Captain America has worked with his fair share of unexpected allies, but the conclusion of Heroes Reborn proves that there’s one Avenger that Steve refuses to work with again – and it’s none other than Wolverine. While Logan was an Avenger for years, he had quite the falling out with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. When the Avengers finally go head-to-head with the Squadron Supreme, they need help from every hero they can find. But with the way they left things, it seems that Cap just doesn’t consider Logan to be a hero at all.
When Wolverine first joined the Avengers at the start of Brian Michael Bendis’ seminal New Avengers series, Captain America argued against Logan’s membership on the team. At the time, Steve saw him as a murderer and a loose cannon, despite all the good the Wolverine had done. While the pair would eventually overcome their differences and work well as teammates, Steve still had his reservations about Logan. During Avengers vs. X-Men, Cap even kicked Logan out of a moving plane, abandoning Logan in Antarctica because he couldn’t trust Wolverine not to kill Hope Summers if she became possessed by the Phoenix. The pair finally have it out in Uncanny Avengers #9 by Rick Remender and Daniel Acuña after the Apocalypse Twins threaten the Earth as revenge for the actions of Logan’s team in Remender’s Uncanny X-Force. When Captain America learns that Logan and his team not only murdered their own teammate, Archangel, after he became the new Apocalypse, but also a child that would one day grow to become Apocalypse, Steve is furious. He throws Logan off of the team, and says that he never should have made Wolverine an Avenger in the first place.
In Heroes Reborn's alternate timeline without the Avengers, the Squadron Supreme of America claim the title of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, enforcing the will of President Phil Coulson across the globe. Heroes Reborn: Weapon X and Final Flight by Ed Brisson and Roland Boschi shows just how Logan and his fellow Canadian heroes opposed the Squadron Supreme, and their final battle ends with the team shattered and Logan trapped on a lifeless world. With the Wakandans’ spacefaring technology, it should be no trouble to rescue Logan in time for the Avengers' final showdown with the Squadron. But when the Avengers finally reassemble at the end of Heroes Reborn #7, Wolverine is nowhere to be found. This isn't too surprising since Logan's relationship with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Captain America in particular, isn’t what it used to be.
While the two have seemingly overcome their open hostilities since Uncanny Avengers, Logan hasn’t been an Avenger for years, and it’s not hard to see why. Despite his wartime experience, the morality of Captain America, along with the Avengers at large, is too rigid for someone like Logan. While Wolverine is a hero, he’s more comfortable crossing certain lines than Steve is. Captain America is supposed to be a paragon of righteous virtue, while Wolverine is the best there is at what he does – but what he does isn’t the best way to make friends.
Even with the fate of reality at stake, Cap still refuses to compromise his morality any longer by working with Logan. That may be what separates Steve and the Avengers from the more bloodthirsty members of the Squadron Supreme, but it also deprives his team of one of the few assets that challenged the Squadron without the other Avengers to back him up. Logan’s Shaman-enchanted claws were able to hurt Hyperion in a way that even the Hulk wasn’t capable. That sort of power would be invaluable to taking the Squadron down.
Even without Logan himself, the remaining members of Final Flight have more than a few bones to pick after what the Squadron Supreme did to Canada. Surely, the Avengers could use the extra help. Whether Captain America and Wolverine can ever truly bury the hatchet remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure – the Avengers’ final Heroes Reborn fight would be a lot easier with Weapon X and Final Flight by their side.