Final Wolverine Unleashes Chaos: Two Iconic X-Men Fall in Shocking Debut

Final Wolverine #1 has arrived, launching the inaugural new ongoing series of the second year of the revived Final Universe. And as advertised, the new Final Wolverine is also the Final Winter Soldier, using that alias as a mindless weapon in the service of the Maker’s malevolent organization.

Similar to the mainstream Marvel Universe’s Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, the Final Wolverine has a narrative filled with sorrow and the loss of former companions, intertwined with elements of Logan’s original Weapon X background. However, for the new Final Wolverine, his tenure as Winter Soldier will carry a much more personal weight than it did for Bucky.

Spoilers ahead for Final Wolverine #1

Final Wolverine #1, written by Chris Condon, illustrated by Allessandro Cappuccio, colored by Bryan Valenza, and lettered by Cory Petit, shifts back and forth between demonstrating how the new Final Wolverine was transformed into the Maker’s Winter Soldier and his most recent bloodthirsty mission following his initial appearance in the latest Final Universe: One Year In one-shot.

Through a series of flashbacks, we witness a dying Logan being captured as the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Eurasian Republic, one of the Maker’s territories overseen by the Rasputins, Colossus and Magik, along with their associates. As it turns out, his survival is due to his renowned healing factor, and moreover, he is part of the mutant resistance fighting against the Rasputins.

The Rasputins have their scientists replicate the same experiments that were conducted on the mainstream Marvel Universe’s Wolverine as part of Weapon X, infusing his skeleton with adamantium and erasing his memories to turn him into a formidable killing machine under their complete control. Instead of assigning him the name Wolverine, they designate him as their Winter Soldier, evolving him into their personal assassin.

Back in the present day, the Winter Soldier is dispatched on a mission to eliminate some of the very mutant rebels who were once his allies — in this case, a team led by none other than the new Final versions of Mystique and Nightcrawler, individuals who were among the mainstream Marvel Universe’s Wolverine’s closest friends.

Final Wolverine/Winter Soldier swiftly cuts through their fighters with the same merciless efficiency as his mainstream counterpart, only briefly engaging with Mystique. She shifts into Colossus, trying to persuade Wolverine to hold back, but his heightened senses are not deceived, and Mystique is ruthlessly dispatched just as quickly as she transforms, at the end of Wolverine’s adamantium claws.

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