Sabretooth (comics)
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Sabretooth (Victor Creed) is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, and an arch-enemy of Wolverine. He was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and first appeared in Iron Fist volume 1 #14 (August 1977).
"Victor Creed" may or may not be his real name, but it is the street name he is best known by. The character's personality is that of a bloodthirsty mercenary who will not hesitate to murder innocent people to fulfill his contracts. Though skilled and powerful for a supervillain, he is even more arrogant, frequently greatly underestimating his opponents and being soundly beaten as a result.
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Character history
Sabretooth has come to use the name Victor Creed, but it is unlikely to be his original name. Sabretooth's memories have been tampered with by clandestine organizations such as Weapon X and so much of what appears to be his past is not of credible account. His strongest and earliest memory is of being cruelly abused by his father while tied up in his parents' basement, although this memory may have been implanted by Weapon X. It is likely this at least is a real memory as Creed's criminally psychotic personality seems to be, in part, a product of such an early developmentally destructive experience.
Sabretooth is known to have sired a son, Graydon Creed, with another mutant, Mystique. Graydon was a normal human who founded an anti-mutant organization and ran for president but was assassinated by his own mother. For some time, Sabretooth believed himself to be Wolverine's father, which was initially the intention of his creator, but the writers changed their minds and decided to disprove this years later by genetic testing performed by SHIELD, which confirmed that Sabretooth could not be Wolverine's father. It is known that Sabretooth took part in the Weapon X program. It has not been revealed what, if any, enhancements he received from it. He cannot clearly remember that time period. Much later, Sabretooth joined Mister Sinister's Marauders. After this group disbanded, he worked as a mercenary for a long period. During this time, the Hand enlisted his services and enhanced his strength.
At some point he turned himself over to the custody of the X-Men, claiming that he hoped that their telepaths could cure him of his psychosis. However, despite the fact that he assisted them in battles against the X-Cutioner and the Phalanx, he remained homicidally insane. He tried to escape several times, and in the final escape, Wolverine stabbed one of his claws into Sabretooth's brain. Although the brain damage soon healed, he feigned helplessness for some time. At the most opportune moment, he brutally attacked Psylocke, forcing her to telepathically attack him with near-lethal force. Somehow Sabretooth knew this would heal him of an addiction to the "glow" that he recieved from telepathic contact and would furthermore render him highly resistant to telepathic detection and control. He escaped and was confronted by several of the X-Men, who managed to incapacitate him.
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He was turned over to the custody of Dr. Valerie Cooper, who fitted him with a restraining collar and forced him to participate as a member of the government-sponsored X-Factor team. He eventually escaped, and returned to mercenary work. At some point he gained an adamantium skeleton and claws, but they were removed from him by Apocalypse when he was bested in combat by Wolverine. He later joined Mystique's new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, where he participated on an assassination attempt against Senator Robert Kelly. Later, he was forced to become a member of a new version of the defunct Weapon X program and was given back his adamantium. Sabretooth revealed that by means of genetic enhancement the Weapon X program increased his strength and accellerated his healing factor in Wolverine Vol. 2 #166. Eventually he escaped and is now operating as a solo agent.
Early years
The limited series Origin may shed more light on Sabretooth's formative years. It is possible that Sabretooth was once actually Dog Logan, who claimed to have killed the (probably adoptive) father of James Howlett, the man who would become Wolverine. As an adult, Dog had approximately the same height, build, and hair color as Sabretooth, and also had leaf-shaped ears, sharply pointed nails, and amber colored eyes. All characteristics shared with Sabretooth. Dog was superhumanly strong and demonstrated enhanced senses, but had not yet either developed or demonstrated any regenerative healing ability. It was implied in Origin that Dog and James Howlett (Wolverine) were half-brothers, with James being the illegitimate son of Dog's father, Thomas Logan, who happened to look exactly like Wolverine. Thomas Logan did indeed physically abuse his son. James Howlett was raised in a wealthy household, while Dog Logan lived a life of abject poverty as a servant. These factors are significant because James' resemblance to Dog's father and what Dog would probably perceive as an unfair social advantage of James could easily lead to enmity toward Wolverine (even if Sabretooth cannot clearly recall the events). If Sabretooth is actually Dog Logan, he might have (or had) another half-brother, John Howlett, Jr, who died prior to the events of Origin and was implied to have shared Wolverine's powers. In the alternate future of Wolverine: The End, John Howlett III was seen; he resembled Thomas Logan more than he did the Howletts, so presumably Thomas Logan was also the father of John Howlett, Jr as well.
Is Sabretooth a clone?
Sabretooth was a member of the mutant team of mercenaries known as the Marauders, under the employment of Mr. Sinister. Sabretooth was allegedly killed a number of times while working for Mr. Sinister, and Sinister himself said that he had in fact created genetically identical clones of Marauders that had fallen in battle. It is possible that he improved upon the superhuman abilities of these clones, granting them powers the originals did not have, such as Sabretooth's regenerative healing powers. It is also possible that he augmented the original Marauders as well as the clones. For some time, it was not known if the current Sabretooth was the original Sabretooth or a clone of him. It has been suggested by some writers that his regenerative healing factor makes him nearly impossible to clone, leading to the assumption that Victor Creed is the original article.
Powers and abilities
Sabretooth is a mutant with a number of both natural and artificial improvements to his physiology. He regenerates and heals hundreds of times faster than a normal human, and has recovered completely from injuries that would have killed most humans, even those with superhuman abilities. He can regenerate organs such as eyes and large portions of flesh, yet it is unclear if he is able to regenerate missing limbs and vital organs; this "healing factor" also grants immunity to most toxins (except in massive doses) and diseases, gives him enough stamina to exert himself at peak levels for days, and retards aging to an unknown degree, and gives him enhance senses, enabling him to see and hear distant objects more clearly than a normal human, and identify and track someone purely by scent. Most notably his eyesight is so keen that he can see in almost complete darkness, just as a nocturnal cat. This may be a result of being able to see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum. These senses are actually a result of his constant cellular regeneration as are his enhanced agility and reflexes. He is also superhumanly strong to a certain extent, and his strength has been further enhanced by the Hand and the Weapon X program.
Sabretooth's physical appearance also displays animal-like mutations, including sharper-than-normal teeth with two pronounced canines and retractable claws where ordinary humans have fingernails. His eyes also have no visible pupils. Even without adamantium, his claws and teeth are sufficiently strong enough the rend and tear substances as strong as human bone.
At times, Sabretooth's skeleton and claws have been molecularly laced with nigh-indestructible metal adamantium by Apocalypse, who later removed it and bonded it to Wolverine's bones. Later the Weapon X program bonded adamantium to his bones once more.
Skills
Sabretooth is an excellent hand to hand combatant, having been trained by various organizations such as the CIA, Weapon X, the Foreigner, and HYDRA. He is also an expert hunter and tracker, even without the use of his heightened senses. Sabretooth also has developed a high resistance to telepathic probing and manipulation. Although his extreme arrogance gives him the appearance of stupidity, he is actually quite intelligent. He routinely hacks into government data bases to steal classified information and has escaped the highest levels of incarceration.
Did Sabretooth always have a regenerative healing ability?
In Sabretooth's first appearances as an Iron Fist and Luke Cage villain it was not clear that he had a superhuman regenerative healing factor. During a period when he was murdering women under the persona of the Slasher, he was confronted by Misty Knight and punched by her cybernetic arm, shattering his rib cage. This took several months to heal; a seemingly ordinary recovery rate. However, this might be explained by the possibility that the damage was actually more extensive (that his internal organs were somewhat pulverized) and that his ribs healed too quickly and as a result were not set correctly (this has happened to Deadpool at times), which would require special surgery and would account for the time. It is also possible that he didn't have a regenerative healing factor at the time at all. This inconsistancy has yet to be explained by writers and is open to some interpretation.
Other versions of Sabretooth
Age of Apocalypse and the Exiles
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In an alternate universe in Marvel comics depicted in the Age of Apocalypse story line and the Exiles comics there is a different version of Sabretooth. This version of the character has the same origin as the one in the normal continuity but has a different moral alignment. He is actually one of the X-Men and a role model for other mutants in this alternate reality. He became a hero, an ally of Wolverine, and a member of the X-Men, and even adopted another character, Blink, as his daughter. He had "adopted" the feral mutant Wildchild as his sidekick, but Wildchild is now presumed dead in that continuity. In the Exiles comic, he spent decades in a pocket dimension raising mutant children, attempting to teach them ethics and tolerance, without incident. It is reasonably certain he is not of the same immoral constitution as Victor Creed in the normal continuity.
When the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline was nearly destroyed, Sabretooth became the leader of the extra-dimensional band of characters who slide into alternate realities, known as Weapon X. For a time he was also the leader of their counterpart team, the Exiles, and remains with the team to this day.
This version of Sabretooth has no adamantium in his skeleton, but is still superhumanly strong and possesses a regenerative healing factor. In this alternate reality Sabretooth has gained control of his feral tendencies, which has granted him a higher level of self discipline and therefor greater competence than the one in the normal marvel continuity who is "evil."
Ultimate Sabretooth
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Sabretooth was a mutant soldier and commando for Weapon X, under the direction of a man by the name of Colonel Wraith. He appeared to be the only mutant in the program by choice, due to his high-ranking position, and his high authority in the operations. He was practically the same as the original Sabretooth of Earth 616, having accelerated healing and keen senses, with the exception that he had four additional adamantium claws released from the back of each of his hands, much like the adamantium claws that Wolverine possessed. He had a burning hatred for Wolverine, and also, as he stated to Wolverine, in the encounter with Wolverine at Weapon X, for the primitive Homo sapiens. He felt that his cruel, psychotic, nature was a natural part of being a mutant.
His presence in the Ultimate Marvel Universe was very brief compared to that of his regular Marvel counterpart. He gave the cruel boast of how he murdered a wife and child of Wolverine's. He then commenced battle with Wolverine outside the Weapon X compound, initially holding the upper hand, but Wolverine managed to score a critical hit, followed by sending him off the edge of a cliff.
Following Sabretooth's loss to Wolverine, the Weapon X program was dismantled with Colonel Wraith being shot dead by Nick Fury. Sabretooth did not die from his encounter with Wolverine, but rather returned as a high-ranking follower to Magneto in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. His encounter with Wolverine while with the Brotherhood was his final underestimation of the man. While following a boast that he could survive any wound or injury, and could always return to fight and haunt Wolverine, Wolverine gave a vicious answer: he decapitated Sabretooth on the spot.
Appearances in other media
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| Actor Tyler Mane as Sabretooth </table> Sabretooth was portrayed by Tyler Mane in the X-Men motion picture released in 2000. The character has also appeared in the X-Men and X-Men: Evolution animated series.pt:Dentes-de-Sabre (Banda desenhada) |