return for his work but for unknown reasons does not receive it, a betrayal that will prompt him to seek vengeance on the members of Team X years later. Another aspect of the Team X Project is the Shiva Scenario, a contingency in which heavily armored robots will be employed to terminate the agents as necessary; this scenario is evaluated by scientists Dr. Alexander Ryking, Dr. Kurt Marko, and Dr. Brian Xavier. Sons of the first two men, Hazard and the Juggernaut, will later be numbered among Logan's enemies, while the son of the third, Professor X, will prove to be one of his closest friends and advisors. Unaware of the full nature of Team X's work, and perhaps preferring to work with others after his recent experiences, Logan joins the Team X Project, apparently his first membership in a team unit since his army days.
(Black Ops from Maverick #2. Memory implants from Wolverine #48 et al; control aspect from Wolverine #166. Psi-Borg from Wolverine #62 et al. Age suppression factor from Wolverine #50 and #61. Shiva Scenario from Wolverine #50. Involvement of Brian Xavier et al from X-Men #13.)
Among the other members of Team X, Logan is surprised to find Sabretooth and shocked to find Silver Fox, whom he had thought long dead; Silver Fox herself, either as a result of trauma or other factors, remembers little of her assault by Sabretooth at this point, and at her instigation Logan, his own memories of the event clouded by the same trauma that the Team X Project will use as the basis for his memory implants, sets aside his enmity for Sabretooth; it is in fact possible that the memories of all three are suppressed by the Team X Project, but this cannot be confirmed. Neither Logan nor Silver Fox appear to know that, in the intervening years, Sabretooth has become a brutal criminal and murderer many times over. Logan's other Team X colleagues include John Wraith, a.k.a. Kestrel, and Mastodon; Logan's closest friend on the team is Sgt. David North, also known as Maverick, a former West German freedom fighter. Other Team X operatives are known by the code-names Vole and Wildcat; according to one account, the mutant shapechanger Mystique, under the name of Leni Zauber, also assists Team X on occasion. Team X's Canadian facility is located in Alberta, Canada, adjacent, oddly enough, to a Blackfoot burial ground. In the course of his near-decade of service, despite his status as a non-US citizen, Logan eventually reaches the rank of major in the United States Armed Forces under the command of Team X's army liaison, Major Arthur Barrington; perhaps in honor of his past on the frontier, so vividly recalled by Silver Fox, Logan adopts the codename "Wolverine" for what appears to be the first time (aside from his questionable activities during 1936), a name he will use throughout most of the rest of his life.
(Team X's existence is first implied in Wolverine #48 and fleshed out further in later issues. Silver Fox's role in easing tensions between Logan and Sabretooth conjecture. Maverick from X-Men #6. Vole and Wildcat from Wolverine #50. Mystique from the Marvel/Image crossover Team X/Team 7. Burial ground from Wolverine #52. Rank of major from Wolverine #50; Barrington from Maverick #2.)
As a member of Team X, Logan is often partnered with Sabretooth, almost as if the Team X Project is testing his ability to put his memories of Sabretooth's previous activities behind him. In 1963, Logan and Sabretooth are operational in Cuba when Silver Fox betrays them to Cuban soldiers. Fox's treason may be due to a deviation in her memories of the attack by Sabretooth, leading her to recall the full extent of the attack and to erroneously believe that Logan abandoned her; this may be an extreme reaction to the Team X memory implants, perhaps due to an interaction with the unknown procedure which arrested her aging. Following this betrayal, Silver Fox becomes a terrorist, clashing with her former teammates on a number of occasions, and eventually rises high within the ranks of HYDRA. The Team X Project, presumably hoping to salvage her services, monitors her activities for some time but finally loses track of her at some point in the 1970s.
(Sabretooth, Cuba, and Silver Fox's betrayal fromWolverine #49; betrayal also from Wolverine #61. Silver Fox's memory reaction conjecture. Terrorist activities from Wolverine #48-49. HYDRA et al from Wolverine #50.)
In keeping with US interests of the times, Team X is often dispatched to Cuba and southeast Asia, although details of these missions are sparse; in later years, Logan will prove capable of recognizing the jungles of Vietnam at a glance. According to one account, the group also ventures into the Sultanate of Numidia in the Middle East, where they encounter a similar team of super-agents sponsored by another government agency. Logan's Team X activities are often of quite a different nature than his previous freelance work, and thus it remains unclear if he ever encounters, or even clashes with, Nick Fury, Chang, Charlemagne, or other friends during this period.
(Cuba and southeast Asia from Wolverine #61. Vietnam from Uncanny X-Men #226. Numidia et al from the Marvel/Image crossover Team X/Team 7.)
In 1968, Logan, with Sabretooth as backup, returns to the USSR when he is dispatched to Tyuratam to sabotage a moon voyage by assassinating the Soviet super-agent Epsilon Red; the mission is called off before Logan can do so, but Sabretooth murders Epsilon Red's wife on a whim. Logan will meet Epsilon Red again years later. It is also during this period that Logan, Sabretooth, and Maverick are sent on a joint NATO operation to recover a foreign national in East Germany. In Logan's final known mission with Team X, he, Sabretooth, Maverick, and John Wraith are again dispatched to East Germany to sabotage a Soviet super-soldier program in Berlin and retrieve an experimental piece of technology known as the carbonadium synthesizer, along with a double agent named Janice. Team X is confronted by another super-agent, Omega Red, who will later become one of Logan's deadliest enemies. During their efforts to escape, Sabretooth murders Janice to prevent her lack of field experience from slowing the team's withdrawal. In the aftermath of the escape, Logan's rapid recovery from the fiasco leads him to finally realize that he is a mutant with enhanced healing abilities and other superhuman powers. Disturbed by this revelation and unwilling to continue working with the murderous Sabretooth, Logan resigns from Team X. Team X itself disbands shortly thereafter, perhaps due to repercussions from Sabretooth's actions or Logan's resignation; Logan's Team X files are officially rendered dormant on October 5, 1972, although the reason for the time lapse between his resignation and this acknowledgement is unclear. It will be many years before Logan speaks freely of his Team X years, and his memories of them eventually become vague due to memory tampering both during his membership and afterward; he will claim only that he was a "commando" prior to entering Canadian Intelligence.
(Tyuratam and Epsilon Red from Wolverine #65-68. NATO from X-Men Unlimited #15 and Maverick #2. Berlin and Omega Red from X-Men #5-7 and Wolverine #60. Realization of mutant nature and resignation from X-Men #6. Disbandment from Maverick #2. October date from Wolverine #50. "Commando" from Uncanny X-Men #163.)
Stage 7: Unspecified Government Work,
Weapon X Program---Early 1970s
Having resigned from Team X but unsure of how to deal with the knowledge that he is a mutant, Logan goes to work for an unnamed branch of the Canadian Defense Ministry, an agency "so secret that not even the Prime Minister knows of its existence" and for which he will work for years; this may be Department K, a special weapons branch of the Canadian government which will at least later be linked to the Weapon X Program and which will employ such super-agents as Deadpool and Kane, but this identification cannot be verified. It is not clear precisely how much time elapses between Logan's resignation from Team X and his recruitment by this unnamed agency, although the closure of his Team X files in 1972 is suggestive. Operating out of Ottawa, he is partnered with Neil Langram, who, like Logan, is a mutant, although the nature of his superhuman power has never been revealed; it is possible that the mutant nature of both Logan and Langram played some role in their recruitment by this unnamed agency, but this is as yet unverified. As a part of this agency, Logan, eventually reaching the rank of commander, is equipped with false I.D. cards from a wide variety of intelligence agencies, including the Federal Air Marshalls, the KGB, the CIA, the GRU, MI-5, Shin Beth, and the UN Peace-Keeping Force; it may also be during this period that Logan acquires a (presumably) false I.D. as "Jim Logan, Detective" with the Nassau, NY, Police Department, an I.D. which he maintains in recent times. Emerging from Team X's ultra-covert activities, Logan renews his partnership with Cracklin' Rosa on at least one occasion, during which he nearly crosses paths with Interpol agent Sean Cassidy, whom he will meet again in later years; presumably he renews his friendship with Charlemagne as well, although no such reunion has been documented. Among Logan's civilian friends during this period is a young woman named Rose, who may be Cracklin' Rosa's daughter; when operational in Canada, Logan drives a Lotus-Seven and, despite a personal dislike of guns, carries a Colt 1911A1, although he often prefers to wield a pair of blades as personal weapons, as he did during his freelance days. As he did while a member of Team X, Logan uses the codename "Wolverine."
(Unnamed agency, Langram, et al from Logan: Secret Society; Department K from Deadpool/Death '98 Annual, among others. Ottawa and false I.D.s from Wolverine #66. Commander rank and Rose from What If (Volume II) #62. Nassau from X-Men #74. Cracklin' Rosa from Classic X-Men #26, which, given Cassidy's presence in the story, evidently took place years after her earlier partnership with Logan. Lotus-Seven from Wolverine #48; dislike of guns from Wolverine # Minus-1; Colt from Wolverine #76.)
At times, Logan uses the alias "Agent Ten," perhaps in memory of his work wth Team X, "X" being the Roman numeral for "10." As Agent Ten, Logan works in cooperation with a US organization known only as "the Agency," overseen by his old friend Nick Fury; although the two have presumably shared many adventures prior to this period, this is the first recorded example of their work together. On at least one occasion, Logan also works with Richard and Mary Parker, married government agents who, months after their first meeting with Logan, have a son, Peter, who will eventually become the noted super-hero Spider-Man, whom Logan will encounter on many occasions. It will be over sixteen years before Fury goes on to head the international espionage agency known as SHIELD.
(Agent Ten, the Agency, and the Parkers from Untold Tales of Spider-Man # Minus-1.)
At one point, Logan is given a special assignment to investigate corruption on the Canadian docks. In the course of this undercover investigation, he encounters the sorcerer Abdul Alhazred, who is involved in the illegal activities. Despite his many decades of adventure, Logan remains relatively inexperienced in dealing with the supernatural and proves no match for Alhazred's magic, and the experience leaves him deeply shaken. Years later, the mere sight of the mark of Abdul Alhazred will prove so inherently frightening to even Logan's bestial persona that the shock of it will snap him back to humanity when temporarily out of control.
(Abdul Alhazred from Marvel Comics Presents #154. Logan's subsequent reaction to the sight of his mark from Marvel Comics Presents #63.)
On another mission, Logan travels to the USSR to accompany the defecting scientist Dimitri Suhkarov and his young daughter Viktoria from Soviet territory. Doctor Suhkarov is murdered by the Russian agent Volk, but Logan is successful in bringing Viktoria Suhkarov to Canada; Logan will be a close friend to Suhkarov as she grows up, and she herself will eventually work for the Canadian Secret Service.
(Suhkarovs and Volk from Wolverine '97 Annual.)
At some point during his years of service, Logan's superiors in the unnamed agency offer him the opportunity to become a cyborg, his already heightened skills and senses to be augmented further by cybernetic implants. Logan is intrigued by the notion but ultimately decides against it, little realizing that, years later, he will be subject to a similar procedure against his will.
(Brush with cyborg nature from Uncanny X-Men #132. It is presumed that this offer was made during Logan's years with the unnamed agency, if not earlier, since he would almost certainly never have considered it in the aftermath of his transformation by the Weapon X Program.)
At some point during this period, while on a government mission in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Logan finds himself in indirect conflict with adventurer Eugene Judd, who, like Logan, was involved in the Spanish Civil War. Like Logan, Judd is a man born many decades ago whose aging has been greatly retarded, in his case via his possession by a demonic sorcerer called Razer; coincidentally, Logan himself will later be proven to have risked a similar fate through his relationship with Ogun. Judd, whose possession by Razer shortly after the Spanish Civil War resulted in his physical transformation into a dwarf, has a reputation as a deadly freelance operative during this period, and although the two, on opposite sides during this occasion, do not actually meet, Logan deduces his adversary's identity and confirms it years later, when the two meet on friendly terms; Judd will later feel flattered that Logan "could recognize [his] signature in the midst of all that mess." It is also during these years, toward the end of his service with the unnamed agency, that Logan first meets Carol Danvers, a young American operative, who, although still in her teens, serves in a branch of American intelligence, possibly Air Force Intelligence; inexperienced when she and Logan first meet in the field, she quickly becomes an expert agent, working with both Logan and his partner Langram on a number of occasions, and Logan will count her as one of his closest friends for the rest of his life.
(Maracaibo and Judd from Alpha Flight #16-17. Danvers from Logan: Shadow Society; her status as AFI agent when she first met Logan from Uncanny X-Men #133, although, given the questionability of precisely how much of their career together either Logan or Danvers remembers, designating her as AFI at this point may be inaccurate. Chronological placement of Logan's work with Danvers, at this phase of his career and in later ones, is made particularly questionable by the fact that she is one of the comparatively few of his pre-X-Men allies who (so far as is known) ages normally and the fact that, given that she remains active today as the Avenger Warbird, the years of her adolescence cannot easily be designated.)
Langram is approached by representatives of the Hellfire Club, an international elite organization whose highest ranking membership, the Inner Circle, has recently been infiltrated by mutants who, under the leadership of Sebastian Shaw, intend to purge the Circle of non-superhuman members and form a mutant army to achieve further power, goals whose realization he will not approach until years later. Although superhuman beings, including mutants, have existed for millennia and been periodically active in the public eye throughout the world since at least World War I, the general public still has little understanding of the true nature of mutantkind, and Shaw intends to prevent the spread of such knowledge to the public unt
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RIP Heath |
