Wolverine and Captain America's 5 Bloodiest Encounters

They say that old soldiers never die, they just fade away. Well, they must have never met Steve Rogers and James Howlett.

Though it might seem like there aren't too many similarities between the star-spangled shield-slinger and the master of slicing and dicing, they not only share a sense of justice and fairness, but also an origin story; they both owe their unique physical forms to a group called Weapon Plus. They also both utilize adamantium in the form of claws and shields!

Project: Rebirth—which created Captain America—proved such a success that other groups tried replicating it. One such group, Weapon X, took a tough-as-nails mutant and gave him adamantium claws, creating Wolverine in the process!

Let's look back at some of Captain America and Wolverine's best meet-ups!

Madripoor Knights

In UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #268 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee, readers saw a flashback adventure featuring Captain America and Wolverine set during 1941 in Madripoor! Appropriately enough, the duo first met while fighting the Hand. During the tussle, they wound up working together to save a young girl who would grow up to become the Black Widow!

Our War

Logan and Rogers met back up during World War II in the pages of WOLVERINE: ORIGINS (2006) #16-20 by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon.

Spring-boarding off of UNCANNY #268, Logan revealed that he'd been tasked with turning Cap to his side—to find out if Project: Rebirth could be replicated. And if that failed, he was to kill him. Logan caught up with Cap and Bucky and went on a mission with them that led to Hydra and Baron Von Strucker. In an effort to follow his orders and also keep the Sentinel of Liberty alive, Logan had to play some dirty tricks that left him beaten by Cap and bleeding from a bullet wound in the desert.

Don't worry, though, he got better!

The Robot Rampage

For a more modern meet-up, give CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL (1971) #8 by Mark Gruenwald and Mike Zeck a read! In this one, the two heroes began looking into separate oddities that brought them together at the Adamenco factory. There, a villain called Overrider forced the employees to cover his 20-foot robot, Tess-One, with adamatium.

The fight got interrupted when the newly coated Tess burst through the wall and started blasting at the two, who quickly realized they were after the same villain! After losing and then following separate leads, the heroes reunited to finally finish off the bad guys. Wolverine even refrained from killing Override, but Cap still told him he'd never join the Avengers.

Avengers Assemble

For years, Wolverine stuck with the X-Men and Captain America served with the Avengers. The squads would cross over occasionally, but that was about it. And then Brian Michael Bendis started everything over with NEW AVENGERS (2004).

The main group came together after Electro blew up the Raft and 42 super criminals escaped. While searching for Sauron, the group happened upon Wolverine in the Savage Land. Though Cap was initially hesitant, Iron Man offered Logan a spot and the ol' Canucklehead accepted. Since then, Wolverine's been a part of many an Avengers team, including the Avengers Unity Squad, which Cap put together to show the world that mutants and humans can work together without incidents.

Choosing Sides

During 2012's AVENGERS VS. X-MEN (a series that revolved around the impending arrival of the Phoenix Force), Wolverine went against his fellow mutants and sided with Captain America and the Avengers. In fact, Cap heard the fiery information directly from Logan himself! However, the heroes got into it over what to do with Hope Summers. But that turned out to be a moot point when the Force instead entered Namor, Cyclops, Magik, Colossus, and Emma Frost!

Ultimately, the two groups worked together to free their friends and comrades from a potentially catastrophic fate, but it still stung for more than a few X-folks to see Wolverine side with his other team.

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