Revisiting the Wastelands and Old Man Logan

In 2008, writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven charted a dark course for Marvel’s future in their "Old Man Logan" storyline. Together, Millar and McNiven reintroduced readers to the man formerly known as Wolverine. Decades after the world's villains assembled to destroy nearly every hero, Logan was a broken man living in a new landscape known as the Wastelands. Logan, however, was eventually forced to rediscover his inner hero rather than submit to a world dominated by evil.

Now, Marvel is revisiting the "Old Man Logan" timeline with five new one-shots: WASTELANDERS: WOLVERINE #1, WASTELANDERS: HAWKEYE #1, WASTELANDERS: STAR-LORD #1, WASTELANDERS: DOOM #1, and WASTELANDERS: BLACK WIDOW #1. And it all begins today with the one who started it all.

To prepare for the WASTELANDERS event, Marvel.com is looking back at the history of "Old Man Logan," courtesy of Marvel Unlimited!

The Day the Heroes Fell

At some point in the near future, the villains in the Marvel Universe decided to band together for a coordinated and simultaneous attack on all of the heroes. Think ACTS OF VENGEANCE on a much larger scale. And unlike Loki’s plot in that story, this time, the bad guys won.

WOLVERINE (2003) #70 revealed what happened to the X-Men and why Logan refused to be Wolverine again. On the night the heroes fell, an army of Super Villains attacked Xavier’s school. Logan leapt to the defense of his students and friends, and he held off the villains by himself. Unfortunately, Logan was fooled by an elaborate illusion created by Mysterio. In reality, Logan was actually slaughtering his friends and surrogate family instead of defending them from evil. Logan was so emotionally devastated by this revelation that he attempted to take his own life. According to Logan, that was the night Wolverine died.

Mapping the Wastelands

Five decades later, America remained divided into different territories. WOLVERINE (2003) #66 provided the first map of the future, as well as an update on who was in control of each territory. The west coast is ruled by the Hulk gang, who took over the territory from Bruce Banner’s nemesis, the Abomination. Logan lived under the “protection” of Hulkland, which meant that he and every other resident were extorted by an evil family of gamma bullies.

The next territory is the Kingdom of the Kingpin, an area formerly ruled by Magneto. There’s a large area in the middle of the Wastelands that has no ruler at all. Although the map indicates that there’s a Kree Haven near the state formerly known as New Mexico. Doom’s Lair takes up a slice of Central America, and neighboring Doom’s Lair to the east is an unnamed territory that has a city called “Osborn City.” Finally, the east coast is called the President’s Quarter, firmly under the control of the Red Skull.

Meet the Family

WOLVERINE (2003) #66 also introduced Logan’s family. His wife was named Maureen—and they ran a farm together with their children, Scotty and Jade. It’s possible that Logan even named Scotty after his old frenemy, Cyclops. Beyond that, Logan didn’t keep any mementos from his time as a member of the X-Men. The Logan family was impoverished, but relatively happy together. Unfortunately, a financial setback meant that they couldn’t pay the “rent” to the Hulk Gang.

Logan briefly considered breaking his oath and unleashing his claws on the Hulk Gang. Instead, he allowed them to brutally beat him in front of his wife and kids. They also gave Logan an ultimatum to pay double the rent in one month’s time.

Old Man Hawkeye

Fortunately, Logan’s former acquaintance, Clint Barton, had a business proposition that could save Logan’s family from the Hulk Gang’s wrath. In exchange for accompanying Hawkeye on a cross country delivery in a repurposed Spider-Mobile, Logan would get the money he needed.

In this future, Hawkeye is blind, but as long as he can hear his target, Clint can still fire his arrows with deadly accuracy. Unfortunately for Hawkeye, Logan’s protection doesn’t mean as much as it used to; he didn’t realize that Logan’s vow of pacifism wasn’t a joke. For the most part, Hawkeye had to fight his own battles.

Spider-Man’s Dark Legacy

As revealed in WOLVERINE (2003) #67, Hawkeye used to be married to Tonya Parker, the youngest daughter of Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man. While it’s unclear if Tonya inherited her father’s powers, they did get passed on to her daughter with Clint, Ashley Barton. Years after Clint left the family, Ashley adopted a version of Spidey’s outfit for herself and took on the new Kingpin. However, she and her allies were outmatched and easily captured.

Reluctantly, Logan accompanied Hawkeye on mission to rescue Ashley in issue #68. They succeeded, but Hawkeye was extremely disappointed to learn that Ashley’s motivation was less than altruistic. She didn’t want to be a hero...she wanted to be the new boss of Kingpin’s territory. And with an unintentional assist from Hawkeye and Logan, she succeeded.

Menace of the Moloids

The underground dwelling Moloids have followed the Mole Man’s lead since FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #22. However, they were never truly threatening until WOLVERINE (2003) #69. After the fall of the heroes, the Moloids adopted more aggressive tactics against the surface world. Collectively, they can sink entire towns beneath the surface of the Earth...and eat everyone who lives there.

Logan and Hawkeye got a first-hand view of the Moloids’ cannibalistic activities after they narrowly escaped Fisk Lake City. Fighting the Moloids seemed like a very bad idea, so the duo simply fled the pit using the Spider-Mobile. Not everyone else was as lucky. Without the Fantastic Four and the other heroes as a deterrent, there’s no one left to protect the surface world from the Moloids.

President Evil

Following his ultimate victory over Captain America (Bucky Barnes), Red Skull mocked everything he stood for by naming himself President and parading around in Bucky’s Cap costume. As seen in WOLVERINE (2003) #71-72, Red Skull also became a collector of artifacts from dead heroes. Spider-Man’s mask, Daredevil’s billy club, Cyclops’ visor, and Doctor Strange’s mystical artifacts were just a small part of the Red Skull’s collection. And he made the mistake of trying to add Old Man Logan to the collection as well. A very big mistake indeed.

Rematch of the Century

Wolverine entered the Marvel Universe by taking on the Green Goliath in INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #180-181. So it’s only fitting that Old Man Logan came to a close by pitting the two adversaries against each other again. GIANT-SIZE WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN (2009) #1 featured the final battle between these old foes, and it was truly a personal matter for Wolverine. Without giving away too much, Bruce Banner gave Logan a reason to pop the claws for the first time in 50 years. And it was a choice that Bruce would ultimately come to regret.

Read these stories and more on Marvel Unlimited—and pick up WASTELANDERS: WOLVERINE #1 at your local comic shop today!