Sabretooth (character)

Sabretooth (Victor Creed) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men, in particular as an enemy of the mutant Wolverine. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, the character made his first appearance in Iron Fist #14 (August 1977). The original portrayal of Sabretooth was that of a non-powered serial killer, but was later written as a mutant possessing bestial superhuman abilities, most notably a rapid healing factor, razor-sharp fangs and claws, and superhuman senses. He is a vicious assassin, who was responsible for numerous deaths throughout history, both as a paid mercenary and for his personal pleasure. Accounts on how his enmity with Wolverine originated differs depending on different writers. One of the most common accounts is that Wolverine and Sabretooth were both participants of the Cold War supersoldier program Weapon X, and that Sabretooth saw Wolverine as competition and therefore antagonized him. While Wolverine is depicted as suppressing his more savage qualities, Sabretooth does the opposite and embraces them, until the events of the 2014 storyline "AXIS".

The character has appeared in several X-Men media. In live-action, he was portrayed by Tyler Mane in the film X-Men (2000) and by Liev Schreiber in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). In May 2008, Wizard magazine ranked Sabretooth #193 of the 200 best comic book characters of all time. In 2009, Sabretooth was ranked as IGN's 44th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.