When you’ve been around as long as Wolverine, you’re bound to make enemies. The short little fella that’s full of adamantium and attitude tends to push up against people, good and bad.

He's best known as a star member of the X-Men, but he seems to find conflict wherever he goes, including combat in several wars and missions for both Canadian and American intelligence services. While he has a tendency to deal with his enemies in a more permanent fashion than heroes sworn not to kill, many of them have come back time and time again. Over the years, a rogues’ gallery of psychopaths and soldiers has developed, determined to kill the Canucklehead.

Here are Wolverine’s 18 Greatest Enemies In Comic History.

18. Cyclops

As soon as Wolverine joined the X-Men, he began to butt heads with team-leader Cyclops. Their very different approaches to conflict aside, their rivalry for the heart of Jean Grey gave the two heroes an added edge to their hostility. Over the years, the two remained cool towards each other, but began to respect their differences.

Eventually the two began to partner up more and more often, with Wolverine becoming Cyclops’ right hand on numerous missions. Cyclops created a version of X-Force, a clandestine team of mutants, led by Wolverine to do the jobs that the X-Men could not be seen to do. Cyclops trusted Wolverine implicitly.

However, during the “Schism” storyline, all that changed. Whereas Cyclops felt that all mutants had to fight as X-Men, regardless of their age, Wolverine felt that he’d always been a weapon and that the X-Kids deserved to be kept safe and have a childhood. The conflict ended with the two engaged in a ruthless battle, ended only by the arrival of a Sentinel.

The two parted ways, with Wolverine taking half the X-Men and students with him. They would cross swords again during the Avengers Versus X-Men storyline, with Wolverine siding with the Avengers to bring Cyclops down once and for all after the latter was possessed by the Phoenix Force.

17. Wendigo

The Wendigo is the Marvel comic equivalent of the Wendigo legend of the Algonquin people. It is not the alter-ego of one specific person, rather it is the result of a curse that strikes anyone that resorts to cannibalism in the northern regions of Canada.

In his first appearance, Wendigo battled the Incredible Hulk who was also in Canada at the time. The two were causing major destruction, with neither seeming to gain an advantage over the other. Wolverine, at that time working for Canadian Intelligence’s Department H, is despatched to put an end to the situation via any means necessary. Wolverine battles both Hulk and Wendigo, but is initially ineffective against the two rampaging giants. Eventually Wendigo is defeated, and Hulk escapes, leaving Wolverine to return to Department H.

Later, Wendigo returns (it is a new Wendigo caused by the same curse, but with a different human host, Georges Baptiste) and Wolverine, now an X-Man battles him again alongside Nightcrawler and the Canadian Super-Team Alpha Flight. This incarnation of Wendigo was then cured by Alpha Flight member Shaman using his magics.

In their most recent outbreak, a number of Wendigos were created when two meat packing plant employees had a deadly confrontation, with one ending up being put into a meat grinder. His flesh is consumed by numerous people resulting in a massive amount of Wendigos being created. Stronger than usual, these Wendigo had the ability to transfer the curse, like werewolves. This mass outbreak was discovered by Wolverine, the X-Men, and Guardian who barely managed to contain the threat and reverse the curse.

16. Deadpool

A former mercenary, Wade Wilson learned he had contracted terminal cancer. In Canada, he was offered hope of a cure in the form of Department K, a special bio-weapons development project that was attempting to build super-soldiers like Captain America and Wolverine, for government use. Wilson became a test-subject of the programme and found his cancer had been temporarily arrested by the implantation of an artificial healing factor, derived from the cells of the mutant superhero Wolverine. After escaping Department K, Deadpool went on to work as a high-end mercenary for hire.

During this time, Deadpool worked for various criminals including Wilson Fisk, better known as Kingpin. It was at this point of his career that Deadpool would clash with Wolverine for the first time. Wolverine had yet to join the X-Men and was still a spy for the Canadian government. Neither was initially aware of their shared genetic material.

Deadpool would clash with Wolverine again after Deadpool fought Kane, known as Weapon X at the time. Wolverine had been asked to check in on Kane, and clashed with Deadpool who was jealous that Kane was dating Deadpool’s former girlfriend Copycat. Deadpool was then subsequently abducted by information brokers who hoped to use his artificial healing factor to develop a cure for the Legacy Virus that was killing mutants across the globe. Deadpool was rescued by Wolverine, but the two didn’t become friends and Deadpool sought him out to work out his psychological difficulties in the form of a savage fight between the two men.

Eventually Deadpool and Wolverine would team-up for the first time against Duncan Vess, a werewolf. The two were successful, and parted on good terms. This didn’t last long as Deadpool was contracted to capture Wolverine in order to save the life of Deadpool’s friend, and crush, Siryn. Eventually, the two would join X-Force together, with Wolverine respecting Wade’s skills, if not his character. While the two have been teammates of late, it remains to be seen if they will be at each other’s throats once more.

15. Silver Samurai

Kenuichio Harada is the illegitimate son of Shingen Yashida, a major enemy of Wolverine. He is a Japanese mutant with the power to charge his Katana with energy, making it capable of cutting through almost anything. A professional criminal, Harada was once the bodyguard for the terrorist known as Viper. Along with Viper, he battled the X-Men, New Mutants and Yukio when attempting to steal a rare crystal. He also fought Wolverine when he attempted to acquire the Black Blade.

He became the leader of Clan Yashida after the death of his half-sister Mariko, Wolverine’s fiancée. He attempted to pay off his clan’s debts to the Japanese crime syndicates and restore their honor. During this period of reformation, he impressed Wolverine so much that Wolverine entrusted him with the care of Wolverine’s adopted daughter, Amiko.

After M-Day, Wolverine regained his lost memories and immediately sought out Harada. He engaged him in battle, and questioned him about his past, as he believed Harada had been keeping vital information from him. Harada ran him through with his katana, but Wolverine survived and cut off the samurai’s hand at the wrist.

The two would never reconcile their differences as Harada was killed by a group of ninjas working for the Red Right Hand. he was seen in the realm of hell, cursing Wolverine for having caused so much death in his life.

14. Hulk

Wolverine famously first appeared in the pages of the Incredible Hulk and the two have crossed paths many times since. While wolverine isn’t even close to as powerful as the Hulk, his agility, skill, ferocity, and healing factor allow him to go toe-to-toe with the jade giant.

Their first meeting occurred when Wolverine was sent to intervene between a battle between The Hulk and the Wendigo. They have had an off and on again rivalry over the years, with Wolverine tracking and attempting to take on Hulk while Hulk was in the savage land. Wolverine was without his Adamantium skeleton at the time and his bone claws were totally ineffective against The Hulk’s skin. The two battled, but the fight was interrupted by a rampaging T-Rex. Wolverine took the Hulk back to the X-Mansion in an attempt to help him, but Hulk went on a rampage and took on Cyclops, Cable, Wolverine, and Jean Grey. He was teleported away by the immortal mutant, Apocalypse.

While they have both been members of the Avengers, and even together in a short-lived incarnation of the Fantastic Four, they have never become especially friendly towards each other save a brief moment of truce during the Infinity Gauntlet crisis. Given their nature as brawlers, and their tendencies to never back down, it’s only a matter of time before they come into conflict again.

13. Ogun

Ogun was a ninja and martial arts master who trained Wolverine prior to World War II. While the nature of Ogun’s powers remains unclear, he has the ability to switch bodies telepathically with his victims and he appears to have superhuman agility and reflexes which more that match Wolverine’s own. When Wolverine first met Ogun, he was a captain in the imperial Japanese Army. Wolverine was a sailor at the time and the two trained together, Wolverine excelling in the martial arts.

At some point after the war, Ogun fell from the path of honour and became a criminal in the employ of the Yakuza. He survived to the modern day and encountered the young X-Man Kitty Pryde. He trained her as a ninja as he had with Wolverine, but he intended to use her as an assassin for his employers. Kitty recovered from Ogun’s brainwashing, but during the conflict Wolverine was forced to kill Ogun.

Ogun survived as a disembodied spirit and possessed various host bodies plotting to have his revenge on Wolverine and Kitty. With the assistance of the supernatural Ghost Rider, Wolverine managed to destroy Ogun once more by destroying Ogun’s mask which had seemingly served as Ogun’s anchor to the material world.  Ogun would again prove to have survived, and again sought revenge against Wolverine. He used the body of Lady Deathstrike, but Wolverine forced him into the body of Viper who he then impaled forcing Ogun to jump out of her body in a panic. With no other form to inhabit, Ogun appeared to die once more.

Ogun would be a key player in the events leading to Wolverine’s death, finally having a measure of revenge after decades of conflict.

12. The Hand

While The Hand have had numerous masters, and served many different agendas, few individuals have earned their enmity to the degree of Wolverine. Although they have crossed paths many times while Wolverine has been in Japan and Madripoor, their most famous conflict came when HYDRA and The Hand teamed up under the Leadership of the Gorgon.

Wolverine was slain by The Gorgon, and resurrected by the Hand. Due to the nature of the resurrection, and the Hand’s supernatural brainwashing, Wolverine was turned against his former teammates. Wolverine infiltrated the headquarters of the Fantastic Four and stole vital data from Reed Richards, and broke into the X-Mansion, killing Northstar in the process.

When Wolverine eventually recovered from this brainwashing, he used a commandeered Sentinel to attack the Hand in their hidden fortress. He killed hundreds of Hand ninjas alongside Elektra, and ended their plot to use fallen heroes as living weapons.

11. Viper

Viper, also known as Madam Hydra, was an orphan child taken in by Hydra and raised by Kraken. She trained under Kraken and became his greatest protégé. She would regularly clash with Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D as she rose through the ranks of Hydra.

While Viper would sever ties with HYDRA from time to time, she remained a villain. She crossed paths with Wolverine while she was attempting to secure her criminal empire on the island of Madripoor. Due to Wolverine’s reputation there, both as Wolverine and under his alias as “Patch,” he carried significant influence. Viper blackmailed Wolverine into a marriage of convenience, using his name to solidify her position there. When she asked to consummate the union, but Wolverine declined.

When Ogun possessed her body, Wolverine mortally wounded her to exorcise Ogun’s spirit. As her body began to die, Wolverine turned the tables on her and blackmailed her into a divorce, withholding medical aid until she agreed. While she did grant the divorce, it was implied that she had had genuine feelings for Wolverine.

After crossing swords with Wolverine and the Avengers on several occasions, Viper took the mantle of the “Green Queen” and after regaining control of Madripoor, put out the contract to capture Wolverine which resulted in his death.

10. Shingen Yashida

Lord Shingen Yashida was a Japanese Yakuza crime lord. He dishonoured his family, turning his clan into a criminal empire with sights set on claiming the imperial throne of japan.

On a visit to Japan with the X-Men, Wolverine met and fell in love with Shingen’s daughter Mariko. The two intended to marry, but Shingen forced Mariko to marry another man in order to clear a personal debt. When Wolverine discovered this, he confronted Shingen. Shingen had Wolverine poisoned with potent blowfish toxin, slowing his healing factor and senses, giving Shingen the advantage. Shingen used his extensive knowledge of anatomy and pressure points to beat Wolverine, humiliating him in front of Mariko. Almost killing Wolverine, Wolverine was forced to use his claws to save his own life. While Wolverine had not acted dishonourably, Shingen’s actions made Wolverine look like he had cheated in the duel, costing him his honour in the eyes of Mariko and ending their relationship for a time. Wolverine took on the Yashida criminal empire, all but destroying it. When he confronted Shingen for a second time, Shingen did not survive.

Shingen was seemingly resurrected by an agent of the Hand and used to fight Wolverine once more. Shingen survived the battle, but has not been seen since.

9. Lady Deathstrike

Lady Deathstrike’s father was Lord Dark Wind, the creator of the Adamantium Bonding Process used by Weapon X to transform Logan into the living weapon Wolverine.

Lord Wind was an abusive father, scarring the faces of his children to resemble the scars he had received as a young man in World War 2. His daughter, Yuriko Oyama, would grow angry with her father and wished to gain vengeance for his scarring of her and her brothers. After the death of her lover, Kiro, in an encounter involving Daredevil, Yuriko would belatedly embrace her father’s legacy and ideals.

Increasingly unbalanced, Yuriko sought to track down anyone she felt had dishonoured her father, and restore both his, and Japan’s, honour. She planned to find Bullseye, whose spine had been bonded with Adamantium, but her search led her to Wolverine instead. She intended to kill him, reasoning that the process used to create him was a theft of her father’s theories and therefore was a form of dishonour. Swiftly defeated by Wolverine and Vindicator of Alpha Flight, Yuriko sought out Spiral, the extradimensional entity from the so-called Mojoverse.

Spiral used the resources of the “Body Shoppe” to transform Yuriko in Lady Deathstrike, a cyborg warrior with an Adamantium skeleton and numerous other enhancements. As a cyborg, Lady Deathstrike became a professional criminal, and along with former Hellfire Club mercenaries-turned cyborgs, the Reavers, stalked Wolverine and mortally wounded him. They then crucified him. They fought several times after this, notably during a time-travelling adventure which saw them sent to 1937.

At times, Deathstrike has called off her enmity with Wolverine. At one time, when Wolverine had lost his adamantium skeleton she reasoned that there would be no honour gained in killing him, so ended her feud. This did not last as Deathstrike would come into conflict with the X-Men during the events of “The Messiah Complex” where she led a team of humans against the mutants. After this, she was seen attempting to destroy the island of Utopia alongside the other Reavers, her hatred of Wolverine once again at the forefront of her mind.

8. Daken

Daken is the mutant son of Wolverine and the deceased Itsu. He possesses near identical powers to his father, but has none of his father’s integrity.

Born in 1946 after The Winter Soldier kills his mother, Itsu, he is saved by Romulus who cuts Daken from his mother’s womb and places him on the doorstep of a local couple. His parents love him, but their servants refer to him as Daken (Mongrel) as a slur referring to his mixed heritage. He becomes a cold and emotionless child but when he hears his adopted mother is pregnant, he begins plotting against her angrily. He eventually kills her, his mutant claws emerging for the first time. It is then that the mysterious Romulus appears and tells him that he will one day become a powerful man.

In the present day, Daken has become a sadistic killer in the employ of Romulus. He fights his father on several occasions. His skills are the equal to Wolverine’s, but Wolverine's refusal to kill his son gives Daken the advantage.

During Norman Osborn’s “Dark Reign” Daken joins the so-called “Dark Avengers” and “Dark X-Men” wearing a version of his father’s costume and taking the name of Wolverine. His motivations simply seem to be “sticking it” to his father. Eventually, Daken learns just how much Romulus has been manipulating his entire life, including the death of his birth mother, Itsu. He joins with Wolverine to end Romulus once and for all, realising that Romulus had always intended Wolverine to be his successor, with Daken merely being a pawn.

Eventually, Daken dies when Wolverine is forced to drown him, but is resurrected by the Apocalypse twins and is turned into the most recent horseman of death. When the twins are defeated, Daken escapes and resurfaces after his father’s death. When Wolverine’s claws are put up for auction, Daken kills all those present save for one Shield agent whom he warns that anyone attempting to dishonour his father’s memory will receive the same fate.

7. Magneto

Soon after joining the X-Men, Wolverine encounters Magneto for the first time. Magneto uses Wolverine’s claws against him and easily subdues him. The two fight several times over the next few years, but their animosity is never especially personal, with Wolverine simply considering Magneto to be just another bad guy.

When Magneto seemingly reforms, and joins the X-Men, Wolverine fights alongside him, accepting him as a team-mate. While never friends, they make a powerful pair and have each other’s backs in combat. When Magneto resurfaces as an enemy of the X-Men once more, Wolverine doesn’t hesitate to attempt to inflict mortal wounds, much to Magneto’s surprise. However, when given the chance to execute him, Wolverine tells him he draws the line at murder.

Wolverine would later regret not killing Magneto when he battles him aboard Magneto’s orbiting space-station Avalon. Magneto had disrupted the Earth’s magnetic field, killing hundreds of thousands and the X-Men sought to end his threat permanently. Wolverine attempts to strike a killing blow, but Magneto locks onto his adamantium skeleton and tears it from his bones in a single wrenching tear. Wolverine comes close to death, and takes years to recover, nearly losing his humanity in the process.

Wolverine plots his revenge, even running drills in the danger room, planning to assassinate Magneto. Eventually, Magneto begins to raise an army on the island of Genosha and Wolverine and Cyclops sneak in to confront him. When the battle is over, Magneto glibly comments that they’ll do battle again soon enough. Wolverine, making use of Magneto’s lowered defences, stabs him through the chest and abdomen, leaving him in a weakened state.

Eventually, Magneto would re-join the X-Men when they were on the island of Utopia. While Wolverine remained angry with Magneto, he managed to fight alongside him again.

6. Cyber

The only one of Wolverine’s foes he truly fears, Cyber remains one of his most hated enemies. Born in the late 1800s Silas Burr was a murderer long before he met Wolverine. In 1912 he was found guilty of 22 counts of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. He escaped the courthouse and found his way to the Canadian army where he laid low for a while. He became a brutal soldier, but one capable of pushing the men under his command far beyond their normal moral or physical limits, earning him the respect of his superiors.

He encounters Logan during World War One, where he is assigned as Logan’s drill instructor. He brutalises Logan and repeatedly dehumanises him. When Logan is romantically interested in a woman, Burr kills her. When Logan attacks him, he is easily defeated by the much stronger man who then gouges out his left eye. This is the most severe beating Logan has had at this time and the psychological trauma leaves Logan terrified of Cyber. Logan’s healing factor represses his memories of Cyber, and he encounters him again in World War 2 where Cyber introduces him to a young Nick Fury.

In the 1950s Cyber trained his finest student, Daken, under orders from Romulus. It is at this time that Cyber is chosen by Romulus to be the first person to undergo the Adamantium-Bonding process, only it is bonded to his skin and not his bones, forming an indestructible shell around his body.

In the modern era, Cyber once again meets Wolverine in Madripoor. It is revealed than along with his superhuman strength and indestructible skin, he also ages far slower than normal humans, with his appearance unchanged for almost a century. Wolverine is initially terrified of his enemy, but overcomes his fear in order to fight him, taking Cyber’s left eye in an act of revenge.

Eventually, Cyber is captured after a battle with Wolverine and Excalibur. He is broken out of custody by the Dark Riders who betray him and feed him to mutant death watch beetles that eat his face and then burrow into his shell and eat him from the inside out. Years later, his psyche recovers and he possesses the body of a superhumanly strong boy, Milo Gunderson. He suppresses Milo’s mind and seeks out the Tinkerer to re-bond his now body with liquid adamantium.

A ruthless and powerful being once more, Cyber is involved in the machinations of Romulus and confronts Wolverine and Daken. Easily defeating Daken, he suffers a heart attack as Milo’s body had a weakened heart. Wolverine helps him in exchange for information on how to track Daken.

Cyber is later killed by Ogun who sells his adamantium carapace after destroying his biological components once more.

5. Omega Red

Omega Red is the result of a Soviet-Era super-soldier programme that was trying to develop living weapons similar to Captain America. The Soviet programme implants carbonadium coils into his forearms which he uses as grappling appendages in combat to compliment his enhanced physical strength. He also has the power to drain others of their life energy, much like a vampire, and can use his coils to aid this.

During the final mission of “Team X”, Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth track the super-soldier programme to Berlin in the 1960s where they witness the creation of Omega Red. They discover that Red needs a device called a Carbonadium Synthesiser in order to survive and there is only a single prototype. They cannot defeat Omega Red, but they do succeed in stealing the C-Synthesiser forcing the Russian super-soldier into cryo-hybernation in order to survive.

He is awakened in the modern era by crime-lord Matsu’o Tsuraba who was leading a faction of Hand ninjas at the time. Omega Red agreed to serve Matsu’o as he believed it was his best chance to acquire the C-Synthesiser and be free of the need to feed on others so frequently. Despite kidnapping Wolverine and beating him close to death, he is unable to gain information from Logan on the whereabouts of the C-Synthesiser. Wolverine is rescued by the X-Men’s blue team and Omega Red escapes with Matsu’o, acting as his enforcer for a short time. He resurfaces during the “Soul-Skinner” event and falls under the complete mental control of the Soul Skinner. He battles Wolverine and the X-Men in Siberia but evades capture after the soul-skinner is killed.

He lays low for quite some time, resurfacing from time to time as an adversary of the X-Men or their teenage counterparts Generation X. Eventually, he goes after Maverick once more, hoping to gain the location of the C-Synthesiser. He is defeated by Wolverine and Maverick and brought into S.H.I.E.L.D custody.

As another pawn of Romulus, Omega Red is placed in a Russian prison as bait for Wolverine. Omega Red is finally killed by wolverine who stabs him in the heart with the Muramasa blade, finally ending his menace.

4. Matsu’o Tsurayaba

Matsu'o Tsurayaba was a Hand assassin working in Japan. His love, a woman known as Kwannon, served his enemy Lord Nyorin. The two were forced to battle and Kwannon was left comatose. Shortly after, Psylocke emerged from the Siege Perilous and Matsu’o used her mind and body to resurrect an element of his love within the body of Psylocke and Psylocke’s mind in the body of Kwannon. This would lead to Matsu’o encountering Wolverine for the first time as the two battled over the fate of Psylocke.

When Wolverine’s love Mariko attempted to break her clan's ties to the underworld, she came into conflict with Matsu’o. she attempted to make peace with The Hand, but Matsu’o poisoned her. With Wolverine grief-stricken, he vowed to take a bloody revenge and cut off a piece of Matsu’o each year on the anniversary of Mariko’s death. Eventually, after several years, it is revealed that there is very little left of Matsu’o, his body having been mutilated by Wolverine many times, but never enough to cause death, as Wolverine wanted him to suffer as he had suffered.

Begging for a release from his torture, Psylocke intervened and ended his suffering once and for all. For all the suffering that Wolverine has endured over the years, it is the loss of Mariko that still hits him the hardest.

3. Gorgon

For years, the young Japanese mutant known as The Gorgon was a member of The Dawn of the White Light, a terrorist organization that terrorized Japan. By age 18, he had murdered his family and joined The Hand. when The Hand questioned his loyalty, he killed himself with his own sword so that they could resurrect him. He soon became their greatest warrior.

When men kidnap the child of Mariko’s cousin, Wolverine is baited into going to Japan in search of the child. When he discovers the trap, he is confronted by the Gorgon, who easily bests him, impaling him through the chest and killing him.

Wolverine is resurrected and brainwashed by the Hand, and goes on a terrible rampage, killing many super humans. Gorgon uses Wolverine to flush out Elektra, capturing her in the process. Gorgon then almost kills Nick Fury, but is intercepted by Wolverine, now free of the Hand brainwashing. The two engage in a brutal conflict, inflicting terrible wounds on each other. Gorgon gains the upper hand and attempts to use his mutant power to turn Wolverine to stone. At the last moment, Wolverine pops his claws and Gorgon sees his reflection in the metal, deflecting his power and turning himself to stone. Wolverine doesn’t hesitate to destroy the stone figure in front of him, seemingly killing him.

It isn’t long before Gorgon is resurrected and he re-joins with Hydra. When Hydra aligns with Norman Osborn, Gorgon joins the second incarnation of the “Dark Avengers” dressed as Wolverine. This enterprise quickly fails as the team are betrayed by the Hulk’s son Skaar.

Gorgon was last seen in Madripoor battling Shang-Chi. When Wolverine eventually returns, there will be a reckoning between the two men.

2. Romulus

Romulus may have been born in prehistoric times, and is possibly a member of the Lupine race that evolved from canines and not apes. However, this has been disputed by various sources. What is known is that Romulus was alive in ancient Rome and was a gladiator in the arena. In the 1940s he cut an infant Daken from Itsu's womb and used the boy as a pawn in his long-running plans. It is revealed that Romulus has been manipulating people from Wolverine’s bloodline for centuries in order to create a perfect warrior.

In the present day, Romulus restored Feral and Thornn's feline look after their depowerment during the M-Day event, augmented Wild Child's powers, ordered the bonding of Cyber's skin with adamantium and erased all humanity from Sabretooth, leading to the latter's death at the hands of Wolverine. He also arranged for the final confrontation between Omega Red and Wolverine.

When Romulus finally confronted Wolverine, he revealed that he had been pulling his strings for years. Wolverine attacked, but was easily overpowered by the massive warrior. Wolverine dropped his sword, and using his claws gained the upper hand, shocking Romulus and shattering his hand, which turned out to be an armoured gauntlet. Seeing that Romulus’ claws were fake, Wolverine taunted him. Romulus blindly attacked with his remaining claw but was cut open by Wolverine. Wolverine chose to let Romulus live, but Romulus turned the tables and left Wolverine unconscious.

Wolverine would eventually attempt to imprison Romulus in the Darkforce dimension, but it could not hold him as he escaped fairly quickly. Eventually Wolverine would defeat him and imprison him on the Raft.

1. Sabretooth

Wolverine’s greatest enemy is without doubt Victor Creed, a.k.a Sabretooth. Sabretooth’s past is clouded in mystery; like Wolverine, his memories have been tampered with numerous times and he also has the capacity to repress memories if they are damaging to his psyche.

Believed to have been born in the late 1800s, Victor Creed was noticeably animalistic and brutal even as a young child. He kills his brother Luther over a single piece of pie, which makes his father chain him up in a basement and pull out Victor’s enlarged canine teeth. Eventually, Victor chewed off his hand to escape. He murdered his abusive father, but took care of his mother until her death.

Victor had a brother and sister, Saul and Clara. Saul was a hunter who tracked Wolverine while he was living feral in the woods. They also freed Logan after he was experimented on by Mister Sinister, going on the run with him. Logan accidently kills Clara, but her healing powers save her. Saul, believing her to be dead, betrays Logan to Mister Sinister. Wolverine kills Saul in revenge, but Clara is horrified and asks Logan to never speak to her again. When Victor discovers this, he swears vengeance on Wolverine beginning a feud that would last for decades.

Creed would eventually join the top-secret team known as Team-X alongside Wolverine. Their memories had been tampered with, neither man recognizing the other. On a mission involving Omega Red, Sabretooth kills a scientist rather than have her fall into enemy hands, causing Team X to disband. During this time, Sabretooth fathers a child with Mystique. The child would go on to become the mutant hater, Graydon Creed.

Logan and Victor would meet up as friends and form a team of rebel mutants. Victor falls for a mutant named Holo and plans to retire with her. In the final confrontation of the rebel team with government agents, Holo is killed. Victor blames Logan, and their rivalry is reborn.

Victor begins using the name Sabretooth and is increasingly violent as he takes on more and more bloody missions, revelling in the bloodshed. He is recruited to join Mister Sinister’s Marauders and takes part in the Mutant Massacre. He meets Wolverine for the first time in years and is seemingly killed when Wolverine stabs him in the chest. He is later seen to have survived.

Sabretooth then allies himself with Fenris and Matsu’o Tsurayaba against the X-Men. He is mentally weak at this time and has taken to spending time with a telepath named Birdy who could hold Victor’s mind together by administering a telepathic “glow,” holding back his worst tendencies. When Birdy is killed by Graydon Creed, Sabretooth loses his mind and goes on a rampage across Europe, killing hundreds. He seeks a telepath that can help him and eventually heads to Japan having heard of one there. He is confronted by the X-Men, minus Wolverine who was on a leave of absence, and eventually heads to the X-Mansion seeking a telepath there.

Sabretooth is held prisoner at the mansion for several months, with Professor Xavier attempting to rehabilitate him. Sabretooth goads several X-Men, seeming to enjoy the head-games. When Wolverine returns to the X-Men, Sabretooth escapes his cell and the two fight once more. Wolverine almost kills Sabretooth by stabbing him directly in the brain. Sabretooth seems to be reduced to a child-like state, but is merely feigning his condition. He escapes and in the process mortally wounds Psylocke. Wolverine, along with Archangel, encounter the Crimson Dawn in order to save her soul.

For a time, Sabretooth works for the government once more, this time as a member of X-Factor. After escaping, his skeleton is bonded with Adamantium and his healing factor enhanced, making him far more powerful than Wolverine for a time. The two are forced to fight to the death with the victor being turned into Apocalypse’s latest Horseman, Death. Wolverine defeats Sabretooth and is re-bonded to Adamantium (taken from Creed) and given a variety of other powers. Sabretooth is re-bonded with Adamantium by a new version of Weapon X and then becomes a mercenary once more.

Wolverine and Sabretooth have what is seemingly their final battle when they have another battle at the mansion. Wolverine loses control and calls Sabretooth insane before placing his fist against Sabretooth's throat. Creed tells him if he extracts his claws, he will rip his heart out. Wolverine replies, "Let 'er rip", and pops his claws into Sabretooth's throat. When Wolverine regains consciousness, he finds himself on the roof of the Blackbird as Sabretooth pilots it. Wolverine manages to crash the plane and the two emerge from the wreckage still fighting. The battle rages, and despite interference from Storm and the Black Panther, the two men end up in the jungle where Wolverine slices off Sabretooth’s hand. Sabretooth is imprisoned but soon escapes and confronts Wolverine once more in Canada. Wolverine uses the mystical Muramasa blade to cut off Sabretooth’s arm, and then swiftly his head. He is seemingly killed at last, ending his rampages.

It is later revealed that Victor is still alive, and it was merely a clone that had been decapitated. Shortly after this, Sabretooth declares himself the ruler of the Japanese underworld, but Wolverine spoils his plans. This is also proved to be a clone, and Wolverine discovers the real Sabretooth to be in suspended animation in a facility controlled by Romulus. While Romulus is defeated and imprisoned, Sabretooth escapes.

During the AXIS event, Sabretooth is one of the villains recruited by Magneto to fight the Red Onslaught. He experiences a moral inversion when a spell backfires and is left a hero once the battle is over. His homicidal tendencies have been purged from his soul, and he is now a “good guy”. He turns himself over to the authorities in order to pay for his sins.

He joins a team of Avengers, vowing to do right by Logan’s legacy and finally become a hero.

Conclusion

Got any great wolverine foes we haven't mentioned? Tell us about them in the comments!