Comic Couples We Love Bonus: Wolverine Edition

We’re still riding high on the romantic vibes of the weekend, and took one last look at some of the greatest love affairs in comics. One character in particular hasn’t been represented, and it’s one that’s kind of glaring for just how many he’s had.

He’s the best there is at what he does, and what he does is break women’s hearts. For a bonus edition of the feature, we’re looking at the many loves of Wolverine!

Rose O’Hara

Rose was Logan’s first great love. She first encountered Wolverine when they were both children, when he was still sickly James Howlett before his powers manifested. In a violent encounter with Thomas Logan, the Howlett’s groundskeeper and possibly James’s actual father, his powers manifested, James killed Thomas, and the two children ran away in fear. They went into hiding, pretending to be siblings, Rose and James Logan.

They began to drift apart, though Logan continued to have feelings for her. Rose found love with James’ supervisor in the logging town they’d made their home, and Logan reluctantly chose to let her go. However, shortly after in a fight with Thomas’s son, Dog, Logan accidentally stabbed Rose, and found himself retreating from civilization in terror.

Itsu

Decades (almost a century really) later, Logan found himself training to become a samurai under the swordsmith Muramasa. In that small village, he met Itsu and fell in love. Soon after, she told him she was pregnant. A training exercise that doubled as a challenge to prove himself worthy to be a father would end in tragedy, as Logan killed a bystander and is exiled from Muramasa’s presence.

When he returned to his home to say goodbye to Itsu, he found her dead, an unfortunate pawn in a long-term game being played by the villain Romulus, who would kidnap Logan’s child, and later mentor Akihiro into an intense hatred of his father.

Also, Omega Red once possessed her and tried to kill him. It was wild.

Kayla Silver Fox

Silver Fox was an unfortunate victim of the trope that would later become known as fridging, even before the trope had a name. In a flashback story, it was revealed that Silver Fox was murdered by Sabretooth in a violent “joke” played by Logan’s sadistic rival. It was the beginning of Victor Creed’s “tradition” of violently and cruelly tormenting Logan on his birthday. Silver Fox was later fleshed out and given a backstory and personality, but she would always hold a place in canon as one of the greatest tragedies of his long life.

Mariko Yashida

Logan and Mariko first met when the X-Men were seeking the help of her cousin, Sunfire. The duo were soon drawn together, but were kept apart by her father’s criminal enterprises. The duo continued their romance despite numerous obstacles, such as an arranged marriage, duels, and more. Eventually, she would end their relationship permanently after Jason Wyngarde influenced her into multiple horrific acts. She died soon after, but was eventually risen from the dead. It’s unclear whether she and Logan will ever reconnect, and even if they did, if they would even be as close as they once were.

Viper

This isn’t so much love as it is … well … a necessity.

At one point, Viper kidnapped most of the most important women in Logan’s life, with only Jubilee, Kitty Pryde and Black Widow evading capture and Viper’s mind control. It was revealed that Logan and Viper had entered into an uneasy marriage in order to control Madripoor’s underworld together (Logan was not happy about this).

The storyline resulted in multiple encounters across Madripoor, with Wolverine doing her bidding. It ended with Viper sustaining serious injury, and Logan saving her life in exchange for a divorce.

Jean Grey

In some fans’ eyes, Jean Grey is the great love in Logan’s life. In others’, he’s the third wheel in Cyclops’ and Phoenix’s epic love story. Either way, the triangle that’s emerged between Cyclops, Jean Grey and Wolverine is one of the most interesting parts of his life. And it almost seemed like it had been resolved in the Krakoa era when Logan, Scott and Jean seemingly became a polyamorous throuple.

Naturally that ended with Krakoa, but they’re still pretty great together.

Cyclops

See above.