Wolverine Has Quite the History With Nick Fury, And We Now Know It All Began

Warning: contains spoilers for Hellhunters #2!

Fans know Wolverine and Nick Fury have an extensive history together, and now Marvel is showing how it all began. Wolverine and Nick Fury are two of Marvel’s “eternal soldiers.” Their ability to defy the ravages of time has ensured they have seen action in multiple theaters of war. Now, Hellhunters #2, set during World War Two, chronicles the two’s first meeting during the dark days of that conflict.

Hellhunters #2 is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Adam Gorham. The Hellhunter team, consisting of Nick Fury, Ghost Rider, Peggy Carter and the Soldier Supreme, encounters a group of vampire-like creatures, who are also Nazis, stalking the countryside. As the fighting unfolds, the Hellhunters learn an American soldier still lives, and somehow evades the Nazi vampires. This soldier is revealed to be Logan, years before the Weapon X project. He helps the Hellhunters defeat the vampires, and at issue’s end, an impressed Nick Fury asks Logan to join them.

Wolverine and Nick Fury Have a Long History Together

However, How Wolverine First Met Nick Fury Was a Big Unknown

Logan throws his lot in with the Hellhunters, thus establishing how Nick Fury and Wolverine first met. Fury and Wolverine would encounter each other again many more times over the years, particularly after the former became Director of SHIELD and the latter an adamantium-laced killing machine. In graphic novels such as The Scorpio Connection and Bloody Choices, Wolverine and Fury join forces, with the implication that these adventures were not their first. The story of Wolverine’s early life prior to the X-Men was still largely uncharted at that point, leaving when they first met up in the air.

Now, Marvel has told this story, and given the character’s histories, it is the perfect place for them to meet. Nick Fury has been a part of the Marvel Universe since its earliest days. When he first appeared in 1963’s Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1, Fury fought in the Second World War, and his adventures there were patterned after DC’s popular Sgt. Rock feature. Fury did not become head of SHIELD until much later in his life, with his youth and vitality preserved thanks to the Infinity Formula.

Likewise, Wolverine’s mutant healing factor has slowed his aging. Born in the 1800s, Wolverine has fought in nearly every major conflict on Earth, including World War Two. Previous Marvel titles, including 1990s Uncanny X-Men #268, established that Wolverine fought alongside Captain America and Black Widow during the War. In addition, other stories have shown Captain America and other World War Two heroes meeting Nick Fury, yet somehow Fury never seemed to cross paths with Wolverine. Regardless of how it went down, fans just knew it would be an epic story.

Wolverine and Nick Fury's First Meeting is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Wolverine and Nick Fury Will Meet Again

Wolverine and Nick Fury’s first meeting sets the tone for all the adventures they will share later in life. At this point in his career, Fury is still just a regular man: there is no SHIELD, no Infinity Formula and no Life Model Decoys. However, all of that is waiting for him down the road, and his time with the Hellhunters is acting as a preview of what’s to come. Likewise, Wolverine will spend the remainder of his life facing down everyone from ninja assassins to bloodthirsty aliens.

The pair’s first adventure promises to be an epic one, and worth waiting for all these years. Wolverine and Nick Fury are battle-hardened soldiers, and the bond they will come to share will be forged in the fires of war, and in the face of a great supernatural evil. Hellhunters #2 shows the friction that initially existed between the two, but by issue’s end, they had worked through it, developing a mutual respect that would continue through the decades.

Hellhunters #2 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!