Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Venom War: Deadpool #2!Wolverine’s “Berserker Rage” is one of his most terrifying attacks, as it’s not just a particular fighting style or battle maneuver, it’s more akin to a monstrous transformation that turnsWolverine into a bloodthirsty killerwho won’t stop hacking and slashing until everyone around him is dead. And now, Logan’s son exhibits his own version of Berserker Rage, and it’s even darker than Wolverine’s.
InVenom War: Deadpool#2 by Cullen Bunn and Rob Di Salvo, symbiotes are continuing their invasion of Earth, possessing corpses to become horrific creatures known as ‘zombiotes’.Deadpool and a few of his allies try to protect New York City from the zombiote swarm, but after they were overwhelmed in the previous issue, they retreated underground to the Monster Metropolis. There, Deadpool recruits more allies to help defeat the zombiotes, including Frankenstein, Man-Thing, Morbius, and Poison akaJimmy Hudson - the son of Wolverine.
Poison’s psyche begins to crumble while fighting the zombiotes. He concludes that there’s no difference between these creatures and himself, or any of the other monsters. So, Poison is thrown into a Berserker Rage, killing as many zombiotes as he can while also attacking his allies indiscriminately. Poison hates himself for what he’s become, and he hates all the other monsters around him just as much. He sees them as nothing more than ‘dead things’, so he tries to put them all down for good. And the emotion that drives him isn’t rage, nor is it true hatred. It’s fear.
Jimmy Hudson’s Berserker Rage is Based on Fear, Not Rage, Making It Much Darker
Poison is Afraid of Being Possessed by the Zombiotes, but He’s More Afraid of Continuing to Exist
What sparks Poison’s Berserker Rage is the zombiotes swarming him, as he becomes afraid of being possessed by them. Then, he considers that the only reason they want to possess him is that he’s already dead, just like his monster allies. That’s why he starts killing everyone in sight, he’s correcting the ‘mistake’ of their very existence. But that alone is rooted in a deeper fear, one that started to grow within him ever since becoming ‘Poison’: a fear of living.
Jimmy Hudson was possessed by a Poison (a multiversal alien creature) in the Venomized storyline, forever altering him into this half-dead monster. That’s why Hudson lived in the Monster Metropolis, because that’s how he saw himself, as nothing more than a monster. But, while the other monsters came together in self-affirming unity, Hudson carried only disdain for his own existence, as he was too afraid to face the world as this new version of himself. And that fear is what drives his murderous actions in this issue.
The Tragic Life of Wolverine’s Son Has Been Building to This Moment
Jimmy Hudson was Originally from the Ultimate Universe
Jimmy Hudson’s entire life has been building up to this moment, as he’s suffered no shortage of tragedies and identity crises. Jimmy was originally from the Ultimate Universe, and he didn’t know his father was Wolverine (or that he was a mutant) until his late teenage years. After his entire universe is destroyed following the events ofSecret Wars, Jimmy is left stranded in a new reality (Earth-616). Then, during Venomized, Jimmy was consumed by an alien monster, effectively ‘killing’ the person he once was, and giving life to this dark shadow of his former self.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Made a Dark Change to an Iconic Piece of Marvel Lore
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine made a dark change to Marvel Comics lore, as the live-action Logan takes something once heroic and turns it villainous.
Jimmy Hudson’s life has been filled with immense hardship and unfathomable loss. And it seems fighting legions of undead alien monsters was the trigger that finally made Jimmy snap. He looked at the zombiotes he was killing and saw only himself. The fear, hatred, and rage he felt upon that moment of ‘clarity’ was too much for him to take, and the result wasWolverine’s son exhibiting a version of Logan’s Berserker Rage that is even darker (and much more depressing) than the original.
Venom War: Deadpool #2by Marvel Comics is available now.
Wolverine
The human mutant Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan) was born James Howlett, blessed with a superhuman healing factor, senses, and physiology. Subjecting himself to experimentation to augment his skeleton and claws with adamantium, Logan is as deadly as he is reckless, impulsive, and short-tempered. Making him the X-Men’s wildest and deadliest member, and one of Marvel Comics' biggest stars. He’s played in Fox and Marvel’s movie franchises by Hugh Jackman.
