Fear Itself: Wolverine #3 (2011)

As the Prometheus remains suspended over New York, Wolverine hangs chained to a nuclear warhead while divisions begin to fracture within STRIKE. Brom and Harrow question Sutton's willingness to detonate a weapon over an allied nation, and soon learn from Bexley that no orders have been received from STRIKE for some time. Suspecting their commander has been acting alone, Bexley confronts Sutton, only to be murdered. Croydon discovers the truth moments later and is also executed after realizing the organization they believed they served had effectively ceased to exist years earlier. Outside, Melita Garner reaches the United Nations and manages to transmit the intelligence she uncovered about Sutton and Project Blackbox to Wolverine's communicator. Meanwhile, Sutton, slipping deeper into psychosis, hallucinates conversations with his dead subordinates while watching news reports identifying him as the mastermind behind the hijacking and exposing his history of psychological trauma. In the weapons bay, Wolverine exploits the growing doubts among Brom and Harrow, convincing them that Sutton has manipulated them for years. When Sutton admits he simply continued operating under the STRIKE name for a mysterious employer after the agency's collapse, Harrow turns against him. During the ensuing confrontation, Brom frees Wolverine, while Logan receives Melita's message confirming Sutton's connection to the brutal Blackbox experiments. After Sutton seriously wounds Harrow, Wolverine orders Brom to evacuate with her while he remains behind to stop their commander. Logan attempts to persuade Sutton that his past does not justify murdering millions, but Sutton activates the launch sequence anyway. As the nuclear warhead is deployed, Wolverine severs Sutton's hand and dives after the falling missile, landing atop it before successfully disarming its trigger moments before impact. The warhead crashes harmlessly into the ground, allowing Logan to survive the fall and prevent the destruction of New York. With the crisis over, Wolverine reunites with Melita, and the two promise to take time away together once the worldwide conflict has ended. Sutton is arrested, but before authorities can imprison him, a representative of Black Air claims custody of the deranged operative, revealing that the organization still has unfinished plans for both Sutton and the Blackbox program.