Warning: Spoilers for Predator versus Wolverine #3 published by Marvel comics(Read the reviews for issues #1 and #2)

After the thrilling second issue that saw Wolverine and Team X(Sabretooth,Maverick, etc) take on a group of Predators issue #3 was relatively calm.

Once again we explore Wolverine’s long and varied history. This time we get a glimpse of his time as the feral and government controlled Weapon X. This is probably Logan at his fierce and most primal,but he doesn’t offer much of a struggle against the Predator as the fight is over pretty quickly  with Wolverine having his head exploded with only an adamantium skull exposed and knocked unconscious as the Predator tries to take his prey off to the stars.

Since the government has invested a fair amount of money into the Weapon X program and Wolverine in particular they are quick to respond to the attempted abduction, even allowing for a nod to the original Predator movie with the pilots who go after the Predator ship named Weathers and Schwartz for the two stars of the movie Carl Weathers and Arnold Schwarzenegger of course. From there we get one of the most unbelievable sequences in the serious so far as an reawakened wolverine(still with only an adamantium skull exposed) is pulled from the Predator ship in high orbit and plummets through the atmosphere, crashing down like a meteor to the ground below. It is probably the most outlandish moment of the series so far and while kind of cool was a little jarring for me as it broke my suspension of disbelief to a certain degree.  Wolverine has proven to be able to survive pretty much anything, but this still feel like a little much.  In the end the showdown between Predator and a feral Weapon X Logan feels a little underwhelming, especially after the previous two encounter, but it offered a nice lead-in to the final showdown and the final issue.

In what was a little bit of a surprise to me we do get one more time period change as a small portion of this issue deals with Wolverine encountering the Predator during his time in Japan. This means we’ll have two different timelines and battles to deal with in Issue #4 which is the final issue, but so far the Benjamin Percy and his team of rotating artists have managed to juggle the different timelines rather well so I don’t see that being a problem here.

Much like the previous two issues we once again see three artists Ken Lashley(present day), Hayden Sherman(Weapon X) and Kei Zama(Japan) take on different time periods and differentiate between the three. Much like issue 2 the transition between styles isn’t to noticeable, but still appreciated. Overall I would say I liked Kei Zama’s art for the Japan era the best.

I almost would have preferred if this issue had been set entirely in Japan as the Weapon X didn’t seem to add much to the overall story aside from the Predator’s obsession with gaining Wolverine’s adamantium skull.  I was excited to see where the Weapon X fight was going to go after the end of the last issue, but I was left somewhat unsatisfied. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it to some degree and that is was a completely awful issue, but out of the 3 issues so far I would definitely say this one is the weakest.

Hopefully they can make up for it with the next issue which promises the conclusion of Logan’s fight with the predator in the present and a fight during Logan’s time in Japan. I’m almost sad to see this series about to come to an end, but I have a feeling this won’t be the last we see of the Predator in the Marvel universe.