Warning! Spoilers for X-Men Unlimited #5-11 ahead!
As one of the X-Men's most notorious members, Wolverine has come along way from his bloody origins, and is one of the most prominent mentors for almost every new generation of mutants, making him completely averse to harming a child. In fact, Logan's not-so-secret protective nature is what often sets him apart from other hyper-violent characters such as the Punisher. Time and time again his aversion to hurting children has caused him to lose battles and missions, but in X-Men Unlimited #11 Krakoa's new Resurrection Protocols beg the question: Is Wolverine pushing his already tenuous ethics to the breaking point?
Logan has acted as a mentor and father figure to Kate Pryde, Jubilee, Armor, the whole class of Generation X, and his own biological daughter Laura Kinney (X-23). Not only has he taught them, but he has fiercely protected them at all costs, even battling against Cyclops in the X-Men event Schism because he didn't believe in Cyclops making young mutants into soldiers of war. It is not hard to figure out why Wolverine has become such a protective, yet complex, hero, seeing as his early life under the control of Weapon X was filled with him kidnapping and torturing children such as Nuke, as can be seen in Wolverine: Origins.
In the recent X-Men Unlimited event X-Men Green - from Gerry Duggan and Emilio Laiso - the Generation X mutant Nature Girl leans into her violent side, becoming a radical environmental terrorist, and Professor X foolishly sends in Wolverine to take her down. On the surface this might make sense, but Xavier forgot one major thing about Logan... children are, and always have been, his greatest weakness. When Wolverine is first able to track down Nature Girl she uses his protective nature, especially as his former student, to manipulate him. Lin Li is able to get away on Wolverine's motorcycle while leaving him to deal with a massive Grizzly bear fight, making Wolverine ponder on whether he should just kill Nature Girl, since she could simply be resurrected by the Five.
Logan has often remarked on how frustrating it is being sent into battle to take down or even protect kids, because it is pretty widely acknowledged that his mutation is violent and hard to be "subtle" with. Nature Girl continues on her murderous rampage, next picking up another young Krakoan mutant named Curse, who joins her in brutally murdering a group of humans at an oil processing plant. Wolverine, finally having had enough of Lin's violent actions, punches both her and Curse right in the face, knocking them both out.
This is a major shift from Wolverine's usual modus operandi in fights, as he finds any violence against children to be abhorrent (outside of training, of course). While Logan just punched the two children, and didn't use more lethal means, it is still far beyond what has made Wolverine the complex but loved hero he is today. Will Logan begin using lethal means to take out any mutant, regardless of their age? Continue checking out X-Men Unlimited from Marvel Infinity to find out what happens next!