BRZRKR Shows How Brutal Keanu Reeves' Wolverine Could Have Been

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for BRZRKR #1, by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, Ron Garney, Bill Crabtree and Clem Robins.

Over the last few years, Keanu Reeves has starred in several critically acclaimed and commercially successful John Wick movies. While Reeves is no stranger to action movies, the titular Berzrker of his new comic BRZRKR is one of the most brutal characters Reeves has ever been associated with. This debut issue depicts a man who cannot die and is being used as a weapon for the government. Throughout the issue, he demonstrates how he is a one-man army, dispatching anyone who gets in his way with his fists, blades and anything else he can get his hands on.

And by all accounts, this might be as close as we ever get to seeing Reeves as Wolverine. In the past few years, many fans have voiced their support for him to take over the Wolverine mantle from Hugh Jackman. Reeves himself has stated that he's too old to play the almost immortal X-Man, who is known for going into his own ‘berserker mode’ where his anger takes over and violence shortly follows. However, this comic hints at how brutal Reeves' take on the character could've been.

The issue opens with the brooding protagonist being picked up for a new mission. As he prepares to go into the battle, he reflects on how time is somewhat trivial for a man who cannot die. He makes quick work of the soldiers opposing him, slaughtering his way throughout the building. No matter what the group does to try and take him down, he never loses speed. Even after crashing head-on with an airplane to stop the target, he emerges from the wreckage, visibly maimed. After taking out the target, he begins to have flashbacks of his father after watching a fellow soldier kill the target’s son to prevent witnesses. They return to a top secret base where he gets cleaned up adb the agency connects a variety of wires to him and removes part of his finger for genetic duplication.

Throughout the displays of ultra-violence, there’s a conversation going on between him and a doctor, who is working with him to understand his struggles. He remembers everyday vividly, but being 80,000 years old does make some of those memories a bit foggy. Through their discussion, we learn he doesn’t care what the government does with his genetic code, he simply wants to be able to die. He reflects on how the times have changed since the early wars where injuries were simply solved with amputations, dismissing the doctor’s ability to help him. She notes that his recent mission had shown something out of the ordinary compared to other missions and asked him what had occurred. It seems that as he watched the young boy be killed, it triggered memories all the way back to his birth, 80,000 years ago when he first got the taste for blood.

Several aspects of BRZRKR mirror Wolverine's life, especially in his early years with Weapon X. Throughout this issue, the Berzerker cuts through his enemies with a stunning level of savagery that eclipses even Wolverine at his most violent moments in comics or film.

Reeves has also been open about how he would have loved to take on the role of Wolverine, but the 56-yeard old actor said that his time to play the role has likely passed in a 2020 interview. In that same interview, Reeves said that he had a special admiration for Frank Miller's take on Wolverine, and the visceral fighting spirit of that Logan is very much a part of BRZRKR's bloody hero.

Even if Reeves isn't destined to bring Logan to the big screen, his first comic book series unleashed the kind of berserker rage that would make Logan proud.

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