10 Shocking Times Superheroes Couldn’t Save Someone
5. J.
Another character whose life is mired in death and sorrow, Wolverine has lived long enough to understand that he can’t possible save everyone, a fact that remains true even for his Ultimate counterpart.
When a teenager wakes up one day and discovers that every living being around him dies and disintegrates, he seeks refuge in a cavern outside of town. The only person capable of getting near J. (we only learn his initial) without turning into dust is, of course, Logan.
What follows is an emotional conversation, as Wolverine explains to the teen that his mutation kills everything on a certain radius around him and that news of his disturbing powers could start a new wave of persecutions against mutants.
As for J., he can only regret that he didn’t get to live a full normal life. Eventually, the X-Man comes out of the cave alone. What makes this particular failure to save someone more tragic is the fact that Logan never even tries to hide the truth from J. and that the only way to save the kid is to kill him. The situation was hopeless from the start.