Wolverine’s long-lost brother was one of Logan’s first and most personal villains, and he remains one of the deadliest threats to Logan’s family.
For decades, the true history of the most famous X-Man, Wolverine, remained a mystery. As it was uncovered piece by piece, the truth was far harder for Logan and his allies to grasp. But as those clues have slowly been revealed, a prominent enemy from Logan’s early days — and the final biological family he really has in the world — has found a way to become one of his most personal villains.
Dog Logan was perhaps the very first enemy the man who’d grow into Wolverine ever really knew, a vengeful half-brother with plenty of dangerous skills of his own. And unlike Sabretooth, Dog’s attacks seem to genuinely have affected Logan over the years, which gives the currently missing antagonist real power over Wolverine.
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Dog Logan first appeared in Wolverine: The Origin by Paul Jenkins, Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Andy Kubert. Born in the late 19th century, Dog was the son of Thomas Logan, groundskeeper of the wealthy Howlett estate. Although he developed a bond with James Howlett and his friend Rose, Dog was increasingly verbally and physically abused by his bitter and violent father. This resulted in Dog growing up to become a more brutal young man. As a teen, he tried to force himself onto Rose and later killed James’ beloved pet dog for standing up to him, which resulted in Thomas being fired from his position. Enraged, he murdered John Howlett and set off James to unsheathe his claws for the first time, killing Thomas and scarring Dog with a slash across the face.
Years later, Dog was hired to hunt down the pair, now fully aware of the fact that the pair were actually half-brothers due to an affair Mary Howlett had with Thomas. Hunting James and Rose down at the behest of James’ grandfather, he quickly beat an exhausted James and openly broke through his foggy memories of the traumatic night where Thomas and John were killed. And in turn, he revealed not only were they half-brothers but that James’ mother killed herself. These facts threw James into a berserker rage, and in the ensuing chaos, Wolverine accidentally killed Rose. James ventured into the woods away from humanity to embrace his animal side, revealing that it was all because of Dog that the future Wolverine became a more animalistic figure, and costing him his humanity for years.
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Dog eventually spent years hunting down Wolverine, and later got the chance to follow him into the present-day thanks to the time-traveling shenanigans at the heart of Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert. Dog spent some time preparing to hunt down his more famous brother, finally making a move (with the assistance of some future technology) in Wolverine & the X-Men #25 by Aaron and Ramon Perez. Dog tried to usurp Wolverine’s students during a field trip to the Savage Land but was shocked that Logan and his students had grown enough to recognize the feigned, unimpressive attempts at control Dog was utilizing. Dog briefly served at the Hellfire Academy but was last seen jumping into the Siege Perilous — refusing the possibility of reconciliation with his brother.
During his time at the Hellfire Academy, Dog even got the chance to meet Sabretooth and was notably unimpressed with the longtime Wolverine nemesis, even commenting that he must be the guy who always just wanted to be like Wolverine but never could. Still. Dog’s disappearance is one of the bigger mysteries still lingering from the era of the Jean Grey School. Kade Killgore, who went through the Siege Perilous with Dog, has been a consistent presence in the modern era as one of the leaders of Homines Verendi, the chief enemies of Marauders.
However, Dog and his whereabouts remain a genuine mystery. and a potentially potent one at that. His understanding and experience with Wolverine make him a valuable and dangerous asset to be deployed against one of Krakoa’s greatest agents. He could target the surprisingly family unit that has developed between the Logan family on Krakoa and remains one of the villains with the most personal power over Wolverine.
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