Top 20 Epic Wolverine Moments

#20: Wolverine's Debut

“Incredible Hulk #180” (1974)

Where would we be if Wolverine hadn't debuted in the comic in 1974? Probably living in a world like “Mad Max.” In “Incredible Hulk #180, our not-so-jolly green giant is looking to escape humanity and ends up in Canada. However, this causes Hulk to cross paths with Wendigo, who can only yell his own name like a Pokémon, and the two duke it out. Because the beasts were in the Great White North, Canada’s Department H sent in Wolverine to make a cameo. By the next issue, Logan, albeit looking different from how he’s better known, makes his full appearance. After teaming with Hulk to defeat Wendigo, the behemoths then battle it out, turning Wolverine into a massive Marvel star.

#19: Deal With It

“Wolverine and the X-Men” (2009)

When you think of Wolverine, he’s usually all claws and nothing but violence on his mind. Yet there’s another side of Logan that makes him just as cool. In the second episode of the underrated “Wolverine and the X-Men” show, Logan wants to reform the team. So, he and Beast go to Bobby Drake’s parents' house to retrieve him. While Hank McCoy tries to be polite with them and gets nowhere, Logan takes a less tactful but far more effective approach. After kicking the door in, he asks Iceman if he’s coming, which the young hero readily accepts. Yet Logan wasn’t done. As he leaves, he drops a blunt comment towards Bobby’s parents that makes Wolverine's words as sharp as his claws.

#18: Hero Killer

“What If? Enemy of the State #1” (2006)

In 2004, Marvel turned Wolverine into a puppet of the Hand and Hydra by having him brainwashed in the story “Enemy of the State.” While he was snapped out of it, 2006’s “What If? Enemy of the State #1” explored what if Logan wasn’t deprogrammed, and it…is…brutal. It shows Wolvie going on a tear through the Marvel universe, taking the lives of beloved heroes like Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Moon Knight. Some survivors, Sue Storm, Magneto, Kitty Pryde, and an injured Captain America, team up to stop Logan. Yet, with his incredible tactical mind and healing factor, he goes through them all, leaving Kitty last. With talking failing, she sacrifices her hand by phasing it into Logan’s head, finally putting him down.

#17: Super-Charged by Gambit

“X-Men '97” (2024-)

Kicking off a new series with “X-Men '97,” the creators knew they had to go big for the first episode. And boy, did they. With the threat of Sentinels, the team arrives to end them and stop Bolivar Trask from making more. Once Storm destroyed the base Sentinels, the X-Men needed to get creative in dealing with the much stronger Master Mold. With Wolverine charging into battle, Gambit hops onto his back and kinetically charges Logan’s claws. Already, it’s a super cool visual. Yet it got better. Remy launched his charged bo staff to fire Logan into Morph, pretending to be Blob, to trampoline towards the robot menace. In one motion, Wolverine slices through Master Mold easily with his purple claws.

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#16: Dino Destroyer

“The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes” (2010-12)

Typically, there's not that much visual violence in animated Marvel shows. Yet what do the creators do when you have a character like Wolverine, who’s the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn't very nice? Then they had to get creative. In the “The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes” episode “New Avengers,” Kang-related nonsense wrecked the timestream, putting dinosaurs in the modern age. While Spider-Man struggles to deal with them, Wolverine appears to save him. Shown only in shadows, similar to Plato’s allegory of the cave, Wolverine slices through the dinos, barely breaking a sweat, as a horrified Peter Parker watches. Even without seeing the violence directly, it was just as brutal.

#15: Logan Finally Wears the Mask

“Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)

Since 2000, live-action Wolverine has graced our cinemas with his angry exploits. Yet for over two decades, Hugh Jackman didn’t wear either his iconic comic costumes or masks. Instead, we got Wolverine in leather, a vest, or without a top. While there was a nod towards the yellow and tan costume during an alternative ending for 2013’s “The Wolverine,” nothing materialized. Which is baffling, since Logan is up there with one of the most famous superhero attires in history. Finally, in 2024, that all changed with “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Jackman wore the famous blue and yellow costume for most of the film. Yet once he pulled the mask on too, comic fans everywhere cheered and thoroughly agreed with Wade’s reaction.

#14: Taking Out Daken

“Uncanny X-Force #34” (2012)

Logan is super old. Because of that, he has many kids – more on that later. Yet the most famous is Akihiro, AKA Daken. For a long time, he hated Wolverine and blamed him for everything bad in his life. Eventually, it all came to a head in “Uncanny X-Force #34.” Daken, attempting to turn Logan’s student Evan into Apocalypse, made the youngster watch as Daken tried to drown Wolverine. A little bit of foreshadowing there. While Logan survived, he knew he needed to put down his son permanently. During a brutal battle, we see what life could’ve been if Logan had known about Daken’s birth. In the end, Wolverine gets the upper hand and drowns his son in a puddle, saving the world.

#13: Wolverine Rips Through the Hulk Gang

“Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1” (2009)

An alternative, post-apocalyptic, future comic universe can go terribly wrong or become iconic. Thankfully, the “Old Man Logan” storyline was the latter. This world is in ruins after the villains worked together to annihilate the heroes and carve up the US for themselves. Logan, who “killed” Wolverine after being tricked into slaying the X-Men, later has his family murdered by the Hulk Gang. This universe's Bruce Banner went insane and created a family of Hulks with his cousin, She-Hulk. Yep, gross. Logan goes on an epic revenge quest, taking out members of the family one by one. Eventually, he faces Bruce. After being eaten by Hulk, Logan reforms and dramatically slices his way out.

#12: Logan’s Time Ripper Heroics

“Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)

Is there anything better in “Deadpool & Wolverine” than Logan donning the mask for the first time? How about saving the multiverse as “Like a Prayer” plays and only wearing a mask on his top half? Yep, that’ll do it. With Cassandra Nova planning to destroy existence with the Time Ripper, Wade attempts to sacrifice himself to disrupt the power flow. However, as it looked like he couldn’t do it, Wolvie appeared. He slammed his claws into an outlet, immediately destroying his shirt. With a vast amount of power coursing through the duo, the choir singing as we run down how both characters have evolved and become heroes throughout the film adds even more weight to this incredible finale.

#11: Wolverine vs. The Red Right Hand

“Wolverine #1-#14” (2010-11)

Instead of this moment being “epic” for something cool that Wolverine did, this one is here because of the twist that shattered Logan. Throughout Jason Aaron and Renato Guedes’s run on “Wolverine,” the mysterious Red Right Hand group was a massive thorn in Logan’s side. The RRH was created by people whose lives were negatively affected by Logan’s actions. So, they sought revenge. This included putting Wolverine through a labyrinth where he had to battle a group known as the Mongrels. While he gave them a chance to give up peacefully, each Mongrel perished. When Logan reached the end, he found most of RRH had taken their own lives, but left Logan to know that the Mongrels were formed from his biological children.

#10: Wolverine vs. Lady Deathstrike

“X2” (2003)

Over two decades later, the clank sound made by Deathstrike at the end of this battle still takes up vast real estate in our brains. In 2003’s “X2,” Logan slips into William Stryker’s base, only to find the traumatic location where he had the adamantium grafted onto his skeleton. When he goes to attack Stryker, Deathstrike, another one of his experiments, battles Logan with her adamantium nails. A slice-and-dice fight, the duo, who both have a healing factor, seemed to be stuck in a forever duel. However, it takes ingenuity from Logan to finally put Deathstrike down. While in the tank, he injects molten adamantium into her, essentially turning Deathstrike into a metal statue.

#9: Surviving Magento's Brutality

“X-Men #25” (1993)

As the X-Men’s premier villain in the group’s earliest days, Magneto has long been a problem for them. Yet in the “Fatal Attractions” comic story, Erik-slash-Magnus-slash-Max really stepped it up by unleashing an EMP across the globe. So, the X-Men go to battle him and his Acolytes on the space station Avalon. After being stabbed by Wolverine, an enraged Magneto lived up to his moniker as the “master of magnetism” by pulling the adamantium from Logan. At this point, we didn’t know how powerful his healing factor was. So, with that kind of trauma, we’d expect Logan to perish. Instead, he managed to hang on to life, showing just how stubborn he can be.

#8: Going Up Against Jean

“X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006)

Despite Jean traditionally being closely tied to Cyclops, the unrequited love Wolverine has for her is epic in itself. Yet for “X-Men: The Last Stand,” he had to put everything on the line to stop her. With Jean now under the Phoenix's control, which aligned with Magneto’s team, she helped him go to Alcatraz to destroy the mutant cure. With the Phoenix spiralling, it lashes out with its powers, taking the lives of anyone nearby. Knowing he was the only hope with his healing factor, Wolverine approached, dealing with massive amounts of pain as his body was wrecked. Logan’s love for Jean briefly causes her to take control. However, she begs him to save her. So, he does, breaking his heart in the process.

#7: Ending Sabretooth

“Wolverine #55” (2007)

Every superhero needs a nemesis. For Logan, that’s undisputedly Sabretooth. For decades, both in continuity and in publication history, the duo has caused devastating mayhem for each other. Yet in 2007’s “Wolverine #55,” it seemingly came to a head when Logan got ahold of the Muramasa Blade, which nullifies healing factors. With Sabretooth having taken Ferral’s life, Logan saw the final straw snap. So, he waited in the wilderness for Victor to show up. More animalistic than before, Sabretooth’s arm was immediately removed by Logan's blade, and, of course, it didn’t heal. In the end, a defeated Sabretooth allowed Wolverine to finish him off. While it later emerged that this Sabretooth was a clone, it was still extraordinary.

#6: Defending the Mansion Against Stryker’s Forces

“X2” (2003)

If you’re part of a team that has its back against the wall, you want Wolverine by your side. In “X2,” William Stryker’s forces invade the X Mansion, tranquilizing and abducting student mutants. While they were very quiet, they weren’t silent enough for Logan’s enhanced senses. As the only adult mutant and trained combatant still in the building, Wolverine went on a tear through the attackers, taking out one after another and giving the students a chance to escape. Even when it looked over for Rogue, Iceman, and Pyro, Logan, yelling with his claws out, dived in to save the day. If it wasn’t for Logan, the one-person army, barely any mutant would’ve escaped Stryker.

#5: The Death of Wolverine

“The Death of Wolverine #4” (2014)

In 2013, the stakes for Wolverine in the comics had never been higher. Due to a Microverse virus, Logan had lost his healing factor. For someone who relied on it for decades, this was super bad. Yet it got worse when he discovered that Abraham Cornelius, one of the Weapon X scientists, had restarted his experiments. After arriving at Paradise and disrupting Cornelius’s tests, the mad scientist starts up the machine to graft subjects with adamantium, which won’t work because they didn't have a healing factor. To save their lives, Wolverine breaks the machine, covering him in liquid adamantium. Despite losing air and burning, he takes Cornelius’s life. Logan, as he watches the sunset, perishes when the metal hardens.

#4: Saving a Life & Surviving a Nuclear Blast

“The Wolverine” (2013)

With such a long life, Logan has been in many capers over the years. For instance, in 2013's “The Wolverine” film, he was a prisoner in 1945 during World War II in Nagasaki, Japan. As history buffs know, this was a very bad time to be there. After all, the Allied forces dropped an atomic bomb, causing mass devastation. Before the explosion reached the camp, the Japanese soldiers instigated Seppuku. Yet before Ichirō Yashida followed suit, instead of waiting it out in his prison hole, Logan appeared and pulled him away. He then pushed Yashida into the hole and shielded him with a piece of metal as Logan burned from the explosion, experiencing incredible amounts of pain to save a life.

#3: Logan's Brutal Sacrifice

“House of X #4” (2019)

When “House of X” and “Powers of X” dropped, the world of X-Men comics drastically changed as new life was breathed into it. While the mutants were now effectively immortal and could be reborn, the fear of perishing still existed. In “House of X #4,” the X-Men arrived at the Orchis Forge to destroy a Mother Mold before it was operational, which could eradicate all mutants. With time running out, Logan and Nightcrawler decided to sacrifice themselves as the Mother Mold was near the sun. Kurt teleported them both into space. While he immediately burned up, Wolverine’s healing factor kept him alive to destroy the machine. In immense pain and without oxygen, Logan sliced through it, eventually sending them both into the sun.

#2: Uncovering the Weapon X Origins

“Marvel Comics Presents #72-#84” (1991)

For years, Logan's origins were incredibly mysterious. There was even an idea by a comic creator that he was a literal Wolverine turned into a human. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. But Logan’s actual origins were far more tragic. Told by Barry Windsor-Smith in 1991 across multiple issues of “Marvel Comics Presents,” we discovered Logan had undergone a disturbing experiment to bond his bones with adamantium, known as the Weapon X program. The dehumanisation mixed with the unfathomable pain would break most characters. Yet Logan didn’t. Instead, he morphed into one of the universe’s biggest, gruffest superheroes, saving many lives along the way.

#1: Wolverine's Last Stand

“Logan” (2017)

Arguably, what was then seen as his last outing as the character, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in 2017’s “Logan,” was the perfect ending. With his healing factor in ruins, Logan overdoses on a serum that boosted what was left of his mutant ability. Knowing this would lead to his demise, Wolverine decimated the Reavers to save a group of mutant kids. When the serum wore off, X-24, a feral clone of Logan, brutally attacked him, fatally tossing the hero onto a tree branch. After Laura takes out X-24, Logan uses his last moments to encourage his daughter not to be a weapon like she was made to be. No dry eye has been able to get through that incredible finale.

If you could have Wolverine cross over with any character from DC comics for a big fight, who would you pick? Let us know below!