Wolverine’s history is full of twists and turns. Starting his life as James Howlett in Canada at some point the 1800s, Wolverine has been through terrible trials and tribulations. His mutant powers made him an animal, but he always fought to be as human as possible. However, just because Wolverine decided to be a good person, doesn’t mean that others like him would make the same decision.
Sabretooth has been a part of Wolverine’s life for a very long time. They have very similar powers and while Wolverine does his best to be better than the ravening monster inside of him, Sabretooth embraces it. With the recent announcement of “Sabretooth War,” which will start in January’s Wolverine (Vol. 7) #41, it’s time to take a look at the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth.
Ancient History
Wolverine and Sabretooth aren’t related, although for years multiple creators tried to establish some kind of familial relationship between them. Origin, the story that finally gave readers Wolverine’s true origin baited and switched readers with the character Dog Logan, making him look like Sabretooth at every turn but then establishing that Dog wasn’t Victor Creed. Readers would get Sabretooth’s origin from Origin II, where it was learned that young Victor Creed accidentally killed his brother when his mutant powers manifested. Chained up in the basement by his father, who thought him a demon, Sabretooth chewed through his hand and escaped, killing his father and going on a rampage across Canada.
This is a parallel between Wolverine and Sabretooth; James Howlett accidentally killed his father, Thomas Logan, on the night his mutant manifested and was forced to escape his familial home. He also wandered Canada for a time, but unlike Victor didn’t go on a bloody rampage, instead trying to create a new life for himself with his nursemaid Rose. The two of them wouldn’t actually end up meeting until Sabretooth was working for Nathaniel Essex at some point in the early 1900s. Sabretooth captured Wolverine and brought him to Ravencroft Asylum, but Wolverine escaped. This was when their relationship began. Sabretooth began working with Romulus in his plans against Wolverine, and was sent to Canada track Wolverine down. This is when Sabretooth killed Silver Fox, as showed in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10.
Both of them fought in WWII, although its unknown if they fought together. Sabretooth next popped into Wolverine’s life while Wolverine was working with Romulus. They both became members of Team X along with Maverick, fighting against Soviet forces around the world. The two mutants eventually entered Weapon X together as part of a plan of Romulus’s. Wolverine was going to be the main test subject and have his memory erased and messed with, as well as getting an adamantium skeleton. Sabretooth, on the other hand, was the control case; he didn’t get an adamantium skeleton but he kept his memory. His job to keep Wolverine on a tight leash, but Wolverine went mad and ran off.
That was when Wolverine and Sabretooth lost each other. Wolverine was found by the Hudsons in the Canadian outback and was brought into Department H, where he became a superhero, battled Hulk and Wendigo, and then became an X-Men. Sabretooth traveled the world as a mercenary, killing everyone in his way. Sabretooth committed terrible atrocities over the years, and first came into contact with the greater superhero community with a battle against Iron Fist.
The Star-Crossed Enemies Reunite
Wolverine didn’t remember Sabretooth after Weapon X. When he joined the X-Men, he had no idea about his past whatsoever, and wouldn’t encounter Sabretooth again until the Mutant Massacre. Sabretooth was working for Mister Sinister at this point as a member of the Marauders. Led by Gambit, the Marauders entered the Morlock Tunnels under New York City and slaughtered them Morlocks. The X-Men intervened and Wolverine saw Sabretooth for the first time in years. Sabretooth knew him; Wolverine didn’t remember Sabretooth. They had their first modern fight at this time, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.
Sabretooth worked with Marauders for a while longer, up through the original Inferno event. He and Wolverine fought several more times, but when Wolverine started having his own adventures, Sabretooth also did the same. He worked with a telepath named Birdy, whose telepathic powers allowed Sabretooth to control his berserker rages better. He and Wolverine would have several more battles over the years, and in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #41 claimed to be Wolverine’s father. This was a lie, and Sabretooth would become a big part of Wolverine’s life during this time. When Omega Red attacked the X-Men to get the Carbonadium Synthesizer, Sabretooth got involved in the affair and had a fight with his former Team X teammates Wolverine and Maverick.
When Wolverine started to hunt down the secrets of Weapon X, Sabretooth got involved again, and even worked alongside Wolverine, John Wraith, and Silver Fox, who was alive after all those years, against Weapon X. Sabretooth dropped out of Wolverine’s life, but after the death of Birdy went to the X-Men for help. Wolverine had left the team because of his lack of adamantium, and Sabretooth was given a special muzzle and gloves to keep him from attacking members of the team. Sabretooth helped out in the battle against Phalanx, but was always planning a way to get away from the X-Men. When Wolverine returned to the X-Mansion, he and Sabretooth had a knock down drag out fight that ended with Wolverine popping a claw through Sabretooth’s brain.
Turned Tables
Sabretooth’s healing factor helped him to survive, but he was supposedly reduced to an innocent person, more like a giant kitty cat than the monstrous killer he used to be. Wolverine, on the other hand, was found to be regressing because of his lack of adamantium. Wolverine’s life has been defined by change, and this regression drove him to stop trusting himself and live outside the mansion in the woods. He also stayed outside because of Sabretooth; he didn’t trust his own foe and was right to, as Sabretooth would reveal his true colors in an escape attempt that almost killed Boom Boom and Psylocke.
Wolverine and Sabretooth went their separate ways at this point, as Wolverine dealt with his feral mutation. Sabretooth ended up joining X-Factor during this time and after leaving that team got an adamantium skeleton. He almost killed Wolverine in Madripoor and the two of them would end up fighting at the behest of Apocalypse over who would get to be the new Horseman of Death. Wolverine won and Sabretooth was stripped of his adamantium, which was given to Wolverine.
The Rivalry Continues
Wolverine and Sabretooth wouldn’t encounter each other again until Wolverine found a young woman named the Native, who had powers like Wolverine and Sabretooth. Sabretooth ended up killing her and then had a bloody battle against Wolverine. They’d also have a confrontation in a Hellfire Club bathroom during “The Assault on Weapon Plus” storyline from New X-Men, where Sabretooth learned that Wolverine wasn’t short all over. They’d not encounter each other again until Sabretooth was a member of Rogue’s rapid response X-Men team, when Wolverine attacked Sabretooth. The two would get involved with the returned Romulus, and Wolverine supposedly killed a feral Sabretooth with the Murasama blade. However, it was actually a clone fo Sabretooth, with the real deal laying low for a while.
Sabretooth sat out the battle between Wolverine, Romulus, and Daken, but was the one responsible for freeing Romulus from the Dark Dimension. Romulus used an army of Sabretooth clones against Wolverine, and Sabretooth fought on Romulus’s side. After this, Sabretooth would work with Mystique and the new Silver Samurai, becoming the invisible king of the Asian underworld. When Wolverine lost his healing factor, Sabretooth would come after Wolverine again, trying to kill his own enemy several times and failing. At some point, Sabretooth was captured by Viper and Wolverine fought him again in Madripoor before Wolverine’s death at the Weapon X facility.
Sabretooth’s Inversion And The Krakoa Era
Around this time, AXIS happened and Sabretooth was made a hero by Red Onslaught’s moral inversion of the heroes and villains. He stayed a hero after AXIS was over with, and ended up joining the Uncanny Avengers and working with Laura Kinney, Daken, Mystique, and Lady Deathstrike to make sure Wolverine’s last mission was fulfilled. He worked on a new Weapon X team with Old Man Logan, Domino, and Warpath, and joined a Magneto led X-Men team. Sabretooth ended up sacrificing himself in battle, and was reborn as a feral version of himself. He’d eventually reappear at the beginning of the Krakoa Era, where after a mission with Mystique and Toad for Krakoa he was captured by the Fantastic Four and imprisoned for killing guards.
He was freed due to Krakoan diplomacy, but was put into the Pit, Krakoa’s prison. Meanwhile, Wolverine worked black ops for Krakoa, protecting the mutant nation from all kinds of terrible threats. In the Pit, Sabretooth was granted control of it by Doug Ramsey and Krakoa. He transformed it into a hellish reality, and when more prisoners were sent there, used his power to manipulate the Pit’s reality to use them to escape. Xavier sent the prisoners after Sabretooth, who freed him and other mutants from Orchis. Sabretooth embraced his inner Professor X and was able to convince the mutants that he was on their side. Meanwhile, Wolverine was killed by Beast, resurrected as a feral assassin, put into the Pit after he was caught in an assassination attempt, and defeated the Sabretooth avatar in the Pit. Wolverine decided to go up against Beast and was able to defeat him, but left Krakoa before the Hellfire Gala and the end of the mutant nation.
Two Foes On A Collision Course
Wolverine is an icon, and in many ways so is Sabretooth. They’ve had a long relationship with each other. Sometimes, they’ve worked together, but most of the time Sabretooth was working for the people manipulating Wolverine. When Sabretooth wasn’t working for a shadowy mastermind against Wolverine, he did his best to torment Logan. Wolverine and Sabretooth hate each other; to Wolverine, Sabretooth is the worst thing he could be. To Sabretooth, Wolverine is a little coward who doesn’t deserve all the love and success that he has. This hatred has kept them fighting each other throughout the decades, each of them trying to kill the other every chance they get.
It’s too early to guess where “Sabretooth War” is going to go, but both characters in are in very interesting places. Fans haven’t had a great Wolverine and Sabretooth fight since 2014, so everyone is very excited for the upcoming story. Wolverine and Sabretooth have had some great comics in the Krakoa Era, with writers Benjamin Percy and Victor LaValle giving both of them their best comics in years. The two writers have shown a great understanding of both characters and getting them to take a stab at Wolverine and Sabretooth’s bloody and complicated relationship in “Sabretooth War” has many fans very excited.