Will E Worm
Conspiracy...
The 10 Greatest Wolverine Villains
Wolverine is best known as one of the greatest and most popular X-Men of all time. Growing from one of Professor Xavier's wildest and most savage students into his unlikely successor, Wolverine has had his share of run-ins with the worst of the X-Men's powerful enemies.
Yet there's much more to Wolverine than his time with the X-Men. Having lived for close to 200 years, he's made his share of friends and enemies along the way. Not all of these enemies are necessarily villains, but they are all people for whom Wolverine bears an almost unstoppable, often violent grudge.
With July's The Wolverine in full promotional force and a new Wolverine solo series freshly launched at Marvel, here's a look at Logan's greatest opponents.
Article
10. WENDIGO
The evil spirit of the Canadian wilderness known as the Wen-Di-Go -- more commonly Wendigo -- has possessed numerous people throughout history, cursing them and turning them into nightmarish, flesh-craving monsters. It was while in pursuit of the Wendigo that Wolverine first encountered the Hulk.
The Wendigo has plagued Wolverine numerous times throughout its various incarnations, encountering Wolverine both on his own, and as a member of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight. Its razor-sharp claws are able to pierce even the skin of the Hulk, making them almost as sharp as adamantium. Its superhuman transformation leaves its human host ravaged, and often dead.
Lately, The Wendigo was last seen fighting the students of the Avengers Academy, and once again locked in combat with Alpha Flight, being manipulated by the Master of the World into helping him conquer Canada.
9. OGUN
Ogun was Wolverine's mentor in the art of ninjutsu. He was also a telepath capable of controlling the minds of others. Wolverine first met Ogun during WWII, while the latter served in the Japanese army. Some time after mentoring Wolverine, he fell in with the Yakuza, becoming a villain in the process.
While Wolverine was training his young protege Kitty Pryde in the same skills he had learned from Ogun, the villain possessed Kitty's mind, turning her from Wolverine's honorable path, and pitting the two against each other. It was only through Wolverine's tutelage that Kitty was able to escape Ogun's control.
Ogun has constantly plagued Wolverine, inhabiting the minds of numerous of Wolverine's allies and loved ones, even forcing him to nearly kill his enemy-turned-reluctant wife Viper, to drive her from his mind. He was last seen being driven into the Astral Plane by Kitty Pryde, who had seemingly convinced him of the error of his ways.
8. VIPER
Viper, sometimes known as Madame Hydra, has had her share of run-ins with all manner of superheroes as one of the world's most dangerous terrorists, consistently vexing Captain America and Nick Fury, and even dealing savage blows to the New Mutants.
However, one of her most diabolical schemes involved blackmailing Wolverine, one of her oldest foes, into marrying her to gain control of the criminal nation of Madripoor. After being mortally wounded by Wolverine while her body was possessed by the spirit of Ogun, Wolverine was able to seek a divorce, while Viper briefly maintained control of Madripoor.
Most recently she was seen joining forces with the leaders of other Hydra factions in a bid to take down Nick Fury, and teaming with Norman Osborn to collect surviving Skrulls from their recent invasion of Earth.
7. DAKEN
Daken, also known as Akihiro, was Wolverine's son from a brief marriage during World War II. After his mother was killed by The Winter Soldier in one of his earliest missions, he was rescued by the mysterious manipulator Romulus and placed in the care of average parents. Akihiro suffered much ridicule from others in his village, who called him "Daken," which means "mongrel," a nickname derived from his mixed heritage.
When his adoptive mother became pregnant, Akihiro, now fully owning the name Daken, slew her son, and accidentally killed her as well; leading his adoptive father to commit suicide. Daken was then taken in by Romulus, who eventually led him on a quest to find his father and get revenge.
Daken also spent a brief period as the first of Norman Osborn's counterfeit Wolverines in his Dark Avengers team until the events of Siege, when he left Osborn's employ and formed a new Brotherhood of Mutants. During his iteration of the Brotherhood's conflict with X-Force, Wolverine drowned his son, ending his life and the chances of reconciling their relationship.
6. SILVER SAMURAI
Kenuichio Harada (or Kenichiro Shingen) was the illegitimate son of Shingen Yashida, one of Wolverine's oldest enemies, and had the mutant power to charge objects, usually his katana, with an energy field that allowed them to cut through almost anything -- except adamantium.
Though Silver Samurai did spend some time as a hero, even gaining Wolverine's trust and respect, he almost always fell back into his villainous ways as an enforcer for Hydra, or as hired muscle for the Yakuza and other criminal organizations.
Harada was recently killed by an offshoot of the Hand, even appearing in Hell, cursing Wolverine for the deaths he had caused until Satan beheaded him. Afterwards, a new Silver Samurai, the son of the original, has been seen working with the shapeshifter Mystique to recruit newly emerging mutants to her own ends.
5. HULK
Hulk and Wolverine have been at odds since Wolverine's very first appearance as, ostensibly, a villain in 1974's Incredible Hulk #181. Though they have often found ways to work together, Wolverine has also often been called in to fight the Hulk, or simply found himself in the rampaging green giant's path.
Some would say that Hulk and Wolverine are almost perfect rivals. Both are possessed of a berserker fury and an incredible will to survive. Both are nigh-impervious to death or damage, and neither has ever backed down from a fight. Still, to say that either is the clear winner would be misleading.
The winner of each of their bouts usually comes down to circumstance -- whose allies are there for support, who is at full power, who can survive the other's attacks longer. But the fact is, Wolverine and Hulk rarely seem to cross paths without devolving into the savage, feral animals that both can be at their worst.
4. CYCLOPS
Though the rivalry between Wolverine and Cyclops had rarely come to blows, in recent days it has often blossomed into all-out war. The tension between Cyclops and Wolverine stems from their shared love of the same woman, Jean Grey, and the fact that she chose Cyclops over Wolverine.
The rivalry itself runs deeper than that, however, as Wolverine has often seen Cyclops as stodgy and stiff. Despite their competition, until recently Wolverine was willing to follow Cyclops's leadership. But starting when Quentin Quire sparked many nations into relaunching their Sentinel programs (which prompted Cyclops to send mutant students into battle) through Cyclops's handling of the return of the Phoenix Force to Earth, the divide between Wolverine and Cyclops has become more and more aggressive, coming to blows on numerous occasions.
Now, with Wolverine leading the Jean Grey School, and Cyclops operating as a fugitive after the problems caused by the Phoenix Force, they have a relationship similar to that of Charles Xavier and Magneto; two old allies driven to become enemies thanks to differing visions on how to reach a shared dream.
3. GORGON
Tomi Shishido was a child prodigy, composing symphonies and creating accomplished works of art before the age of 10. He also had a dark side, attempting suicide, and eventually manifesting the mutant power to petrify people with a look.
After joining the ninja cult known as the Hand by killing his entire family and then himself to prove his worth, the Hand resurrected Shishido, quickly sending him through their ranks, and eventually into HYDRA, a terrorist organization founded by members of the Hand.
While with HYDRA, Shishido orchestrated one of his most diabolical schemes, capturing and brainwashing Wolverine into serving HYDRA as an assassin, forcing Wolverine to fight his friends, and break his code of honor. Eventually, after several years with Hydra, Gorgon was recruited by Norman Osborn to be his second counterfeit Wolverine, but was defeated by Skaar, son of the Hulk, who was secretly an Avengers operative.
2. LADY DEATHSTRIKE
Lady Deathstrike's father was the man who invented the process of bonding adamantium to the skeletons of living beings. Blaming Wolverine for the theft of this scientific breakthrough, Deathstrike has long sought to kill Wolverine, and take the adamantium from his bones.
At first simply a trained warrior, Deathstrike, once known as Yuriko Oyama, eventually contacted the otherworldly warrior Spiral to bond adamantium to her form, and to provide her with numerous cybernetic upgrades including razor sharp talons that extend from her fingertips.
While Deathstrike has often operated alone, she also often finds herself in the company of the Reavers, a group of cyborgs with an agenda against Wolverine and the X-Men. She has most recently been seen operating with them first against X-Force in a bid to once again take revenge on Wolverine, and in a strange underground city of robotic beings aiming to conquer the world.
1. SABRETOOTH
Wolverine may be the best there is at what he does, but Sabretooth is the best at being bad. Trained as a killer by the same Weapon X program that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton, the man often known as Victor Creed is Wolverine's true opposite: a cold-blooded murderer with all of Wolverine's powers, without Wolverine's staunch code of honor.
The rivalry between Sabretooth and Wolverine began when Sabretooth seemingly killed Wolverine's lover, Silver Fox, on Wolverine's birthday, sparking a long tradition of Sabretooth tracking Wolverine down on his birthday to torment him. Sabretooth's attacks aren't simply physical. He also makes it a point to mentally torment Wolverine as well, drawing on his longtime issues with memory lapses and false programming to even convince Wolverine that Sabretooth was his father, those this ruse didn't last.
Though Sabretooth has occasionally joined with the X-Men (and in the Age of Apocalypse universe was even a hero of Wolverine's standing), he always reverts to his savage, sociopathic, violent demeanor. And, like a bad penny, even when he's thought to be truly, finally dead, he keeps turning up. Sabretooth is Wolverine's ultimate nemesis, and no one is truly safe while he still lives.
Wolverine: Who has taken him down? Toonzone
Onslaught
Sentinels - Days of Futures Past - he gets his very skin fried off his body - ouch!
Cyber - can't think of the story but they gone fist to claw more than once
Magneto - like you mentioned already - Fatal Attractions
Proteus - this kid messed with his mind in a way no one has ever done - taking him down to his knees at one point in time
Apocolypse - brain washed Wolverine and returned his adamantium while making him his Horseman of Death
Viper - Wolvie's wife who plotted to have him killed by Sabretooth - she's also a crime boss in Mandipore
Marrow - she stuck a bone through his neck and while not technically a villain she was fighting him at the time
Omega Red: Something with pheremones affecting Logan as they fought.
Gambit: Though not a villian either, his cool temper won over Logan's beserker rage in the end.
The Brood Queen: Alien ripoffs... I could be wrong on this, but I think he was taken down by them too, only to come back and demolish them. (That was a while ago.)
The Hellfire Club: Supposedly they knocked Wolvie through a few dozen floors and left him for dead, but he popped back up and put them in a hurtbox the next issue.
Spider-Man has whupped on him at least twice. Once, in Secret Wars, he wiped out the entire team of X-Men ("Those pigstickers may impress the barroom brawlers, but to me they're a joke!", and then in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine. Spider-Man beat him so hard that the back of Wolverine's head was cracking a tombstone from the impact.
Shingen, Mariko's father, beat Wolvie down like a dog in the first issue of his first mini-series. With a wooden sword, no less.
Jahf, the first guardian of the M'Kraan Crystal, once knocked Wolvie into orbit (literally) with one punch.
Dark Phoenix probably goes without saying.
A guy named Mr. X beat Wolvie hand-to-hand pretty recently. I don't recall him having any powers, he was just incredibly skilled, and fought Wolvie for the right to the name "the best there is".
Can't forget about The Reavers or Reapers or something like that....The guys that crucified him. Cable laid a whuppin on him a couple of times too.
Donald Pierce: Nearly killed Wolverine.
Magneto: pulled the adamantium out of wolverine.
Cyber: Broke Wolverine's bone claws.
Omega Red: captured and almost killed Wolverine.
