WOLVERINE & HULK versus WENDIGO

And Now... The Wolverine! (Marvel)
Where: Incredible Hulk #181 When: November 1974
Why: Len Wein How: Herb Trimpe

The Story So Far...
The rampaging Hulk has been lured from his usual stomping grounds in the United States to the frigid wilds of northeast Quebec. The purpose: to use him to subdue and cure the supernatural beast known as the Wendigo!

The Canadian government officially considers Wendigo a matter of myth & local superstition, but the Hulk is something they take very seriously. To deal with the border-crossing behemoth they've sent their very best agent: a feral force at home in the forest, ready to track & terminate any threat -- The Wolverine!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Hulk 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Wolverine 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Wendigo 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Draw 6 (Generator)
Agility: Wendigo 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)
Total: Hulk 26 (Metahuman)

Everyone knows Incredible Hulk #181 is the first full appearance of Wolverine, but not as well-known is the fact that it doesn't start with a full-fledged fight against Hulk. It's actually an impromptu team-up - so that's where we're starting.

There is stated hostility between the headlining pair, but Wolverine & Hulk find themselves positioned against a mutual threat: Paul Cartier, who has succumbed to the curse of the dreaded Wendigo.

Cartier was trapped in a cave during a hunting trip in the Canadian wilderness, and resorted to an act of cannibalism to preserve his own life. This act of consuming human flesh was said to have cursed him in the eyes of elder gods, unleashing a supernatural transformation into the bestial Wendigo.

Covered in white fur and baring sharp fangs & claws, the Wendigo possesses greatly enhanced size, strength, speed, stamina, and healing ability. It is even said the Wendigo is immortal, damned to wander the Earth until the curse is lifted.

When it comes to warring with animalistic Canadian enemies, Sabretooth might draw some broad comparisons, but the Wendigo is a supernatural threat, and that's something Wolverine has faced many times as well.

When the X-Men went up against Dracula, Wolverine was ready to do what was necessary. Even though things didn't quite go to plan, he made light work of the Lord of Vampires in the alternate reality of What If...? #24. His adamantium claws also did damage to a Dormammu-enhanced Hood years later, but the most direct comparison we have is Captain America's time as a werewolf -- which actually saw Wolverine come up second best.

Hulk had a memorable run-in with Jack Russell, aka; The Werewolf (By Night), when his own Fixit transformations were tied to the rise & setting of the sun. Their first encounter ended with a time limit draw brought about the coming of the day.

Wendigo's ferocity no doubt matches The Werewolf's, but his fighting skills are unlikely to match Captain America's. Hulk is in a dopier, classic phase himself, but that also means he probably has the muscle to overpower The Wendigo given time. They fought briefly in the previous issue -- time to find out what adding the wildcard of the Wolverine does to change this situation!

The Tape: Wolverine & Hulk Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

The sight of a stocky man in yellow - launching himself towards them - causes Hulk and Wendigo to pause their fighting. Neither beast is quite sure what to make of the small challenger, staring slack-jawed as he races in to attack.

The leap takes Wolverine sailing onto the Hulk's mighty shoulders and the green goliath is still slightly confused: "Huh? Little man attacks Hulk!"

Wolverine introduces himself as an agent of the Canadian government charged with taking care of Hulk. The behemoth tries to face his back-mounted opponent, insisting he'll smash if he doesn't stand still. Wolverine isn't about to comply!

The clawed fighter vaults over Hulk's head to keep the advantage of moving quickly around the battlefield.

Having already found his claws failed to easily pierce Hulk's tough hide -- he maintains his momentum and dives across the face of The Wendigo with a slash of his claws. This time the blades cut through their hairy target!

The stinging blow stuns Wendigo and Wolverine presses his advantage -- vaulting into a dropkick to send the backstepping creature off the edge of a cliff!

Hulk is irritated that the Wolverine isn't staying to fight, but the 5'5" fighter has his savage sights set on the more manageable of his two prospective opponents.

He's unfazed by the revelation that he's fighting a Wendigo -- a creature he was told was mere myth. Its towering 8' dimensions don't bother him, either. All the better to duck the Wendigo's wild swinging claws -- and strike back with a stab of his own!

As the Wendigo begins to weaken from his wounds, Hulk grapples with the confusion of his supposed attacker now fighting his enemy. In his own addled mind, he perceives Wolverine's actions as confirmation of a friend. A friend in need!

Hulk tenses his powerful leg muscles and launches himself into a horizontal jumping dash that carries right into the staggering Wendigo!

The Hulk makes a bigger target. Wendigo instinctively throws his arms up to block the airborne beast and strikes him across the jaw with a stiff forearm!

It's Wolverine's turn to be confused by Hulk's shift in allegiance, but he doesn't question it. Instead, he seizes the opportunity to launch himself onto Wendigo's furry shoulders and cause a distraction for his unlikely tag team partner!

The Wendigo tries to get the tiny man off his back, but Hulk is quick to intuit what his impromptu ally is thinking. He charges in to hoist Wendigo off the ground, shaking Wolverine off to protect him from the beast's impending fate!

With a mighty heave the Hulk sends Wendigo hurtling through the air and smashing through mighty trees dotting the Canadian glade!

The devastating impact snaps the trees like toothpicks and impress Wolverine, but still the Wendigo stirs! Wolverine knows it's up to him to finish the job!

Without any hesitation Wolverine leaps onto the giant woodbeast -- brandishing his razor-sharp metal claws with an animalistic ferocity equal or greater to the creature itself! With a sickening "thwuck" the deed is done!

The Hammer...

How about that? It's another famous first, but just like the inaugural battles with Sabretooth and Deadpool that we recently covered -- Wolverine's first encounter with the Hulk might not have gone exactly how you thought it would. In this case: it isn't even as straight-forward as open conflict!

Yes! Our main event competitors actually team-up at the beginning of the issue to vanquish a different foe! Sometimes Wendigo is the forgotten third-wheel in this first full appearance of Wolverine, but don't worry. The action doesn't stop here!

Hulk takes a moment to admire Wolverine's handiwork, and the Canadian agent observes that his supposed killing blow has actually only rendered the Wendigo unconscious. It's an impermanent state, but one that will serve them well as other conspiring forces converge to deal with Paul Cartier, and the Wendigo curse.

This development allows Wolverine to resume his original mission, and Incredible Hulk #181 to pursue what has grown into one of the most popular Marvel Comics hero-on-hero rivalries: Wolverine versus Hulk!

Like a lot of the big fights in comics history, I've always kinda taken for granted that we'd get to it eventually. I like to keep things interesting for myself and not necessarily always go down those obvious roads. In this case, I thought it would be nice to deal with the first conflict of the issue, before the fight on the marquee.

We get a lot of great action in this portion of the issue. Herb Trimpe's layouts tell a clear story and really go a long way to establishing Wolverine's fighting style from Day 1. I particularly love the classic image of Wolvie perched on larger opponent's back & shoulders -- in this case, Hulk's -- with one hand's claws raised in the air. How many times have we seen that over the decades? It's right here on Page 2!

Of course, there are refinements. Len Wein's narration notes that Wolverine is 5'5", which will generally be accepted to officially scale down to 5'3", even if artists get a little loose with those proportions by the time Hugh Jackman is playing the role.

There's also the original "whisker" version of the mask, which is drawn with the unusual detail of a very square piece over the nose. It connects with a pronounced brow and the shorter, more discreet version of the mask's fanning eye pieces. In close up, it reads more like a rigid helmet with a nose guard. A conceit the live-action films have finally gone with after avoiding it for a quarter of century.

The theatrical release of Deadpool and Wolverine, which includes a nod to the long-running Hulk rivalry and Todd McFarlane's later cover art from Incredible Hulk #340, is inspiring a lot of prospective choices right now, so I can't necessarily promise I'll get to it immediately. If you'd like to elevate the Hulk/Wolverine match-up in priority, or just generally support the trove of reference material we're accumulating here, you might consider becoming a member on Patreon.

I'm currently experiencing particularly challenging circumstances in my personal life, and regular entries are proving especially difficult to produce right now. Your support will go a long way to helping keep me in the fight and get back to working on more superhero smackdown for our special corner of comics culture!

I have to admit, even though we literally have dozens of entries involving the Hulk, it's been feeling like he's a little neglected, so it's nice that we're getting to more milestone match-ups. Those who enjoy watching the updating ranks at the bottom of every entry will note that he's ranked #6, right behind Wolverine, with a small gap in wins now separating them. There's a small gap separating them now, but with more data we can continue to test who is truly the best!

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 links to your favourite characters and topics found throughout each entry.

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Winners: Wolverine & Hulk
#5 (--) Wolverine
#6 (--) Hulk
#1029 (new) Wendigo (Paul Cartier)

BLADE versus MORBIUS

Return to Terror! (Marvel)
Where: Fear #24 When: October 1974
Why: Steve Gerber How: Craig Russell

The Story So Far...
After adventuring to a realm called The Land Within; Morbius the Living Vampire finds himself stranded on a distant planet called Arcturus IV.

Caught between warring factions of hideous mutants and barbarian androids, Morbius stages a daring escape with the help of a mutant named Lord I. Together, the escaping duo plot a course for Earth on board the last known starship of an ancient fleet. Their mission: to defeat the sinister alien cabal known as The Caretakers -- Lord I's ancient ancestors!

Weeks of interstellar travel brings the starship to a crash landing on Earth, but with his bloodlust driving him to feast on his ally, Morbius arrives alone under the watchful gaze of a deadly new opponent: The Vampire Slayer - Blade!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Morbius 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Blade 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Draw 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Blade 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Blade 3 (Explosives)
Total: Blade 26 (Champion)

It was the fight that had to happen! Blade debuted in Tomb of Dracula #10 and quickly earned a reputation for stalking Dracula and the walking undead. This begged the question: how would he do against The Living Vampire?!

Morbius made his mark a couple of years before Blade hit the scene, battling Spider-Man and The Lizard after journeying from Greece, to New York City.

The vampirism of Dr. Michael Morbius was a result of failed attempts to use science to cure himself of a rare genetic blood disease. Through his treatment he gained vampire traits such as super-human strength, speed, durability, and a blinding lust to consume blood by night!

Despite efforts to reform by feasting only on the blood of the guilty, Morbius has had many lapsed and accidental run-ins with other heroes. We saw him fight to a stalemate with The Werewolf in Marvel Premier #28. He traded blows with Doctor Strange during Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #10.

Blade's no stranger to battling heroes, either. Under the influence of a page from the Darkhold he fought Ghost Rider to a standstill in Ghost Rider #40, and succeeded in killing him in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #13! Blade also took on Wolverine years later during Civil War, but couldn't cut the self-healing mutant deep enough to keep him down in Blade #5.

Although he's exhibited signs of accelerated healing: Morbius will typically be susceptible to Blade's weaponry. In 1974, Blade favours wooden stakes more than silver, steel, and swords, but the weaker materials should still pose a threat in the hands of the far superior hand-to-hand fighter!

Thanks to his mother being bitten by a vampire during his birth, Blade possesses enhanced strength, reflexes, and immunity to vampire bites. He won't become the legendary Daywalker until years later, but can never the less still rely on sunlight to weaken Morbius, as it did in Venom: The Enemy Within #3.

Blade is the far more skilled fighter, but he isn't quite the kung fu bad ass he'll become in later decades. At peak, Morbius is arguably the stronger of the two and could use that to mitigate Blade's superior fighting abilities. Let's see...

The Tape: Blade Ranking: Morbius (#68)

What Went Down...
As another vampire perishes beneath his wooden knife -- the slayer, Blade, can hardly believe his eyes when a rocket ship plunges out of the sky!

Leaving the shadows of a nearby alley, Blade races to the wreckage to discover a lone inhabitant: the eerie mutant Lord I, whose neck reveals the telltale mark of a vampire's bite!

For a moment Blade entertains the possibility of an invasion of vampires from outer space. He deduces another occupant must have escaped the ship before it crashed -- that's when he notices Morbius perched on a nearby rooftop!

Morbius glides from one roof to the next, prompting Blade to leap for the nearest fire escape and make chase! Morbius senses the figure pursuing him, presuming it to be an agent of Daemond or The Caretakers. Meanwhile, Blade puzzles over The Living Vampire's nature, ruling out traditional bloodsuckers.

They dart between buildings and vault over rooftop walls -- until Morbius finds refuge in the shadows. Blade runs right past his prey, failing to notice until Morbius kicks a tin can on his way out of hiding.

A wooden knife hurtles at waist height, narrowly missing its target! Blade at last confronts what he presumes to be an extra-terrestrial vampire, but Morbius catches him by surprising -- lunging at what he believes to be a madman!

Morbius pins Blade to the ground with both hands and attempts to reason with him. The slayer notes his incredible strength, unimpressed by a vampire's claim to wish him no harm!

The superior fighter sends Morbius hurtling head over heels with an improvised kick of his legs! The Living Vampire slams into a nearby wall!

The turn in fortunes gives Blade a moment to realise his opponent speaks the language of Earth. The revelation turns him back to traditional methods: three daggers hurled at Morbius narrowly miss their target at devastating speed!

Unaware that vampires truly exist, Morbius once again attempts to take pity on his attacker, believing him a raving lunatic. He strikes Blade with a swift dive kick and promptly resumes fleeing to a nearby church roof.

Blade stubbornly refuses to give up his cause. Shaking off the fog of the head strike, he scrambles for the church roof and dive tackles Morbius' legs!

The slayer uses his full body weight to press Morbius to the roof and then tugs his hair to force him to gaze upon the holy crucifix!

Invoking the power of the cross, Blade threatens to hold him until dawn if that's what it takes. Supernatural method that might slay any ordinary vampire, but not one created by a mistake of science!

Unaffected, Morbius uses his enhanced strength to push himself up and toss Blade by the arm!

The throw sends Blade over the edge of the roof, but he manages to snatch the edge of the gutter. For a few painful seconds he dangles perilously, before the slayer pulls himself back up to find himself alone.

The Hammer...
It was the fight that had to happen, but what a strange way to get there!

We're all about the title match between Marvel's best known vampire heroes, but the whole episode really only eventuates by an act of happenstance. A trippy adventure in space has to abruptly end before the action can begin! Its got a little bit of that loose, seventies college vibe I noted in Captain Marvel #26, with slightly less intensity and a little bit more weirdness.

One of these days we'll have to find time to talk more about Lord I: a telepathic mutant from Arcturus IV whose entire head is an eyeball, and whose life was drained away much too soon! In the mean time, lets rewind a little further back to examine just how this compelling first-time battle really came to be:

Morbius first appeared in 1971's Amazing Spider-Man #101. A reasonably unusual adversary for Spider-Man at the time; he provided early precedent for loosening restrictions imposed by the Comics Code Authority since the fifties.

In 1972 Marvel followed the successful introduction of their Living Vampire with an all-out adaptation of the ultimate bloodsucker: Bram Stoker's Dracula.

As the star of a new series: the lord of vampires found early contemporary arch-rivals in Frank Drake and Quincy Harker. Both borrowed liberally from familiar iconography found in other popular appropriations of Stoker's work, most notably in Universal and Hammer films. By Tomb of Dracula #10 in mid 1973, the vampire king was ready to meet a more modern adversary: Blade!

Blade advanced the premise of Tomb of Dracula with Marvel's answer to other theatrical movements the year prior in Blacula and Dracula A.D. 1972.

Eric Brooks would be a tough-talking contemporary slayer who just wanted all vampires dead -- and had the skills to make it happen! He provided a natural foil for the stuffy, traditional protagonists already populating the series, and was an inevitable breakout star. Dracula was his ultimate prey, but his existence invariably demanded a showdown with Marvel's other notable vampire creation!

Morbius had a couple of run-ins with Spidey after his initial appearance, clashing with the Human Torch and X-Men in Marvel Team-Up appearances, before lying low. Things finally fell into place in 1974, when Morbius replaced Man-Thing as the lead attraction of "Adventure Into" Fear starting with issue #20.

The series was actually called Fear, but as noted, the initial story leaned into the "Adventure" that popularly precedes the title on the cover. There was a creepy undercurrent of occult conspiracy to the sci-fi escapade, but it took a few issues before we finally got the battle we're all here to talk about.

It's not quite the bloody, tooth & claw struggle you might see from later battles between the pair. The circumstances lean heavily into each character's natural function, positioning Blade as the pursuing hunter to Morbius' vampire.

The initial chase takes place in a rapid fire succession of narrow panels. There's a good sense of movement, and more atmosphere than the pictured panels may indicate. I particularly love the overhead shot of Morbius darting down a narrow strip while Blade's unrelenting shadow looms behind. Craig Russell's layouts are great and colours by George Roussos make the most of printing of the time with some nice shades of blue giving it all a gloomy quality.

When Blade finally catches up with Morbius it's pretty even-stevens. Blade gets to throw some wooden knives around, and they each take turns throwing the other around, but nobody really gets the better of any one. Morbius registers the last offensive by tossing Blade off a roof, but he's back up in seconds.

It's a nice first foray for Blade into the Marvel Universe, but these two will have far more memorable encounters once they're both deeply ingrained in the world of the supernatural. At this stage, Morbius doesn't even know vampires are real!

With any luck we'll get a chance to talk more about their battles in the future. Until then, be sure to follow links throughout this post to discover more occult wonders. Or simply dive into the Secret Archive to find a complete list of feature fights indexed by publisher, series, and issue number!

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Winner: Draw
#66 (+2) Morbius
#106 (+3) Blade