Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe continues to produce grade-A stories. Among them is writer Christopher Condon’s Ultimate Wolverine. It’s shown that Logan is Eurasia’s Winter Soldier, who is being controlled by Piotr Rasputin, Illyana Rasputin, and Arkady Rossovich. So far, they’ve used him to attack mutants trying to liberate and protect themselves from their attackers, kidnappers, and murderers.
When Ultimate Wolverine No. 5 was announced, one of the drawing points was the introduction of Ultimate Sabretooth. To top it off, the cover (drawn by Alessandro Cappuccio) showed Victor behind Logan with blood running down Wolverine’s mask.
If you’ve been reading the Ultimate Universe comic books, you know that the cover art can be deceiving. In this case, it was and wasn’t. There is a bloody fight within this comic, but that’s only part of the story. This version of Sabretooth is a freedom fighter.
- Writer: Christopher Condon
- Artist: Alex Lins
- Colorist: Bryan Valenza
You read that right, rad readers. The Sabretooth we know from Universe-616 isn’t the same here. He’s still a ruthless fighter, but he cares for others. So much so that this issue begins with him protecting young mutants and happily making them Shirley Temples while they awaited transport to a safer location. Of course, things go from peaceful to barbaric when Logan shows up. However, despite Victor’s violence, he was only doing what Logan asked.
During their fight, a flashback shows Logan and Victor in their “X-Men” uniforms sitting by a campfire and drinking. In between drinks, Logan asks Sabretooth to do him a favor. He requests that if he’s ever captured by the enemy, Victor has to kill him so he can’t be used. Sabretooth doesn’t think this will happen, but promises anyway.
Ultimate Wolverine
— Alessandro Cappuccio (@AlesCappuccio) December 2, 2024
Colors by @BryanValenza
Script by Chris Condon pic.twitter.com/HZBHxtlQTF
As Sabretooth is about to lose, out of nowhere, the transport for the kids arrives, and it's none other than Black Widow (who debuted in Ultimate Wolverine No. 3). She knocks Logan out with a dart and a kick to the jaw. Normally, that wouldn’t be enough to take him down, but one of the kids is Leech. His power to negate mutants’ abilities was enough to turn the tide. Now, Black Widow and Sabretooth have Logan, and this could be the beginning of Wolverine getting his memories back.
Adding Black Widow to this story was a nice touch. She has a connection to Logan in Marvel Comics that goes back to World War II (Uncanny X-Men No. 268 and Wolverine Origins: Savior). He helped train her to be an assassin, and now, in an alternate universe, it looks like she’ll help Logan go back to the person he was. But you never know. Black Widow could be a Russian spy infiltrating the mutant group. However, it’s doubtful since she was a traitor in the original Ultimate Universe. Either way, you won't find out until it happens.
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