1974. The Canadian wilderness. The Hulk is wandering, alone, looking for somewhere with no puny humans to bother him. What he finds instead is worse. A man cursed into a savage white beast after eating human flesh in the wild. Marvel calls it the Wendigo. And these two just batter each other senseless, blow for blow, neither one going down.
Then a voice cuts through the chaos. A snarl.
Last page of Incredible Hulk #180. Yellow suit. Claws out. Steps right between two of the most dangerous creatures in Marvel Comics like it's nothing.
Why not try your luck against, the Wolverine.
End of issue. That's the cliffhanger, and it's the reason collectors argue about which comic actually counts as his first appearance. One panel, no name explained, no context. Just a claw-wielding stranger deciding he fancies his chances against the Hulk.
Issue 181 picks up right where it left off
Wolverine jumps between two monsters mid-fight and scatters them both without breaking stride. Those claws are adamantium, the hardest metal known, and he is not remotely bothered by either of them. He can't pierce the Hulk's hide, so he turns the claws on the Wendigo instead.
The Hulk watches this stranger take on a monster twice his size and reasons it out in the simplest way possible: if we share an enemy, he must be my friend. So they team up. Two of Marvel's most dangerous characters, working together, because the Hulk decided that's just how it works.
They bring the Wendigo down together. And then everything goes wrong.
Gas knocks them both out cold. The Hulk reverts to Bruce Banner, unconscious in the dirt. And the man who set the whole trap in motion takes the Wendigo curse onto himself to save his friend, becomes the beast, and vanishes into the forest, gone for good.
When the dust settles, Wolverine and the Hulk go at it one more time. The Hulk wins. Wolverine walks away. And the Hulk is left standing there alone, finding a woman crying in the rubble, not understanding a single part of what just happened.
Why this is the debut that matters
He isn't introduced as an X-Man. He isn't introduced as a hero at all. He's a Canadian government weapon, sent to take down the Hulk, and the book flat out tells you: now you know what Weapon X is. That's the same programme that later gives him the adamantium skeleton the whole world knows him for, mentioned here before he's even properly on the page.
That man in the yellow suit, claws out, absolutely no fear of the Hulk or a cannibal curse-monster? First appearance, full stop. Incredible Hulk #180 and #181. 1974. That's why collectors still hunt these two down together.
Got a copy of either issue?
Whether it's the 180 cliffhanger or the full 181 debut, I'd love to see it. Get in touch, or come talk comics.