In the pages of Marvel Comics now exists a new cosmic player. This dude has always been infamous as a violent, sociopathic killer who by and large has an alignment with the light side of the force. He murders, but only the bad guys. He is famous for his legendary blood thirst that has killed thousands already. And he just got access to the greatest reservoir of psychic energy in the multi-verse. The Wolverine has just gone cosmic ladies and gentlemen. And Marvel Comics is not going to let this moment go to waste. They have already found a cool little pet name for our Wolfie. Presenting – The new Superhero name for Phoenix Force possessed Wolverine is insane!!!!
SPOILER ALERT: The following paragraphs contain major spoilers for Thor #5. If you haven’t read it yet and intend to, we suggest you look away…..
There is a reason everyone is scared of the Phoenix Force. As the entity that is literally the guardian of all the universes that ever were, are or will be, they should be scared of this flaming chick. The Phoenix Force has destroyed civilizations like a house of cards. It has annihilated Solar Systems and alien armadas like it was a cakewalk.
The Phoenix Force is the living embodiment of all psychic energy in this universe. It is a force that had recently caused a war between two of the most famous Marvel Superhero teams of recent times – The Avengers and the X-Men.
So what happens when the Phoenix Force, already a deadly force, decides to choose a host that is literally driven by animalistic rage? You get chaos, absolute chaos. The Phoenix Force cannot operate by itself. It needs a host. Jean Grey has always been connected with the Phoenix Force but there have been several other people who have been host to this entity. Wolverine is the latest in a long line of superheroes who have managed to tame the infinite amount of power for him.
In Phoenix Resurrection: Return of Jean Grey, we see Jean coming back from the land of the dead. In Mighty Thor issues by Jason Aaron, we see Captain Marvel fighting a couple of Shi’ar Gods where surprisingly, the Phoenix Force makes an entrance. The final pages of Thor #5 show us, King Thor, deciding to finally restore Earth back to life after its destruction in the battle of the nine realms in the previous pages. A Phoenix possessed Wolverine originally opposes the idea and asks Thor not to do it. Thor does it anyway and Doctor Doom, now a mighty villain with massive supernatural prowess to rival that of both King Thor and Wolverine-phoenix decides to invade Earth. And Wolverine and Thor decide to team up in order to stop him.
But we cannot refer to the guy as Wolverine-Phoenix throughout the coming issues. Wolverine has gone massive physical changes. In the far future where the events of the issue take place, Wolverine is now known by a different name. He is called….
Old Man Phoenix!!!!
The name makes perfect sense when you look at the bigger picture. Logan is now more than a millennium old. He is now literally the ‘Old Man’. Old Man Logan has been a fascinating figure in the comic books and has jumped over to the mainstream universe where he has fought alongside the X-Men. Considering there are multiple versions of the Wolverine at the moment in the Marvel Universe, will Old Man Phoenix find his way back to the past and meet all his doppelgangers? Since it is Marvel Comics we are talking about, it is highly likely that something as absurdly fascinating as that just might happen.
While the comics have shown Logan alive and well, the movie version portrayed by Hugh Jackman faced his sad demise in the 2016 Logan movie. The official synopsis of the movie reads:
In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) at a remote outpost on the Mexican border. His plan to hide from the outside world gets upended when he meets a young mutant (Dafne Keen) who is very much like him. Logan must now protect the girl and battle the dark forces that want to capture her.
