As one of Marvel's most popular characters, Wolverine is often put up against the toughest fighters of the Marvel Universe. After all, Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does... is get beaten up, a lot, by almost everybody.
Wolverine isn't one of the most dangerous heroes in the MU because of his incredible power or decades of honing his skills. Wolverine is the best he is because his healing factor allows him to take a beating, recover, and jump back into the fight. This has led to some very interesting confrontations with people who most comic fans might be surprised were able to take down the Wolverine. Let's take a look at some!
10 KITTY PRYDE
Kitty's inclusion on this list is in no way a slight on her abilities or skills, as a lot of those skills came from Wolverine himself: he brought Kitty to Japan to train under the same masters who taught him, after all. Unfortunately, she was possessed by the evil spirit Ogun, who managed to slice Wolverine up while in possession of Kitty's body.
We've also seen Kitty beat Wolverine in other ways, in alternate realities and what if? stories. During the Enemy of the State storyline, Wolverine was brainwashed by Hydra. In an alternate reality, Kitty Pryde was forced to phase her hand through Wolverine's head, and then solidify it while still inside, killing Logan and costing her an arm.
9 DAREDEVIL
It was during the same Enemy of the State storyline that we saw Wolverine face off against a number of superpowered heroes (at the behest of Hydra) in the mainstream universe as well. This saw Wolverine face off against a number of heroes, and even kill X-Men colleague Northstar.
When Wolverine was sent to face off against Daredevil, Matt Murdock managed to get in a lucky shot with a dumbbell against Wolverine's face, which temporarily undid Hydra's brainwashing and allowed Wolverine to warn Daredevil about the Hydra forces that were after Elektra. This battle ended without seeing a winner, but Daredevil still managed to knock some sense into Wolverine.
8 GAMBIT
Remy LeBeau is another fan-favorite member of the X-Men, who doesn't get as much credit for his fighting ability as he does his Southern charm. However, while the two X-Men have sparred and traded wins a few times over the years, one of the most definitive battles between the two happened in another universe entirely.
In the Ultimate universe, Gambit eked out a win in another battle with the Canucklehead, when he managed to grab Wolverine's claws during battle and charge up Logan's entire Adamantium skeleton with kinetic energy. While Wolverine might have been able to survive that, he gave the win to LeBeau, who cheap-shotted him with an energized staff to the mouth anyway.
7 SQUIRREL GIRL
Doreen Green is an interesting character that has been rapidly growing in popularity since her debut in 1991's Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special. While her first appearance (drawn by comics legend Steve Ditko) introduced Doreen's unique mutant abilities to communicate with squirrels, it wasn't until later appearances of the character that fans really began to show interest.
Squirrel Girl became the nanny of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' baby Danielle Cage, while they lived in Avengers Mansion as the New Avengers. Squirrel Girl and Wolverine engaged in a sparring match that Squirrel Girl eventually won after a heated battle. Even after Wolverine attacked a celebrating Doreen from behind, he found himself surrounded by an army of squirrels.
6 PUNISHER
Frank Castle/Punisher has crossed paths with Wolverine quite a few times, as the violent heroes frankly sold a lot of great crossover comics. Bullets and blades vs. a random criminal element with some quips thrown in for good measure: who could say no to that? However, we have seen their confrontations go very violently wrong for Wolverine before.
Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson brought the two characters together in the Marvel Knights The Punisher series, which saw Frank blow Wolverine's face away leaving his Adamantium skeleton for the remainder of the issue. The Punisher also blew Wolverine's unmentionables away with a shotgun before finally running him over with a steamroller. That's what we call overkill.
5 MOLLY HAYES
Molly Hayes is the youngest member of the powered youths known as the Runaways, descendants of the villainous group known as the Pride. Each member of the Pride represented a different aspect of the Marvel Universe, such as sorcerors and aliens and mutants. Molly was the superstrong mutant of the Runaways who took on the codename Bruiser (though she wanted to be known as Princess Powerful).
When the team is assisting their friend Cloak (who is wanted on false charges), she finds herself alone facing off against Wolverine, Captain America, and Iron Man. Molly geeks out, though when the three try to apprehend her, Wolverine finds himself punched through a wall out into a snowbank, allowing Molly and Cloak to escape from the stunned Avengers.
4 SPIDER-WOMAN
There have been a few iterations of Spider-Woman over the years, so we're specifically discussing the first Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew. Okay, technically, we're actually discussing Skrull Queen Veranke (who was impersonating Drew for the Secret Invasion), but she took down Wolverine while in her Spider-Woman form.
Anyway, while the New Avengers were on a mission in the Savage Land, the team crash-lands (which happens often in the Savage Land) and is separated. When Jessica is surprised by Logan, she gives him a face full of venom blast before flipping him around and jamming his own claws into his throat. Whoopsies.
3 SPOCK
That's right, your eyes are not deceiving you: we are talking about Science Officer Spock of the starship Enterprise. Following a publishing deal with Paramount Pictures, Marvel launched a new imprint called Paramount Comics that featured new Star Trek comic adventures, which also allowed for a couple of interesting crossovers with Marvel's merry mutants.
Both The Original Series and The Next Generation eras met up with the X-Men, but it was in the initial crossover that we saw the X-Men beamed aboard the Enterprise, where Spock finds the team skulking about. Wolverine jumps at Spock, only to be taken down effortlessly by the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, which was obviously the most logical course of action.
2 JAHF
Jahf is not a character some fans will be aware of, but when he first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #108, he wasn't regarded as too big of a threat. He first introduced himself as a guardian of the M'Kraan Crystal, which is a multiversal object that serves as a nexus point for all realities.
When the X-Men and the Starjammers attempted to enter the M'Kraan Crystal, Jahf moves to defend it, much to Wolverine's amusement. However, the diminutive robotic creature quickly proves his mettle when he punches Wolverine clear out of orbit.
1 MYSTERIO
Quentin Beck/Mysterio is not a character who would do well in a fight with Wolverine. Frankly, Mysterio doesn't really do well in a fight with anyone, which is why he is forced to rely on his mastery of illusions and special effects wizardry.
It was his ability to trick the mind that allowed him to beat Wolverine worse than he ever has been in comic history, as we saw during the "Old Man Logan" storyline. Mysterio is revealed at some point in the future to have tricked Wolverine into massacring the X-Men by making him see his greatest enemies instead of his family.
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