Abraham Cornelius

Abraham Cornelius is character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He works as a scientist for Weapon X and was one of the people who played a part in the origin of Wolverine.

Doctor Cornelius
Abraham Cornelius as depicted in Death of Wolverine #4 (December 2014). Art by Steve McNiven (penciller), Jay Leisten (inker), and Justin Ponsor (colorist).
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Comics Presents #73 (March 1991)
Created by	Barry Windsor-Smith
In-story information
Alter ego	Dr. Abraham B. Cornelius
Species	Human
Team affiliations	Weapon X The Hand
Partnerships	Matsu'o Tsurayaba Fenris
Abilities	Scientific genius

Publication history

He was first mentioned in Barry Windsor-Smith's eight page preview prequel chapter to the original "Weapon X" story arc in Marvel Comics Presents #72 but first appeared in Marvel Comics Presents #73 (March 1991).

Fictional character biography

Abraham Cornelius, one of the senior scientists for Weapon X, is employed by Professor Andre Thorton and partnered with Carol Hines. Sometime after World War II, Logan is taken in by the project and Cornelius is assigned with perfecting a technique that bonds the indestructible alloy adamantium to human bone cells. Cornelius uses this to bond Logan's skeleton with adamantium, after which Logan is indoctrinated into the Weapon X assassin program.^[1][2][3]

Years later, Cornelius and Japanese crime lord Matsu'o Tsurayaba resurrect the Russian super-soldier Omega Red. In order to stabilize his mutant power, Omega Red requires the Carbonadium Synthesizer, a device stolen by Team X decades earlier. Omega Red captures Wolverine, who knew the location of the Synthesizer, and several of Wolverine's teammates in the X-Men. Maverick is hired by former Team X liaison Arthur Barrington to prevent Omega Red from obtaining the device, and he tracks another former Team X member, Sabretooth, to Omega Red's location. With Maverick's help, the X-Men are able to defeat the villains. In the final confrontation between the Hand and Wolverine, Cornelius is apparently killed by Maverick.^[4]

In the "Death of Wolverine" storyline, Abraham Cornelius resurfaces and places a bounty on Wolverine.^[5] Wolverine later tracks down Cornelius. After defeating Cornelius' latest experiment, Wolverine slashes the adamantium container before it can be infected with Cornelius' chemicals and is covered in adamantium. Wolverine then kills Cornelius before suffocating in the adamantium and dying.^{[6][3][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Other versions

An alternate universe variant of Abraham Cornelius from Earth-1610 appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint. This version is the head of Weapon X and gave Lady Deathstrike, Beast, and Wolverine their powers.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In other media

Television

• Abraham Cornelius appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by an uncredited actor.^[17]
• Abraham Cornelius appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Jim Ward.^[17]

Film

• Abraham Cornelius makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Hulk vs Wolverine.
• Abraham Cornelius appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, portrayed by David Ritchie. This version is a scientist working with William Stryker.^[2]

Video games

• Abraham Cornelius appears in X2: Wolverine's Revenge, voiced by Don Morrow.^[17]
• Abraham Cornelius appears in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine tie-in game, voiced by David Prince.^[17]