In this review of Ultimate Wolverine #4, Winter Soldier’s encounter with Kitty Pryde has lasting effects as he returns from his mission. Can Directorate X regain control?
ULTIMATE WOLVERINE #4
Writer: Chris Condon
Art and Main Cover: Alessandro Cappuccio
Variant Covers: IBAN COELLO, LEINIL FRANCIS YU, DAVID AJA
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: April 16, 2025
Delivering on Ultimate Wolverine’s premise was always going to be an uphill battle. Being the new kid on the block as the first addition to the already stellar four pillars of the new Ultimate line meant the book would have a lot to live up to, not to mention trying to stand apart from all of 616 Logan’s appearances in the main line.
But imagine my surprise when, after reading Ultimate Wolverine #4, I learned this book wasn’t just about retelling the Wolverine origin or amalgamating redundant character arcs of both himself and Bucky. What if I told that Chris Condon’s and Alessandro Cappucio’s Ultimate Wolverine #4 wasn’t just a good book, but it mayhaps be the best single issue I’ve read so far this year?
Ultimate Wolverine #4 parallels Logan’s attempt to reconcile his lost identity and break his control from the Winter Soldier programming with the story of a lone, scarred wolf. As the wolf faces off with a polar bear, other captions begin to form a narrative of various soldiers trying to calm down the berserker induced Winter Soldier. Logan is awoken from his delusion as a scientist uses the trigger word “sputnik”. The scientists contemplate their options before resorting to the most dangerous recourse: use the Phoenix specimen to psychically control their Weapon X.
What a beautiful issue. While the tone and language presented properly pays homage to the Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X series without exploiting it the way that a lesser “re-imaginings” of superhero classics do. The repetition of Logan’s internal crisis of identity paired with the back-and-forth chatter between the Weapon X agents and scientists trying to apprehend him give the book both a poetic cadence and a grounded weight.
The prose is paired with masterful art. The visual metaphor that makes up a bulk of Ultimate Wolverine #4 is at once vicious and scenic. It’s one thing to be able to draw a good wolf or dog, it’s completely different to be able to draw one in constant, lightning paced motion. The issue calls to mind issues of Don McGreggor’s and Billy Graham’s Black Panther issues of Jungle Action, or dare I say George Orwell’s Shooting An Elephant. Big, experimental swings like this are why it’s so exciting to read the new Ultimate line. A regular continuity Wolverine title wouldn’t dare go 12 pages without a human being being on page, let alone the main character.
And when said main character finally does show up, man what an entrance. Condon and Cappuccio grasp what makes Logan so appealing: Wolverine unleashed is a monster. It’s no coincidence that Logan’s first appearance was battling the Hulk, it’s in this “weird” milieu that he belongs. When standing in the gory remains of his scientist victims, Wolverine feels right at home with all sorts of celluloid slashers.
What’s more surprising is the reveal of (presumably) Jean Grey as the Phoenix in the closing pages of the issue. I appreciate that Marvel is giving space to both Peach Momoko to the youthful side of the mutant condition in her terrific Ultimate X-Men title, meanwhile Condon and Cappuccio are able to explore the darker face of that same coin. The Jean/Logan dynamic is so rich for potential, it will be a real nailbiter to see how this new Ultimate version of that relationship is twisted or reconsidered.
Ultimate Wolverine #4 presents a rare treat of superhero comics as legitimate literature. Any readers who may have been skeptical of the most popular mutant getting another prestige title can relax. Condon and Cappuccio provide not only a terrific tale of terror that sells the danger of eugenics and modern warfare, but one that offers lyrical introspection for its main subject. “Ultimate Wolverine”: truly there is no title more fitting.
