The X-Men’s Wolverine has always been able to heal himself from major injuries – including bullet wounds and poisoning. However, in one storyline, Wolverine’s healing factor didn’t just heal his body – it saved the entire world from a global pandemic. Even better? It did it twice.
The story happened in the popular 1990s cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series (which can now be viewed on Disney+) and was later adapted into the comic book tie-in series. The story itself was a sequel to a reimagining of one of the X-Men’s most popular stories – Days of Future Past.
The Many Versions of X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Days of Future Past has enjoyed many retellings over the years. At its core, the story is about a dystopian future where mutants have been rounded up in detention camps guarded by Sentinel robots. Now a shadow of what they used to be, the X-Men manage to send one of their members back in time to warn their past selves about what is to come – and take steps to erase the dark future. Just who that member is varies from story to story. In the original version, published in The Uncanny X-Men #141-142, intangible mutant Kate “Kitty” Pryde’s mind is sent back into her younger body, just in time to warn the X-Men to prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly, whose death would provide the triggering event for anti-mutant hysteria. The X-Men stop the assassination, but the future is left unclear.
X-Men: Days of Future Past was later adapted into a popular film for Fox’s X-Men film franchise. In this version, Kitty Pryde actually sends Wolverine’s mind back to the 1970s where he teams up with a younger Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy to prevent Mystique from killing Dr. Bolliver Trask, whose research would lead to the creation of the Sentinels. Wolverine is successful and ends up returning to a happier future (at least until the events of Logan). X-Men: The Animated Series took a different approach in their version of “Days of Future Past” by sending the mutant Bishop back in time (physically) to the 1990s where he warns the X-Men to stop the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly by Mystique (who disguises herself as Gambit, making him a pariah in the future). Bishop succeeds and returns to the future – only to discover something far worse has replaced the dystopia that he remembers…
The Mutant Pandemic
Upon returning to the future in the two-part episode “Time Fugitives,” Bishop is elated to see that the war-torn buildings have all been resurrected – until mutant inventor Forge tells him that the entire population is sick for a plague that’s been killing mutants for years. To make matters worse, no one in this new timeline even knows about the X-Men. Horrified, Bishop races back in time to stop the mutant pandemic from ever happening.
This time, however, Bishop has some competition. Turns out that while the mutant plague decimated the population in Bishop’s time, it also led to the creation of key antibodies that were vital to mutant survival in the far future. Once Bishop’s actions prevent these antibodies from being formed, the “future-future” begins collapsing as they no longer have the means to fight off the diseases of their time – which doesn’t sit well with the mutant freedom fighter Cable.
Tracking Bishop back to the point where he first arrived to prevent the mutant plague, Cable attempts to stop him from interfering, but is warded off by the X-Men. Cable starts having reservations about fighting Bishop, whom he recognizes as just another time traveler trying to stop a bad future from happening. He’s even more disgusted when he finds out that Apocalypse – the mutant despot Cable and his freedom fighters are battling in the future – is responsible for engineering the plague, meaning Cable would have to help Apocalypse to safeguard his future.
How Wolverine Saved the World - Twice
Cable comes up with an alternate plan, however, when he learns about Wolverine and his amazing healing factor. After secretly following the X-Men into a laboratory where the mutant plague is being created, Cable intentionally exposes Wolverine to the plague, knowing that the mutant’s healing factor will develop an instant immunity to the disease.
The plan works – and not only does Wolverine become immune to the plague, his blood now has the antibodies to help mutants stabilize in the far future. With the help of Beast (Hank McCoy), the X-Men help distribute these antibodies to the afflicted, saving not only Bishop’s timeline but Cable’s as well.
While it’s not a completely happy ending – Bishop returns to find that, although the plague never happened, his future is still a wreck for different reasons – it’s gratifying to see that Wolverine’s powerful healing factor not only saved himself this time, but the entire world.