Hey everybody, it’s time for another great spotlight right here in Marvel Snapshot! This week, we’ll be looking at a character that is set to make a huge return from the dead! I know that isn’t a very popular thing to do (God knows, I’ve been very critical of them myself), but in this case, I’m all for it! Reason being, I didn’t want him dead in the first place. He’s too good of an equal and opposing force to another character in the Marvel U. The character is none other than Victor Creed, Sabretooth! He’s been gone for a little while now, but his presence was more than a challenge for Wolverine and the X-Men over the years. He was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne back in 1977 (Iron Fist #14).
Back when Victor Creed was first introduced, he was basically shown as just a homicidal maniac for hire, with claws. After that, though, he was quickly portrayed as a mutant that had ties to Wolverine. It was teased for a long time that Creed and Logan were related somehow, but that was proven to be false by S.H.I.E.L.D. Speaking of shadowy type organizations, Creed is another product of the Weapon X Program. He, along with Logan, Silver Fox, Kestrel, and Maverick, were all pawns of this program. They were all used as super-spies to carry out all sorts of black-ops missions and just plain old dirty work. Even before that training and brainwashing, Creed was a cold-blooded killer. He was an embarrassment to his father, and after he murdered his own brother, Creed’s father chained him up in the basement like an animal. After enduring that for quite some time, he eventually gnawed his own hand off to escape, then brutally murdered his father (initially, it was portrayed that he killed his mother also, but that was later changed).
After escaping from Weapon X, he became a killer for hire, but he also fathered a son. We know now that the mother of this child is Mystique, and the son is the mutant hating politician Graydon Creed. His son grew up to become the leader of the mutant hating group known as the Friends of Humanity. Creed had a few run ins with Iron Fist and Power Man, then Spider-Man. Later on, Creed was approached by Gambit to join a group called the Marauders. This group was brought together by Mister Sinister, and they had the mission of destroying the Morlocks. After that fiasco, he had his strength augmented by the Hand. Even so, he still got his spine broken by one of the few Morlocks to survive the massacre, Caliban. Sabretooth then started to have such extreme urges to commit murder, that he had to employ a psychic to help quell these urges. Her name is Birdy, and she helped Sabretooth willingly at first, but then seemed to have some regrets. She’s eventually killed by Graydon, which caused Sabretooth to go berserk. He’s eventually subdued by the X-Men, and Professor Xavier tried to rehabilitate him. This seemed to be going well, but in the end, Sabretooth was just biding his time to escape. He’s basically an attack dog for X-Factor for a while, with a device implanted by Forge to control him. He managed to get away, and returned to his roots.
Recently, it was revealed that there is a race of beings, called Lupines, which Creed and Logan are descended from. The first of which was a man named Romulus. It is understood after a long story arc in the Wolverine series, that Romulus has been pulling strings and manipulating dozens of people for hundreds of years. This leads into a final confrontation between Sabretooth and Wolverine at an old cabin that belonged to Silver Fox. Once there, Sabretooth viciously attacked Logan, but Logan had a surprise for him. He had possession of the Muramasa Blade, a blade that can kill someone with a healing factor. He then decapitated Sabretooth.
A story where Wolverine goes to Hell, has shown signs that Sabretooth is residing there, and is soon to make a return. This will hopefully be done right and make a big splash in the Marvel U. As usual, check out my recommended reading list and some great cover shots below. See you next week!
Recommended Reading
Essential Iron Fist vol. 1 – Tpb
X-Men: Mutant Massacre – Tpb
Essential X-Men vol. 6 – Tpb
X-Men (1991) #’s 6, 7, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36 -41
Essential Wolverine vol. 2 & 3
Wolverine (2003) vol. 3 – Tpb & #’s 50- 55
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
That Sabretooth mini is still one of my favorite stories to this day! When done right the character is great and it was cool that he was fleshed out to be more than just some maniac killer too. I’m not sure how I feel about his obvious return though.
I want him back, but you know how I feel bout resurrections! He’s a great opposite to Wolverine in my opinion, and one that’s never been matched.
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