We’re Finally Getting the Wolverine vs. Professor X Fight Ultimate X-Men Teased 20 Years Ago

Warning! Huge spoilers for X-Men #34 ahead!

Wolverine is setting out on a mission to kill Professor X once and for all, satisfying a story that was first teased in Ultimate X-Men #1 all the way back in 2000. With the ongoing Fall of X event positioning the X-Men in the fight of their lives, Charles Xavier has made a deal with the devil in an attempt to save the world’s mutants. That doesn’t sit right with many of the X-Men, including Wolverine, who’s determined that it’s time to take Chuck out for good.

X-Men #34 by Gerry Duggan and Joshua Cassara finds the X-Men continuing to fight back against the anti-mutant organization Orchis. Meanwhile, Professor Xavier has struck a deal with the A.I. faction of Orchis. The machines of Orchis plan to betray their human allies and wipe out all life on Earth and ascend to a higher plane of being. Xavier has agreed to help them if they spare mutantkind. The X-Men see this as a massive betrayal by their leader, and Wolverine declares that “Xavier has to die – or none of us will be safe.”

Armed with an all-powerful Muramasa Blade and his trusty adamantium claws, Logan is setting out to take down the X-Men’s founder once and for all. It’s a fight that longtime readers have been waiting to see for more than two decades.

Ultimate Wolverine’s Very First Mission Was To Kill Charles Xavier

Launched in 2000, Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics was designed to draw in new readers by giving its most popular characters a modern makeover. Ignoring the previous four decades of continuity, this new universe started from scratch, updating the origins of Spider-Man, the Avengers and, of course, the X-Men. In Ultimate X-Men #1 by Mark Millar and Adam Kubert, Charles Xavier brings together his first X-Men squad. The lineup consists of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Colossus, Iceman and Storm. Together, they will defend a world that fears and hates them from Xavier’s old friend Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants.

In this first issue’s shocking final scene, Magneto reveals that he has an ace up his sleeve to defeat his old friend. That secret weapon is none other than Wolverine, a skilled assassin aligned with the Brotherhood. Magneto sends Wolverine undercover to infiltrate the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and take Professor X out. However, once Wolverine is firmly cemented as a member of the team, he has a change of heart. Thanks in part to his affair with Jean Grey, as well as the conviction of Professor Xavier’s dream, Wolverine joins the side of the X-Men and helps defeat Magneto. It made for a good character arc at the time, but it denied readers the chance of seeing Wolverine fulfilling his mission to assassinate Xavier.

Logan Is On The Hunt For Professor X Again

Unlike his Ultimate Universe counterpart, present-day Wolverine has more resolve to carry out his mission. The attacks by Orchis have hit mutantkind hard. The X-Men’s island paradise of Krakoa is gone, and they’ve lost countless friends and loved ones. For Charles to strike a deal with Orchis and help them out is a slap in the face to his former students. It’s the latest in a long line of betrayals Wolverine has suffered at the hands of old friends, including Colossus and original X-Man Beast. He’s overdue for some righteous vengeance, and Xavier is the perfect target.

Kate Pryde spends much of X-Men #34 trying to track Xavier down, but by the issue’s conclusion, Logan has volunteered to take up her cause and kill the professor himself. It’s a more nuanced and personal conflict than the one set up in Ultimate X-Men, which should make an upcoming battle between Wolverine and Professor X all the more satisfying.