Wolverine #159
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWolverine #159 opens Frank Tieri's tenure on the series by introducing Mister X, a telepathic martial-arts killer who stands as one of the more conceptually durable solo villains ever built around Logan — a man who has studied every fighting discipline on Earth and whose latent psychic ability lets him anticipate an opponent's every move, making him one of the few hand-to-hand fighters in the Marvel Universe capable of legitimately defeating Wolverine in a fair fight. The issue also delivers the first appearances of Mister X's full entourage — the enforcer Blok and the assassin duo T and A (collectively the Ladykillers) — seeding a villain ecosystem that would pay off across multiple arcs of Tieri's run. As the opening chapter of the three-part "The Best There Is" story, it frames the central dramatic question of that era of the title: whether Wolverine's berserker fury can overcome an opponent who turns his own predictability against him, a tension that would define their recurring rivalry through the Bloodsport tournament arc and beyond. Mister X subsequently joined a wider corner of the Marvel Universe when Norman Osborn recruited him for the Thunderbolts during the Dark Reign era, confirming that the character's debut here had genuine staying power.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.95–$23.99 5 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Frank Tieri took over the long-running volume 2 Wolverine series with this issue, kicking off a run that would stretch through issue #186 in 2003. The penciling duties fell to Sean Chen, who was coming off a well-regarded stint on Busiek's Iron Man, with Norm Rapmund on inks and Hi-Fi Design handling colors; the cover was produced by Chen and Danny Miki. Mark Powers and Pete Franco served as editors under Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, placing the issue squarely in the early Quesada/Jemas era of Marvel — a period of editorial reinvention for the line. Tieri later reflected on the creation of Mister X in a 2010 CBR interview tied to the one-shot Wolverine: Mr. X, noting that nearly nine years had passed since he introduced the character in this issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Mister X (Earth-616), a latent telepath and master martial artist who becomes one of Wolverine's most persistent solo rivals.
- First appearance of Blok, Mister X's giant enforcer, described in one source as a gigantic Māori bodyguard.
- First appearance of the Ladykillers — the assassin duo T and A — as Mister X's henchwomen; the character identified as 'A' is given the real name Clair Moore in at least one database.
- Cameo appearances by Cable (Nathan Summers) and Jean Grey appear alongside supporting roles for X-Men members Colossus (Piotr Rasputin), Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), and Rogue (Anna Marie).
- Written by Frank Tieri with pencils by Sean Chen and inks by Norm Rapmund; issue #159 is the opening installment of Tieri's run, which continued through Wolverine vol. 2 #186 (2003).
- Part one of the three-issue 'The Best There Is' arc (issues #159–161), in which Mister X orchestrates a gauntlet of hired soldiers to test whether Wolverine is a worthy opponent before revealing himself.
- The story has been collected multiple times: in the 2002 trade paperback Wolverine: The Best There Is (collecting #159–161 and #167–169), in Wolverine: The Return of Weapon X (2013), and in Wolverine Epic Collection Vol. 14: The Return of Weapon X (2024).
- Mister X went on to appear in Thunderbolts during the Dark Reign era and received his own one-shot (Wolverine: Mr. X, 2010), both written by Tieri, demonstrating the character's longevity beyond this debut arc.
Cast · 11 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Wolverine #97 (2002), Wolverine #3/2002 (2002), Wolverine: The Best There Is #[nn] (2002), Wolverine: The Return of Weapon X #[nn] (2013), Wolverine Epic Collection #14 (2024), X-Men #6/2002
Key issues in Wolverine
Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.