The X-Man known as Wolverine is easily one of the most dangerous individuals in the world, however, there is one villain who scares even someone as cold-blooded as Logan. Silas Burr, aka Cyber, is a ruthless killer with adamantium-laced skin and a deep connection with Logan’s past, which makes him the only enemy that Wolverine is terrified of.
One of the things that make him unique among the cast of Marvel’s heroes is that Wolverine’s past is drenched in blood. Before becoming an X-Man and a superhero, Logan has been a lot of things, and all of these paths went through violence and bloodshed. With such a dark past, it’s only natural that Wolverine’s recurring enemies would be among the most dangerous and bloodthirsty in the Marvel Universe, as proved by his longtime nemesis Sabretooth, one of the few mutants that are not allowed to be free on Krakoa. Even a vicious killer like Victor Creed does not scare Logan, who is used to dealing with his kind. However, Cyber hurt Wolverine so badly in the past that the memories are still traumatizing him.
Silas Burr is a mutant with a regenerative healing factor who, in the first half of the 20th century, was in command of a special Canadian Army unit called the Devil’s Brigade, which included a man called Logan. As revealed in the series Wolverine: Origins (by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon) The whole thing was set up by the mysterious villain Romulus, who had sinister plans for the future Wolverine. Burr focused his brutal attention on Logan, making his life a nightmare to turn him into an obedient animal bred to kill. For this purpose, Burr also killed Logan’s love interest, a woman called Janet. Enraged, Logan tried to kill Burr, who beat him savagely and gouged out his left eye. This was Logan’s worst defeat up to this point in his life, and the trauma, mixed with the erasing effect that his healing factor has on his worst memories, resulted in a profound fear of Cyber that lasted for decades.
When Burr resurfaced many years later, Romulus had modified his body, fusing adamantium to his skin and giving him retractable claws similar to Wolverine’s. Now calling himself Cyber, he clashed with Logan in Madripoor, giving him once again a burning defeat, but Wolverine was able to rally and forced Burr to flee. Over the years, the two would cross paths again many times, and Cyber even came back from death several times to torment Logan, his son Daken, and other Marvel heroes. Wolverine eventually overcame his psychological trauma and fear for Burr, but Cyber remained one of his most dangerous foes and one of the few ones that Logan was never able to beat on his own.
The original concept behind Cyber is very simple but also effective: take the most hardened and violent Marvel hero, and show that even he can be afraid of someone. This was later expanded in Wolverine: Origins to create a deeper connection with Logan’s past, which made Silas Burr one of the most important figures in Wolverine’s life. Currently, Cyber has been reborn in a non-mutant body, so he cannot benefit from the Krakoan amnesty, but even if that were not the case it’s very unlikely that Wolverine would allow one of his worst enemies to walk free on his same land.
