The first arc from Old Man Logan finds the elderly Wolverine transported in the present, before the Wasteland has has developed and with his friends still alive. Yet, Old Man Logan remains haunted by the memory of things to come, terrified that it will happen again. With “Berserker,” writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino revisit the classic Logan conflict between person and beast by giving readers a Wolverine who knows that he’s killed his friends.
11. “Here Comes Tomorrow” (New X-Men #151-154, 2004)
When Grant Morrison took on the X-Men in 2001, they revitalized the franchise in ways that continue to resonate even today. But for all of the run’s high points, it ended on an uneven note. “Here Comes Tomorrow” mostly takes place 150 years after the previous story, which climaxed with Magneto, addicted to a drug called Kick, killing Jean Grey and leaving Scott heartbroken. Beast tries to take his place but, as happens kinda often with Beast, he goes mad and becomes an ageless tyrant who rules the world.
If that sounds high-concept, well, it is Grant Morrison. Unfortunately, Morrison’s heady style clashes with the pencils from Marc Silvestri, an artist who did great work with Claremont back in the late ’80s but has lost some storytelling skills by the time he returns. Between Morrison’s oddball ideas and Silvestri’s unclear pencils, much of “Here Comes Tomorrow” reads like a mess. That is, until, the return of Jean Grey allows the heroes to go back to the past, making a nice setup for Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men.
10. X-Men: Battle of the Atom (2012)
Speaking of Beast doing crazy things, Hank McCoy crossed a real ethical line when he went back in time to bring his younger self and the other four original X-Men, still teens studying under Xavier, into the present. In Hank’s defense, things had gotten bad. Pushed to the limit, Cyclops became a militant, taking half the team with him. In a desperate attempt to talk some sense in his old self and reunite the X-Men, Beast brought the teen team to talk some sense into their older selves.
Of course, it didn’t work, as demonstrated by Battle of the Atom. As the teens resist attempts to send them back to the past, the X-Men of the future arrive and demand they go back. But when the present X-Men realize that the future X-Men are in fact the future Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, they fight to keep the past X-Men here. Confused? Well, you should be. But at least the creative team, including writers Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron as well as artists Frank Cho and Stuart Immonen keep things entertaining.
9. “Tooth and Claw” (X-Men #8, 1992)
Like Cable, Lucas Bishop came to the X-Men from a ravished future, bearing a gun and a bad attitude. And like Cable, he wasn’t entirely trustworthy, as he kept under wraps his mission to prevent the dystopian future from which he hailed. However, in X-Men #8, Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell add another juicy twist to Bishop’s story when he meets the X-Men Blue Team for the first time. While impressed to shake hands with the great Cyclops, Bishop loses his cool at the sight of Gambit, branding the Cajun mutant a traitor.