Thursday, July 31, 2008

Run! Our Teammate Is Here!

Question: When was the last time Wolverine went into a berserker rage in one of the team books he inhabits?

Admittedly, I haven't been reading the X-books or New Avengers for quite some time, but off hand, I just couldn't recall the last time Logan had been on some mission with a team, and at some point during said mission, gone crazy. I know he's been killing large quantities of people in X-Force, but I was under the impression that he was maintaining control while doing so, because he's worried about his teammates. Which is cool. I enjoy it when Logan actively reigns himself in to look out for his allies. It just seems as though it's been quite some time since his teammates were freaking out because Logan was losing his mind, and they needed to be as afraid of him as they were of their enemy.

I think in New Avengers #6 (#7?) he was on the verge of it when he attacked the other Black Widow, only Cap hit him in the head with his shield, and that seemed to surprise Wolverine enough that he snapped out of it (since he didn't turn around and try and kill Cap, instead asking what, exactly, Cap thought he was doing). Beyond that, I couldn't think of any others. Maybe Marvel's decided he's matured past that point. Or maybe they just save him disemboweling people left and right for his solo adventures (I know it happened a few times during Rucka's turn on Wolverine, since what Logan thought of himself and those rages was something Rucka was exploring). Or perhaps the writers want Wolverine to make witty commentary as he kills people, as opposed to inarticulate animal noises (I don't really believe that one, but I figured I'd throw it out there).

I didn't remember hearing of one in Astonishing (though early on, he did try and drive the Beast into a fury, didn't he?), or before or during Messiah CompleX. But, I know some of the audience read the X-Books regularly, so maybe they know of one recently.

5 comments:

Jason said...

Well, he did get drunk and get in a fight with Armor in Whedon's last issues of Astonishing, but I don't think that was rage so much as therapy.

I think the party line at Marvel lately is that Wolverine has matured into the older-hero/mentor role, rather than the quasi-young upstart that he had been.

Mind you, they've been doing a lot of flashbacks in his solo books, so maybe somewhere in there?

LEN! said...

It's been a very long time since he went berserker. Guess it wouldn't fit with any of Cyclops' plans, but that's just a random guess.

SallyP said...

Gosh, this is a conundrum. I think that the last time I can really remember him going out and out bonkers, was back when Joe Kelly was writing the team, and they all got kidnapped by the N'gari(?) and he ended up being worshipped, or something and freaked out Nightcrawler.

It's BEEN a while!

CalvinPitt said...

jason: I think ypu're right about him being portrayed as more of a mentor (which I guess goes back to Kitty Pryde joining the school). Wolvie's solo books are like Vegas for him: He can do anything there, and it doesn't follow him back to the X-Books where he is more of a mentor.

len!: I could see Cyclops purposely keeping Logan out of situations where he'd be likely to lose it. Probably helps the X-Men's public relations.

sallyp: That does sound like it was a long time ago.

Unknown said...

I think guys like Whedon and Bendis would want Wolverine delivering snappy lines while he killed people.