WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X Lives of Wolverine #4, now on sale from Marvel Comics
The X-Men have made a serious habit out of turning former enemies into new allies, especially in the era of Krakoa. One notable exception is Wolverine’s long-time foe Sabretooth, who has vowed to enact grisly vengeance on the Quiet Council for imprisoning him on Krakoa. But as the X-Men keep rediscovering, it didn’t have to be like this.
X Lives of Wolverine #4 by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, Federico Vicentini, Frank Martin, and VC’s Cory Petit reveals Sabretooth once inadvertently saved Charles Xavier (and the X-Men concept as a whole) — highlighting how Sabretooth could have become as a heroic guardian instead of the vicious villain he is in the present day.
X Lives of Wolverine #4 has thrown the titular mutant hero across time and space on a desperate mission to protect Charles Xavier from Omega Red. Given the ability to possess people in the past, Omega Red has come increasingly close to altering the timeline by preventing Xavier from ever existing in time to form the X-Men. His latest target is Logan himself, taking control of Wolverine’s body in Columbia. But before the controlled Wolverine can slaughter Xavier, he’s tackled by Sabretooth — at the time Logan’s teammate on Team X. Despite Omega Red’s attempts to convince Sabretooth to help him, the vicious mutant instead rips Wolverine apart — dragging him to the ground and ripping him apart before bringing him back to their handlers for mind-wipes.
This act also inadvertently saves Xavier’s life — making Sabretooth crucial to the eventual creation of the team he’d spend years fighting against. In essence, Sabretooth’s battle against the time-displaced Omega Red helped ensure he’d one day be targeted and brought down by the X-Men. Sabretooth doesn’t just defeat the controlled Wolverine either, he literally rips out his heart and feasts on it with relative ease. It’s a reminder of how strong Sabretooth really is — and how much of a game changer he could be if he were ever fully redeemed. There’s an inherent tragedy to the character as a result, as every attempt to redeem him has only failed — making him one of the notable failures of the X-Men’s habit of redeeming former villains.
There’s a great deal of precedent to Sabretooth having the potential to have been a hero. Multiple times over the years, other versions of Sabretooth have showcased this by becoming major X-Men. Variants of the character from the Age of Apocalypse and X-Men Forever timelines became fixtures of their world’s heroic teams — with the former even becoming a multiversal hero with the Exiles. The X-Men of Earth-616 have tried to redeem Sabretooth, housing him in the Xavier Mansion while Xavier attempted to soothe his demons. Sabretooth even briefly gained a morality shift thanks to the events of AXIS, turning Sabretooth into a more Wolverine-like character. Saving Xavier in the past proves how useful Sabretooth could have been over the years, potentially saving countless lives with his skills.
But each time, the core-Marvel Universe version of the character eventually loses any hope of becoming a better person — and instead revels in his brutal side, even in the largely united era of Krakoa. With his mutant abilities and wealth of ruthless experience, Sabretooth could be a major figure within the mutant community. He could even find a place for his brutality, working alongside the shadier aspects of the nation as an agent of X-Force or X-Corp. He could have made peace with his past relations, and even learned to accept Wolverine as an ally (as other former foes like Silver Samurai and Gorgon did). Instead, Sabretooth never seems to escape his darker impulses — and remains a vicious villain.
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