Wolverine is one of the greatest heroes in the Marvel Universe, but he’s also had one tough life. His existence has been full of suffering in a way that would cause even the most mentally tough superheroes to lose it.
Wolverine has been through a lot of changes over the years, and while his life has gotten better, it’s never become “great.” The reality of being Wolverine is extremely unpleasant for a variety of reasons.
10 Everyone Just Expects Him To Be The Guy Who Does All Of The Killing
Wolverine has a reputation for being someone that has no qualms with killing. This is a fairly earned reputation as well, as Wolverine is uniquely equipped physically and emotionally to do so. The problem is that it’s what everyone expects of him. For every team Wolverine has been on, his role has always been to kill the bad guys that need killing.
While Wolverine knows what his job is, there’s a part of him that wishes he didn’t have to do it anymore. Knowing that all of his friends think he’s a killing machine must wear on him.
9 His Reputation As A Killer Has Made His Relationship With Some Heroes Difficult
Although Wolverine has always been something of a loner, he does respect some heroes. But, for a long time, Wolverine’s reputation as a killer made his relationships with other heroes, like Captain America and Spider-Man, very strenuous.
People that Wolverine respected turned around and treated him like dirt for years because of his past crimes. Over the years, this tensions strained his relationships with many people, including some of his X-Men teammates.
8 There’s No Telling How Many Innocent People He Killed In His Berzerker Rages
One of Wolverine’s defining characteristics is his berserker rages. He would lose all control of himself and basically become an animal that destroyed everything in his path. Wolverine learned to control it over the years, but in his pre-Weapon X days, he didn’t understand what happened to him or how to control it.
There’s no telling how many innocent people died during those times, and Wolverine knows that. He has to live with the guilt of that every day. It’s one of the reasons he fights so hard to keep control: he knows the consequences of his actions, even if he doesn’t always remember it.
7 He Was Used As A Weapon By The U.S. And Canadian Government For Years
Wolverine is one of the foremost black ops specialists in the Marvel Universe. During the Cold War, he was a part of Team X, one of the CIA’s most successful black ops teams. Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Maverick did the dirty work for the United States during the Cold War. These three men were little more than weapons for NATO’s war against the USSR.
Wolverine knows that a significant portion of his life was devoted to assassination, sabotage, and destruction. He lived up to his Weapon X moniker when he was unleashed by North American governments to deal with their foes.
6 For Years, He Had No Memories Of Vast Portions Of His Life
While Wolverine would eventually regain his memory, for many years he had forgotten his own life story. He spent most of his time outside of the X-Men hunting down clues to his past, and the ones he found were usually terrible. He didn’t know his parents’ names or the name of his first love, and the things he did remember were often implanted lies.
Memories are a huge part of being human, and the massive holes in Wolverine’s memory were probably terrifying. This loss wasn’t just personally devastating but also had affected others around him.
5 Just About All Of His Children Have Tried To Kill Him At Least Once
Wolverine has had a lot of children throughout his long life. Unfortunately, his memory lose caused him to forget they existed. His son Daken grew up hating his father for abandoning him after the Winter Soldier assassinated his mother. The Mongrels tried to kill Wolverine because he was never in their life.
Even Laura, the first time she met Wolverine, tried to kill him—but that was more out of instinct than malice. Wolverine has to live with the fact that all of his children have hated him at one point or another and that he’s even killed some of them.
4 The Woman He Loves The Most Is With Someone Else
Wolverine has loved Jean Grey from the moment he met her. For years, though, she was in a relationship with his main rival, Cyclops. Their love was mostly unrequited, and while there were indications that something happened between them on Krakoa, Jean always seemed to spend most of her time with her one-time husband.
Wolverine’s love for Jean Grey has been largely unrequited for as long as he knew her. That sort of thing wears on a person. While he’s had other lovers over the years, the fact that she never chose him hurt Wolverine immensely.
3 He Killed His Mother
Wolverine has killed a lot of people in his berserker rages, but one of his first kills was his worst. On the night his powers manifested, the groundskeeper of his family’s estate came to kill Wolverine, the man he thought was his father, and abduct his mother. Wolverine went into a rage upon seeing his dead father, killing the groundskeeper on purpose and then his mother accidentally.
He didn’t remember this for many years, but when he regained his memory, it all came rushing back. Wolverine has had to live with the fact that he accidentally killed his own mother because of his powers.
2 He Killed His Lover Mariko To Spare Her The Pain Of Being Poisoned
Wolverine did it, and it was something that wore on his soul forever afterwards. While she would return to life and they would briefly reunite, the fact that he had to kill her is yet another lesion on his soul.
1 His Entire Life Is Pain
Wolverine has one of the best healing factors in the Marvel Universe. It’s his defining characteristic, as his ability to take damage is key to his fighting style. While he has a healing factor, he doesn’t have a pain dampening factor. For example, if he’s set on fire, he feels that until his body goes into shock or his nervous system burns away. Every time he pops his claws, it hurts.
Wolverine’s entire life is all about taking insane amounts of pain. It is one of the few constants of his existence and it’s been something that has defined his character.
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