Marvel Team Up 151-176
It took me a bit, but I finally figured out what to do with Wolverine now that Bec has dropped out of the game. In the official marvel universe Marvel Team Up was cancelled at issue 150 and replaced by yet another Spider Man title (Web of Spider Man I think). In our universe MTU lives on but rather than Spider Man teaming up with everyone under the sun Wolverine will be taking that starring role. Issue 150 which had Spider Man team up with Wolverine was the natural transition for that.
• 151 – Wolverine & Iron Fist (parallels GLF 191) Logan and Danny Rand team up to fight Iron Fist’s classic villain Sabertooth, who is in the employ of 5440, a nefarious Canadian organization. Sabertooth has a small army of mooks with him so our heroes can strut their stuff. It’s important to note that this issue makes it clear that Sabertooth and Wolverine have never met before, are not related, share no secret history etc., etc., Still, it makes for a good fight and the pair will likely lock claws again in the future. Peter David is writing these, some of his earliest work and therefore replete with the sort of in-jokeyness to which he is occasionally prone.
• 152 – Wolverine & Sasquatch (parallels GLF 192) 5440 has plans to take control of all of North America via territorial earth magic, and Wolverine tracks them back into Canada, where he enlists the aid of Alpha Flight’s Sasquatch to take the organization down. They have a magical water-based villain named Cascade working for them (from a MSH Alpha Flight module) but the issue’s character bit is Sasquatch asking Wolverine about controlling his temper, foreshadowing Alpha Flight 23-24.
• 153 – Wolverine & Defensor (parallels GLF 194) While in Mexico assisting with the post-Wraith War earthquake situation Wolverine teams up with Defensor to help take down El Rey De Oro, the man known as the Kingpin of Mexico City. This issue is done by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson and is a very different style than the lighter toned, jokey issues that surround it. It sets up a Daredevil/Kingpin relationship with Defensor and Rey de Oro in the insanely huge and corrupt Mexico City to explain what the character does with his time.
• 154 – Wolverine & Angel ( GLF 194) After the Brotherhood fight Angel stays in NYC long enough to check on the local Warren Industries holdings, including the opening of Master Toad’s (see Marvel Fanfare 19). Angel invites Logan along to bridge their differences. Once there the opening is sabotaged by the Terrible Tinkerer, who has usurped the programming of the super-hero robot-doubles to rob the Coney Island fairway (and to get even with Toad for a perceived slight).The two heroes are able to put down the incident, but not before Wolverine cuts up a lot of robot doubles, forcing Master Toad’s the close for repairs right before its opening.
• 155 – Wolverine & She Hulk (between GLF 196 and 197) She Hulk is looking for something to keep her spirits up after the destruction of her home in FF 279 and the subsequent events in the Microverse and therefore opens a small law office as Jennifer Walters. Her first client is Mortimer Toynbee, who as a representative of Warren Industries is filing a civil suit against Logan for the damages done to Master Toads. After a brief She-Hulk vs. Wolverine battle she succeeds in hitting him with a summons to court. (Angel is not available to stop this, being involved in the Defenders ‘Dragon of the Moon’ plotline.)
• 156 – Wolverine & Daredevil (between GLF 196 and 197) Forced to defend himself in court Logan turn to Nelson and Murdock to act as defense attorneys. What follows is a courtroom farce with She-Hulk representing Toad against Wolverine being represented by Daredevil. This collapses when the wife of The Ringer appears to break her hapless husband out of his parole hearing, leading to a battle with the “Wedding Ringer”. This is Peter David’s last issue on MTU, the powers that be deciding that he isn’t giving Wolverine the right gravitas.
• 157 – Wolverine & Storm (parallels GLF 197) Now with a new creative team MTU very closely parallels the X-Men “Sentinel War” story. In this issue Wolverine meets with Storm and the still weakened Magneto in NYC pre their United Nations meeting and agrees to act as a bodyguard. This is handy as they are attacked by agents of the Halwan royal family led by Angar the Screamer, who is once again on their payroll. The agents are all armed with technology well beyond the Halwan government capacities.
• 158 – Wolverine & Black Panther (parallels GLF 198) Carrying the Halwan agents advanced tech Wolverine meets with Black Panther, who is able to trace the origin of the gear back to Project Wideawake. It’s clear that Wideawake has engaged in a clandestine arms deal to thwart the South Sudanese independence and the ever-foolish Halwan royal family has stepped right in to assist. Wolverine and Black Panther disassemble the plot, including defeating Khalamba Bey, the Halwanese executioner who once fought Iron Fist.
• 159 – Wolverine & Invisible Woman (parallels GLF 199) In the early stages of the Sentinel War one of the giant robots launches an attack that injures Franklin Richards. Wolverine volunteers to accompany Invisible Woman on a mission to scout out and potentially cripple a Sentinel command center. When you need Wolverine to help tone someone down you know that someone is about to get their ass kicked!
• MTU Annual 8 – Wolverine & Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD (Parallels GLF Annual 9) Two stories in the annual: The first is Wolverine working with Nick Fury and SHIELD on taking out a Shaw Industries/Hellfire Club base as Fury finishes rooting out the Club’s infiltration of SHIELD. The second is a young Logan working with Nick Fury and the Howling Commands during WWII, laying groundwork for a pan-European conspiracy in Logan’s backstory.
• 160 – Wolverine & Captain America (parallels GLF 200) The Canadian mutant wild man fighting back to back with the Star-Spangled Avenger on a mission against the Sentinels to protect the liberty and freedom of every American, mutant or not.
• 161 – Wolverine & the Thing Peter David is back for a single issue where Wolverine finds himself in Las Vegas during the Thing’s time as a wrestler on the unlimited class wrestling circuit. The two get involved with Una, the daughter of Unus the untouchable, who had recently been roped into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants by Mystique. After a brief battle Una comes to realize the men aren’t out to get her, and Logan just wanted to pass along the location of her father’s grave.
• 162 – Wolverine & Captain Britain This is the first issue of Wolverine’s world tour. He leaves from New York with the ultimate goal being getting back to Japan and Mariko but something is always getting in the way. This year of the series serves a dual purpose of really playing on Wolverine’s secret agent backstory and also letting him full the role the Hulk used to of traveling the world to showcase the non-US heroes. The first stage of this involves getting roped into something in London with Captain Britain.
• 163 – Wolverine & Shamrock The second issue of the World Tour sends him to Ireland to work with Shamrock on whatever mystery he found last issue.
• 164 – Wolverine & Banshee Moving to Scotland, where he teams up with fellow ex secret agent, the former X-Man Banshee. This completes whatever plot he had discovered in issue 162. However, it also reveals the continued existence of the pan-European espionage conspiracy from last year’s annual that Logan feels obliged to unravel.
• 165 – Wolverine & Peregrine The pan European conspiracy moves to Paris where Wolverine teams up with local hero Peregrine. The pair take down a team of assassins who are aiming to kill most of the French government.
• 166 – Wolverine & Blitzkrieg More work unraveling the pan-European conspiracy that started last issue, this time in Germany where he fights alongside the local hero Blitzkrieg, who really needs a new uniform. The core of the conspiracy is revealed as the Werewolf organization who, in addition to being Nazi partisan underground are also, well, werewolves.
• 167 – Wolverine & Sabra The WWII-era conspiracy unravelling continues with Logan’s trip to Israel. Wolverine works with Sabra, the Israeli super-heroine, for a fight against some Nazi werewolves & wanabes. If I hadn’t already explicitly disallowed them this would be a place to work in Fenris but I did so I won’t.
• 168 – Wolverine & Arabian Knight Logan takes off for Saudi Arabia to wrap up the Werewolf case, where he teams up with Arabian Night and takes down the last vestiges of the Werewolf group.
• 169 – Wolverine & Darkstar Wolverine is safely on his way to Japan when the plane he is on is brought down over Afghanistan and he is dragged into what might turn into a shooting war between the USSR and China that is being instigated by members of the Enclave (they don’t appear in Avengers 262-263 since those are the “Jean Grey comes back to life issues”, which don’t happen, so this is what they’re doing in the meantime). Wolverine and Darkstar encounter ‘Them’, a brother sister pair of Enclave created superhumans in the same mold as Adam Warlock. Because that always works.
• 170 – Wolverine & Vanguard With Darkstar out of the action at the end of last issue her brother Vanguard takes over in the Enclave/Them conflict.
• 171 – Wolverine & the Collective Man Making a foray into Communist China to eliminate the Enclave Wolverine runs into the Collective Man, who is engaged in the same mission. The pair (sextet?) take out the Enclave base but Wolverine is hit by a teleporter at the end of the issue.
• 172 – Wolverine & Talisman Logan arrives in the Australian outback, victim of the Enclaves teleportation ray. Making his way back to civilization he stumbles across the cyborg Reavers, who had been using the Enclaves hidden base and its teleportation gear to raid locations across Australia. Wolverine takes them on, aided by the aboriginal hero Talisman. Talisman reveals that the Reavers are extra-dimensional in origin. Once the Reavers are defeated Talisman returns them to their home world.
• 173 – Wolverine & Iron Man Making it to Melbourne Logan sets about to find transport to Japan, but is instead drawn into a conflict between Iron Man and some hold out remnants of Stane’s organization as Stark is trying to reclaim his Australia properties. During this it’s revealed that Stane had dealings with the Yakuza clans that are working against Mairko in Japan
• 173 – Wolverine & Sunfire Finally, finally making it to Japan on a Stark Enterprises jet Logan visits the HQ of Clan Yashida, finding that Mariko has nearly completely her quest to extricate the clan from its criminal enterprises. All that remains is a raid on a rival Yakuza clan which Logan completes with the aid of Mariko’s cousin, the mutant hero Sunfire. After this is done Logan and Mariko reaffirm their engagement and plan for a wedding.
• 175 – Wolverine & Nightcrawler Once again getting word that Logan and Mariko are marrying Kurt Wagner drops everything and heads for Japan to act as best man. It does not, of course, go as smoothly as all that, with the pair having to fend off one last assassination attempt from Viper and Silver Samurai. This involves an epic sword duel between the Samurai and Nightcrawler, both of whom are sword wielding teleporters. In the end Logan and Mariko get happily married and Logan settles in Japan.
• 176 – Wolverine & Spider Woman This is the last issue of MTU with Wolverine as the anchor character and the role shifts over the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman, who was revived from the dead in Avengers 240-241. In this issue they battle a Japanese demon, showing how the book is moving Logan’s espionage to Jessica’s macabre themes.
