{"id":8195,"date":"2022-10-02T12:28:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T11:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8195"},"modified":"2022-11-06T11:54:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T11:54:14","slug":"the-incomplete-wolverine-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8195","title":{"rendered":"The Incomplete Wolverine – 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1: Origin to Origin II<\/a> | <\/a>Part 2: 1907 to 1914<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 3: 1914 to 1939<\/a> | <\/a>Part 4: World War II<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 5: The postwar era<\/a> | <\/a>Part 6: Team X<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 7: Post Team X<\/a> | <\/a>Part 8: Weapon X<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 9: Department H<\/a> | <\/a>Part 10: The Silver Age<\/a>
\n1974-1975<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/a>1976<\/a> | <\/a>1977<\/a> | <\/a>1978<\/a> | <\/a>1979<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>
\n1980<\/a> | <\/a>1981<\/a> | 1982<\/a><\/em>\u00a0| 1983<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01984<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a01985<\/a>
\n1986<\/a>\u00a0| 1987<\/a> | 1988<\/a><\/em>\u00a0| 1989<\/a> | 1990<\/a><\/em> | 1991<\/em><\/a>
\n1992<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01993<\/em><\/a> | 1994<\/em><\/a> | 1995<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01996<\/a> | 1997 <\/a><\/em>
\n1998<\/a> |<\/em>\u00a01999<\/a><\/em>\u00a0|\u00a02000<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a02001<\/a> | 2002<\/a><\/em> | 2003<\/em><\/a>
\n2004<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

We’re midway through the Mark Millar \/ John Romita Jr run. It already carried us through the first couple of months of the year, and when we left off, Wolverine had just been captured by the good guys after his brainwashed rampage on behalf of the Hand. If you haven’t read this storyline, you can probably guess what happens in the second half.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 3 #26-31<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”<\/strong>
\nby Mark Millar, John Romita Jr, Klaus Janson & Paul Mounts<\/strong>
\nMarch to August 2005<\/strong><\/p>\n

S.H.I.E.L.D. deprogram Wolverine by putting his mind through repeated simulations in which his normal personality can finally reassert itself. When the Hand attack with a bunch of brainwashed villains, Wolverine has to be woken ahead of schedule to fight them, but his normal personality is indeed restored. The attackers include a bunch of minor villains that Wolverine hasn’t encountered before –\u00a0Slyde<\/strong>\u00a0(Jalome Beacher),\u00a0S.H.O.C.<\/strong>\u00a0(Todd Fields),\u00a0the Spot<\/strong>\u00a0(Johnny Ohnn),\u00a0Vibro<\/strong>\u00a0(Alton Vibereaux), Poison <\/strong>(Cecilia Cardinale)\u00a0and\u00a0Leap-Frog\u00a0<\/strong>(Buford Lange).\u00a0In a completely random bit of continuity, the scientist who cures Wolverine,\u00a0Dr Weinberg<\/strong>, is the former Rabble-Rouser, a one-off Human Torch villain from 1964.<\/p>\n

Naturally, Wolverin sets out for revenge and atonement. In practice, this means killing everyone he can get his hands on from HYDRA, the Hand or the Dawn of the White Light cult. Basically it’s a mirror of the first half, except now he’s going after the villains. S.H.I.E.L.D. also fret about whether he’s really deprogrammed, but nothing really comes of that.<\/p>\n

In the course of his casual slaughter – and this arc is\u00a0really<\/em> casual about having Wolverine kill large number of bad guys – the brainwashed Northstar is captured. As for Elektra, she was never under Hand control after all, and she was just playing along. Finally, Wolverine and Elektra lead SHIELD against the bad guys. Elsbeth is apparently killed in a missile strike, while Gorgon is turned to stone by his own powers and shattered. His ridiculously OTT powers are better suited to being a one-off villain, which is how Millar seems to have conceived him.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There’s a somewhat maudlin epilogue in which Wolverine brings Ichiro and Fukuko to their child’s unmarked grave (the same child he was trying to rescue back at the start of the storyline). It’s very much at odds with the insane story that precedes it, and feels a bit unearned. But that aside, the Millar\/Romita run is full of scale and momentum. It’s nuts but it does what it sets out to do.<\/p>\n

Again, there are a few tie-ins to this arc:<\/p>\n