Ultimate Wolverine #12
Author : Chris Condon
Artist : Alessandro Cappuccio
Colourist : Bryan Valenza
No Glory. Just Guts : Issue #12 Summary
This issue was exactly what I expected—a relentless warpath of revenge, violence, and bloodshed. Fresh off the heart-wrenching events of issue #11, where Logan saw all his friends—and the fragile peace he’d found—literally blown to pieces by the Cerebomb, a mutant-proof bomb made from Xavier’s brain, we pick up with him broken, enraged, and thirsting for vengeance.
Condon stays true to Wolverine throughout this run, and this issue reflects that perfectly. Logan comes face-to-face with Dr. Prostovich, Colossus, and Magik—chaos erupts, culminating in the long-awaited showdown between the seemingly immovable Piotr Rasputin and the unstoppable force that is Logan.
Condon also delivers answers to major questions surrounding the Phoenix Specimen, heightening interest in the Ultimate Universe’s climactic “End Game” against The Maker.
What really stands out is how flawlessly Condon captures Logan’s character—his dialogue, mannerisms, and temperament all fit like an adamantium claw in a flesh knuckle. Reading Logan’s lines, you feel like you’re living the experience alongside him—and that’s just plain cool, bub
Ultimate Wolverine Issue 12: Déjà Vu #12 Review
WARNING SPOILERS!
One Man. One Mission. One Story
I liked the opening of this issue because it felt like Chris Condon was owning the Ultimate Wolverine run in full—recreating the past, giving us a sense of déjà vu. That actually made the narrative easier to digest; I wasn’t expecting anything complex or overly thought-provoking. I could just enjoy Wolverine’s berserker rampage across the pages.
Wolverine is at his brilliant best—kicking ass, taking names, and snikt, snikt, snikting everyone in sight who had caused him pain. Condon throws us right into it, with Logan diving headfirst into the Directorate X Programme office in the capital of the Eurasian Republic. I appreciated the comparison to issue #11—back then, he was diving toward the Cerebomb to try and save his friends, a violent preventer. Now, he’s diving into pure retribution, an emissary of vengeance.
Condon sets the stage by having Dr. Prostovich and her colleague, Dr. Lysenko, discuss the Phoenix Specimen—dehumanizing her completely, referring to her as “it” and debating whether to harvest her parts for power. That detail heightens the reader’s emotional investment, making Wolverine’s bloodlust understandable and even cathartic. You can’t help but empathize with his drive for revenge.
Silence Before The Slaughter
“What... what is that in the sky...?”
Snikt… Raugh… Argh… Shunk… Shlick—the rhythm of revenge. Wolverine doesn’t just clean house; he turns it into a blood-soaked dance floor. With the emotional weight of the Cerebomb that annihilated his friends in The Opposition, combined with the horrifying revelation of the Phoenix Specimen being harvested, you can’t help but rationalize that Dr. Lysenko got exactly what was coming to her—because let’s face it, we’re all a little sickos for rooting for him.
Condon also throws in one of the most twisted X-Men rivalries of all time—Wolverine versus Cyclops. Dr. Prostovich unleashes “X-S,” a grotesque mutation of Scott Summers. They’ve harvested his head—home to his iconic optic blasts—and fused it into a Sentinel’s torso. Now, this nightmare construct uses Cyclops’ eyes to try and eradicate Wolverine from the Eurasian Republic once and for all.
In a show of this universe’s Wolverine’s strength, brutality and butchery it is a no content—Wolverine takes one blast, shakes off the cobwebs and proceeds to rip out Scott Summers’ head; it took 2-pages and it was all over for X-S aka Cyclops.
Phoenix Found
After the merciless opening, Condon unleashes the heavy artillery. He builds anticipation with a simple, ruthless show-and-tell: Wolverine, unapologetic and feral, demands that Dr. Prostovich lead him to the Phoenix Specimen. Condon gives us a small but telling moment here—Prostovich tries the classic “vulnerable damsel” act, but Logan isn’t buying it. That tiny detail deepens the reader’s disdain for her, highlighting her archaic, manipulative tactics in the face of a man who doesn’t negotiate.
Then comes the reveal: the Phoenix Specimen herself. Condon lays out the horrifying truth of how her powers were exploited—she’s essentially an antenna, broadcasting control signals to the Eurasian Republic’s agents, a perverse mirror of what Charles Xavier might do with the X-Men. Suspended in a crucifix position, cables snaking into a helmet on her head, she evokes Jean Grey’s ultimate burden, taking on all the sins of mutant-kind—but here, twisted and weaponized.
Condon does a good job creating more suspense as the reader’s will know of the classic relationship between Jean Grey and Logan—he takes off the helmet and we finally see her face for the first time—red hair, blue eyes but withered, exhausted after being abused all this time. The suspense comes from Logan and Jean’s first direct dialogue being cut short by the blade of Magik.
Mutant Mayhem
Big guns, locked, loaded and ready to fire on all cylinders. Magik murders Dr. Prostovich with no remorse; this death reflects the cold, cruel and calculated approach of the Rasputin’s. The Doctor helped progress many of the E.R’s mutant programmes and ran their atrocities—in conclusion she was a means to an end and was quickly discarded when she was no longer needed.
Condon doesn’t waste time and helps the reader get right into the action—Wolverine versus Colossus. This is an intense match up; Colossus’s living organic steel versus Wolverine’s manufactured adamantium claws—something’s got to give. We have an unfair match up however, two on one, the Rasputin siblings versus the lone berserker; this does carry on the narrative of the entire Ultimate Universe—odds stacked against the people, the heroes, but, you have to keep fighting that uphill battle.
As I mentioned earlier, Condon has done a terrific job at portraying Wolverine in his purest form, and that is spotlighted during the 6-page war between him and Colossus & Magik. These pages however belong to Cappuccio and Valenza—the artwork is simply amazing. As a reader, it drew me closer to the battle, Wolverine’s never say die attitude in full display as he blocks attacks and fires back. This was also a great trope of the everyman versus the big bad government—Logan (although insanely superpowered) is perceived as an everyman, blue collar personality, who doesn’t think too big of himself. Going up against the might of the Eurasian Republic.
Wolverine gives as much as he gets, never backing down until he is overpowered—two powerful mutants versus one was always a losing battle. But Logan wasn’t all alone in this room, was he? As a reader we were always aware of Jean Grey’s presence, but Condon did well to keep the excitement for us to see her involvement high.
From The Ashes
I’m a big fan of stories that build excitement from page to page, and Condon and Cappuccio absolutely nailed that here. The reveal of Phoenix feels monumental—just as Wolverine is about to be overwhelmed by Colossus and Magik, we see Piotr rendered immobile, followed by a deafening shriek that practically leaps off the page. For the first time, we witness the steel giant in real pain, and it’s clear that only someone of immense power could do this.
A single-page splash captures Phoenix in all her glory—pure fire, energy, and raw power. Her attack on Colossus is nothing short of a Mortal Kombat-level fatality: Wolverine’s claws can’t touch the organic steel; Jean Grey literally melts his skull from the inside. It’s a visceral, stunning showcase of her abilities, and it gives readers real hope that the mutants can stand against the forces of the E.R.
Furthermore, this issue sets the stage for the wider Ultimate End Game arc, giving the Ultimates a real chance to stand against The Maker. With an omega-level mutant like Jean on their side, we’re reassured that they can contend with The Maker and his corrupt, oppressive regime.
The ending of this issue provides a stark contrast to the devastating finale of issue #11. Logan is shown smiling as he catches Jean, exhausted after using all her power. Meanwhile, Magik escapes through one of her portals into Limbo—though it’s clear we haven’t seen the last of her. The issue closes as it began, with the haunting words: déjà vu.
Violence Drawn Like A Language
With this run serving as an ultimate love letter to Weapon X, Alessandro Cappuccio’s art has been the true saving grace, preventing what could have been a rote retelling from feeling like a chore. His thick, confident lines, dynamic compositions, and masterful depiction of Wolverine’s raw, primal aggression inject life and urgency into an otherwise familiar story arc.
There are countless panels worth highlighting, but one stands out: Wolverine brutally removing Cyclops’s head from the sentinel unit. It encapsulates everything Cappuccio does well—showing Wolverine’s unrelenting ferocity while presenting the act almost ceremoniously, as if Logan is offering Summers’s head to the reader as a trophy of his vengeance. It’s a moment that perfectly fuses narrative and visual storytelling, making the brutality feel both earned and viscerally impactful.
This is not forgetting the fantastic colouring from Bryan Valenza—he makes the panels bleed between moments. He makes sure that red isn’t a colour, it’s a mood in the Ultimate Wolverine’s world. The contrast he creates between Wolverine, and the dark gritty E.R is great for the reader—what I took away from it is that Wolverine is always bolding coloured to show that he’s fighting for life, versus the dull drawn world he exists in.
Conclusion & Rating
I’ve mentioned it before, but this Ultimate Wolverine story is a fresh take on the character, even if it wasn’t meant to reinvent him. With the first two and last two lines of the issue giving us a sense of déjà vu, Condon signals his intent: he’s not asking, “What else can Wolverine be?”—he’s asking, “What is the purest Wolverine story we can tell, stripped down and retold for a new universe?” It makes sense in the context of the Ultimate Universe, which is designed as a jumping-on point for new readers, while still offering familiar beats for longtime fans who may have never explored certain characters—like Wolverine.
That said, I can’t shake the feeling that Condon may have gotten the short end of the stick. Compared to bolder, more experimental narratives in Spider-Man or Black Panther, this Weapon X distillation feels almost vanilla. It leans into the classic Wolverine trope: a man made into a weapon, struggling to remember his humanity. It’s not a misstep, but it’s familiar territory, and sometimes familiarity can feel safe at the expense of innovation.
The saving grace for me as a reader and reviewer is the excellent artwork from Cappuccio and Valenza, and also the true to character representation of Wolverine from Condon.