Hunt for Wolverine is a 2018 crisis crossover event published by Marvel Comics, headed by Charles Soule.
Nearly four years after his death, Hunt for Wolverine follows various characters in the Marvel Universe as they search for their friend after they learn he's been (mysteriously) resurrected, specifically in a one-shot of the same name.
Because this is a Wolverine-adjacent storyline, however, Hunt for Wolverine is spread over a variety of different titles, most of them told within a different genre:
- Weapon Lost, a Film Noir story wherein Daredevil, Misty Knight, Cypher, and Frank McGee attempt to follow leads that'll help them find Logan. Written by Charles Soule and drawn by Matteo Buffagni.
- Claws of a Killer, a horror story that follows Daken, Sabretooth, and Lady Deathstrike to a deserted small town where Logan may or may not be hiding. Written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Butch Guice.
- Adamantium Agenda, an espionage thriller wherein Iron Man reunites an old New Avengers squad (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Spider-Man) as they uncover a scientific conspiracy regarding Logan's DNA. Written by Tom Taylor and drawn by R.B. Silva.
- Mystery in Madripoor, a Casablanca-esque romance in which Kitty Pryde leads a team of X-Men past and present (Jubilee, Psylocke, Storm, Rogue, Domino) to the outlaw island state of Madripoor, where there have been reported sightings of Wolverine. Written by Jim Zub and drawn by Thony Silas.
These titles culminate in the Dead Ends one-shot, which involves each of those factions corroborating stories about where Wolverine may be found — and if they even want to find him. This event leads directly into the Return of Wolverine limited series, also written by Soule.
Tropes:
General
Hunt for Wolverine generally contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Wolverine's apparent possession of the Space Stone (as teased in house advertisements for Infinity Countdown) seemingly goes unaddressed or outright ignored by this event. It's later explained in a follow up that the Wolverine we saw there was one from the future changing the timeline at the plea of Loki.
- All for Nothing: During Dead Ends, Persephone, the Big Bad of Return of Wolverine, forces the heroes to stop their search for Wolverine or she'll start killing unawoken mutants.
- Wolverine Publicity: True to the trope namer himself, Logan barely appears at all in this event, with most of his involvement being as a discussion point among the other characters.
Specific to Weapon Lost
- Continuity Nod: Frank wants to help find Logan but wants his use of Attilan resources to be kept under wraps because tensions are still high between the X-Men and Inhumans.
- Production Throwback: Written by Charles Soule, this series features Daredevil, whose ongoing title was being concurrently written by Soule at the time, and Frank McGee, a character created by him during his run on The Inhumans.
- The Smurfette Principle: Misty Knight is the only woman on the team assembled by Daredevil.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Cypher is brought in but, when they go to pick him up, Doug has become a recluse in a den of computers, slowly starving to death in his own filth because his powers compel him to try and understand the entire internet.
Specific to Claws of a Killer
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Spiritual Successor: To Death of Wolverine tie-in The Logan Legacy & its spinoff, Wolverines. - Villain Team-Up: Uniting three of Wolverine's frequent antagonists.
Specific to Adamantium Agenda
- Bait-and-Switch: The heroes think that the DNA being sold is of Wolverine's. Turns out it's Danielle Cage's, which really pisses off her parents.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Double-subverted. Laura learns that Sarah Kinney was indeed her biological mother, and that she's not a true clone of Logan's.
- Mundane Utility: Since the bidding is masked, Tony, Luke, Jessica and Peter have to don masks. Peter just uses his Spider-Man mask.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Tony Stark reunites an old New Avengers team that featured himself, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, with the latter obviously absent.
- Retcon: A massive one involving Logan and X-23 — Sarah Kinney was her biological mother, and she's not a "true" clone of his. Admittedly, this is not so much a retcon as it is confirming what most fans had figured out over a decade beforehand.
Specific to Mystery in Madripoor
Mystery in Madripoor contains examples of:
- Amazon Brigade: All of the X-Men characters featured in this title are women.
- Location Title: Mystery in Madripoor.
- Self-Constructed Being: Betsy hijacks the psychic energy stockpiled in Sapphire Styx to reconstruct her original body from it.
- Spoiler Cover: A variant cover for the fourth issue, released months before it actually came out, suggested that Psylocke would be returning to her original body. This ultimately turned out to be true. Teasers for the (then-upcoming) new volume of Uncanny X-Men also spilled the beans.
- Wham Episode: Issue four involves Psylocke returning to her original body, after decades of being swapped with Kwannon.
- Wham Shot: The last panel of issue four suggests Kwannon has apparently also come back to life, following Psylocke returning to her original body.
