Wolverine is one of the busiest characters in comic books. Not only does he appear in two solo series and numerous one-shots, he is also active in the pages of 'X-Men' and 'X-Force' comics along with 'The New Avengers.' With the events of Schism putting a divide in the X-Men, Wolverine will be heading in a new direction in the pages of his one mutant team book, 'Wolverine and the X-Men.'
When the title was first announced, there was the question of what his team of X-Men would be like. With X-Force, we've seen the black-ops approach where they will take care of the mutant threats in a manner the regular X-teams won't. With an interesting roster including Kitty Pryde, Beast, Iceman, Toad and Kid Omega, it wasn't quite clear what type of team he would be leading.
Last week we had a first look at Wolverine's new direction for the team. Not only is he taking those mutants siding with him back to the East Coast (and away from whatever might remain of Utopia), he plans on re-opening a school. The name of the school will be The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. While the name clearly is meant as a dig against Cyclops, the idea of Wolverine being the headmaster is one that will take some getting used to. How effective of a leader can he be trying to run a school as well as keeping his commitments to his various other teams?
== TEASER ==Is Wolverine a Leader?
This has long since been established. Wolverine is an expert on several different types of battle and has a pretty keen tactical mind. His years of living and experience have placed him in all sorts of situations. He knows what needs to be done and will always find a solution to solve any problems he's faced with.
We have seen Wolverine briefly lead the X-Men before, despite his reluctance and he has recently shown that he can take a team of killers (including the unhinged Deadpool) and guide them on different missions.
There might be a couple under his care that might not fully respect him (Kid Omega in particular) but the fact that the mutants have chosen their sides after Schism shows that these mutants chose to stand by Wolverine rather than Cyclops. Wolverine will not put his team at unnecessary risk and will be the first to face the dangers head on, rather than allow others to be placed in danger.
Can Wolverine Work With Children?
Wolverine has a temper and can get pretty savage. He used to have to struggle to maintain his animalistic/berserker nature. It may just be that Wolverine has mellowed some in his old age. We've constantly seen Wolverine take in young mutants under his wing, such as Kitty, Jubilee and Armor. For all his fierce ways, he does have a huge heart. This is the core of why he disagreed with Scott during Schism. Mutants need to learn to survive but Wolverine does not want young mutants to become killers. He understands what being a killer means. It's not something you can walk away from. Once you've killed you can't undo being a killer. Being skilled in different forms of fighting means there usually is another method to choose. Enemies can be disabled without resorting to slaughtering them.
Wolverine may not be the best role model but at least he's given up his smoking and drinking (for the most part). Plus having that scary-factor could be what's needed in some cases. If young mutants/students can see what he is capable of, they won't do anything to get on his bad side. Children fear the idea of being sent to the principal's office and you can only imagine what being sent to Logan's office would be like.
Does Wolverine Have the Time to Run a School?
The long running joke is besides a mutant healing factor, Wolverine has the mutant power to appear in numerous other comics at the same time. He is just about everywhere. If he plans on being the headmaster of the Jean Grey Institute, it's not something he can do part-time. Besides the safety issues of having a public school devoted to mutants (Jean Grey being a mutant wasn't a big secret and everyone always finds out anyway), Wolverine will have to be on sight to deal with any threats from deadly mutant-hating groups. If he's out on a mission with the New Avengers and something happens to the school, he's not going to take it well.
It's possible Wolverine might be spending less time with X-Force. In the final Regenesis teaser, he's not exactly standing with that team since he has to stand with the image for 'Wolverine and the X-Men.' And if any of his students found out he was part of a black-ops version of the X-Men, that wouldn't exactly be setting the best example. Even though he's a killer, it's always been said that X-Men don't kill. That's why Wolverine had such a problem with Cyclops' order of 'doing whatever' needs to be done.
This could also explain why Beast is hanging around. He might have had problems with Wolverine and X-Force during Second Coming, but you know Hank will want to do what's best for the children.
Wolverine may be the best there is at what he does but trying to run a school is a challenge he might not be ready to face. Is this something he will be able to handle? Will he dedicate the time needed to fully run a school. Emma Frost was able to be there for Generation X but she had Banshee to help out. Wolverine is going to have to cut down on all his other adventures otherwise the 'kids' won't respect him as the headmaster. It's going to be interesting to see how quickly he loses his cool with some trouble-making students.
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