As old as Wolverine is, it’s not surprising that the mutant hero would have made a few mistakes over the years. Unfortunately for Logan, he’s made more than his fair share, each of which has returned with violent and tragic consequences. While the X-Man’s greatest mistakes are agitated by the actions of others, there are some failures that Wolverine has yet to liberate himself from, if he ever does.

The feral mutant hero is exactly that. A product of both trauma and a mutation that actively influences his mind, Wolverine has been a victim of his own ferocious shortsightedness nearly his entire life. Logan’s inability to see past what’s in front of him has ultimately led to disastrous calamities that often result in the deaths of many. While no one should forever be blamed for mistakes made, some of these unintentional sins still weigh heavy on the hero’s heart. Wolverine has had a few blunders over the years, but he will never fully live down these ten consequential mistakes.

10 Crossing The Punisher

Punisher #16-17 (2002) by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, & Nelson

Both lifelong violent killers, Wolverine and the Punisher have been frequent rivals since the two met in Punisher War Journal #6 (1989). However, when Logan and Frank Castle unwittingly track down the same crime ring, the duo’s reunion is anything but heroic or friendly. As retribution against Wolverine for previous disparaging comments against the Punisher, Castle took no time unleashing as much damage against the X-Man as possible while mowing down dozens of criminals.

Within moments, Frank Castle unleashes a shotgun blast in Wolverine’s face, leaving only a screaming Adamantium skull in its place. As Logan recovers, the Punisher lands a harsh blow against the mutant’s “maple leaves” before dousing him in gasoline. The fight eventually culminates as Frank shoots out both of Wolverine’s legs, leaving the hero to squirm helplessly while Frank nonchalantly starts up a nearby steamroller. Soon, Wolverine’s crude digressions left him faceless, without his knees, a severely beaten groin, and trapped underneath a steamroller.

9 Becoming Brainwashed By Hydra and Killing His Allies

Wolverine #25 (2005) by Mark Millar, John Romita Jr., and Klaus Janson

During the “Enemy of the State” storyline, Hydra and the Hand captured Wolverine before brainwashing him to follow their orders. After Logan attempts to save the young cousin of his deceased fiancé, the X-Man is impaled and captured, later awaking with Hydra’s programming already taking control. About a month later, Wolverine resurfaced as a murderous reflection of his days in Weapon X, now exclusively loyal to the Hand and Hydra.

After having unleashed an unstoppable killing spree, few could do anything to stop Wolverine’s onslaught. One by one, Elektra, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four, to name a few, fell by the X-Man’s hands, only to be revived as Hydra’s new pawns. However, Logan’s reign of terror soon ended after he killed fellow X-Man Northstar and was subsequently captured by the X-Men and SHIELD. Now deprogrammed, and riddled with self-hatred, Wolverine was unleashed to kill the mutant who started it all.

8 Indirectly Triggering the Dark Angel Saga

Uncanny X-Force #11 (2011) by Rick Remender, Mark Brooks, & Andrew Currie

After Cyclops formally disbanded the X-Men’s violent black ops team, X-Force, Wolverine, in secret, revived the squad against the X-Men’s orders. Alongside the team’s co-leader Archangel, X-Force’s first mission was to stop the resurrection of Apocalypse. Despite Apocalypse now only being a child, teammate Fantomex killed the boy, triggering Apocalypse’s Death Seeds imparted to his heirs. Soon, Archangel, only just now coming to with his aspect of Death, was overwhelmed by the Seed’s programming as the X-Men abandoned his team to become the next Apocalypse.

Now known as the “Dark Angel Saga,” this era of evil almost led to Age of Apocalypse, as Archangel and his fellow Horsemen enacted a plot to destroy the world and restart a global mutant evolution. While the young En Sabah Nur would have been revived with or without Wolverine’s actions, Warren Worthington would never have been put in this situation if Logan hadn’t acted against orders. X-Force, under Wolverine’s direction, nearly unleashed an apocalypse and lost a close ally in the process.

7 Becoming the Horseman of Death

Wolverine #146 (2000) by Fabian Nicieza, Erik Larsen, & Mike Miller

As part of the “Apocalypse: The Twelve” event, Wolverine was captured by Apocalypse and replaced with a Skrull while the ancient mutant enacted his newest plans of conquest. Now in Apocalypse’s captivity, Logan was forced to fight Sabretooth for the “honor” of becoming Apocalypse’s next Horseman of Death. Naturally, Logan prevailed against his rival, but, in doing so, triggered his ascension to becoming Death before the warlord fully brainwashed his new ally.

Now re-bonded with his Adamantium and under Apocalypse’s control, Wolverine became yet another mindless soldier in somebody else’s war and proved to be a lethal weapon in the conqueror’s arsenal. Fortunately for the X-Man, after his allies realized that their Wolverine had been a Skrull, the team banded together to save Logan from his apocalyptic fate. While Logan can’t be blamed for being brainwashed, one mistake in the field created a destructive new power that will always linger in Wolverine’s mind.

6 Killing His Father And His Mother’s Eventual Death

Wolverine: The Origin #3 (2002) by Paul Jenkins, Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, & Andy Kubert

To no one’s surprise, Wolverine’s upbringing was just as traumatically violent as the rest of his life has been. Secretly the product of an affair between his family’s groundskeeper, Thomas Logan, and his mother, Elizabeth Hudson-Howlett, Logan inherited his mother’s mutant genetics and his father’s penchant for violence. However, after the affair was brought to light, Thomas Logan returned to the estate and planned to kill Wolverine’s “father”, James Howlett.

The confrontation was brutal and blood-soaked, as Thomas savagely killed James in front of the family. Nearby, a young Wolverine watched in horror while his mutant abilities first manifested under stress. The juvenile mutant thoughtlessly attacked his “father’s” killer, leaving Thomas Logan bleeding out on the floor and Logan’s new claws soaked in his real father’s blood. As Wolverine fled his family home, his mother was left in horror, terrified that she had created a second mutant, before killing herself. Built on a mountain of lies and drama, Wolverine’s first kill will always be his most traumatic.

5 Failing To Protect His Wife Itsu

Wolverine: Origins #5 (2006) by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon

Despite the savage X-Man’s feral form of existence, Wolverine has found brief respites of peace in his lovers’ arms. While the hero has had many, no love will haunt him greater than his wife Itsu. Trying to find some semblance of redemption after World War II, Logan settled down with a woman in Japan before receiving the joyous news that Itsu was pregnant. However, behind the scenes, Wolverine’s greatest enemy, Romulus, planned to kill the woman and take their unborn child as his own.

While Wolverine was away, the Winter Soldier, under Romulus’s direction, assassinated Itsu and left behind her decaying body and unborn child. Soon, Romulus carved out the infant Akihiro from Itsu’s womb, sparking what would become generations’ worth of conflict between Wolverine and his son-turned-weapon. Had Wolverine been around to stop the Winter Soldier, this tragedy, and the cascade of others that have occurred as a result, may never have happened.

4 Murdering His Illegitimate Children

Wolverine #13 (2011) by Jason Aaron, Renato Guedes, & Jose Wilson Magalhaes

Years after the ancient mutant Romulus kidnapped and raised Akihiro as his tool of conquest, the son of Wolverine, now known as Daken, waged an unending war of retribution against his father. To prove Logan’s failures as a father, Daken tracked down and recruited many of Wolverine’s long-lost illegitimate children alongside an organization of Wolverine-hating people known as the Red Right Hand. However, Wolverine wouldn’t know this pack of Mongrels were his own kin until after their savage end.

After having sparred with many of his unwitting children, Wolverine finally tracked down Daken and the Red Right Hand before being faced with the Mongrels one last time. In classic Wolverine fashion, the X-Man unleashed a feral barrage of attacks, brutally slaughtering each of his children. It was only after their deaths that Daken and the Red Right Hand revealed the true identities of Wolverine’s latest victims and the grim fate that awaited them in Hell.

3 Waiting Too Long To Save Akihiro

Uncanny X-Force #34 (2013) by Rick Remender and Phil Noto

While Wolverine repeatedly attempted to save his son from himself, the X-Man’s proclivity to violence and frustration created an even greater enemy out of his son. After years of back-and-forth fights, Daken intended to kill his father once and for all while raising a young Apocalypse as his own. Desperate to stop another Age of Apocalypse and the subsequent deaths of the X-Men, Logan escaped his captivity and faced his son in one final climactic battle.

The fight was gruesome and violent, as both father and son were equally matched. However, the tides eventually shifted in Wolverine’s favor before the X-Man coldly drowned Daken in a nearby puddle, ending decades' worth of death and destruction. It’s hard to say how Logan could have intervened as a parent sooner, but his inability to connect with Akihiro ultimately led to the deaths of hundreds and a horrific battle between father and son that still haunts Wolverine to this day.

2 Killing His First Love

Wolverine: The Origin #6 (2002) by Paul Jenkins, Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, & Andy Kubert

Soon after the death of his parents, Logan and his childhood sweetheart and best friend, Rose O’Hara, fled the Howlett Estate to find a new life. The two lived a simple and idyllic life for the time, finding a new home with a crew of miners. Soon, Rose fell in love with one of the miners, leaving Logan rejected but ultimately approving of his best friend’s choice. However, another ghost from the past would later arrive and ruin Wolverine’s temporary peace.

Logan’s half-brother, Dog Logan, had returned for vengeance after Wolverine had killed Thomas Logan years prior. A fight ensued between the two men as Wolverine still struggled to manage his feral mutation. Soon, rage overcame the mutant and, in a sudden twist of events, Rose was accidentally shoved against Wolverine’s claws, killing her on the spot. For the second time in his life, Logan was made to watch as his claws unwittingly killed another person close to him, ultimately cementing his reputation as a violent killer.

1 Becoming Weapon X’s Pawn

Marvel Comics Presents #72 (1991) by Barry Windsor-Smith

The greatest mistake Wolverine has ever made was allowing himself to become a pawn of the Weapon Plus Program. Yes, hindsight is certainly 20/20, but the mistake of trusting the anti-mutant government program is exactly that: a mistake. Long after becoming a seasoned war veteran, Wolverine ed the Weapon X Project, where he and his teammates would slowly become the victims of psychic manipulations and secret experiments. While the initial team disbanded, Wolverine was always the highest-valued subject.

Years later, Wolverine continued to work with iterations of the Weapon Plus Program until, under Romulus’s orders, the X-Man was captured and forcibly transformed into the true Weapon X. While Logan had become a product of brainwashing and the schemes of a multi-thousand-year-old mutant, his recurring choice to work with the Weapon Plus Program can still be to blame for the ill fate that eventually befell the mutant hero. Since then, every day Wolverine feels the weight of his Adamantium skeleton pulling him down, and he’s reminded of his life’s single greatest mistake over and over again.