Warning! Spoilers ahead for X Lives of Wolverine #1
In Marvel Comics’ new X Lives of Wolverine series, Logan’s newest mission is pulled straight from the X-Men films. With Charles Xavier’s life being in danger thanks to time travel, it’s up to Wolverine to keep him safe by going back down his own timeline (just like in Days of Future Past). However, the key difference for this new series is that Logan will seemingly be visiting multiple points in his past rather than just 1973 while also revealing key moments in the life and history of Xavier himself.
In 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, the distant future has become an incredibly dark place thanks to the rise of the Sentinels, robot killers seeking to end mutantkind once and for all. Taking a final stand, Xavier and the surviving X-Men come up with a plan to send Wolverine’s present consciousness back in time to his body in the past. In doing so, Logan’s mission is to save Mystique in 1973 before she can kill the Sentinel program’s director Bolivar Trask, leading to her capture and her DNA being used to make the Sentinels unstoppable in the present. Thanks to his unique healing factor, Wolverine is the only one who can go back to the past seeing as how his mind can withstand the trauma.
It looks as though the same time travel logic applies in X Lives of Wolverine #1 from writer Benjamin Percy and artist Joshua Cassara. Sent back in time with the help of Jean Grey, Cerebro, and Xavier himself, Wolverine’s mind is sent back into his younger body in an era before Weapon X coated his skeleton in adamantium (just like in Days of Future Past). Eventually, it’s revealed that the Russian mutant operative Omega Red has been sent back in time as well to kill a young Xavier on the orders of Mikhail Rasputin, Colossus’ brother and wielder of the Cerebro Sword. However, Wolverine arrives just in time to keep Xavier safe, specifically on the day of the professor’s birth.
While Days of Future Past saw Wolverine needing to unite Magneto and Xavier together to save Mystique, his first task was to save Xavier from himself in the past, reminding him who he was and encouraging him to reembrace his immense power as a psychic. Now, the comics are seeing Wolverine saving Xavier in the past as well (though this time it’s from external forces). However, Logan’s new mission may be easier said than done.
As X Lives of Wolverine continues (along with the connected X Deaths of Wolverine), it seems as though there are going to be multiple attempts on Xavier’s life. Case in point, this first issue ends with Wolverine jumping to another point in time, finding himself in Columbia with his Weapon X squad with Jean telepathically directing him to Xavier’s location. While it may be the same means of time travel as the X-Men’s Days of Future Past, this new Wolverine series looks as though it’s going to be a much bigger gauntlet for Marvel’s Living Weapon.
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