In this review of Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1, Logan’s past comes back to haunt him again just as a new super soldier program with ties to Weapon X experiences a rash of mysterious attacks. Is this a taste of armageddon?
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1
Writer: Chip Zdarksy
Artist: Luca Maresca
Main Cover: Leinil Francis Yu
Variant Covers: Chip Zdarsky, Dave Rapoza, Dan Panosian, Rose Besch, InHyuk Lee
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: February 18, 2026
This review contains spoilers
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 starts in the past as a troubled Logan encounters Teri O’Barnes, a mutant tracker (who apparently helped Weapon X locate and capture him long ago). Decades later, a familiar vision of a young man running naked in the frozen woods amid a pack of wolves turns out not to be Logan, who has just woken from a nightmare (claws out).
Was Logan dreaming of this person or of something else? Meanwhile, outside of his rundown apartment awaits an older, hardened Teri O’Barnes who needs to talk. Cut to a local bar where Teri and Logan catch up. Logan knows of Teri’s past sins, and also that she now runs an underground railroad for mutants. Teri explains that the private military company PRIMEWARRIOR is manufacturing new super soldiers using mutants with healing abilities, and they now have a young man named Tyler (from the dream?)
Teri and Logan infiltrate the closest PRIMEWARRIOR facility, which was just hit by a massive explosion. The director, Professor Ash phones his benefactor Pruet, explaining that this is one of several recent attacks on PRIMEWARRIOR facilities, but this time the subject (Tyler) was taken along with a mysterious power source called “the box”.
Pruet has Ash killed and contacts another operative to recruit a familiar face to hunt down Logan: and it’s Nuke (what, he’s on the cover). Meanwhile, Teri and Logan locate the adamantium bonding room where Tyler was taken along with some video. A pair of operatives interrupt and one of them recognizes Logan…it’s not good for them. Teri gives Tyler’s shirt to a blood spattered Logan and the pair track the mutant into the frozen woods.
Between Logan’s continual flashbacks plaguing his waking mind and Teri’s exhaustion, the pair are caught off guard after tracking down the man who took Tyler.
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 ends with an armed standoff as the man tells the pair that Tyler is free forever. Cut to a naked Tyler in the darkened, snowy woods being stalked by wolves as he pops claws from his hands.
Analysis
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 covers a lot of ground, some which is a retread including the Weapon X program, but writer Chip Zdarsky is building towards the Armageddon crossover event this summer spinning out of Captain America. PRIMEWARRIOR is a new twist on the classic super soldier trope, as private companies are now manufacturing them (something about rich people with too much cash).
Adding another plot twist to the original “recruitment” of Logan by Weapon X is an interesting introduction to Teri O’Barnes (one of those “new/old acquaintances”) who feels remorse for betraying fellow mutants, including Logan. Teri’s lived a hard life over the decades dealing with her guilt, her graying hair and facial scar just the tip of the inner turmoil. But Logan is all about making up for his past misdeeds, so who is he to begrudge Teri’s redemption arc? Any parallels to recent events is clearly intentional.
Are Logan’s flashbacks, dreams, nightmares or whatever in Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 linking him mentally to Tyler via The Box? Who is the mystery man in the cabin with a Captain America type of shield (and part of Cap’s chest emblem peeking through his shirt)? Is it David Colton or someone else? Mysteries abound and the conspiracy thriller plot works. Logan often acts out of emotion so pity those poor PRIMEWARRIOR souls who confront him after he watched Tyler’s torturous experimental video.
Wolverine switching to his full costume at the end of Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 is an interesting choice after Logan just took a tripwire projectile to the noggin. The ongoing Wolverine series by Saladin Ahmed is narratively uneven and sometimes clunkily scripted, so it’s nice to find Logan’s familiar sounding voiceover again (he talks more in his head than in dialogue).
Pruet is an already established character, a billionaire sociopath who makes for an interesting foil (he probably doesn’t have to make many pension payouts to those in his employ if Professor Ash’s fate is any indication). Logan’s memories have been a liability before (going back to “Origin”), but something else is at play here.
Luca Maresca’s impressive art captures the scope of this fast moving conspiracy thriller. Maresca’s style seems influenced by Ron Garney, Martin Coccolo and others, with nice bold, clean lines and expressive faces. The pacing and camera angles reinforce the tension of the story’s mysteries. The close up of Logan’s claws in the foreground at PRIMEWARRIOR, Nuke’s shocked expression in close-up, Wolverine in full costume in action towards the end of Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 sizzles.
Jesus Aburtov’s colors vary between flashbacks and present day, clarifying the different time periods. The orange face shields from the hazmat suits reinforce the intensity of characters’ expressions, and the blood red interior of the present day bar with Teri and Logan draws a visual distinction from their first meeting earlier in the story with regular coloring.
Final Thoughts
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 is off to a roaring start, honoring the past while adding something new to the Weapon X mythos. The story is gripping, the art is dynamic and the colors are gorgeous.
