Wolverine Raised The Son Of His Worst Enemy

In the alternate dystopian future story “Old Man Logan,” Wolverine is one of the only surviving superheroes left. The villains of America united and slaughtered most of the heroes. The Hulk and his incestuous descendants, the Hulk gang, take over what was once California from the Abomination.

Living in California with his wife and children, Wolverine is unlucky enough to have the Hulk as his landlord.

Unable to pay his rent and threatened by the Hulk Gang, Logan hires himself out to an elderly Hawkeye for what turns into a much longer trip than either planned. Wolverine returns to learn that, rather than wait for their money, the Hulk Gang got bored and slaughtered his family.

Wolverine wipes out the Hulk Gang and ultimately kills the Hulk himself. The story ends with Logan riding off into the sunset with the Hulk’s infant progeny comfortably sleeping in a sling on his back.

In the 2015-16 event Secret Wars, Doctor Doom uses remnants of the multiverse to create Battleworld–a planet comprised of different countries all based on different alternate Marvel realities.

One such region is The Wastelands, where Old Man Logan resides. Wolverine leaves the Hulk’s son with Dani Cage–grown daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones–and embarks on a quest that eventually takes him beyond The Wastelands.

Unfortunately, his quest takes him not only out of The Wastelands, but–when the Secret Wars event ends–Old Man Logan is one of the few people (such as Miles Morales) from outside Marvel’s Earth-616 reality who find themselves in the prime universe.

Wolverine unintentionally leaves the Hulk’s son behind.

Finding himself in the prime universe during a time when the Earth-616 Wolverine had been killed, Old Man Logan finds purpose with the X-Men, with the new Weapon X team, and in his solo title. But eventually Earth-616 Logan comes back to life, and it’s time for the old Wolverine to fade away.

And so Dead Man Logan sees the elder Wolverine reunited with the Hulk’s son and his own wasteland reality.

With Wolverine not returning for what was many more years in the Wastelands, Dani Cage is forced to not only raise the Hulk’s son, but to protect him. We learn that with both the original Hulk and the Red Skull killed by Logan, a power vacuum created much conflict in Logan’s absence, with some of the combatants seeing the Hulk’s son as a target.

As Wolverine learns upon his return to the Wastelands, Bruce proves to be one of the most quietly interesting versions of the Hulk we’ve seen so far. He doesn’t speak much., Like the more savage versions of his father, when he does speak, he speaks in the third person (e.g., “Bruce Smash?”) and usually wears nothing more than pants. In spite of this, he appears to be just as much of a scientific genius as his dead father.

As the title of the comic implies, the older Wolverine doesn’t survive Dead Man Logan, but the Hulk’s son does. Bruce, Dani Cage (who we learn proved worthy of the fallen Thor’s hammer), a new Ant-Man, and a new Captain America become the Avengers of the Wastelands. The team was last seen in the final issue of their self-titled mini.