Wolverine is one of the most popular and ubiquitous X-Men. Since his first appearance in "The Incredible Hulk #180" in 1974, Wolverine has gained a reputation for being a tough fighter, as well as a stoic, often grumpy, reluctant hero. Wolverine might be a hero, but he's done some pretty terrible things in his time, whether knowingly, by mistake, or under the control of an outside force.
Of course, outside of doing awful things like accidentally murdering his own children or choosing to leave Cyclops to die, there are plenty of times when everyone's favorite grumpy Canadian was just a downright jerk. Even when he's on the right side of heroism, Logan often chooses to be moody, mean, or annoying.
10 He Knocks Out Storm
Wolverine's obsession with Jean Grey has caused him to make poor choices on occasion. While on a mission with Storm to Sara Grey's house after an attack, Wolverine caught a whiff of Jean's scent due to her previous visit (at this point, the X-Men thought she was dead). In his rush to find her, Wolverine charges off to follow the scent – knocking out Storm on the way. Unfortunately, this happened right after he'd almost stabbed her, having mistakenly believed she was possessed, which wasn't the best way to prove she could trust him again.
9 He Continues To Pursue Jean
Wolverine's love for Jean Grey is one of the defining parts of his character. In the 1980s, it was retconned that Jean secretly had feelings for Logan too. However, before that, she was written as clearly not interested.
Consequently, Wolverine continued to pursue a woman who not only wasn't interested in him but happily settled with somebody else. This behavior is a bit of a pattern for Logan. Readers have seen similar obsessions with the wife of Wolverine's friend James Hudson and with Mary-Jane Watson. It's definitely jerk-like behavior.
8 Lecturing (And Then Stabbing) Rachel Summers
For someone who often takes the worst path offered to him, Wolverine has firm ideas about what a hero is, including what they do and do not do. After Selene murdered someone important to her, Rachel Summers was understandably angry and upset and vows to kill Selene in revenge. Wolverine arrives to stop her and proceeds to give her a long lecture about what a hero should do. According to him, killing is not in the job description. Bizarrely, to stop Rachel from going after Selene, he then stabs her. Nothing like almost killing someone to demonstrate that killing is wrong.
7 Maiming Matsu'o Tsurayaba
Wolverine finally met a woman who returned his interest in the form of Mariko Yashida. Unfortunately, she was horribly poisoned by Matsu'o Tsurayaba, after which Wolverine was forced to kill her to end her suffering in one of the saddest deaths in X-Men history. Understandably out for revenge, Wolverine went after Tsurayaba. Less understandably, instead of killing him, he decides to come back once a year – on the anniversary of Mariko's death – to slice off one of his body parts. Eventually, Psylocke kills Tsurayaba to put him out of his misery. Logan's quest for revenge is one thing, but his method shows his propensity for cruelty.
6 He Decides To Kill Hank Pym
One of the most frustrating habits Wolverine has is deciding to take action without waiting to talk through his plans. This often leads to some bad decision-making. For example, during Age Of Ultron, a group of heroes gathers in Nick Fury's secret base to travel into the future and go after the murderous robot.
Of course, Wolverine decides he's not going to wait for a plan and goes off in the time machine to kill Hank Pym before he can create Ultron. Not only is it a jerk move to decide something so big alone, his actions break time and reality itself. Oops.
5 He Tries To Kill Cyclops
Wolverine claims to be the best at what he does, and apparently what he does is solve problems by stabbing people. When Cyclops was taken over by the Dark Phoenix, he killed Professor X, escaped, and then formed his own team of X-Men. Beast decides to bring younger versions of the original X-Men into the present, so the younger version of Cyclops can try to get through to his older self. In classic Wolverine style, Wolverine decides the best thing to do is kill the young Cyclops so he can never grow up to become the Dark Phoenix and kill the professor. It's a classic Wolverine solution.
4 He Attacks Spock
Wolverine doesn't seem to know how to behave when he's crossing into other universes either. In Star Trek/X-Men written by Scott Lobdell, the X-Men chase Proteus through a dimensional rift and find themselves fighting alongside the Enterprise. The X-Men manage to transport onto the Enterprise where they try to sneak Gambit into the sick bay. Spock detects them on board and is attacked by Wolverine, which isn't the best way to introduce yourself. Embarrassingly for Wolverine, Spock knows who he is and easily puts him down with a nerve pinch.
3 Betraying The X-Men
Perhaps one of the jerkiest things Wolverine has ever done is not siding with his own team, the X-Men, during Avengers Vs X-Men. When the two sides went toe to toe, Storm was ready to blow apart her own marriage to Black Panther in order to stick by the X-Men. Meanwhile, Wolverine was more than happy to ditch his fellow mutants and team up with the Avengers instead. The X-Men also wanted to protect Hope Summers from the Dark Phoenix, whereas the Avengers wanted to imprison her. Wolverine's solution? Kill her, of course!
2 Almost Stabbing Nightcrawler
In the earlier era of X-Men, writers focused more on the animal side of Wolverine. Occasionally, his animal instincts would take over and see him flying into a rage. As the character became more popular, these rages were toned down until Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter, decided he wanted to play them up again.
In "Uncanny X-Men #143," Nightcrawler kisses Wolverine's girlfriend under the mistletoe, sending Wolverine into a berserker rage. Wolverine attacks his best friend, but luckily Nightcrawler escapes Wolverine's claws by teleporting away from him. Another day; another friend almost stabbed by Wolverine.
1 He Was Homophobic About The Punisher
Wolverine has never been one to mind his manners, and he's pretty free with his insults. Sometimes, his sharp tongue is shown through biting one-liners, while other times, his quips are much more problematic. In "Punisher #186", Wolverine shows an especially nasty side.
After finding Frank Castle, Wolverine decides to get revenge for a previous encounter that involved the Punisher running him over with a steamroller and taunting him with a homophobic joke. Wolverine dangles a male body magazine over the Punisher, questioning why Frank, a single man, is so neat and organized. The implication that Frank might be gay is a low blow, and a real jerk move from someone who is part of a marginalized group themselves.
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