====== Old Man Logan ======
===== Part 1: The Dossier: An At-a-Glance Summary =====
  *   **In one bolded sentence, Old Man Logan is a traumatized, world-weary version of Wolverine from a dystopian alternate future who, after being displaced into the main Marvel Universe, serves as a living cautionary tale and a reluctant mentor to a new generation of heroes.**
  *   **Key Takeaways:**
  *  **Role in the Universe:** Originating from the desolate, villain-conquered future of Earth-807128 known as the Wastelands, Old Man Logan's primary role is that of a survivor haunted by a horrific past. After finding himself in the prime [[Earth-616]], he functions as a grizzled veteran of the [[x-men]], desperately trying to prevent his apocalyptic timeline from coming to pass while seeking redemption for his past sins.
  *  **Primary Impact:** The character's debut storyline, "Old Man Logan," created by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, was a critical and commercial success that introduced the popular Wastelands setting. His subsequent integration into the main Marvel universe provided a unique narrative foil for other characters, especially his successor [[x-23_laura_kinney|Laura Kinney]], and offered a profound, mature exploration of Wolverine's core themes of violence, regret, and family.
  *  **Key Incarnations:** The foundational comic book version is defined by the trauma of having been tricked by [[mysterio_quentin_beck|Mysterio]]'s illusions into murdering the X-Men. In stark contrast, the critically acclaimed 2017 film //Logan// presents a thematically similar but narratively distinct version, where his healing factor is failing due to adamantium poisoning, and the X-Men were inadvertently killed by a mentally declining [[professor_x|Professor X]].
===== Part 2: Origin and Evolution =====
==== Publication History and Creation ====
Old Man Logan made his first appearance in the pages of **//Wolverine// (vol. 3) #66** in August 2008. The character and his world were conceived by writer [[Mark Millar]] and artist [[Steve McNiven]], the same creative team behind the blockbuster event [[civil_war|Civil War]]. The story was pitched as a dark, futuristic "last Wolverine story," heavily inspired by post-apocalyptic fiction and revisionist Western films, most notably Clint Eastwood's //Unforgiven//.
The initial eight-issue arc was an immense success, lauded for its brutal storytelling, imaginative world-building, and McNiven's stunningly detailed artwork. It presented a Marvel Universe like none seen before—a broken, conquered America divided into territories ruled by supervillains. The concept resonated so strongly with readers that the character was brought back for the 2015 [[secret_wars_2015|Secret Wars]] event in a tie-in series, also titled //Old Man Logan//, written by Brian Michael Bendis. This series served as a bridge, ultimately transplanting the character from his native reality into the mainstream Earth-616 continuity following the event.
His popularity secured him an ongoing solo series, which ran for 50 issues from 2016 to 2018, primarily written by Jeff Lemire and later Ed Brisson. This series explored his difficult adjustment to a world that was not his own and his desperate attempts to prevent his dark future. The character's arc concluded in the 12-issue limited series //Dead Man Logan// (2018-2019), which provided a definitive and poignant end to his journey.
==== In-Universe Origin Story ====
The origin of Old Man Logan is a tale of profound tragedy, set decades in a future where evil has triumphed. It is crucial to distinguish between his comic book genesis and his cinematic adaptation, as they are fundamentally different narratives.
=== Earth-807128 (The Wastelands) ===
Over fifty years before the start of his story, the villains of the Marvel Universe, led by the [[red_skull]], orchestrated a coordinated, global attack. Dubbed "The Night the Heroes Fell," this assault wiped out the vast majority of the world's superheroes in a single, brutal evening. The United States was shattered and carved into territories controlled by the victors: the Red Skull became President, Doctor Doom claimed his own fiefdom, the Kingpin controlled the West Coast, and the Hulk Gang—the monstrous, inbred descendants of [[bruce_banner|Bruce Banner]]—took over California.
The X-Men's fate was the most horrific and serves as the source of Logan's lifelong trauma. On that fateful night, a legion of supervillains descended upon the Xavier Institute. Believing his friends and students were in mortal danger, Wolverine unleashed his berserker rage, slaughtering every single intruder in a bloody frenzy to protect his family. It was only after the last foe fell that the illusion shattered. He had not been fighting villains; the master of illusion, Mysterio, had tricked him. Logan stood amidst the corpses of his teammates, his students, his family—the X-Men. He had single-handedly murdered them all.
Broken by this unimaginable horror, he walked to a nearby train track, laid his head on the rail, and waited. As the train passed over him, his healing factor pieced his severed head back together. Realizing he could not even die, he resolved that "Wolverine" was dead. He retracted his claws, vowing never to use them again and never to take another human life. He became simply "Logan," a quiet farmer living on a barren plot of land in Sacramento, California—now part of "Hulkland." He started a new family, with a wife, Maureen, and two children, Scotty and Jade.
Fifty years later, Logan is a broken old man, struggling to pay rent to his landlords, the Hulk Gang. Facing eviction and the murder of his family, he reluctantly accepts a job from a now-blind [[hawkeye_clint_barton|Hawkeye]]: help him navigate across the country to New Babylon (formerly Washington, D.C.) to deliver a secret package. Their journey across the dystopian wasteland reveals the horrifying new face of America: a T-Rex infected with the [[symbiote|Symbiote]] roams the plains, Ant-Man's skeleton lies as a giant landmark known as "Pym Falls," and Mjolnir rests in "Hammer Falls," now a place of worship.
Upon reaching New Babylon, the delivery is revealed to be a case of Super-Soldier Serum, intended to create a new team of Avengers to fight the Red Skull. However, it was a trap; Hawkeye is betrayed and murdered by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents loyal to the President. Logan is taken to the Red Skull's trophy room, filled with artifacts from fallen heroes. After being brutally beaten, the sight of Captain America's uniform finally breaks Logan's pacifist vow. He uses Cap's shield to decapitate the Red Skull's men and then engages the villain himself. After a vicious fight, the Red Skull is killed, and Logan, taking a suit of [[iron_man|Iron Man]]'s armor and a case of money, flies home.
Tragically, he arrives too late. The Hulk Gang, tired of waiting for the rent, had already murdered his wife and children. All his efforts, all the violence he had sworn off, had been for nothing. With nothing left to lose, Logan finally unsheathes his adamantium claws for the first time in five decades. He hunts down and systematically slaughters every member of the Hulk Gang, saving their patriarch, the now-insane and monstrous Bruce Banner, for last. Banner reveals he'd become a monster just because he was bored, and in the ensuing fight, he devours Logan whole. This proves to be a fatal mistake. Weeks later, Logan's healing factor allows him to regenerate inside Banner's stomach, and he bursts out, killing the Hulk from within.
Finding one survivor—Banner's infant grandson, Bruce Banner Jr.—Logan adopts the child. Riding off into the sunset, he declares his intention to form a new team, to take down the despots ruling the Wastelands, and to finally bring justice back to the world. He was no longer just Logan; he was Wolverine again.
=== Arrival in Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) ===
Logan's journey to the prime Marvel reality was a direct consequence of the 2015 //Secret Wars// event. As his universe, Earth-807128, was destroyed during a multiversal "Incursion," Logan was one of the few beings who survived the apocalypse. He found himself on Battleworld, a patchwork planet created by Doctor Doom from the remnants of dead realities. After traversing several of these domains, he found himself at the epicenter of the final battle against Doom.
When reality was subsequently rebuilt by Reed Richards, Logan was not returned to his own timeline. Instead, he awoke in the present day of the restored Earth-616. His immediate mission was singular and obsessive: to prevent his dark future at all costs. He began compiling a list of the individuals and events that led to the heroes' fall, intending to preemptively eliminate the threats. This put him in immediate conflict with the heroes of this new world, who viewed his lethal methods with alarm. His attempts to assassinate a young Mysterio and his confrontation with a very-much-alive Hawkeye highlighted his displacement and the psychological toll his past had taken on him.
Eventually, Logan was found by the X-Men, who were reeling from their own recent crises. He reluctantly joined Storm's "Extraordinary X-Men" team, finding a new, albeit uncomfortable, home. He served as a living ghost, a constant reminder of a horrific potential future, and slowly carved out a new purpose for himself as a protector of the generation he had failed in his own time.
===== Part 3: Abilities, Equipment & Personality =====
While sharing a fundamental power set with his younger Earth-616 counterpart, Old Man Logan's abilities and mindset are uniquely shaped by age, trauma, and the harsh realities of his world.
=== Earth-807128 / Earth-616 Incarnation ===
==== Powers and Abilities ====
  * **Regenerative Healing Factor:** Logan's primary mutant power grants him the ability to heal from almost any injury at an accelerated rate. However, a key aspect of his character is that this healing factor is **visibly slower and less effective** than that of his prime self. Decades of aging and the constant strain of supporting an adamantium-laced skeleton have taken their toll. He accumulates scars, injuries take longer to mend, and he is more susceptible to being overwhelmed by massive trauma. This diminished capacity is a constant source of vulnerability and a reminder of his mortality.
  * **Adamantium-Laced Skeleton and Claws:** His entire skeleton, including three retractable claws in each forearm, is bonded with the nigh-indestructible metal, adamantium. This makes his bones virtually unbreakable and his claws capable of cutting through almost any substance. For 50 years, his psychological trauma prevented him from even extending the claws, a vow he broke only after the murder of his second family.
  * **Superhuman Senses:** Logan possesses animal-keen senses of sight, smell, and hearing, allowing him to track targets with incredible accuracy and detect unseen threats. These senses, while still potent, have also been slightly dulled by age.
  * **Superhuman Stamina, Agility, and Reflexes:** His healing factor fights off fatigue poisons, allowing him to exert himself for extended periods. While he is not as fast or nimble as his younger self, he remains a formidable physical combatant.
  * **Master Combatant:** Possessing over a century of combat experience, Logan is one ofthe most skilled fighters on the planet, proficient in countless forms of armed and unarmed combat, including extensive special-ops training and samurai arts. His fighting style as an older man is more brutal and efficient, relying less on acrobatics and more on overwhelming force and tactical savagery.
==== Weaknesses ====
  * **Diminished Healing:** His greatest physical weakness. Poisons, massive trauma, and decapitation can still overwhelm his healing factor and kill him, and he feels the pain of his injuries much more acutely.
  * **Psychological Trauma:** His single greatest vulnerability is the memory of murdering the X-Men. Reminders of this event, or illusions that replicate it, can send him into a state of catatonic guilt or uncontrollable rage, making him predictable and easy to manipulate.
  * **Adamantium Poisoning:** A concept that becomes more prominent in his later stories, it is theorized that the adamantium is slowly poisoning his body. As his healing factor weakens with age, it becomes less able to counteract the metal's toxic effects, accelerating his decline.
==== Personality ====
Old Man Logan is a stark departure from the typical Wolverine. He is defined by a deep-seated weariness and a core of profound sadness. Initially, he is a committed **pacifist**, so horrified by his past actions that he refuses to engage in any violence. He is **haunted**, prone to flashbacks and nightmares, and carries the weight of his sins in every action. Upon arriving in Earth-616, he becomes fiercely **protective** of the younger generation of heroes, viewing them as a second chance to do right by the family he lost. He is gruff, cynical, and emotionally closed-off, but beneath the hardened exterior is a reluctant **paternal figure** who desperately seeks redemption.
=== Cinematic Adaptation (Fox's //Logan//) ===
The 2017 film //Logan//, directed by James Mangold, is a **thematic and spiritual adaptation**, not a direct translation of the comic storyline. It captures the tone and "last ride" feel of the source material but changes nearly every plot point and character motivation.
==== Powers and Weaknesses ====
The central conflict of the film is the **catastrophic failure of Logan's healing factor**. Here, it is not just diminished; it is actively failing. He is visibly scarred, limps, and is in constant pain. The film explicitly confirms that the **adamantium bonded to his skeleton is poisoning him**, and his weakened immune system can no longer fight it off. This decay is the driving force of the narrative, framing his journey as a true final act. His claws sometimes fail to retract or extend properly, and every fight leaves lasting, grievous wounds.
==== Key Differences from the Comic ====
  * **The "Westchester Incident":** The film replaces Mysterio's illusion with a far more intimate tragedy. It is heavily implied that a year prior, an elderly and senile Professor Xavier, suffering from a degenerative brain disease, had a powerful psychic seizure that paralyzed and killed hundreds of people, including most of the X-Men. Logan was one of the few survivors, and his guilt now stems from being unable to prevent the tragedy and having to care for the man who caused it.
  * **Setting and Plot:** The Wastelands are replaced by a near-future (2029) where new mutants have not been born in 25 years. The plot does not involve a cross-country delivery for Hawkeye but instead focuses on Logan's job as a limo driver, trying to earn enough money to buy a boat and live out his final days at sea with Charles.
  * **Laura Kinney (X-23):** The emotional core is his relationship with Laura, a young girl created from his DNA by a clandestine program. She is his biological daughter, and his journey becomes about protecting her and getting her to a safe haven. This replaces the comic's plot of avenging his family and adopting Bruce Banner Jr.
  * **Death:** The cinematic Logan dies heroically, fighting to protect Laura and the other young mutants from his own more savage clone, X-24. He is impaled on a tree stump and dies after finally acknowledging Laura as his daughter. This provides a definitive, powerful ending for this version of the character.
===== Part 4: Key Relationships & Network =====
==== Core Allies ====
  * **[[hawkeye_clint_barton|Hawkeye (Clint Barton, Earth-807128)]]:** In his original timeline, the blind Hawkeye was Logan's only friend and the catalyst for his journey. Their relationship was that of two old, broken soldiers sharing one last ride. Clint's cynical humor provided a foil to Logan's grim silence. His murder at the hands of the Red Skull's forces was a key turning point, forcing Logan to re-engage with a world he had long abandoned.
  * **[[x-23_laura_kinney|Laura Kinney (X-23, Earth-616)]]:** Logan's relationship with Laura, his clone and the new Wolverine of Earth-616, is deeply complex. He views her with a mixture of paternal pride and trepidation. He is protective of her, wanting her to have a better life than he did, yet he is also wary of the violent path she walks. He struggles to see her as his successor but ultimately accepts her as his legacy, forming a powerful, if often unspoken, father-daughter bond.
  * **[[jean_grey|Jean Grey (Time-Displaced, Earth-616)]]:** Upon arriving in the prime universe, Logan formed a close, protective bond with the young, time-displaced version of Jean Grey. For Logan, she was a ghost of the woman he loved and a chance to protect someone he had failed catastrophically in his own timeline. He acted as a mentor and confidant, helping her navigate her immense power and the fear that came with it.
==== Arch-Enemies ====
  * **The Hulk Gang (Earth-807128):** The green-skinned, hillbilly cannibals who ruled California were Logan's personal demons. As his landlords, their greed and cruelty were a constant presence in his life. As the murderers of his wife and children, they became the singular focus of his resurrected rage. They represent the ultimate corruption of a hero, a monstrous perversion of Bruce Banner's legacy, and their destruction was Logan's bloody baptism back into the role of Wolverine.
  * **The Red Skull (President Skull, Earth-807128):** The architect of the heroes' downfall and the despotic ruler of New Babylon. The Red Skull was the embodiment of the triumph of evil in the Wastelands. His arrogance, cruelty, and use of Captain America's uniform as a trophy were what finally pushed Logan past his breaking point. Defeating him was not just an act of revenge, but Logan's first step toward becoming a hero again.
  * **[[mysterio_quentin_beck|Mysterio (Quentin Beck)]]:** While not a physical threat on the level of the Hulk, Mysterio is arguably Logan's true arch-nemesis. It was his illusion that caused Logan to commit the single most unforgivable act of his life. The psychological wound Mysterio inflicted is the source of all of Logan's pain. When Logan arrived in Earth-616, hunting down this world's Mysterio to prevent him from ever committing a similar atrocity was his first, all-consuming priority.
==== Affiliations ====
  * **X-Men (Earth-807128):** His original family. His love for them was absolute, which made his role in their deaths all the more soul-shattering. The memory of the X-Men defines his every action, serving as both a source of strength and his greatest shame.
  * **X-Men (Earth-616):** Logan found a new, uneasy home with the X-Men of the prime universe. He served on several iterations of the team, including the "Extraordinary X-Men" and "X-Men Gold." In these groups, he was the grizzled veteran, the surly grandfather figure who had seen the worst the world had to offer. He often clashed with team leaders like Storm and Kitty Pryde over methods but was always driven by a fierce desire to protect his new family from the future he had endured.
===== Part 5: Iconic Events & Storylines =====
==== Wolverine: Old Man Logan (2008-2009) ====
The foundational story by Millar and McNiven. This eight-issue arc introduced the character and the world of the Wastelands. It follows a pacifist Logan as he is forced by circumstance to undertake a cross-country journey with a blind Hawkeye. The narrative is a slow burn, meticulously building the dystopian world and Logan's inner turmoil. The climax, where Logan's family is murdered and he finally unleashes his claws on the Hulk Gang, is a landmark moment of brutal, cathartic violence that redefines the character. It is a self-contained masterpiece that established the themes of regret, family, and the inescapable nature of violence that would follow the character for the next decade.
==== Secret Wars (2015) ====
During Marvel's multiversal collapse event, Old Man Logan was one of the few beings to survive the destruction of his reality. His tie-in miniseries saw him emerge from his fallen domain into the patchwork Battleworld. In a disoriented daze, he broke the laws of Battleworld by crossing its borders, traversing different realms in a desperate attempt to understand what had happened. This journey showcased the horrors of other fallen realities and put him on a collision course with the Thor Corps and God-Emperor Doom, positioning him to be one of the survivors who would emerge in the newly-reborn Prime Universe.
==== Old Man Logan (Ongoing Series, 2016-2018) ====
This 50-issue series chronicles Logan's life after his arrival in Earth-616. The initial arc, "Berzerker," sees him actively hunting down the villains on his list to prevent his future, putting him in conflict with the heroes of the present day. Later arcs see him confront a displaced Maestro (a tyrannical future Hulk from another timeline), battle a new, more lethal version of the Reavers, and even briefly return to a vision of his own desolate future. The series is a deep character study, exploring his attempts to adjust, his burgeoning relationships with the new X-Men, and his slow acceptance that this new world is his home and is worth fighting for.
==== Dead Man Logan (2018-2019) ====
This 12-issue finale serves as the capstone to Old Man Logan's entire saga. His healing factor is now rapidly failing, and the adamantium in his body is finally killing him. Knowing his time is short, Logan embarks on one final mission: to return to his home reality of Earth-807128 and ensure that the infant Bruce Banner Jr. is safe. His journey sees him settle old scores with his timeline's versions of Sabretooth and Mysterio. In a final, poignant confrontation, he tricks Mysterio into believing he's won, allowing Logan to get close enough to kill him, finally avenging the X-Men. Mortally wounded, Logan dies peacefully, watching the sunset over the Wastelands, his long, painful journey finally over.
===== Part 6: Variants and Alternative Versions =====
  * **Fox's //Logan// (Film, 2017):** As the most prominent adaptation, this version exists in its own continuity (Earth-17315). It is a critically acclaimed masterpiece of the superhero genre, celebrated for its mature, neo-Western tone and powerful performances. It is best understood as a spiritual cousin to the comic, borrowing the core concept of an aged, broken Wolverine on a final mission but changing the context, plot, and emotional core to better suit a grounded, cinematic narrative focused on the theme of biological family and legacy.
  * **Marvel's //Wastelanders// (Podcast and Comics):** The world of Earth-807128 has been significantly expanded beyond Logan's story. Beginning with a series of scripted podcasts and later adapted into comics, the //Wastelanders// franchise explores what happened to other heroes in this dark future. It includes stories centered on "Old Man Hawkeye," "Old Man Star-Lord," "Grey Widow" (Black Widow), and "Doctor Doom," fleshing out the dystopian setting and showing how other survivors cope in a world without hope.
  * **Old Man Hawkeye (Comic Series, 2018):** This 12-issue limited series serves as a direct prequel to the original "Old Man Logan" storyline. It follows Clint Barton as he begins to lose his sight and embarks on a final revenge mission against the Thunderbolts, who betrayed him on the day the heroes fell. The series further develops the world of the Wastelands, introducing characters like a vengeful Kate Bishop and showing the events that led Clint to the doorstep of a reclusive farmer named Logan.
===== See Also =====
  * [[wolverine_james_howlett]]
  * [[x-23_laura_kinney]]
  * [[hawkeye_clint_barton]]
  * [[mysterio_quentin_beck]]
  * [[hulk_bruce_banner]]
  * [[x-men]]
  * [[secret_wars_2015]]
===== Notes and Trivia =====
((The original "Old Man Logan" storyline in //Wolverine// (vol. 3) #66-72 and //Wolverine: Giant-Size Old Man Logan// #1 was notable for being published out of chronological order, with other creative teams' stories being published in between its issues.))
((Mark Millar has stated that beyond the film //Unforgiven//, he drew inspiration from the post-apocalyptic tone of the //Mad Max// series and the alternate-history storytelling of //Wanted//, another of his creator-owned works.))
((Due to complex film rights issues at the time of publication, many of the villains featured in the story were from the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man rogues' galleries, which were controlled by different studios. For instance, the Red Skull's rise to power and the presence of characters tied to the Avengers were permissible, but explicit use of certain others was limited.))
((The baby Logan adopts at the end of the original story is named Bruce Banner Jr. He becomes a key figure in later Wastelands stories, eventually assembling a new team of Avengers in the series //Avengers of the Wastelands//.))
((In the ongoing //Old Man Logan// series, Logan has a memorable and brutal confrontation with Dracula, demonstrating that even the King of Vampires is no match for a century-old berserker.))
((The cinematic Logan's final words, "So... this is what it feels like," are a poignant callback to his own life of pain and a final, peaceful acceptance of mortality.))