Team X Beginnings [Retired]
This page has been incorporated into chapter 012: Team X.
Version 3.00, last updated on December 23, 2008
Mark Texeira, Wolverine #61.
After a time on his own, Logan gets pulled into a CIA-sponsored special operations force known as ‘Team X’ with his old nemesis Sabretooth…
X-Men Unlimited #3 (Dec 1993) – “The Whispers Scream”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza; Penciler: Mike McKone; Inker: Mark McKenna with Mike Gray
A freelance intelligence operative, Mr. Bashur, confirms that Sabretooth was an intelligence agent known as Creed and used such pseudonyms as El Tigre in Central America and Der Schlachter in Germany.
Considering their bloody past, it is unlikely that Logan would willingly work with Sabretooth. Therefore, I believe that something had to be done to alleviate the animosity over the murder of Silver Fox. Granted this is highly speculative on my part, but my proposed workaround would resolve many plots holes. For this plan to work, the CIA would first need to acquire in-depth information on Logan’s past…
Weapon X #23 (Jul 2004) – “War of the Programs, Part 1: In the Beginning”
Writer: Frank Tieri; Artist Tom Mandrake
Prior to Logan’s involvement in the Weapon X experiment, the head of the program has a file with the name, James Howlett, meaning that someone had been gathering data on Logan’s early life.
Wolverine #65 (Jan 1993) – “State of Grace”
Scripter: Larry Hama; Artist: Mark Texeira
John Wraith confirms from classified data that Logan and Silver Fox’s cabin did in fact exist. This would suggest that significant historical research had been performed on Logan, Silver Fox and presumably Sabretooth.
…The second part of this ambitious plan would require a new and believable Silver Fox whose existence would prove to Logan that she had not been murdered by Sabretooth. For this elaborate deception to work, the CIA would have to brainwash an American Indian woman into believing that she was actually Silver Fox…
Wolverine #50 (Jan 1991) – “Dreams of Gore: Phase 3”
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Marc Silvestri; Inker: Dan Green with Hilary Barta and Tom Palmer
Logan finds a warehouse in Windsor, Ontario used by Experiment X to create and alter the memories of Silver Fox, Sabretooth and himself back in the 1950s. The nature of these sets seem to indicate that genuine memories were altered first before false memories were created to replace them. The existence of a 1950s-style senior prom set for Silver Fox suggests that the program selected a relatively young woman as a replacement Silver Fox and worked to alter her relatively recent high school memories.
…The third part of this ambitious plan would necessitate altering the 50-year old memories that Logan and Sabretooth had of Silver Fox…
Wolverine #64 (Dec 1992) – “What Goes Around…”
Scripter: Larry Hama; Penciller: Mark Pacella; Inker: Dan Panosian
While Aldo Ferro was not involved in altering Logan’s memories during the 1950s, he was privy to Logan’s memories from that era. Later during Experiment X, Ferro was hired to alter Logan’s oldest memories, specifically into believing that Sabretooth had killed Silver Fox. In other words, Logan must have believed at some point during the 1950s that Sabretooth had not killed Silver Fox, but had only made a pass at her, Silver Fox knocking out Sabretooth’s tooth in retaliation.
…The final part of the plan would be to remove Silver Fox from the picture before either Logan or Sabretooth got suspicious…
Wolverine #61 (Late Sep 1992) – “Nightmare Quest”
Scripter: Larry Hama; Artist: Mark Texeira
After the Weapon X robot Shiva triggers a memory backlash, Wolverine remembers being in Cuba during the early 1960s as Emilio Garra with Creed (codenamed El Tigre) and two other agents: Mastodon (as Elefante) and John Wraith (as Halcon). Their mission is to disable the final missile in Cuba that Castro kept after the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962). As Cuban soldiers attack, Mastodon claims that a former member of their team and Logan’s one-time lover, Silver Fox, has turned traitor and is now known as Zora de Plata, the Silver Fox of Sierra Maestra. Wolverine’s memory ends with the entire team being attacked by bizarre long tentacles at the behest of Silver Fox.
…A far-fetched plan, yes, but one that actually fits…
Wolverine #68 (Apr 1993) – “Epsilon Red”
Scripter: Larry Hama; Artist: Mark Texeira; Backgrounds: Steve Biasi
Epsilon Red, as a psi-talent, explains to Wolverine that his memories have been tampered with. “I have taken a stroll through the corridors of your mind… Your mind is clogged with false memory implants and total blocks. There are implants on top of implants and so much memory tampering that there is now permanent scarring and intermittent firing of synapses.” In other words, we can confirm that Logan endured multiple memory implants from several different time periods. The original memory was that Sabretooth murdered Silver Fox. The first memory implant is from this time period (Silver Fox is alive, but disappears) and a second set of memory implants is overlaid to obfuscate Logan’s time with Team X (Silver Fox was once again killed by Sabretooth). Whew!
My theory has proven to be somewhat controversial and Michael Curtis Williams gave voice to the doubters…
“Where did you see that the CIA was trying to create a new Silver Fox? I’ve never gotten that interpretation before. I doubt that a fake Silver Fox could’ve gotten past Wolverine’s senses. If your theory is correct, it is clear that this new Silver Fox is a mutant (or she wouldn’t be affiliated with Team X or targeted by Shiva), so she may have shapeshifting powers (which might explain the tentacles in Cuba). Of course, I could be totally wrong about all this, but I’ve just never seen this interpretation before (and I can’t think of a reason for the CIA to create another Silver Fox, especially one with limited contact with Logan, and then let her become a terrorist). Let me know what other evidence that you have.”
And my response…
“The biggest issue I have with Silver Fox being a member of Team X is that she was shown to have died unequivocally some 50 years earlier. I find it highly unlikely (though not impossible) that these are the same Silver Fox. She was a normal Indian woman back in the 1910s, and the odds of having three unrelated mutants in the same mining town before mutants were even known to exist strains credulity. Team X, on the other hand, needed Logan to believe that Silver Fox was still alive in order for him to work with Sabretooth. And since these events took place before Logan came to trust his animal senses (he was still unaware that he was a mutant), I am hypothesizing that his Team X handlers created another Silver Fox for the sole purpose of fooling Logan into believing she was still alive. Bear in mind that the Team X Silver Fox only makes a brief appearance during this era before disappearing again. That the Team X Silver Fox has memories that include a 1950s prom seems to suggest that she is significantly younger than the original Silver Fox (who would have been at least 70 at this point). I freely admit that my explanation is never overtly stated, but I still believe that this explanation is more plausible than any put forth by Marvel.”
…It is also interesting to note that there is no further record of Mastodon as a member of Team X. Perhaps he was solely involved to reinforce these altered memories. Regardless, Sabretooth and Logan are now ready to work together as a two-man team with an occasional assist from John Wraith…
Wolverine #129 (Oct 1998) – “Whatever It Takes…”
Writer: Todd Dezago; Penciler: Leinil Francis Yu; Inker: Edgar Tadeo
Wolverine refers to Sabretooth as his old “Army buddy.” This is most likely a reference to their time together as intelligence agents working for the CIA.
Marc Silvestri and Dan Green, Wolverine #50.
Wolverine #50 (Jan 1991) – “Dreams of Gore: Phase 3”
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Marc Silvestri; Inker: Dan Green with Hilary Barta and Tom Palmer
A photograph of Creed and Logan in front of the pyramids in Egypt seems to suggest happier times.
X-Men #6 (Mar 1992) – “Farther Still”
Plotter: Jim Lee; Scripter: Scott Lobdell; Penciller: Jim Lee; Inker: Art Thibert
Logan remembers Creed stating that he had saved Logan’s life numerous times while working for the CIA.
…While many of the events of Team X seem to occur during the 1960s, it is the elasticity of Marvel Time at work. These events should take place in the late 1950s prior to the creation of the Fantastic Four in 1961, but Marvel Comics continually moves the start date of the Marvel Universe forward to keep their characters eternally young…
Wolverine #49 (Dec 1991) – “Dreams of Gore: Phase 2”
Writer: Larry Hama; Penciler: Marc Silvestri; Inker: Dan Green & Hilary Barta
Professor Xavier and Jean Grey mind-probe Logan’s memories to assist him in remembering his past. In a flash, Logan remembers being in Palma Soriano, Cuba on November 24, 1963 with Creed. They are on a mission as partners, Creed going under the codename El Tigre and Logan as Emilio Garra. In a local cantina, Creed expounds on the conspiracy surrounding President Kennedy’s assassination when Cuban soldiers burst in to arrest them. The memory ends with Logan trying to escape through a backdoor.
Marc Silvestri, Green and Barta, Wolverine #49.
Wolverine #50 (Jan 1991) – “Dreams of Gore: Phase 3”
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Marc Silvestri; Inker: Dan Green with Hilary Barta and Tom Palmer
Logan confronts Nick Fury about his mission with El Tigre in Cuba during 1963. Nick Fury’s and the CIA’s rapid response to Logan’s queries suggests that the 1963 Cuban mission did occur.
Wolverine #61 (Late Sep 1992) – “Nightmare Quest”
Scripter: Larry Hama; Artist: Mark Texeira
Wolverine has a brief memory of being in the jungles of Southeast Asia (presumably Viet Nam) with Creed and John Wraith. Creed kills a local girl who saw them, arguing that she could have compromised their mission.
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silver fox was a mutant, her powers were never brought forth romulus kept her alive to screw with logan and creed’s heads romulus could heal just like logan, and creed and he might have injected some healing powers in fox. team x and weapon x was invented only to screw up the heads of everyone involved including logan, creed, ansd fox then when romulus had no further use of his programs he has logan or creed kill all participants involved.