Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

SABRETOOTH versus WOLVERINE

The Last Run (Marvel)
Where: Uncanny X-Men #212 When: December 1986
Why: Chris Claremont How: Rick Leonardi

The Story So Far...
Secret tunnels that twist & wind deep beneath the surface of Manhattan run with blood! The Morlocks who live there are hunted and slaughtered by an unforgiving mob of self-proclaimed Marauders! These vile killers are responsible for enacting a terrible event -- the Mutant Massacre!

The X-Men join a desperate bid to save the surviving Morlocks from their unprovoked extermination, but for Wolverine the search will uncover more than injustice. One who stalks these tunnels is familiar to him. An old enemy who may just be better at him at what he does -- Sabretooth!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Sabretooth 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Draw 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Sabretooth 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Draw 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Sabretooth 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)
Total: Sabretooth 28 (Metahuman)

It's one of the best known, most vicious and violent rivalries in comic books -- and it's about damn time we gave it a closer look! Where better to dig deeper into the blood feud between Sabretooth and Wolverine than with their very first fight?

Backstory developed in the years following would establish a long and complicated history behind their bitter hatred, but in 1986 they came face to face, claw to claw for the first time right here in Uncanny X-Men #212: part of the Mutant Massacre crossover that unleashed Mister Sinister's Marauders on the Morlocks.

Sabretooth was already established as a bloodthirsty killer, and mercenary, during his brief tenure as an Iron Fist villain. It started with his first appearance and deadly face-off on the snow-covered mountains of Canada, and later expanded to a slasher-like bloodlust that compelled him to kill on the streets of New York City.

We'd see friction between Sabretooth and his employer shortly after the Massacre, but he was more than happy to go on a killing spree beneath the streets, as part of Sinister's grand plan for genetic cleansing of the subterranean mutant Morlocks.

This almost led to the first throwdown with Wolverine in Power Pack #27, but a collapsing roof in the Morlock tunnels blocked Sabretooth from the kid heroes right as they were discovered by Wolverine. That left him to stalk toward a historic face-off in the main X-Men series, which launched many memorable rematches!

Alas, we've been negligent when it comes to this most obvious of match-ups, only featuring the beginning of their purported final battle in Wolverine (Vol.3) #50. That was a lackluster opening round to a generally disappointing showdown, but it did demonstrate the violent and spiteful measures each was willing to take to get one over on the other. After a lot of dragging it out, the conflict ended in Wolverine #55 with Sabretooth's apparent decapitation with the legendary Muramasa Blade. (It was actually a clone).

By that point Wolverine and Sabretooth had both developed pretty rampant healing factors that allowed them to endure and quickly recover from wounds that would be fatal to any ordinary man. Loose stakes that weren't quite as evident in their earlier encounters, where every injury took a more serious toll.

So who has the edge in their Morlock Tunnel showdown?

Wolverine had already been established as "the best there is at what he does" with his evisceration of the Hellfire Club guardsmen, smackdown of The Black Rook, and most compellingly, back-to-back victories over Lady Deathstrike during this same year, in Alpha Flight #34 and the legendary Uncanny X-Men #205.

He'd also been humbled, though. Reduced to a mere plaything when Magneto controlled his metal skeleton, fought to a stalemate by Black Panther, and caught by surprise in a crossover with DC's Deathstroke. Does Sabretooth have the goods to join this elite class? Those last two might just make a case for it! Let's find out.

History: Wolverine (2-0-0)

The Tape: Sabretooth Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

Stray scents bombard his highly-sensitive nostrils with multiple trails. Morlock survivors and their would-be killers. Familiar signatures of the original X-Men too -- except now they're government manhunters called X-Factor. For all he knows they have blood on their hands too, but there's a lot Wolverine still doesn't know.

Suddenly another scent clues him in -- a woman. Impossible. Jean Grey is dead! A shock to the system that consumes his thoughts so thoroughly he doesn't even notice the Marauder coming for his back!

A rapid flurry of slashes rips through his costume and skin!

"You ought'a be ashamed, bub! I've had more trouble takin' out rank amateurs! From a pro like you, Wolverine, I expect better."

Cutting through the pain is a voice Wolverine knows all too well. A voice whose stock and trade makes him an obvious attendee to a massacre.

Sabretooth looms over Wolverine -- pinning the unconscious body of the Morlock Healer to a tunnel wall with one hand. Healer's hurt, but not bad. Wolverine knows if he can bring him back alive it will be a boon to the mutants who've suffered.

He does his best to disguise the importance of the Morlock and plays along with Sabretooth's sick sense of humor. The cold-blooded killer claims he and Sinister's Marauders are "the very best" at what they do. That he could've killed Wolverine without a second thought. Talk is cheap. The X-Man invites a hands-on approach.

They collide! Wolverine leaping to come in over Sabretooth's head -- or is it the taller Sabretooth hoisting him upward with a hook of his muscular arm? In the tangle of limbs, it could go either way!

Sabretooth grabs Wolverine's wrists, keeping his razor-sharp adamantium claws away from their target. Sabretooth gloats that he's faster, stronger, and more of a killer than Wolverine. As they tumble to the ground -- he might even be right.

Sabretooth's talons rake across Wolverine's chest, ripping through his uniform.

Wolverine rolls through the landing -- putting distance between he and Sabretooth as he reaches his feet, hunched over with claws bared and ready to strike.

Sabretooth aims to make Wolverine's healing factor a non-issue by removing his still beating heart. The feral killer lunges to make good on the threat, but Wolverine effortlessly vaults over his shoulders!

The X-Man continues his path towards the tunnel wall, attacking stone and mortar with his unbreakable claws. They make light work of the crumbling structure!

For a moment Sabretooth is confused -- but it quickly becomes apparent Wolverine isn't fighting for the win.

His attack causes a collapse of the decrepit tunnel. If it doesn't bury Sabretooth alive, it at least creates an impenetrable wall of rubble and debris that blocks the killer off from Wolverine -- and the vulnerable Morlock Healer.

The Hammer...

Was their first battle everything you imagined it would be?

If you were following the entire event in sequence, including its Power Pack tie-in issue, you might've been a little disappointed to see them using the same gimmick to keep the bad guy at arms length. Not to worry, though. This may be deep into the Mutant Massacre crossover, but as it says on the cover -- this is just "Round 1" for Wolverine and Sabretooth!

The X-Man chooses the greater good in an outcome that fails to separate the two as combatants, but divides them as individuals, literally and figuratively, by clearly demonstrating that for all his violent and animalistic tendencies -- Wolverine is fighting for more than himself - and his willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done goes well beyond just casually taking lives.

Rescuing the Morlock Healer is a tactical boon for the heavily besieged mutants and X-Men, but the Mutant Massacre isn't over yet, and Wolverine & Sabretooth will have another chance to establish their bitter hatred before the crossover ends!

1982 and 1985 are often fondly looked back upon as two of the greatest and most important years in American comics, but I can't help but note how significant 1986 was for X-Men, and Wolverine in particular. Even though they factored in to some of the highlights of those aforementioned years!

The December cover date of today's featured issue is just a few months removed from the introduction of another of Wolverine's most famous and fearsome arch-foes: Lady Deathstrike, who ditched DD to begin a blood feud in Alpha Flight #34, followed by the legendary Uncanny X-Men #205.

For a character famed for his fighting rivalries -- these two adversarial acquisitions are a pretty big deal for ensuring his sustained relevance, and elevation to becoming one of the biggest icons in comics in the 80s and 90s!

With today's featured battle from Uncanny #212, Wolverine gains one of the most important pieces of his entire existence. To this point there was a fog of mystery surrounding Wolverine, but through his vendetta with Sabretooth, key connective tissue and backstory will be established, coming to define both characters through the ensuing decade, and to this very day.

Interesting that Sabretooth was already a tenured villain at this point, much more so than Lady Deathstrike. He was entering his tenth year when he finally met Wolverine on the page, transitioning to the X-books under writer Chris Claremont, who had introduced Sabretooth as an Iron Fist villain with artist John Byrne, and set him on a trajectory as a recurring foe for the martial arts hero.

As with Wolverine; Sabretooth's savagery & bloodlust reflected back upon the discipline & honor of Iron Fist, continuing through subsequent encounters, but eventually drifting from the mercenary origins of the character, towards an almost horror movie, slasher villain level of murderousness. Traits that set him adrift through the Marvel Universe until settling nicely in the Mutant Massacre.

It's interesting how well these established tendencies intuitively fed into a collision with Wolverine, and as eager as I am to finally document more of this legendary comic book rivalry, I'm equally as interested in tracking the movements of Sabretooth through his earliest appearances. Something Marvel Comics actually did in 1994 with their Sabretooth Classic reprint series.

I happen to be fortunate enough to have a lot of Sabretooth's early appearances in original issues, but with Deadpool & Wolverine on the fast track to cinemas this month, I'm also hoping to look more closely at some of the other famous fights involving Wolverine and the X-Men. It's really been the year for it!

As we return to Sabretooth, it will be interesting to see if his results challenge his present status as the lowest ranked character on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths. It's fair to say that his win/loss ratio will always skew towards defeat, but it just doesn't feel right that he's ranked quite so low. The price of villainy? We'll see.

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Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1,000 characters! You can find them all by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of battles in order of publisher, series, and issue -- or by hitting up links to your favourite things found throughout each entry.

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Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#5 (--) Wolverine
#1087 (--) Sabretooth