Cover: Alessandro Cappuccio

Ultimate Wolverine #4

Jun 2025 · Marvel · 4.99 USD

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About this Issue

Issue #4 marks the first appearance of the Earth-6160 Jean Grey — here called 'the Phoenix specimen' — revealed as a captive telepath whom Directorate X has wired into a Cerebro-like structure beneath the Kremlin to pacify and re-condition the Winter Soldier. That reveal recontextualizes the entire Logan–Jean relationship within the new Ultimate Universe, transplanting one of the most emotionally loaded bonds in X-Men history into a far darker power dynamic. The issue also structurally distinguishes itself as the series' boldest formal experiment: writer Chris Condon has publicly cited it as his favorite issue of the run, calling it a deliberate homage to Barry Windsor Smith's seminal Weapon X serial, and the extended wolf-vs.-bear metaphor — running nearly the length of the issue without showing Logan on-panel — drew wide critical debate over whether superhero comics can sustain that degree of literary abstraction. Taken together, the first-appearance hook and the experimental storytelling make it the pivot point of the series' first arc.

writer Chris Condon · artist, inker Alessandro Cappuccio · colorist Bryan Valenza · letterer VC's Cory Petit · cover Alessandro Cappuccio

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $4

CGC 9.8 · 16 in census $48*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

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History

The series was announced at Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at New York Comic Con in October 2024, with editor Wil Moss approaching writer Chris Condon — previously known for That Texas Blood and Venom War: Daredevil — to launch the first new ongoing title added to the second Ultimate Universe after its four founding books. Artist Alessandro Cappuccio, who had risen to prominence on the Jed MacKay Moon Knight run, was paired with Condon from the start, and both creators contributed a Wolverine prelude story to the December 2024 one-shot Ultimate Universe: One Year In before the ongoing debuted on January 15, 2025. Originally contracted for twelve issues, the series was extended — with Cappuccio returning for the additional chapters — after its reception exceeded the team's own expectations, according to Condon's later interviews.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Jean Grey (Earth-6160), designated 'the Phoenix specimen,' revealed as a prisoner wired into the Kremlin's Cerebellum facility and used by Directorate X to telepathically control the Winter Soldier.
The issue also reveals that Charles Xavier's brain has been preserved in cryogenic stasis after his death and is physically mounted above Jean Grey inside the Cerebellum structure.
Writer Chris Condon has identified issue #4 as his personal favorite of the entire run, describing it as a loving homage to Barry Windsor Smith's classic Weapon X serial.
The bulk of the issue is a nearly silent, extended metaphor: a wolf fighting a polar bear in a wintry forest, running concurrently with caption-box dialogue from Directorate X scientists frantically trying to sedate and restrain a rampaging Wolverine — Logan never appears visually until the metaphor resolves.
Creative team: writer Christopher Condon, penciler/inker Alessandro Cappuccio, colorist Bryan Valenza, letterer VC's Cory Petit, editor Wil Moss; cover date June 2025, released April 16, 2025.
Variant covers for the issue were produced by David Aja, Iban Coello (1:25 incentive), and Leinil Francis Yu (Ultimate Special Variant).
Dr. Alonya Prostovich, Director of Science & Technology for Directorate X, serves as the issue's primary antagonist and narrator; her classified dictation logs function as the issue's data-page text, a format evoking the Jonathan Hickman-era Ultimate Universe text pages.
Ultimate Wolverine was the first new ongoing series added to Marvel's second Ultimate Universe (Earth-6160) line, which had launched in early 2024 with Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men, and The Ultimates.