After becoming an Omega Red fan, I feel like I’ve come to dislike Wolverine.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he’s poorly written or a bad character. I just feel like he hasn’t really had much of positive impact on Arkady..
This became really clear to me when watching the shows, especially in X-Men Evolution. In the singular episode Arkady shows up in, he tracks down Logan and X-23 because he’s basically told by Hydra that if he finds X-23, then Logan is all his to get his revenge. (this is just based off how I recall the episode, I’m not sure if I’m missing anything.)
Of course, things don’t go in Arkady’s favor and he ends up unconscious in an exploding building.
At the time, I was not big on Arkady. But, his dialogue stuck out to me. I can’t remember his full sentence, however I do remember that around the end of it, he says something along the lines of “this time, I leave you broken.”
While I did notice it, I kind of moved past it because again, I was not big on Arkady and I had no comics including him.
After becoming an Omega Red fan, that line definitely sticks out a lot more to me now…
And while I wouldn’t say I HATE Logan, I’ve started to really dislike him. I understand needing to stop a villain, and giving Arkady the c-synthesizer may not help him do that, and I may be biased but like… come on. From what I’ve seen, Arkady has a problem with Logan because of that. Arkady would not have issues with Logan if he had not done what he did.
Logan is a protagonist, you’re typically meant to side with him. But there’s just certain situations where I’m like, “wow.. he sucks..” and his problems with Arkady are one of the situations. How am I meant to side with him, when he’s kind of the problem-starter. Every single time I’ve heard/seen Arkady say something against Logan, it’s because of what Logan did to Arkady.
Logans bound to have flaws, every character has a flaw. But, I feel like it’s getting harder to feel bad for him, when he would not have these issues if not for his own actions.
Unless I’m just too biased or something
I think.... I'm going to leave this here....
But jokes aside, there is definitely truth in this. And something that I have noticed the more and more that I have not only dug into Omega Red, but into Wolverine himself as well. When you look at the story of Omega Red and Wolverine, Logan just does not come out the other side of this looking like the good guy in any way. Which -- for one thing -- is sad because, if you're a Wolverine fan, this is something that does drag down on Logan's reputation (reading the comics, you do come to find Logan has many such dark spots), but for two is frustrating because I can see so many opportunities for stories, connecting points and struggles these two characters could have been having all these years and we just... never got it. Because writers refuse to actually commit to the way the story has unfolded in the comics and admit that Logan was wrong. He was the bad guy. They refuse to actually embrace the idea that Logan made a huge mistake that he hasn't really made up for, which shuts down a lot of potential rich storytelling.
First, I want to look at where this all starts, as this is where things really become cemented the way that they do: the Team X raid. Because that day is the entire reason why Omega Red has targeted Logan all these years. That event is the whole reason why there is even conflict between these two men to begin with. If Logan (and the rest of Team X for that matter, the whole team is just as guilty) didn't do what they did, Arkady would have never had a reason to go after them the way that he does in the modern day. And the contrast between what that day was for them both really shows us the victim/perpetrator divide. For Logan, that day -- to quote M. Bison -- was a Tuesday, a day and a mission that was the kind of thing that was what Logan did working for the CIA/government without questioning it. He did this kind of thing all the time. While for Omega Red, that day was one of the worst in his life -- not that he had many good days before that one -- but it is the one that was the nail on the coffin for him, sealing his fate as a doomed project. A failure. One day. That made all the difference.
I think this is something that tends to get watered down by fans when it comes to Logan, which is something I think Logan himself would not be happy to see: fans just don't look at him as a villain in that time period. But Logan when he was on Team X was a villain, the whole team was a group of villains who were running around in the name of America murdering people in other countries to promote the U.S. agenda abroad. Logan himself even says that this time period is the worst of his life because of how horrible of a man that he was and what he allowed himself to do:
Now, this is the first example of where Logan and Arkady could have connected. Because for Logan, he did so many horrible things as a part of Team X. He clearly carries regret and wishes he didn't do a lot of things. Except... when it comes to what he did to Omega Red. Instead of ever trying to make amends or even to just apologize, he instead continually justifies his actions and continues to prolong Arkady's torture in the modern day by continuing to keep the C-Synthesizer away from him for reasons that are, sadly, never explained well.
I personally think that is a misstep. You see, this is a dark part of Logan's past, but he never truly has to look what he did then in the face and cope with it in a tangible way. Omega Red is really the only living victim of his left from that time period -- every other person Logan hurt when he was a part of Team X is either dead from the war crimes or would have died at some point later on just because of how much time has passed. We could have had a Logan who had to face the guilt of his actions and grappled with the hand he played in shaping the world in the post World War II period in the name of America's interests. Because the things he was doing as a part of Team X? They did change the world and not necessarily for the better.
This whole time, we could have had a Logan who looked at Arkady the way that he is: another victim of that global agenda and Cold War divide that ended up making Arkady's life worse. He wasn't helped, he was left to suffer. Logan's choices in that time left a trail of bodies that haunts him and we could have had Omega Red as the face of that -- the last living image of those ghosts from his Team X days that haunt him. But we never actually get to see Logan looking at Arkady and what he did to him as something bad. He doesn't look on Omega Red as a victim of his. Instead he looks at him as someone who deserved what happened to him, which.... completely dismisses and erases Logan's own culpability on his crimes. It whitewashes the reality of what Team X was: a Black Ops kill squad that targeted the weak and vulnerable. A team that was just as embroiled in the East vs. West politics of the time period that Omega Red himself was caught up in.
They could have connected over that. They could have fought over that. Of all the people who could have understood what it was like to be made a weapon and to do things in the name of a country's political interests, it could have been Logan. This could have been something writers could have explored with them. Because Logan lived through that time period the same way Arkady did -- was asked to do horrible things by their respective countries (I know, I know, he's Canadian) in much the same way. They are two sides of the same coin in that regard, the only difference being what side of the battlefield they were fighting for. How do two people who were on opposite sides -- yet still have so much in common -- actually find a way to bridge that divide and move forward? That could be an interesting story.
Which leads to the next connecting point: the repercussions of that day Team X came knocking. Imagine this day from Arkady's view. He had gone through hell to become this super-soldier, had lost everything, every shred of who he was to this process and gave up on his humanity to become the monster that the world saw him as. And, at the final stage of the process, a group of interlopers acting on behalf of a foreign power break in and irrevocably change your life. You failed on your very first mission: to stop that team and get the C-Synthesizer back.
So now, you are not only looked on as a failed project after everything you were forced to go through, but you are also left to suffer like this. They don't make another C-Synthesizer for you. You are left incomplete, ravaged by poison inside you without any cure at all. This is a debilitating condition you have been saddled with, even more so of a curse than what your mutant powers already were. And Omega Red had to live like this for decades. It is something Omega Red himself points out to Logan in the comics on a few different occasions:
Something to keep in mind is that Carbonadium poisoning is no joke. It is radiation poisoning and if you have done any sort of research into what that does to a person's body.... let's just say it's horrible. Don't look it up if you plan to eat food later. Omega Red was forced to live like this for years, to have to constantly kill in order to try to force back the worst of those symptoms so he's not being constantly ravaged by pain and agony. In a way, an example I always use with Arkady is that he is very much like a war veteran who comes back from the conflict with debilitating chronic injuries caused by his time of service. And the government refuses to give him the life-saving medical treatment he needs to have any sort of better quality of life. So he has to try to figure out how to help himself while still being affected by the condition (which affects his mind/decision making) completely on his own. It's a recipe for disaster.
Now, this is another point that Logan and Arkady could have connected on. Writers have made adamantium poisoning a thing (which is one of many things about Logan that I have my opinions on), and yet they never once have Logan feel sympathy towards Arkady?? He should have at least the smallest idea of what that sort of pain is like -- not that adamantium poisoning and carbonadium poisoning are equal -- but it should allow him to understand his enemy and what drives him to do what he does.
Logan should have known or felt some small inkling of the kind of agony Arkady lived with for most of his life and realized the truth about his pain. The moment Logan experienced adamantium poisoning for the first time should have been an "AHA" moment, but it never happened. He doesn't acknowledge the fact that Omega Red's situation is one of the worst to be living in. None of the X-men do, even in moments they are shown to be completely aware of why he's doing the things that he does (until Sage comes along, thank God for her).
Instead, they all continually act as obstacles to him. They never approach him and say "Hey, I know you're suffering. Your idea for finding a cure isn't a good one, but we have a different idea of how to help you." There is no sympathy, no attempt to actually help, just a game of keep-away that they all silently agreed on as the path they were committing to. And then they wonder why Arkady hates them all so much.
And again, we can only question why. Because in all the years of the comics, we are never actually given a reason why Logan and the rest of the X-men can't just give Omega Red the C-Synthesizer. They never say why he can't have it, or why they don't want him to have it. They don't say what they're afraid of happening. We are constantly shown Arkady's motivations and his reasoning for doing what he does, but for some odd reason we're never given one for the protagonists. We as the audience are just kind of expected to go along with their choice without explanation because they are the heroes of the story.
Now, some recent comics have come close to touching on this subject in a deeper way. We do see Omega Red point out the situation that he's in and directly say that Logan is responsible for it. But what does Logan do? He retreats from the idea, again spouting off his usual lines to shift the blame back on Arkady's own shoulders -- in essence saying he deserved what happened to him because he thinks he knows what Omega Red's past is like.
But the truth is, Logan doesn't actually know Arkady. He doesn't know what his past is, only getting a third-handed retelling of the things Maverick heard about from John Wraith and using that as the justification he needs to keep lying to himself so he can sleep at night. Why is Logan so insistent on this? Well....
Logan seems to do the same thing that he did to Laura when she first came on the scene as a character. He hates himself so much that the moment he sees anyone who reminds him of himself, he treats them the exact same way he wants himself to be treated. He feels guilt, he feels like he doesn't deserve the change in life that he got -- the family and love that he receives -- and he projects that feeling onto the people in his life that carry the most resemblance to him, whether they feel the same way he does or not.
Now, this is HUGE. A real tragedy and something that actually puts Logan's own trauma into a framing that can serve to explain his own personal motivations (not anyone else's though, sorry X-men) for continuing to make Omega Red suffer. Because in some twisted way, he wishes he was Omega Red, he wishes he was the one suffering like Arkady does because his actions over his long life tell him that he should not get a happy ending. And yet, here he is with one. It's rich ground that a writer could really dig into to explore the complex trauma that Logan carries and how that affects the relationships he has with the people around him.
Sadly, even this angle is not touched on in a deeply meaningful way either in the comics that the idea is brought up in. Because in order to actually drive the point of this angle home, you would have to actually have Logan admit that he was wrong. That he made a mistake. That he was unnecessarily cruel to Arkady because of his own issues that he can't stop projecting onto others. That he made judgments about the kind of person Arkady is without once considering him as his own person. That he looked at Arkady as an extension of himself and that he was wrong for doing so. But writers of Logan for some reason are allergic to the idea of ever letting Logan have such a moment of humility and growth.
The entire Krakoa era and the story arc Omega Red goes on in that time period really does drive home the point that Logan and the X-men were wrong about him. Giving him the C-Synthesizer didn't end up becoming a mistake that bit them in the ass the same way offering team spots to Sabretooth always does. Instead, Omega Red proved them wrong, that he could actually change, be a team player, and stay out of trouble if he's only given a shot: a home. He is exactly like Logan in that he needs the same kind of supportive environment Logan gets in order to change. He just needed a chance.
We could have -- and really should have -- been given a moment where Logan and Arkady were shown to talk and reconcile and actually been able to see the dialogue of that conversation. Instead, all we are ever given is a tease of that event happening and none of the details that would have deepened the rich tapestry of the conflict these two characters have had for decades:
There are so many missed opportunities that have been had with Logan and Arkady and it all really boils down to the fact that the writers just never want to let Logan be the bad guy in another man's story, even though the entire skeleton of their relationship is built on that very dynamic. They keep saying that Omega Red is Logan's villain -- promote him as such -- and yet don't write the story in a way that supports that view. Because you can't. Omega Red is a dark spot on Logan's past because of Logan's own actions and choices, and I personally think it should be embraced for what it is because it opens up so much more that can be explored between them in their interactions down the road.
So, in this way, you can still dislike Wolverine -- or, more his actions -- and still give him an avenue out. Because Logan's story doesn't have to end with him staying as the asshole who ruined Arkady's life and continually tortures him by playing cat-and-mouse with his life-saving medical equipment. You can have Logan organically come to realize that his position is wrong over time through the little things. The haunting from his Team X days, the poisoning, and finally have Logan see that his trauma still has this hold over him that he projects out on the people he feels are the most like him. Let him have that wake-up call that actually lets Logan learn some sympathy for his fellow man who is in much the same boat that he's in. And have Logan actually change as a character as a result.
That's the kind of story that I want to see between them both. And one that I am continually robbed of every time they're together because heaven forbid modern writers let Logan ever be wrong and let him have a conflict he can actually grow from.
