James Logan Howlett - also known as Wolverine - was a mutant superhero in the dimension of Earth-2149. Like his Earth-616 counterpart, he had been a member of various superhero groups, most notably the X-Men and the Avengers. He had a reputation for being more violent than other heroes and had killed many people, but in spite of his more brutal methods, he usually fought for the sake of protecting others.
When the Hunger Gospel came to Earth, Wolverine fought alongside the X-Men as the undead continued to multiply. In the heat of battle, he was bitten by several super-zombies. Though he possessed a mutant healing factor, this did not save him from the virus and he became a zombie as well.
History[]
Dead Days[]
As the zombie plague spread across the United States, Wolverine stood alongside the X-Men as they fought against both enemies and allies who had been infected. The Xavier Institute had fallen with Professor Xavier being devoured, forcing the surviving X-Men to fall back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Nick Fury tried to organize the surviving metahumans into a resistance force against the zombies, but the ever-growing horde of zombies consisted of superhumans, all of whom retained their intelligence and their powers, making defeating them an increasingly hopeless cause. During a climactic battle between the surviving heroes and the undead, Wolverine was overwhelmed and bitten several times. His healing factor was apparently negated by the virus and he turned into a zombie.
Within a matter of days, nearly all human life on Earth had been consumed. Wolverine was able to track a group of survivors being harboured by Magneto, who had allied himself with a version of Mister Fantastic from an alternate universe. They had discovered a machine built by the zombified Mister Fantastic that could teleport people across dimensions, which would allow the zombies to invade other Earths to find new meat. The Fantastic Four had already gone through, though they had been captured by Earth-1610's Fantastic Four and Magneto's refugees were sent through next. Magneto then destroyed the machine to prevent the other zombies from using it, so the zombies killed and consumed him in revenge.
Zombie Galacti[]
Shortly after the zombies had eaten Magneto, the lifeless Earth was visited by the Silver Surfer. The Surfer warned the zombies that Galactus was coming to feed on their planet, but the zombies didn't care what the Surfer had to say and simply attacked and ate him. As one of the zombies who consumed the Surfer, Wolverine gained a portion of the Power Cosmic.
When Galactus arrived, the zombies attacked him. Even with the power they had gained from the Silver Surfer, they were still no match for the Devourer of Worlds. Attracted by the presence of such an enormous source of food, a horde of zombified supervillains arrived on the scene and attacked Galactus, giving Iron Man time to prepare a machine that could amplify the Power Cosmic that he and the other heroes who ate Silver Surfer had gained and use that power to bring Galactus down. Galactus was disabled by the device, but then the zombie heroes and villains began fighting each other over who got to eat him. The zombies who had already gained the Power Cosmic had the distinct advantage, using their new powers to slaughter the other zombies before devouring the crippled Galactus.
After completely consuming Galactus, Wolverine, Giant Man, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Hulk gained even more of the Power Cosmic, becoming the Zombie Galacti. Now capable of surviving in space and travelling across the stars under their own power, they left Earth and began seeking out inhabited planets so they could devour their populations.
Forty Years Later[]
Forty years since departing from Earth, the Zombie Galacti had consumed virtually all life in the universe. With nothing else to do, they headed back to Earth in the hopes of rebuilding Reed Richards' dimensional transporter so that that they could travel to other universes and consume their populations. On the way back, they encountered Ego the Living Planet and devoured him too.
When they returned to Earth, the Zombie Galacti discovered a colony of survivors, led by an aging Black Panther. The Hulk began to rampage, until he was stopped by Giant-Man, who suggested they start up a breeding program to have human food for eternity. However, Spider-Man blasted off the top of Giant-Man's head. Giant-Man then ordered him to be killed, but Luke Cage, a zombified Black Panther, Wasp, and Spidey fended off Wolverine long enough for a force field to be raised, sealing all the other zombies out of New Wakanda, but sealing Gladiator and Bruce Banner in and tearing Cage in half. After a brief battle with Gladiator resulting in Spidey being nearly torn in half, Spidey and Cage blasted Gladiator's head apart, the other zombies departed to the Baxter Building.
After the zombies returned to New Wakanda, they found Spidey, Cage, Wasp, Panther, and Hawkeye waiting for them. They struck a truce: no eating the people for the dimensional portal. However, after the field was shut down, the "good" zombies attacked the others. The field was reactivated immediately, but Iron Man got through, only to be confronted by Forge (in Iron Man's Mark I suit), Colonel America, and the Acolytes, led by Malcolm Cortez. During the battle, Spidey's suit was partially burned off at the face and the chest, Wasp was crushed by Giant-Man, and Panther was almost entirely crushed by Giant-Man. However, during the battle, Banner awakened and tried to devour Reynolds to keep the Hulk under control, but accidentally deactivated the field. The other zombies attempted to devour other human survivors in a safe room, but as Giant-Man prepared to eat Panther's wife, he realized his hunger was gone. Giant-Man managed to convince the others that their hunger was gone and they could become heroes again.
Shortly after the other zombies realized their hunger was gone, the Hulk burst into the room, threatening to devour everyone. He managed to devour Reynolds, who was distraught after Wasp's apparent death. After a hectic fight, which resulted in the deaths of Phoenix, Hawkeye, Firelord, and Iron Man, the Hulk reverted back to Banner, begging to be killed. Spidey, Wolverine, and Giant-Man complied with his request and blew his head apart. After doing a cleanup, where they found Wasp's head, and performed a funeral for the fallen heroes, they realized the gene pool wasn't adequate enough to keep humanity alive after a few generations. After a meeting where they decided to send people to another dimension for supplies and food, Malcolm Cortez demanded that he liked this lifestyle and that he would get rid of the zombie threat. Cortez managed to activate the newly repaired dimensional portal, sending Giant-Man, Cage, Wasp, Colonel America, Spider-Man, Panther, and Wolverine to another dimension.
Earth-Z[]
The Zombie Galacti would all arrive on Earth-91126, though they ended up in seperate locations. Not only that, they had lost the Power Cosmic and the Hunger had returned. Wolverine became paranoid and decided to lay low, hunting people from the shadows in order to satisfy his hunger. Eventually, he became confident enough to hunt openly, but still wanted to prove that he could return to being a hero. His mind still twisted by the virus, he decided to find his counterpart native to this universe and kill him.
The zombie Wolverine travelled to Japan where he encountered Kitty Pryde, who was being pursued by the Hand. He intervened and killed the Hand ninja, devouring them in front of Kitty. He attempted to eat her too, but Kitty was rescued by the zombie Spider-Man, who had followed Wolverine to Japan. Wolverine's feeding had also been witnessed by the hero Sunfire, who attacked him. Their fight took them into an underground fight club where Wolverine killed Sunfire and several other people. Also in the fight club was the native version of Wolverine, who fought against his undead counterpart. As the two fought, the living Wolverine was backed up by Kitty and the zombie Spider-Man, who killed the undead Wolverine together. In order to prevent the Hunger Virus from spreading, Spider-Man took a sample of the surviving Wolverine's blood to make an antidote to the infection.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Enhanced Strength - Thanks to both his healing factor and his adamantium-coated skeleton, Wolverine possessed strength significantly greater than that of regular humans. After being infected by the Hunger Virus, he retained his strength, though this was due primarily to being impervious to pain.
- Enhanced Senses - Both before and after zombification, Wolverine had a highly acute sense of smell, making him an excellent tracker.
- Claws - Wolverine had a set of three retractable claws on each arm that extended from between his knuckles which he would use to great effect in combat. Being coated in adamantium, the claws were impossible to break.
- Healing Factor - Wolverine possessed regenerative healing that allowed him to rapidly heal any wound, regrow severed body parts and granted him immunity to all diseases. This immunity did not extend to the Hunger Gospel, however, and the infection rendered his healing factor inert.
- Zombie Physiology - As a zombie, Wolverine was impervious to pain and could survive wounds that would be fatal to an ordinary human being. He could also infect others with the zombie virus via fluid transmission, eg. bites.
- The Power Cosmic - Wolverine gained the Power Cosmic after consuming Galactus. This immense power allowed him to absorb and tap ambient cosmic energy into his body at will, and expel those energies violently, or in more subtle ways. He could channel beams of energy through his hands with great destructive force. Presumably, other uses of the Power Cosmic include the ability to phase through objects, accelerate the evolution of lifeforms, see the past by peeling back the layers of time, time travel, trans-dimensional travel, the manipulation/absorption and discharge of any form of energy or radiation, though he only ever used the Power Cosmic to project destructive energy blasts.
Trivia[]
- When Wolverine became a zombie, his adamantium-coated bones became more of a hindrance than an asset as the metal weighed him down. The bones also continued to decay due to the infection and the weight from the adamantium contributed to Wolverine breaking one of his arms.
- Prior to becoming a Zombie Galactus, Wolverine lost one of his arms. However, after being teleported to Earth-91126, his arm reappeared with no explanation as to how it happened.