For a loner who doesn’t like to involve anyone in his business, Wolverine spends a lot of time on a lot of teams. It’s hard to find an earth-based team he hasn’t been a part of, for at least a little while. He fits in with some of these groups better than others, but that doesn’t stop Logan from spreading the love.
While Wolverine himself might not pick favorites or voice opinions on which team is the best fit, he does work better with some groups than others. Whether it’s due to the style of the team, the dynamics between him and his teammates, for good or bad, or just because it’s a group of fan-favorites kicking supervillain butt, a team with Wolverine is a safe bet for a good time.
10 New Fantastic Four
It’s a strange lineup if you try to break down this team to its moving parts. But when a Skrull kidnapped the original Fantastic Four, and manipulated Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk and Ghost Rider to avenge them, a team they became.
The New Fantastic Four existed to hit the fan-favorite mark, and any time you put Wolverine and Hulk in the same place for too long, things get interesting. Maybe with a more compelling story, this team could make a comeback. Either way, they succeeded in fighting Mole Man, so they got something done.
9 The Lupine
More of a subspecies than a proper team, the Lupine were, according to Romulus, humans that evolved from canines rather than primates and he went to great lengths to prove it. Sure, it all turned out to be a huge lie, but it made sense that the mutants with similar power sets might come from a similar line.
While much of this played on Logan’s soft spot for family, and it gave a unique reason to his animosity with Sabretooth, it hasn’t really come up again since its original run.
8 Avengers Unity Squad
Celestials, time travel, the Red Skull. Captain America’s attempt to do more for mutants has been a wild ride, indeed. While Wolverine wasn’t a major player, his inclusion on the team, once they’d pummelled a mind-controlled Avalanche, made a lot of sense. He was an Avenger and an X-Man, so why not have him there to bridge the gap?
While Logan wasn’t leading the team, or truly very involved in a lot of the major story arcs while he was there, his presence still seemed necessary. To bring these two teams together, Marvel needed a familiar face from both fronts.
7 Weapon X
You can be on a team and not remember, or want to be there and Logan is living proof of that. The Weapon X program tested on mutants, using them as, yes, weapons. Depending on which story you pick up, Weapon X is responsible for some of the most iconic moments in Logan’s backstory and his teammates—many of whom he also worked with on Alpha Flight—are still touchy subjects, for the most part.
Either way, Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton came courtesy of this Canadian government program, as did a lot of the trauma in his life after that point. His original team included one of his most iconic villains, Sabretooth, and a future Hydra agent/ex-lover Silver Fox. Really not a great team to be on for Logan.
6 Alpha Flight
Their history has been retconned many times over the years, but one thing is clear, Wolverine was there from the beginning. The Canadian super-team has a tenuous relationship with Logan, hovering somewhere between ‘come back and fight with us’ and ‘screw you, we’ll beat you up,” depending on the run or the medium, but he is a central part of their origins as a team.
Logan’s own backstory ties directly into the formation of Alpha Flight, too. His antagonistic relationship with James Hudson might even act as shades of things to come for Wolverine when it comes to team leaders he clashes with.
5 Secret Defenders
While it had a revolving door of heroes on the roster, Wolverine was a part of Dr. Strange’s plans to mix and match heroes for specific missions. He was part of the first attempt at this setup, along with Darkhawk, Spider-Woman and Nomad.
The arc by arc set up of this team doesn’t give a lot of time to develop relationships and report among the members of the crew. That said, there’s always fun to be had when putting Wolverine on a team with some of the original Defenders, of the big, green variety.
4 X-Force
Wolverine fit perfectly on this team. Free from some of those pesky rules that get in the way of getting things done, this team was formed to get the dirty work done, by any means necessary. While it should have been very grim—and was, from time to time—the team dynamics brought some very warm moments to life.
Wolverine’s interactions with younger team members, like X-23, and some older, familiar faces like Deadpool and Archangel got the depth and attention they deserved in this run. There are dark stories here, but Wolverine gets to do what he’s best at, and what he’s best at isn’t very nice.
3 New Avengers
It’s amazing that it took until 2005 for Wolverine to become an Avenger, but he’s been drinking the Avengers’ beer and putting his feet on their couch ever since. It wasn’t exactly the smoothest time to join the Avengers, however, and Logan did get sucked into the first Civil War, going underground with many of his teammates, but that too added to the dynamics.
Wolverine’s role here isn’t leadership, but he does fill the standard, grumpy old man role with a twist, especially when the team goes into lockdown after Civil War. Nothing says fun like watching other superheroes deal with being locked in an apartment together, when one of those heroes is a short, gruff, beer drinking Canadian.
2 Giant Sized X-Men
Wolverine’s introduction to the X-Men, after his debut in the Incredible Hulk, is iconic. His relationships with this team are some of the closest we’ve seen him have with his fellow X-Men.
Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus. These are all characters that Wolverine, to this day, is associated with, and has close bonds with. Though the original team dynamics were strained, due to the wide variety of characters involved, the core group is still tight. Throughout loves, crises of faith and a death or two, this team stays solidly on Logan's side.
1 X-Men: Blue Team
This is the team that comes to mind most often when someone says “Wolverine.” It’s the team that formed the basis for the 90s cartoon, and has several fan-favorites wrapped up in a big '90s bow. There’s a nostalgia factor involved here, and it’s a loveable one.
The Wolverine-Cyclops tensions were always present—even without Jean in the mix—and Logan’s take on the drama around him was always a welcome breath of fresh air. When you think of the X-Men in the '90s, you think of Wolverine and this lineup. It doesn’t get better than this.