Wolverine merges with an alien symbiote inhabiting his body to become a Venom-like monster in the latest issue of Marvel’s X Lives of Wolverine.
Diving into some of the past lives of the mutant superhero, the latest issue of X Lives of Wolverine sees Wolverine merge with a Venom-like parasite he’d long forgotten.
In X Lives of Wolverine #4, Wolverine travels into three of his different past lives in an attempt to stop Omega Red from killing Charles Xavier — a mission he must complete in order to save the entire island of Krakoa. One of the lives takes him back to the Weapon X Facility, where Doctor Abraham Cornelius is running experiments on Wolverine to study his body chemistry.
A closer look into Wolverine’s blood reveals a parasite of sorts — one Cornelius says he’ll remove after running some further tests. At that time, however, Cornelius is taken over by Omega Red, who decides to up the ante and see just how far he can push the limits of the Wolverine’s physical state.
Zapping Wolverine with some kind of electricity triggers the parasite in Wolverine to respond, as he begins merging with the symbiote inside of him. “A lot of my memory’s like a dirty chalkboard,” Wolverine says to himself. “Layers and layers of dust. Big eraser sweeps. Half-seen scribbles. I don’t remember this moment, but somehow I know Vietnam is caked into it. And somehow, it all still feels familiar. Everybody’s got a beast crouched inside them, and I’ve always struggled to keep mine on a leash. The symbiote was different than the mindwipes and Weapon Plus programming. I wasn’t being trained. I was being controlled, soaked through to the bone with…venom.”
Wolverine and a symbiote previously merged with one another in Web of Venom: Ve’Nam #1. During the storyline, Wolverine and Nick Fury venture into Vietnam in 1966 on a mission to recover some lost symbiotes. The two eventually encounter the Tyrannosaurus symbiote who takes over Wolverine’s body until Rex Strickland manages to separate the two from one another.
While Wolverine takes a similar appearance compared to how he looked in Vietnam when merging with the symbiote in Cornelius’ lab, it’s not immediately clear if the parasite inside of him is a leftover remnant of Tyrannosaurus or some other symbiote he encountered in the past. Alternatively, Wolverine’s “soaked through to the bone with…venom” line could be taken in a literal sense in that it’s the Venom parasite now inhabiting his body.
Whatever the case may be, the symbiote plays into Wolverine’s rage. Even as Omega Red departs from Cornelius’ body when seeing what the mutant has become, Wolverine chases the doctor through the laboratory. “I couldn’t bring myself to leave,” he says. “Because that ugly, fanged part of me — brought out fully by the symbiote — wanted Cornelius to pay.”
X Lives of Wolverine #4 comes from writer Ben Percy artists Joshua Cassara with Federico Vicentini, color artist Frank Martin, letterer and production VC’s Cory Petit, designer Tom Muller and cover artists Adam Kubert and Frank Martin.
The issue is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Source: Marvel Comics
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