Wolverine has been a part of several Marvel teams, including the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers, but there’s one he’s ready to forget.
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In his quest to rescue his roommate Boomerang from the forces of the Kingpin, Spider-Man recruited several heroes he has worked with in the past. Although the gathered group of heroes appeared to be a reunion of the New Avengers, Hawkeye pointed out that many if not all of the heroes present were members of another team that Wolverine initially didn’t even remember joining: the Defenders.
Wolverine’s lapse in memory is somewhat understandable considering the number of teams the popular hero has joined over the years. In addition to being a member of several X-Men teams, Wolverine has also joined several iterations of both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Similarly, the mutant hero also worked with two versions of the Defenders, first joining in the Secret Defenders series of the ’90s before also becoming a member of the team in the alternate timeline depicted in Age of Ultron.
Founded by Doctor Strange after the dissolution of the primary team, the Secret Defenders had a rotating roster that Strange chose according to the needs of each mission. Roy Thomas and Andre Coates introduced the first line-up in Secret Defenders #1, which included a disinterested Wolverine who remained on the team for the first three issues.
The next time Wolverine worked with the Defenders was in an entirely different timeline. In Brian Michael Bendis and Carlos Pacheco’s Age of Ultron #7, Wolverine and Sue Storm traveled back in time and killed Hank Pym believing that their efforts would avert a future disaster. However, upon returning to their own time, they discovered that without the help of Hank Pym, the Avengers had been unable to stop the Kree-Skrull War, and the Earth had been ravaged as a result.
Wolverine and Sue encountered the Defenders of this era, which notably included their very own version of the time-traveling mutant. Realizing the mistake he had made, Wolverine traveled to the past yet again, stopping himself from killing Hank Pym before having his younger version kill him so that he would not have to live with the memories of the Skrull-infested world.
Although Wolverine technically should not be able to remember his tenure on the Defenders during Age of Ultron, there is no reason for him to forget his tenure on the Secret Defenders despite the brevity of his membership. This more than likely can be attributed to the fact that he didn’t want to remember, which actually says more about the team than it does about the venerable hero.
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