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Characters / Marvel Comics: Sabretooth

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WARNING: There are unmarked spoilers on these sheets for all but the most recent comics.

Victor Creed / Sabretooth

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wolverines_vol_1_1_dellotto_variant_textless.jpg

Nationality: Canadian

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: Iron Fist #14 (August, 1977)

"Now it's my turn to see if I can find that spirit to overcome my past. The heart to push through the glaring eyes that only see the beast I was. You'll see Logan. I'll do it. I'll find it. Spirit of a Wolverine."
— Victor Creed, AXIS #9

Victor Creed, also known as Sabretooth, is a Marvel Comics character. He first appeared in Iron Fist comics in 1977 where he's depicted as a Serial Killer. Later, he was transplanted into Wolverine and X-Men comics as a vicious mutant assassin who is responsible for numerous deaths both as a paid mercenary and for his personal pleasure. He is a sadistic, unrepentant, bestial mass–murderer with superpowers and is proud of that fact, believing both Humans and Mutants are Bastards and that he's just the only one honest enough to recognize it, and embrace the monster within. This plays directly into his relationship with Wolverine, his Arch-Enemy, Good Counterpart and Shadow Archetype with nearly identical powers, with whom he shares a long and complicated past Shrouded in Myth, with neither of them really sure how they first knew each other or why Victor feels such a grudge against him.

What is consistent, though, is that Creed is obsessed with Logan and will give him frequent Breaking Lectures about how he should turn to The Dark Side and become an animal like him, whilst simultaneously hell–bent on showing that he is Logan's Always Someone Better. Though tides changed over the years where Logan began beating him in their exchanges.

During the AXIS event, he's one of villains inverted to the side of heroes. And when the reinversion happened, he was close to Iron Man, who had devised a shielding which protected him from the reinversion, which also prevented Sabretooth from becoming evil again. Sabretooth decided to follow Wolverine's example and try to do good, but before that, he turned himself in to the authorities to pay for the crimes he had committed. He worked with different teams, such as Rogue's Avengers Unity Division, Magneto's X-Men, briefly teamed up with Iron Fist, and finally was "recruited" by Old Man Logan, serving his longest post-AXIS team–stint. When Logan and Warpath left the team, Victor took over as leader. They successfully accomplished many jobs under his leadership, even killing William Stryker for good. Through a series of tragic events, Creed was reverted to his old self to pick up where he left off in his evil.

He moved to the Island of Krakoa with other mutants, including Xavier, Magneto, and the X-Men, having made the island their own Sovereign Nation. But his bloodthirsty ways and murder of humans led to his exile beneath Krakoa in stasis where he will remain conscious but immobile forever… or maybe not.

Sabretooth has appeared in:

Notable Comic Book Appearances

Animations

Live-Actions

Video Games

Sabretooth provides examples of:

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    A-H 
  • Abusive Parents:
    • Zebediah Creed was horrible, treating young Victor like an animal by keeping him chained a cellar and pulling out his teeth and claws regularly (due to his powers his fangs and claws grew back in 24 hours). In House of X, it's said that his mother into the same category of abusing Creed just as his father did.
    • Downplayed (zigzagged) with Sabretooth's own son, Graydon Creed. Victor bullies Graydon, but it's more teasing that shows he likes making him uncomfortable than anything like what Victor underwent. Unlike his own father, Victor does have respect for his son — even wishing him luck on his campaign and telling Graydon to remember him after he's president. In Pak's Weapon X, Sabretooth sacrificed himself to bring Graydon back from Hell — but he gets released by Marduk Kurios.
      • With all of the above said, in the 90s cartoon, it's implicitly played straighter, and it's even implied that Sabretooth murders Graydon after years of abusing him as a child.
  • Act of True Love: With Monet St. Croix in Uncanny X-Men (2016). Fused with Emplate, she becomes a vampire and Creed lets her feed on him. It drains his strength, his Healing Factor, and seemingly his inversion which causes him to become the monster he didn't want to be again. Despite those issues, her well–being is his main concern.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: In the X-Men movie series, he starts out looking like he does in the comics, however his younger self looks far more like a normal human.
  • Adaptation Origin Connection: In the X-Men Film Series he is explicitly stated and shown to be Wolverine's brother, establishing a familial connection between the two that was hinted at quite often in the comics but never definitively established.
  • Adaptational Job Change: In his original appearance and for most of his history Sabretooth has been a mercenary, either blatantly out for himself or working for someone but still pursuing his own agenda (and betraying said employer on a whim if it ever suits him to do so). In adaptations, however, this is usually done away with, and he is instead made a (usually) loyal member of Magneto's Brotherhood, presumably because he makes a cooler choice for The Brute role than the Blob.
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head: During intimate moments with some of his lovers, he's been shown to gently cup their face. He's done it with Monet, Holly, Mystique, and an old (literally) fling at a Japanese brothel he's frequented.
  • Always Save the Girl: Shows this with Holly and Monet in First X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. He had prior missions when he became a member of the teams. But they eventually become his only genuine concern, rather than the overall teams or missions.
  • Always Someone Better: To Wolverine. Sabretooth's creators, Claremont and Byrne intended for this trope to be the case in their relationship, with Creed being the superior version of Wolverine, whom the latter could never beat in straight fight. After the 90's however, many writers depicted Sabretooth getting his ass kicked more often, with the roles reversed and Logan becoming his superior.
  • Amazon Chaser: Very clearly
    • He becomes attracted to Jean and flirts with her after she brutalizes him.
    • Psylocke beats him sparring and he calls her his kind of woman, then kisses her dagger.
    • Leisl talks about getting revenge and Creed says her attitude is a turn on.
    • After Bonnie shoots a man in the face, Creed is impressed and finds it funny.
    • Mystique wants to avenge Destiny, and Creed thinks her scent is a turn on when she's angry. Much later he says Mystique's gotten feisty after being resurrected and he likes it.
    • Finally, there's the fact Monet St. Croix was his love interest at one point.
      • His Age of Apocalypse and X-Men Forever counterparts also show this. The former being attracted to Psylocke after she kicks his ass and the latter being attracted to Daisy Duggan's ruthlessness.
  • Amnesiacs are Innocent: What with the Lobotomies he's been known to get with concomitant memory loss 'tooth has had a few shots at redemption like this.
  • And I Must Scream: His savagery and remorselessness in House of X #6 earns him imprisonment beneath Krakoa in a permanent state of conscious stasis.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: He does this in the '80s run of Daredevil. Three teens go down to the sewers after the Morlock massacre, thinking it open turf. Sabretooth attacks, ordering them to leave and taking the girl for a mate. He says he'd die for her now that she is his and her friends run away, leaving her behind.
  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: With saber-toothed cats as the animal in question, going from his first appearence.
  • Antagonistic Offspring: Graydon is this toward him, being severely bitter at both his mutant parents casually abandoning him. But being fair to Victor, he was in the dark on the entire thing. He thought he was with a woman named Zauber in Germany, and he naturally figured she was dead upon seeing her corpse. He didn't know it was really Mystique who faked her death, let alone that she was pregnant with his child.
  • Arch-Enemy: To Wolverine.
  • Archnemesis Dad: Whilst his status as Wolverine's father was ultimately revealed to be non-canon, when he believed himself to be Wolverine's dad, he was still Wolverine's worst enemy. Played completely straight in Claremont's X-Men Forever AU setting, where he genuinely is Wolverine's dad.
  • At Least I Admit It: His primary justification when Wolverine calls him out on his animalistic behavior.
  • The Atoner: For a little while post-AXIS. It doesn't last and was mostly dropped after Resurr Xion.
  • Avenging the Villain: This is one of the stories for what started the feud between him and Logan. Logan killed his brother Saul. Subverted in that Creed isn't trying to avenge Saul out of love, so much he's mad that Logan killed Saul and not him. So Logan then took Saul's place as Creed's whipping boy — inheriting Saul's annual birthday beatings.
  • Ax-Crazy: He may be very intelligent and a highly effective manipulator, but beneath that lies a homicidal maniac who will kill you the minute that you become inconvenient or annoying.
  • Badass Boast: When sentenced to permanent imprisonment within Krakoa he threatens Professor X, promising to kill not just him but his kids and their kids, ultimate swearing to make his entire line extinct. Coming from an immortal Serial Killer, this is hardly an idle threat.
  • Beard of Evil: When depicted as bearded, it usually helps emphasize what a monster he is.
  • Beast Man: Often depicted with a very hirsute physique, possesses fangs and claws, and is capable of lion–like roars and growls. Part of the reason he despises Wolverine is because Creed absolutely loves and embraces his own feral nature and resents Logan being the same yet looking down on him for it.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Monet in Uncanny X-Men. The two teased one another and bickered a good bit. Monet had a clear Tsundere attitude with him, and had a habit of starting the snark fests with him. Sabretooth in turn as has called out her snobbish attitude. Bunn confirmed that they had a torturous love.
  • Berserk Button: Graydon was one in X-Factor. During a tussle with Mystique, she takes Graydon's form and Creed warns her she's gone someplace she shouldn't have. He says she won't distract him with Graydon, so much as make him mad. He promptly wastes no time taking her out with one good slash.
  • Big Brother Bully: Extremely towards Saul and Clara Creed. He frequently beat Saul and had a tradition of giving him annual birthday–beatings. He once forced Saul to maim Clara, leaving the left side of her face disfigured.
  • Big Eater: Shown to be this on a few occasions. One example where he's said to have eaten over 20 meals in 24 hours.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: He didn't originally have these, but after his revamp in the 90s they've been a staple feature of his look.
  • Blood Knight: After his inversion, Creed genuinely tries to be a good person. However as shown in Wolverines he's still an incredibly savage person who revels in a fight.
  • Boxed Crook: He spent a large chunk of The '90s locked up by the X-Men, who were attempting to rehabilitate him. It didn't take.
  • Breakout Villain: He used to be a minor Iron Fist villain.
  • The Brute: Not always, but one of his more common characterizations (especially in adaptations) is as a vicious, bloodthirsty thug with little in the way of ambition or creative thinking. Even his more intelligent and independent characterizations often have some shades of this by virtue of him generally being Unskilled, but Strong.
  • Bullying a Dragon: He's had some moments of this, openly provoking others stronger than he is or who have him at their mercy. He's done so with Bishop, Jean Grey, and Amadeus Cho for examples.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: His exchange with Director Malcom in Weapon X sums him up perfectly.
    Director: And what do you have to say for yourself, Agent Sabretooth. I swear, the brutalization that took place at your hands—
    Creed: I'm afraid you're gonna have to be a little more specific doc –– I brutalize a lot of people.
  • Cain and Abel: The Cain to Saul and Clara's Abels.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: He considers himself a violent and rabid animal and has no problem acting like one and gloating about it.
  • Carpet of Virility: It's no secret that Creed is a very hairy fellow◊. Though like Wolverine, some artists get lazy and don't draw his body hair.
  • The Champion: Attempted to be this for three of his love interests, Monet, Holly, and Bonnie. It worked for a short while, but he ultimately failed all of them — see Failure Knight below.
  • A Chat with Satan: A persistent aspect of Sabretooth's relationship with Wolverine.
  • The Chessmaster: Shows shades of this, usually when it comes to finding new ways to hurt Logan as much as possible. But he's had other moments of brilliance. Tempered by his Brilliant, but Lazy tendencies.
  • Chronic Villainy: After his inversion. He genuinely wants to be good, and is trying to atone for his sins. But, the inversion wasn't meant to last. He shows signs of slipping in Bunn's Uncanny when he's hunting a dinosaur and tries to reign himself in, but can't. It only goes downhill for him there.
  • Clark Kenting: He does this in chapter 22 of Weapon X-Force, where he's just wearing a suit and very conspicuous glasses. His code–name, Dick Steele, is no less subtle.
  • Continuity Snarl: For one thing, Wolverine: Origin seemed to imply stuff that was contradicted or ruled out by X-Men Origins: Sabretooth, which was in turn contradicted by Wolverine: Origin II.
  • Covers Always Lie: A good few cases with Weapon X.
    • Issue 16 has him maiming Logan on the cover, which never happened in the issue.
    • He's depicted wearing his Uncanny X-Men costume for the first 14 issues, but he wears street clothes throughout those issues.
    • Issue 24's cover shows Creed and the team dead in a mass grave. They weren't killed or sent to Hell in the issue, and despite being on the cover, Mystique wasn't even in the issue.
    • Issue 27 shows a distraught Monet trying to hold on to Creed. Monet is hardly in the chapter, her bond with Creed wasn't a focal point, and hadn't been since issue 24.
  • Crass Canuck: Possibly an even cruder and more violent Canadian than Wolverine. Like Logan, Sabretooth is a mutant with enhanced senses, prominent claws, a Healing Factor, and he can go into murderous rages. Unlike Logan, however, who tries really hard to suppress his berserker rage, Sabretooth embraces his animalistic nature, and deliberately does anything he can to be as violent and evil as possible, including murder, rape, and cannibalism. Additionally, just to make his enmity with Wolverine even more personal, every year on Logan's birthday, Sabretooth visits him just to hurt someone he cares about and make his life even more miserable.
  • Deadpan Snarker: If he wasn't such a murderous sociopath, you could almost laugh at some of his comments.
  • Death Is Cheap: Partly due to his Healing Factor and partly due to his being the most iconic villain of the most iconic X-Men character. Beheadings, executions, being sent to Hell, one way or another Creed always finds a way to come back.
  • Depending on the Artist: Creed has been a handsome man with weird nails. He's been hideous man who'd make you cringe. He can be an average, but still odd–looking fellow. Or he can be utterly monstrous and almost half–animal in his appearance — to the point he doesn't even walk erect.
  • Depending on the Writer: He may be the most inconsistent character in Marvel.
    • He can be a Genius Bruiser /Manipulative Bastard or The Brute / Dumb Muscle
    • He can be a crime boss, or just henchmen–level.
    • He can be berserker in need of anger management or the cool–headed foe.
    • He can be a psychopath, incapable of human emotion or affection. The next min, he has his moments of genuine love for certain people.
    • He can be evil since childhood or a scared boy who became psychologically screwed up due to his father's abuse, combined with not learning to control his mutation.
    • He can be a threatening force to be reckoned with or a small–time frat–boy who annoys everyone.
  • Dirty Business: His professional specialty for many decades now, both in the employ of governments and free-range as a mercenary. He's very good at it, too, though given his savage nature he inevitably leaves behind a higher bodycount than his employers would like.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: With Bonnie. He demands answers on what's going on after saving her from strange soldiers. She's also confused but turned on by the fighting, so she undresses and makes moves on Creed. They have sex for hours and he gets back to his questions afterwards.
  • The Dreaded: Even hiring him is dangerous, because he will turn on employers the minute that they piss him off or cease being useful to him. Lampshaded by Creed himself when speaking to an employer. The man says he's aware of Creed's capabilities, with the latter saying it's good because he knows what'll happen should he cross him.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Uncanny shows this. We see him swerving and speeding down the road with Monet telling him to slow down, saying he's as dangerous behind the wheel as he is in a fight.
  • Dumb Muscle: Besides Bunn's Uncanny X-Men, Creed has been this every other time he's been on a team. His stints in The Marauders, Exodus's Brotherhood, Avengers 1959, Weapon X, and in Mystique's Brotherhood.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Initially, Sabretooth was just a perfectly ordinary human serial killer. Everything changed when he was transferred to the X-Men's rogues gallery.
  • Eating the Eye Candy: Has been on the giving & receiving end of this trope.
    • An example of the former happens in his 2022 solo series, where he invites other mutants who have been banished to the pit of Krakoa into his mansion. As Oya & Nekra enter, they both warn Creed to watch his eyes.
    • A latter case happens in Uncanny X-Men vol 4, where Monet (whom he had a Ship Tease with) offers to watch him while he lifts & moves heavy stuff into their new hideout.
  • Egomaniac Hunter: As far as he's concerned, he's the one true predator of humanity.
  • Enemy Eats Your Lunch: One issue has him encounter Wolverine at a diner and takes the pie that Wolverine had ordered and helps himself to it right in front of him. He didn't even like the pie, he just did it to be a dick
  • Eternal Love: He and Mystique have become this. Since Aaron's 2010 X-Men run, he and Mystique have been treated as an off and on couple with an open relationship. Despite everything they've done to one another, they always end up together again. That said, Mystique is very much Creed's False Soulmate, as, in spite of the genuine emotion he puts into the relationship, she is merely passing the time while pining for her dead wife.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: A few instances over the years show he loved his mother.
    • Memory Implants made him think his father killed his mother and he screams in agony when recalling it.
    • Wolverine calls him a motherless piece of — and Creed clobbers him before he can finish, saying that was for bringing his mother into it.
    • A flashback shows he put his elderly mother in the country's most expensive nursing home when she had cancer. He visited her with gifts and spent his time doting on her. We only have The Founder's word on all of this, though, and since Sabretooth himself has never mentioned any of it or been shown reacting to his mother's death, it is entirely possible that The Founder just made it all up to test The Old Woman (who hated Sabretooth) by seeing if she would go through with killing the woman who he had told her was Victoria Creed.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • He has committed rape and child murder, but apparently draws the line at child sexual abuse, going by Wolverine #127. After capturing an unconscious Kitty Pryde, Sabretooth balefully wonders what he should do with her, immediately dismissing anything sexual because Kitty is still "below the legal limit." Interestingly, as this scene is playing out, the narration (which is presumably by Kitty) ironically keeps going on about how Sabretooth is nothing but a sadistic hedonist with no limits or morals.
    • A flashback sequence in Deadpool Vol. 6 #34 shows that he's visibly disturbed when Deadpool murdered his parents, and sets his childhood home on fire.
  • Everyone Can See It: In Uncanny X-Men and Weapon X, seven characters have made insinuations about him and Monet.
    • Psylocke asks why they don't just get a room during one of their snark–fests and thinks they may be flirting. In the finale, she notes that they ran off, how weird they've been, and compares them to Starkweather and Fugate.
    • Callisto was next, mockingly calling Monet Creed's "little girlfriend" at first, and later during a spat, she cuts in to warn them of the situation but wryly apologizes for interrupting "whatever's going on" between them.
    • Emplate later points out that he detects what seems like affection from Monet when it came to Creed. Later he's able to manifest Creed's claws after feeding on him and threatens to gut Monet, but says that Sabretooth would do it himself eventually. Monet responds by snarking at him looking down on the boys she hangs around with.
    • Deathstrike comes up in Weapon X. When Creed is briefing them on Monet and the mission to save her, Deathstrike instantly notes Monet as his ex girlfriend, causing Creed to become defensive.
    • Domino instantly follows as a Shipper on Deck as soon as she hears Deathstrike's comment, thinking it adorable. When she sees Creed shyly trying to speak with Monet, she gushes, tells Monet about how he wanted to save her, and how nobody believed his protests.
    • After hearing Domino summarize things, Deadpool instantly follows and asks impatiently if they're going to kiss which causes Creed and Monet to defensively tell him to shut up.
    • Finally, Omega Red interrupts to tell them to focus on love after they finished with war. But later when Creed and Monet finally get to talk about what happened between them,Omega Red can be seen watching them with a coy grin.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Wolverine; he's an example of what he would have become had he given in to his animal side and allowed his bitterness towards the world to morph into brutal misanthropy.
  • Eviler than Thou: As Mr. Sinister reminds him in his first appearance, manhandling the ferociously powerful Creed with one hand as easily as if he were a petulant child. On the other hand, Sabretooth has managed to overcome Sinister at least twice, though both instances involved outmaneuvering him instead of overpowering him outright.
  • Evil Is Bigger: He is at least as muscular and powerfully built as Wolverine... and 15 inches (38 centimeters) taller.
  • Evil Is Petty: Most villains want world domination and unlimited power. Victor is happy just having endless opportunities to make Wolverine suffer. He's certainly got the intellect and competence to work on a larger scale, but even when he does; it usually leads back to tormenting Logan.
    • To demonstrate Victor's pettiness - for decades he made it a tradition to track down Wolverine, wherever he happened to be and brutally attack him on every single one of Logan's birthdays.
  • Face of a Thug: And how. He canonically has Pointy Ears, fangs, Big Ol' Eyebrows, and monochromatic amber eyes, and is furry enough to be animalistic instead of having a tough beard. His enormous size and clawed hangs certainly aren't helping, either. This is often brought up as one of the original reasons that his misanthropy developed, since he believed that the world wouldn't want him anyway looking the way he did.
  • Failure Knight: As mentioned in The Champion, he failed to save his three love interests.
    • He has to murder Bonnie when the cure for the plague she was infected with gets destroyed in a lab explosion during his fight.
    • His body is controlled by a parasite mutant and forces him to fatally stab Holly, and he fails to get her to a hospital in time.
    • After Monet is cursed by Emplate, Creed lets her feed on him. This only enables and strengthens Emplate who gains greater influence over Monet all the sooner, leading to her Face–Monster Turn.
  • Fall Guy: Plays this role in 2019's House of X, where he tags along with Mystique and the Brotherhood into the new Super Supremacist mutant nation of Krakoa and is seemingly assigned to take care of the fledgling nation's Dirty Business, only to be abandoned by his teammates, retrieved by Emma Frost and subjected to a Kangaroo Court that ends with him being dumped down into the depths of Krakoa. Given Creed's long, 'long history of getting a little too dirty with his Dirty Business, the whole thing feels less like him being justifiably punished for his crimes and more like Krakoa's rulers intentionally setting him up to do something criminal so they can make an example of him. Ever the cynic, Creed sees this himself, but he's telepathically muzzled by Jean Grey when he inevitably starts making threats.
  • Fan Disservice: Him and sexing–up Momma in a Japanese brothel, surrounded by dead bodies and a cow Victor was just eating◊.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Can come off very civil and fatherly, but it's all an act.
  • Feral Villain: Exploited and arguably inverted, while talkative ‘tooth is meant to come off as a wild animal that can leave the trappings of civilization when it suits him, showing up in his first appearance fighting Iron Fist. All his intelligence and planning facilitate his animal urges and instincts rather than holding them back. He can also play at being completely feral which makes it hard to distinguish the real him and near brain-dead Maurauder clones Sinister keeps around.
  • First Love: Holly Bright, aka Holo, was this for him in First X-Men.
  • Flirting Under Fire: He and Monet do this in Uncanny X-Men (2016), with Psylocke calling them out on it.
    Psylocke: Are you two still bickering? Why not just get a room.
    Monet: Why Psylocke, do I detect a hint of jealousy?
    Psylocke: Not hardly. But if you two have time to squabble...or flirt — if that's what you two are doing...then I can't be convinced we were all needed for this mission.
  • Foe Romance Subtext: In the 2020 Wolverine title during the Sabretooth War arc, Quentin snarks that what Creed feels for Logan to drive his campaign of torment for years is certainly a four letter word, but definitely not hate as Victor claims. Going on about how being brothers in arms makes them closer than any bond, closer than even lovers, doesn't really dissuade that notion.
  • Forced to Watch: When he ambushes Wild Child and Aurora, he brutalizes the latter and forces the former into a corner to watch — threatening to kill Aurora if Wild Child tries to intervene at any point.
  • Freudian Excuse:
    • His abusive father is one. As a child, he was chained up, regularly beaten, and had his teeth forcibly pulled. Creed lampshades it in Duggan's 2016 Deadpool run when he admits all the lives he ruined are on him, but his father showed him the ropes. He's called a killer in House of X, which causes him to grin and say it's just like his momma made him.
    • He's given another in First X-Men where he goes completely over the edge after losing Holly, the girl he'd fallen in love with.
  • Friends with Benefits: He's been shown to have a few of these, namely Ruth in Mary Shelley Overdrive, and Momma in Wolverine #300. Both women he appears to be on amicable terms with, and has been sleeping with for a while. More extreme with Momma who is a senior citizen, but has known Victor since she first came to the Japanese brothel he frequents.
  • Fully-Embraced Fiend: The dividing line between him and Wolverine, who would rather Resist the Beast.
  • Fur and Loathing: From his first appearance he had a costume that evoked this mixing fur with a bodysuit all his other costumes have largely aped this appearance. even when he goes around in civilian clothes he's generally hairy enough to count for this. His 2004 miniseries even centered around his successful hunt of the wendigo for its pelt, it looks fabulous.
  • The Gadfly: A persistent character trait. In a larger sense, see below at Troll, but even in casual conversation, Sabretooth can't seem to keep from needling everyone around him. Occasionally involves Flaw Exploitation and Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • Genius Bruiser: Doesn't come up much primarily because of his extreme arrogance which tends to make him look less intelligent than he actually is. However, he's a very skilled tactician and quite an accomplished hacker. Like Wolverine — though perhaps to a lesser extent — he is an Omniglot, a highly–trained professional soldier and mercenary, and a veteran of countless wars, not to mention an incredibly cruel and efficient manipulator. Underestimate him at your peril.
  • Good Counterpart: Several examples:
    • Wolverine serves as this to him in canon; they both have strong, savage instincts, but Wolverine refuses to let himself become just a brutal beast.
    • His alternate self from the highly negative parallel timeline Age of Apocalypse. This version of Sabretooth displayed higher morals to begin with, being horrified when Apocalypse tried to turn nuclear weapons on the world and trying to stop him. This led to him being taken in by Magneto's X-Men, where he was treated with basic human kindness and decency for the first time in his life: as a result of this, he genuinely reformed, becoming The Atoner as well as a surrogate father for Blink, in addition to developing/showing a much more jovial, sincerely friendly personality (although he and Logan still didn't really get along, it was more of a friendly rivalry than the bloody relationship they have in the 616 universe).
    • Downplayed with his alternate self from X-Men Forever; he teams up with the X-Men for revenge on Wolverine's killers, and shows signs of starting to fit in with them, even grieving for his son's death in his own way.
    • His Inverted persona also becomes this to his evil self.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Even after becoming a good guy, he's still a huge dick.
  • Groin Attack: He's been a victim of this quite a few times. One very painful example being The Native stabbing him in the crotch when he attacks Logan.
  • Handicapped Badass: The X-Men Forever version of him, due to Mutant Burnout, loses his eyes and then loses his right hand, but still remains a powerful and deadly fighter.
  • Healing Factor: Wolverine has noted that Creed's healing factor is superior to his own.
  • Heel–Face Brainwashing: Sabretooth as one of the villains who joined Magneto's Villainous Rescue operation during the initial big battle in AXIS, and like the others he had his morality reversed by the Inversion spell. Unlike the other villains, his Inversion sticks. He decides to honor Logan's memory by finding his own Wolverine. Sadly, it wore off, bringing him back to his sadistic self.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: He's had a number of attempts at redemption over the years at these over the years, but AXIS made it stick the longest.
  • The Heavy: If he isn't the Big Bad then he's usually this for Logan for the real villain.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's a big guy period. How big can vary. This trope tends to come into play with him and whoever his love interest is. The most blatant case being Holly, whom he towered over to a ridiculous degree◊.

    I-Z 
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Very open about, and even more proud of it.
    • Eats Babies: Has eaten humans many times and he LOVES snacking on live babies.
  • I Regret Nothing: Often his attitude when others try to lecture or rehab him on his murderous behavior. He usually responds with annoyance to the lectures and threatens that he isn't going to stop.
  • Identical Stranger: Bears an uncanny resemblance to Logan's half–brother Dog. For years, fans speculated that they were one and the same, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine goes along with that idea, but later stories have shown that they are in fact not the same individual.
    • When the two actually meet, Victor gives a sort of Pretender Diss by calling him the guy who must be Logan's brother who no one knows or cares about. Dog fires back by calling him the guy who wishes he was Logan's brother.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Goes into Evil Is Petty, but he's downright juvenile on occasion for someone over 100.
  • Insecure Love Interest: Was shown to be this in Mary Shelley Overdrive when Bonnie suggests them leaving New York and going away together. Creed is surprised that she actually wants to be with him.
  • Interplay of Sex and Violence:
    • He's been shown to kill some of his lovers.
    • In AXIS, his first meeting with Mystique was retconned to include this. Instead of meeting in Germany when she was posing as Zauber, he met the real her and they tried to kill each other before they had sex.
  • Ironic Hell: When he goes to hell after finally biting it, Mephisto strips him of his sentience and puts a collar on him, making Creed the animal in death he always claimed to be in life. But this turns out to have been a defective clone.
  • It's All About Me: Notoriously selfish and egocentric. If he ever goes out of his way to act like you matter to him, that's the first clue he's planning something. He openly declares to Maverick that the only person he's ever been concerned with is himself. The only exceptions have been his mom and his love interests.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: When he's working for somebody else, Wolverine will generally be more emotionally invested in defeating him than his employer(s).
  • Jerkass: As a villain, when he isn't manipulating somebody, this is the nicest thing you can say about him.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Sabretooth once delivered an epic verbal beating to Wolverine in the last part of Killable. Even Wolverine seems to admit that everything Creed said was right, since he doesn't dare to raise an objection once.
  • Joker Immunity: While most villains with a Healing Factor qualify for this by default, being Wolverine's penultimate villain gives ol' Sabes a VIP case, with two absolutely confirmed deaths on his record that he came back from and tons of Never Found the Body cases. Of special note is Creed's 2007 death in Wolverine's solo title, which saw him decapitated with the Murasama Blade (a sword specifically forged to kill people with healing factors) and later being shown in hell just to establish him as being very definitely Deader than Dead. Comics being what they are, the reset button was eventually pushed on this, with the laughable Hand Wave that it was just a clone that Wolverine killed and not the real thing (which is semi-plausible given the Send in the Clones example below, but you'd figure if anyone could tell the difference between the real Creed and one of his clones that it would be Logan).
  • Kick the Dog: His entire raison d'etre. He has the skill and intellect to aim for bigger things, but endless acts of cruelty are what provide a more immediate rush for him.
  • Lean and Mean: His original look is this when compared to more modern takes.
  • Light Is Not Good: Contrasting him from Wolverine even further. Logan is a short, stocky, extra hairy, brunette Jerk with a Heart of Gold who always tries to be a better person. Creed is the tall, blond–haired, blue–eyed (depending on the artist) man who seems to be evil incarnate at certain points.
  • Lightning Bruiser: This is a big part of why he's so dangerous. He's massively strong and has at least multiple decades' worth of combat experience, but he's also extremely quick and has superhumanly efficient joints and musculature that provides him with agility and grace that is far beyond what any normal human is capable of. Wolverine has said on multiple occasions that even when he knows Creed is lying in wait, he's just so goddamn fast that it's a foregone conclusion - Creed's going to get him anyways, and it's going to hurt a lot.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Goes into not so different with Graydon. At first, Victor can't believe a pencil–neck sissy like Graydon could be his son, and says he'd rather have Logan for a son. After Graydon kills Birdy just to spite him, Sabretooth admits that he is in fact his son, referring to him as his "darling baby boy." From that point on, it's worth noting that Victor always refers to Graydon as "son."
  • Lobotomy:
    • He received one from Logan via a claw through the frontal lobe just before the Age of Apocalypse storyline kicked in. Once the regular timeline was restored, he was shown to have been reduced to a docile, almost dog–like mentality, and Boom–Boom took a shine to caring for him. It lasted a lot less time than Creed let on, and just before he made his escape, he eviscerated Psylocke in front of Boomer to mock her.
    • He received a psychic lobotomy at the end of Pak's run on Weapon X, stripping away his cognition and reducing him to a purely animalistic mindset. This actually prompts Marduk to send him back to Earth, as Victor being incapable of comprehending the irony of damning himself to Hell whilst trying to save his soul stripped away the pleasure he could derive from it.
  • Love Hurts:
    • He was controlled by an enemy and used to murder Holly, who he planned to settle down with.
    • Bonnie, someone else he planned to go away with, was infected with a plague and the cure was destroyed in an explosion during his fight with her attackers. As a result, he has to mercy kill her himself.
    • Mystique betrays him constantly.
    • Finally, he and Monet have many unfortunate circumstances that keep pulling them away from each other. In addition to that, Cullen Bunn, who started their relationship, noted their love was torturous.
  • Luke, I Might Be Your Father: As a plot twist at the dawn of the 90s, it was suggested that he was Wolverine's father, but fairly quickly proven not to be. The multiple memory malleations of the Weapon X project made him think he was, though (and led Wolvie to ponder the possibility until SHIELD examinations proved otherwise).
  • Mad Woman In The Attic: Obviously a gender inverted example. The one thing that's remained consistent about his past is that he was kept chained in the basement and abused by his father, who thought he was a monster.
  • Make Way for the New Villains: Inverted. While Creed's position as Wolverine's greatest nemesis has occasionally come under threat, Creed makes a habit of reminding the new blood why he has such staying power, usually by teaming up with them and setting them up for a fall. New villains that Creed has hung out to dry in just this manner include Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, the Weapon X Program, Romulus, and Daken.
  • Manipulative Bastard: When it comes to finding ways to further his own agenda or hurt Logan, there aren't many people in the MU who do this better than he does.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: Most women he's with will grow old and die before he does. We see this with Momma. She works at a Japanese brothel Creed frequented over the years. He's been coming for long as she's been there, and despite her now being a senior citizen, she and Creed retain an amicable sexual relationship.
  • Misanthrope Supreme: Probably his core motivation. He had a horrifying upbringing that left him with an incredible amount of anger and bitterness towards humanity, and he eventually embraced that bitterness and allowed it to morph into brutal misanthropy and a sense that humanity was only to be manipulated and fed upon.
  • Morality Chain: Monet in Uncanny X-Men. He thinks about not wanting to be a monster again when his Inversion starts wearing off. Feeling he needs something worth fighting for to stay grounded, he thinks about wanting to save Monet.
  • Morality Pet: He briefly had one of these during the nineties in the form of Birdie, who is best remembered today as that girl with the gun who appears beside him in Marvel vs. Capcom.
  • Mugging the Monster: A street gang attempts this with him, and needless to say, it doesn't end well for them.
  • Muscles Are Meaningful: As the nineties kicked in, Creed was experiencing something of a low point, having just gotten off a stint of being Mr. Sinister's whipping boy and being portrayed as a Starter Villain in the animated series and video games of the day. Cue artists giving Sabretooth a slight redesign, making his costume less corny and drawing him as more of a Lightning Bruiser than Lean and Mean. Suddenly the Sabretooth of the comics was back to being a fearsome and dreaded presence again in no time.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He has worked with both mutant supremacists and anti-mutant bigots on the grounds that deep down, everyone is as much of a beast as he is, so both sides have every right to fear each other and it doesn't really matter which side he works for as long as he gets to have his fun.
    Sabretooth: Save the 'sellin' out yer people' speeches fer the Xaviers and Magnetos o' the world. The only 'people' I've ever been concerned with is me.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name alone is usually a sign that things are about to get a whole lot worse.
  • Nominal Hero:
    • If he's working with the heroes, usually it's because he was forced to and / or had something to gain. At best, he's tried to do right by love interests. Holly and Bonnie are examples.
    • After he's inverted during AXIS, he starts off as a truly heroic figure wanting to atone for his sins, even refusing to kill for a time. During Uncanny X-Men (2016), his nominal hero tendencies returned after developing feelings for Monet. He's still inverted and repentant, but when Monet is around, his priorities shift.
  • No Romantic Resolution: with Monet in Weapon X. They had a Ship Tease in Bunn's Uncanny and Pak piles it on in Weapon X, only to leave it wide open. In one scene, Creed has a heartfelt convo. with Monet and a giant heart looms behind them◊ as he prepares to tell her something, but doesn't get the chance. The book ended with a lobotomized Creed running into the Saskatchewan woods and Monet back in Aspen wondering what happened to him. That is the last we see of their relationship and we never learn what Creed was going to tell her earlier.
  • Not in the Face!: During a run-in with Spider-Man, Sabertooth tore Spidey's webbing off his face. He didn't realize how strong the webbing was and tore off a fair amount of skin, leaving his face a bloody mess. The pain enraged Sabertooth so much that he probably hated Spider-Man more than Wolverine for a while. When he tracked Spider-Man down for a rematch, Peter was reluctant to fight him because he was recovering from a concussion. The Black Cat intervened and fought Sabertooth for him, clawing open his facial wounds. Sabertooth went completely berserk and tried to bite the Cat's leg off, only to break his fangs on the lockpicks she carried in her boots. The Cat then damaged his face even more by repeatedly bashing it into the pavement until he was completely out cold.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: One possible explanation for his sometimes feral behavior even though he has proven numerous times how smart he really is.
  • Offing the Offspring: Heavily implied to have killed his son, Graydon, in the X-Men animated series.
  • Off with His Head!: Almost a running gag at this point. Creed has been decapitated in 5 different stories. Old Man Logan, House of M, Weapon X, War of Realms, and Death of Sabretooth. He usually comes back because someone put him back together, a universe reset occurred, or it was a Sinister Clone that was killed.
  • Old Flame: Monet in Pak's Weapon X. Many assumed they had a Secret Relationship in Uncanny X-Men, but it's ambiguous. Deathstrike follows that thought and refers to Monet as Creed's ex. Though he gets defensive at the insinuations, the Ship Tease very heavily implies lingering feelings, despite them not seeing each other in a few months to over a year.
  • Omniglot: Speaks Russian, German, Latin and able to fluently converse with Somalians during his stay in Mogadishu.
  • Only in It for the Money: His reason for joining up with Exodus's incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Exodus is not impressed.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: "Little baby Saul? Dead? Without my permission? Hell, I don't think so." Wolverine later inherits this. He also has this attitude to Logan himself.
    How many times I gotta say this? Nobody kills this boy but me!
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Graydon lived to adulthood but was assassinated by Mystique during his presidential campaign. As such, both of his parents outlived him for some years until Sabretooth resurrected him from Hell.
  • Papa Wolf:
    • Becomes this toward Constrictor's son in Iron Fist Legacy. First wanting to kill the kid for impersonating Frank's persona and ruining his legacy. When he learns the kid's identity, Creed rushes him to a hospital after he's poisoned by the Rat of 12 Plagues. He later beats the crap out of the Rat, then returns to the hospital to check on the kid.
    • He becomes this with his own son, Graydon, in Weapon X after finding him in Hell. Seeing him in so much pain, Victor wanted to take him back home. He argues with Mystique when she says to leave him and even prepared to fight Marduk Kurios if he tried to take Graydon back. In the end he sacrifices himself to bring Graydon back. But Marduk releases him from Hell due to him being to mentally deficient to torture.
      • The Age of Apocalypse Sabretooth is this towards Blink and Wild Child, genuinely caring for them and even joining the X-Men because he wants to try and give them a better world than this, no matter how much of a stretch success is.
    • Also, X-Men Forever Sabretooth is a rather twisted version of this. He used to beat the crap out of Wolverine on his birthday every year, but he's still furious when the evil version of Storm kills his son. He openly says he wants revenge for "his boy's" death and joins the X-Men to pursue it.
  • Patricide: Given how much his father tortured him, as noted above in Abusive Parents, is it any wonder he murdered the man.
  • Perma-Stubble: As with Wolverine, this look got a lot more popular for artists drawing Creed after the release of X-Men.
  • Personality Powers: It is strongly hinted that his bloodlust, sadism, selfishness, and tendency to betray others the minute they stop being useful are all parts of his mutation. The strongest case for this seems to be post-inversion, when despite his genuine good-faith efforts to reform and have it stick, he slowly returns to his old ways, and despite his previous Card-Carrying Villain tendencies, he seems to be unable to help himself from giving in to the call of the beast.
  • Pet the Dog: With his mother and love interests. A rare male example with Deadpool, who he tries to spare the truth of remembering that he killed his own parents.
  • Pointy Ears: Along with the claws and fangs and the Living Mood Ring eyes (which normally shift from amber irises to amber Monochromatic Eyes), this is one of the physical manifestations of Creed's mutation.
  • Poisonous Captive: During the period in The '90s when the X-Men were holding him captive in their basement and trying to reform him. It's later revealed that Xavier's utter failure to redeem Victor played a large part in Xavier's own corruption, which led him to assume the persona of Onslaught.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: He was this from the 70's into the 90's. Some things he has stated would not pass in comics today.
    • He refers to Silver Fox as "Squaw." When Logan confronts him about her assault, he comments that's what happens to uppity squaws who say no.
    • His casual abuse of Birdy was very brutal and not sugarcoated.
    • When he attacks Misty Knight and Colleen Wing in Power Man and Iron Fist, he refers to the latter (who is Asian) as Misty's "slant–eyed friend."
    • There was also his confrontation with Psylocke when he easily grabs her, bends her arm behind her back and forces a kiss on her.
    • Given the nature of comics, his language was somewhat muted with his references to women. Short of using the word "whore", he often referred to many female characters as "chippie" on a few occasions, Jubilee, Kitty, Marrow, and Psylocke being the recipients. He usually refers to women in general as "frails".
    • In the first issue of his 2022 solo series, he sneeringly refers to the Quiet Council's Winter table (consisting of Mr. Sinister, Exodus, and Mystique) as the "Rainbow Gang".
  • Pretty in Mink: A Rare Male Example. Creed's outfits have included self–sourced, 100% genuine Wendigo fur, as seen in his 2004 miniseries.
  • Put on a Bus: As of House of X #6, he is imprisoned beneath Krakoa, immobile in a state of stasis forever.
  • Psycho for Hire: Emphasis on "psycho". Sometimes he'll take jobs solely to fight Wolverine, like when joining the Hellfire Academy.
  • Psycho Sidekick: In exactly one issue he had one of these in the form of an invulnerable mutant named Pasco, who worked with him on a merc assignment. They get along well, but even Creed calls him a nutjob, and well, when Sabretooth says that about a guy you know there's something to it. Sadly, Pasco dies at the hands of throwaway villains before his character or history with Sabretooth can be explored any further.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Was thought to have raped Silver Fox, until it turned out to be a memory implant. However, there's been other instances that hint at Creed being a rapist — such as killing a woman's husband and telling her to snuggle up with his body to make room in the bed for him.
  • Really 700 Years Old: His creators John Byrne and Chris Claremont mentioned envisioning him as 50 years older than Wolverine. Subsequent writers never gave any definite age difference between the two, but Creed is always depicted as the older one, and being born in the early to mid-1800s.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: During the Krakoan Age miniseries Sabretooth (2022) and Sabretooth & the Exiles, artist Leonard Kirk added red irises and black sclera to Creed's design.
  • The Resenter: He hates how Logan is similar to him but gets praised and loved as a hero, while he's treated as a killer/animal. He vents about it in Remender's Uncanny X-Force and Death of Wolverine.
  • Rogues' Gallery Transplant: This tends to be forgotten, but he was actually an Iron Fist villain before Claremont snagged him for the X-Men, and it would be nearly forty years (1982's Power Man and Iron Fist #84 to 2017's Iron Fist #73) before he and Danny would have another significant run–in; in between his respective days as an Iron Fist and Wolverine enemy he also fought Spider-Man a few times. These days you'd never know he'd been the enemy of any hero but Wolverine. He was, however, originally created (by John Byrne) with links to Wolverine; according to Byrne, the character was a prototype for his idea of a maskless Wolverine (not knowing that Dave Cockrum had already created what is now Logan's appearance) and was thrown into other works. Byrne had planned for the two to be father and son, but Wolverine Publicity was inverted, as editors saw Sabretooth as a low-level henchman not on Wolverine's level.
  • Ruthless Modern Pirates: Colleen Wing described him as this in his début issue, given that he’s a mercenary willing to mutilate at the slightest provocation and more than willing to kill for the payday it’s an adequate description.
  • Sadist: Making others suffer is the one thing that truly drives him. Hinted to be a part of his Freudian Excuse in that he wants to make himself feel better by causing greater pain to others.
  • Scarily Competent Tracker: He WILL find you, no matter how many pains you take to cover your tracks. He's aided by Super-Senses and over a century of experience as a man hunter.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: As of 2019's House of X, Creed has been sealed, apparently indefinitely, within the living island of Krakoa as punishment for crimes committed in the titular House of X's service. Given that even Hell itself couldn't hold the guy, don't expect him to be down there long.
  • Second Love: It's debatable, but he could be this for Monet. Prior to him, she was entangled with four men, which chronologically are Synch, Madrox, Strong Guy, and Darwin. Madrox and Darwin never went past one-night stands. Meanwhile Synch is her First Love. This leaves Guido and Creed.
  • Send in the Clones: An Aborted Arc for Sabretooth in the eighties centered around The Reveal that the X-Men had never actually faced the real Sabretooth, and that every time they'd tangled with him, it was really a clone created by Mr. Sinister, with the real Sabretooth having been unseen since his very first appearance. Later story arcs rolled with the idea of Sinister making imperfect clones of Sabretooth, but didn't go so far as to retcon earlier appearances, with the end result being something of a Continuity Snarl as to whether the degraded Creed of the Marauders was the real thing or just a convenient copy. General consensus is that the original Sabretooth did participate in the Morlock Massacre...but that that might have been the end of his association with the team, with subsequent Marauders appearances being clones (especially since, in his very next appearance, he was suddenly unaware of Wolverine's adamantium skeleton).
  • Self-Inflicted Hell: Played with in his 2022 solo series when Cypher and Krakoa give him the freedom to imagine himself anywhere even though his actual body remains imprisoned in Krakoa. He uses this freedom to set up a Krakoan hell with the Quiet Council members all being tortured and himself as its king.
  • Serial Killer: His 'murder someone Wolverine loves once a year' hobby qualifies him for this trope, though Creed also has spree killer traits too.
  • She's Not My Girlfriend: With Monet in Weapon X. Deathstrike calls her Creed's ex and he tells her to shut up, and begins to say it's not like — but Domino cuts him off saying it's adorable.
  • Shipper on Deck: Domino for Creed x Monet. She found the idea adorable enough to stick around on the team longer, despite being ready to quit seconds earlier. She then downright gushes over it when Creed shyly tells Monet it's good to see her.
  • Ship Tease: A very drawn out one with Monet St. Croix that started in Bunn's Uncanny X-Men and continued into Pak's Weapon X. For now, the ship's biggest fuel is Everyone Can See It, with six characters commenting on them having feelings for each other. Other examples include.
  • Sibling Murder: He was this in X-Men Origins; Sabretooth, killing his brother Luther over a piece of pie he wanted. He claims it was just playing.
  • Smoking Hot Sex: Mystique says he usually has an after–sex cigar. Due to the smoking ban in Marvel, Creed is written as saying that he quit.
  • Smug Super: Victor's generally characterized as unbelievably arrogant and absolutely convinced of his complete physical and intellectual superiority over just about everyone who isn't obviously more powerful than him.
  • Stalker without a Crush: He will follow Wolverine anywhere, but his intentions are anything but romantic.
  • Status Quo Is God: During Axis, he was inverted and became a good guy genuinely trying to atone for his past evil, emulate Logan to find his own Wolverine spirit, and even fell in love with X-Man, Monet St. Croix. Come ResurrXion, Greg Pak was writing him as an antagonist who's back to hating Logan. When the book ends, he's officially reverted to his evil self. Currently, he's back under Mystique's employ as a member of Brotherhood and critically injured numerous Damage Control guards, with two fatalities. When on trial, Creed takes pride in his actions and feels no remorse.
  • Stealth Pun: The name of the animal is "sabertooth tiger". The name of the character is "Sabretooth". You know. As in sabres.
  • Straw Nihilist: Believes that the world is a completely worthless place filled with disgusting scum, including himself, and that he's the only one who has acknowledged it and is revelling in the thoughts and urges that everyone holds but will not admit to.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Occasionally drawn with these, which helps make his bestial nature even more apparent.
  • Super-Senses: If his tracking skills are anything to go by, his senses might be better than Logan's (whose tracking skills are still excellent, of course).
  • Super-Strength: Already stronger than the average human, but has had his strength enhanced twice.
  • Taking the Bullet: Done for Holly and Monet. The former is upset he got hurt protecting her, but Creed doesn't mind. The latter is upset that he's bleeding on her and yells at him to stop playing hero and get off.
  • Terms of Endangerment: Sabretooth's 2022 series reveals that he still refers to Mystique as Leni a.k.a. Leni Zauber, the alias she was using when she first met him.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: Xavier tells him that he can continue burying his pain by causing greater pain to other or he can seek the redemption he deserves. The choice is his. Creed believes he has no choice because the world doesn't want him — stating people only see him as a monster, so that's what he'll be.
  • Threw My Bike on the Roof: He prefers to inflict violence and psychological torture on Logan, but sometimes does petty things such as following him into a diner and stealing pie off his plate just to annoy him.
  • To Create a Playground for Evil: In the killable arc he reveals his Evil Plan is to create a world with the _____ where this is the rule, a world where only the strongest really rule and what vivilization there is answers to them. Perfect for a Feral Villain like 'tooth.
  • Tomato Surprise: Wolverine: Origins II seems to definitively recount his past with Logan. But in the last few pages it's revealed that the Creed which the story's been following all along is actually his brother Saul (who's never called by his first name until this point) and Victor himself shows up on the last page. Logan has yet to meet him.
    • There are other levels of bait-and-switch in the story: It appears that Creed and Logan start their feud over romancing the same woman, betraying him to Mr. Sinister over it, but later it's revealed that the woman is actually Creed's sister and he was just too protective. Then Logan accidentally kills her during a fight with Sinister's goons, and Creed finds only Logan alive, but apparently never realizes Logan did it. Then the woman, Creed's sister, is revealed to be a mutant with a healing factor too and she confronts them after they go after Sinister. Then Creed's more brutish appearance and increased abilities seem to be from taking a formula Sinister made (after Logan dunks his head in it and keeps it there), but actually he just drowned (or perhaps still healed due to his own healing factor, but lost his mind due to the formula) and the real Victor was like that all along.
  • Took a Level in Dumbass. Creed is supposed to be a Genius Bruiser. But some writers forget the "genius" part and make him the bruiser — or a wannabe bruiser. Clear example between Weapon X vol. two and three. In the former, Creed's an expert hacker who got into the database and stole mutant files. In the latter, he can't use a keyboard, or hunt for that matter.
  • Torture Is Ineffective: During Remender's run of Uncanny Avengers. Creed is strung up and tortured by Dhrovo, who states his toughness and how Creed won't even scream for him.
  • Troll:
    • "Final Execution." He reveals he set up the entire Brotherhood scheme purely as an excuse to force Wolverine into a position where he'd have to kill his last remaining child, just to piss him off. And he gives no thought to the fact that all his comrades save Mystique are dead or comatose by the end, either; he's satisfied knowing he got a reaction out of Logan he could never get personally.
    • Possibly the best example of this is his "annual tradition" detailed in Chris Claremont's run: every year on what Logan believes to be his birthday, Sabretooth will track him down, regardless of where he is, beat him to near death, and then simply walk away, just so Logan knows Sabretooth can kill him whenever he wants to.
    • One popular page has Creed set up a booby trap to catch Logan while he's riding by on his motorcycle, then step out from behind a tree just to needle him about becoming a teacher before blasting off on a jetpack.
  • Token Evil Teammate: He's been on X-Men at least twice (though, one of those times it was a situation where they didn't want to kill him, but didn't trust anyone else to deal with him — he was an involuntary teammate).
  • Two-Person Pool Party: Happens during his stay in a brothel in Japan. An old woman, Momma says he's been coming there since she's been there. He decides to settle up on his huge tab and tells her to meet him in the Jacuzzi with three of her finest honeys. After hearing how large his tab is, he lowers it to two honeys before they kiss.
  • Unreliable Expositor: Absolutely nothing that Creed says can be taken at face value. He mixes truths with lies with vicious observations, and is always, always, always manipulating everyone within earshot. A few characters (notably Wolverine, Cyclops, and Cable) have picked up on this and refuse to trust a single unverified word out of Creed's mouth.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: In another contrast with Logan, Creed usually relies on his super–strength, enhanced reflexes, inhuman speed, and natural ferocity to win fights, as opposed to Logan's martial arts mastery. Interestingly, this only applies in combat; as a Scarily Competent Tracker, Creed is both Strong and Skilled and frequently shows Logan up completely. Creed is also very skilled in tactics and infiltration, occasionally even using his Dumb Muscle reputation to his advantage. Logan has even cited Creed's preference for Refuge in Audacity as a distinct advantage to having him on a team.
    Wolverine: Sabretooth's got his uses. He's got the sheer guts and total lack o' fear to try some nigh impossible things and pull 'em off.
  • Villain Forgot to Level Grind: A constant in nearly all the mediums Creed appears in is that while he starts off much more savage and dangerous than Wolverine, either by training or adamantium Logan usually ends up getting the upper hand on him. More than once this has escalated to Wolverine flat–out dismissing Creed, usually before putting him down in what could charitably be called an afterthought. An Aborted Arc back in the eighties intended to justify this by way of cloning.
  • Villain Protagonist: Whenever he has his own mini-series — such as Sabretooth in the 90's and Mary Shlelley Overdrive.
  • Villain Respect: He apparently has some respect for Apocalypse and doesn't hold the whole taking-away-his-adamantium thing against 'Purple Thunder'. This doesn't stop him from imagining the Big A being tortured in his hell along with all the other Quiet Council members.
  • Villainous Friendship: Maintains one with the Constrictor from their temporary partnership during the original Heroes For Hire comic; according to the second Weapon X volume, they still regularly get together for poker nights. Also has one with Sauron, of all people. Since taking over as the leader of Weapon X-Force, seems to have developed them with Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike as well (interestingly, both characters that his pre-Inversion self had infamously betrayed multiple times).
  • Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Toward Monet. The first chapter of Uncanny X-Men shows him mocking a man who soiled himself and Monet says toilet humor is expected from someone of his pedigree. In turn, Creed has called her a snob on one occasion and notes that nobody's as impressed by her as she is with herself.
  • Wolverine Wannabe: As Wolverine's Arch-Enemy and original Evil Counterpart, he is a very deliberate example. He represents what Wolverine could become if he lets his savage instincts consume him. Power wise they are virtually identical, with the exception of Sabretooth's claws extending from his fingers rather than his wrists.
  • Women Prefer Strong Men: One of the things that attracts Monet to him, and she's very honest about it. While unpacking the Blackbird, he's carrying a large crate over his shoulders and after Psylocke and Magneto leave to talk, Monet eyes him up and tells him to come on so she can watch him do some heavy lifting◊.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Creed can be chivalrous when he wants to be, but he has no problem with the equality of men and women in a fight. Women he's cold–cocked include Mystique, Birdy, and Monet. He also tried to bite the Black Cat's leg off, and would've succeeded if he didn't break his teeth on the metal tools she carried in her boots.
  • Would Hurt a Child:
    • Threatened to eviscerate Jubilee once, which he would have done had Psylocke not come along to save her.
    • Once ate a toddler.
    • He brags that he could murder a bus full of kids if he wanted because Weapon X would cover it up.
    • A big instance shown in Deadpool's first solo series where Creed has numerous dead bodies in his apartment and it's revealed he has a little girl locked in his closet for "dessert" later.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Not quite to the level of the Trope Namer; Creed has been dealt several legitimate defeats, usually by something he wasn't prepared for. What qualifies Creed for this trope is his ability to roll with the punch and always land on his feet, which is aided by the ease with which he immediately resumes manipulating those around him once he has his bearings back.

Alternative Title(s): Sabretooth Marvel Comics

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