Wolverine is a 2003 comic book series from Marvel Comics. It's part of the X-Men franchise, the third volume of the solo series starring Logan, the titular Wolverine.
A relaunch of Wolverine (1988), the series is notable for the Old Man Logan story arc, and for introducing Logan's son, Daken.
The first issue was released May 21, 2003. The series lasted for 74 issues, with the final issue released June 10, 2009. The series was renamed Dark Wolverine, staring Logan's son Daken as the titular Dark Wolverine.
Wolverine (2003) provides examples of:
- Annoying Arrows: In issue #41, Logan, needing to get a small child to safety through a bunch of archers, chose to block them with his body and keep going. It worked, though he wasn't in very good shape at the end.
- Backstory: Issues #62-65, the "Get Mystique" arc, reveal how Wolverine met Mystique for the first time.
- Break Them by Talking: In issue #56, Wolverine has been imprisoned by the unusual method of throwing him in a pit and shooting him constantly so he'll be too busy healing to escape and he still manages to verbally break down the guy with the gun, who eventually lets Wolverine escape in the expectation that Wolverine will kill him.
- C-List Fodder: In the story arc "Enemy of the State", a Brainwashed and Crazy Wolverine goes around hunting and attacking heroes to be used as resurrected minions of HYDRA and The Hand. He only ends up killing two - Northstar, a member of Alpha Flight who is resurrected and returned sometime later and Hornet, a member of the oft-forgotten group Slingers. To add insult to injury, when Nick Fury and Elektra discover Hornet's corpse, Fury laments that they couldn't even get his name right.
- Fed to Pigs: In Mark Millar's run, the Gorgon and the Hand lured Wolverine into their territory by kidnapping the son of one of his old acquaintances. After things come to blows and the Gorgon gains the upper hand, he reveals that the boy is long dead, fed to the Hand's pigs.
- Full-Frontal Assault: In the story arc "Get Mystique", Mystique switches off her powers before loading up with heavy weaponry and going into the final battle wearing an ammo belt and a Slasher Smile. Since her clothes are a product of her powers, she's naked for the whole fight.
- Hypocritical Humor: During the "Enemy of the State" arc, Wolverine, who's been alive since the 19th Century, bedded many women, and (as noted below) fathered a great many illegitimate kids, calls Daredevil "a himbo". Granted, Matt Murdock himself is a case of "Really Gets Around", but Logan still has no right to talk (although this can also be justified as Logan's current brainwashed state is bringing out a more negative side of himself).
- Outliving One's Offspring: Wolverine was born in the mid-19th Century and is still alive and kicking in the 21st thanks to his Healing Factor. It's seldom touched on, but he has had many children over his lifetime (most of them illegitimate). Those not born mutants sharing his healing factor are very likely to die of old age or disease while he lives on. One story arc features a villain invoking this trope in the cruellest way possible: he gathers as many of Logan's illegitimate offspring as he can find, trains them, and sends them after him, knowing that Logan will make short work of them. And then not telling him until after the deed is done. The resulting guilt of having slaughtered his own children, along with the participation of his "daughter"/Opposite-Sex Clone, X-23, in X-Force is later a major contributing factor to his side of Schism.
- Out with a Bang: In the story arc "Get Mystique", Senator Ralph Miles Brickman is about to get it on with his favorite sex worker, Zahira. He asks if she would like to oblige him with "one of those funny positions"; she obliges by trapping his neck in the crook of her knee, strangling him. As he dies, she shape-shifts, revealing herself to be Mystique and she hisses "How was that? Was it GOOD FOR YOU?"
- Please, Don't Leave Me: At the end of the story arc "Get Mystique", Raven, grievously wounded by Wolverine, begs him not to walk away without finishing her off. He ignores her, and walks away, leaving her to expire slowly and painfully, screaming and cursing at him (don't worry, she gets better).
- Significant Anagram: The story arc Logan Dies revealed that every time he actually died before his Healing Factor kicked in, he had to fight an Angel of Death named Lazaer before he could return. "Lazaer" is not a known angel in Abrahamic mythology, but is an anagram of Azrael
. - Slasher Smile: In the story arc "Get Mystique"; just before their final climactic confrontation, Mystique strips naked, festoons herself with weapons, puts on a slasher smile and says, "Come and GET me, Lover!"
- Spin-Off: The title Wolverine: Origins is a spin off from this volume, following the arc "Wolverine: Origins and Endings" in issues #36-40.
- Story Arc:
- Issues #20-25 is the "Enemy of the State" arc: Wolverine is Brainwashed by HYDRA and set loose on the Marvel Universe at large.
- Issues #26-31 is the Immediate Sequel, "Wolverine: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.": SHIELD deprograms Wolverine from HYDRA's Mind Control.
- Issues #50-55 cross over with Wolverine: Origins in revealing the mastermind behind Wolverine's life of suffering and the idea of "lupine mutants".
- Issues #62-65 is the "Get Mystique" arc, which function as one epilogue to Messiah Complex: Cyclops orders Wolverine to get Mystique.
- Issues #66-72 is the storyline Old Man Logan, about Wolverine in devastated America in a Bad Future after the heroes died.
- Subhuman Surfacing Shot: The cover of Wolverine #9 - Coyote Crossing Part 3 features the man himself, out of costume, rising from a pool of water with claws at the ready and a particularly vicious-looking glare on his face. Judging by the tint of the scene and the jungle in the background, it's likely this was a homage to another instance of this trope in Apocalypse Now.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: She can actually hide weapons inside herself. In the story arc "Get Mystique", Mystique pulls a 9mm Glock out of a pouch at the base of her spine and shoots Wolverine in the middle of the face; she is stark naked at the time.