“Your Life is a Bullet”: Sabretooth’s Feud With Wolverine is About Much More Than Revenge

Warning: Contains spoilers for Wolverine #46!!Wolverine and Sabretooth have a long and violent history. Much of that time involved Victor Creen doing anything possible to cause Logan pain and anguish, both through directly attacking Logan and forcing him to see his loved ones suffer. As he gears up for his final kill, however, Creed locks his nemesis into an illusion that proves part of him is still chasing their time spent working together.

Wolverine #46 – from the creative team of Benjamin Percy, Victor LaValle, Cory Smith, Alex Sinclair, and Cory Petit – reveals a surprising side of Victor Creed. After decimating Wolverine’s allies, Sabretooth forces Logan to be part of his hunt for Forge’s de-powering gun. He accomplishes this by ordering Kid Omega to pacify Wolverine with a psychic illusion of a Team X mission.

The whole setup results in Quentin Quire astutely pointing out that Victor is enjoying the chance to relive their “glory days” and ponders whether the two of them were actually friends. Although this just earns Quire a violent threat, it uncovers a complex truth beneath Sabretooth’s savagery: his hatred toward Wolverine is rooted in a twisted sense of abandonment.

Wolverine and Sabretooth Weren’t Always Enemies

Sabretooth and Logan go back decades, but their closest interactions took place when they were both members of Team X. The team itself was part of the Weapons Plus Program, which was responsible for many heinous attempts at creating the ultimate weapon. As part of Team X, Sabretooth acted as Wolverine’s handler, and together they went on several bloody missions before Logan escaped. Their paths diverged for several years, with Victor giving into his most savage instincts while Logan worked to recover from the memory loss and pain inflicted by Weapons Plus, but the two met over and over for a string of battles.

Now, it seems their days on Team X were never far from Victor’s mind. Creed spends the journey recounting a kind of highlight reel of the terrible things they’ve done and reminding Logan that his “life is a bullet“. Sabretooth takes pleasure in recounting all the blood spilled and wants to emphasize that Wolverine is a weapon and not the hero he went on to become. There’s a nostalgic edge to it, though. While it is another way for Victor to cause pain, it also seems as if he wanted to enjoy one last “mission” before ending his old charge forever.

Sabretooth Resents Wolverine for Changing

A primary source of Sabretooth’s anger stems from his idea that he and Wolverine are both savage, and he has likely never met someone as similar to him. Yet, despite the instincts they share, Logan broke away. Not only did he flee, but he went on to do things Creed would never accomplish. He became a hero and found people who cared for him, and whom he cared for in return. As Kid Omega phrases it, they were “put through the same blender” yet Logan came out of that a good man while Victor is a “hateful pile of maggots.“

Logan’s former handler continues to punish him for that choice. Sabretooth has a twisted longing for Team X, and he’s never found the same kind of purpose or kinship since. That period of their lives is still the one Creed chooses to revisit. Given that the journey to the weapon stash is meant to end with Logan dead for good, Victor wants one last shot at their glory days, making their “war” seem deeper and unexpectedly sad. Sabretooth still intends to eliminate Wolverine forever, but their conflict is not as simple as it appears.