Wolverine

 

 

Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant who possesses animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin, at an accelerated rate. The healing factor also slows down his aging process, enabling him to live beyond a normal human lifespan. His powerful healing factor enabled the supersoldier program Weapon X to bond the near-indestructible metal alloy adamantium to his skeleton and claws without killing him. He is most often depicted as a member of the X-Men, Alpha Flight, or later the Avengers.

 

The character first appeared in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (his first full appearance is in issue #181, November 1974) and was created by writer Len Wein and Marvel art director John Romita, Sr., who designed the character, and was first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe. Wolverine later joined the X-Men's "All New, All Different" roster in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). X-Men writer Chris Claremont played a significant role in the character's subsequent development, along with artist/writer John Byrne, who insisted on making the character older than the other X-Men. Artist Frank Miller collaborated with Claremont and helped to revise the character with a four-part eponymous limited series from September to December 1982 in which Wolverine's catchphrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice," debuted.

 

Wolverine was typical of the many tough, anti-authority, antiheroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War; his willingness to use deadly force and his brooding nature became standard characteristics for comic book anti-heroes by the end of the 1980s.As a result, the character became the clear favorite for fans of the increasingly popular X-Men franchise. Wolverine has been featured in his own solo comic since 1988 and has been a central character in most X-Men adaptations, including animated television series, video games, and the live-action 20th Century Fox X-Men film series, in which he is portrayed by Hugh Jackman. In May 2008, Wolverine was ranked #1 out of Wizard magazine's Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time and was ranked as the 4th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire magazine in July 2008.On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Wolverine at #21. In May 2011, Wolverine was ranked 4th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes

 

 

Publication history

Wolverine first appeared in the final "teaser" panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (cover date October 1974) written by Len Wein and penciled by Herb Trimpe. The character then appeared in a number of advertisements in various Marvel Comics publications before making his first major appearance in The Incredible Hulk #181 (cover date November 1974) again by Wein and Trimpe. John Romita, Sr., designed Wolverine's yellow-and-blue costume. The character's introduction was ambiguous, revealing little beyond his being a superhuman agent of the Canadian government. In these appearances, he does not retract his claws, although Len Wein stated they had always been envisioned as retractable.He appears briefly in the finale to this story in The Incredible Hulk #182.

 

Wolverine's next appearance was in 1975's Giant-Size X-Men #1, written by Wein and penciled by Dave Cockrum, in which Wolverine is recruited for a new squad. Gil Kane illustrated the cover artwork but incorrectly drew Wolverine's mask with larger headpieces. Dave Cockrum liked Kane's accidental alteration (believing it to be similar to Batman's mask) and incorporated it into his own artwork for the actual story. Cockrum was also the first artist to draw Wolverine without his mask, and the distinctive hairstyle became a trademark of the character.

A revival of X-Men followed, beginning with X-Men #94 (August 1975), drawn by Cockrum and written by Chris Claremont. In X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine is initially overshadowed by the other characters, although he does create tension in the team as he is attracted to Cyclops' girlfriend, Jean Grey. As the series progressed, Claremont and Cockrum (who preferred Nightcrawler considered dropping Wolverine from the series; Cockrum's successor, artist John Byrne, championed the character, later explaining, as a Canadian himself, he did not want to see a Canadian character dropped. Byrne created Alpha Flight, a group of Canadian superheroes who try to recapture Wolverine due to the expense their government incurred training him. Later stories gradually establish Wolverine's murky past and unstable nature, which he battles to keep in check. Byrne also designed a new brown-and-tan costume for Wolverine, but retained the distinctive Cockrum cowl.

 

Wolverine made his debut in The Incredible Hulk #181 (November 1974).
Art by Herb Trimpe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following Byrne's departure, Wolverine remained in X-Men. The character's growing popularity led to a solo, four-issue, Wolverine (September – December 1982), by Claremont and Frank Miller, followed by the six-issue Kitty Pryde and Wolverine by Claremont and Al Milgrom (November 1984 – April 1985). Marvel launched an ongoing solo book written by Claremont with art by John Buscema in November 1988. It ran for 189 issues. Larry Hama later took over the series and had an extensive run. Other writers who wrote for the two Wolverine ongoing series include Peter David, Archie Goodwin, Erik Larsen, Frank Tieri, Greg Rucka, and Mark Millar. Many artists have also worked on the series, including John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, Mark Texeira, Adam Kubert, Leinil Francis Yu, Rob Liefeld, Sean Chen, Darick Robertson, John Romita, Jr., and Humberto Ramos. During the 1990s, the character was revealed to have bone claws, after his adamantium is ripped out by Magneto in X-Men #25, which was inspired by a passing joke of Peter David's.

In addition to the Wolverine series and appearances in the various X-Men series, two other storylines expand upon the character's past: "Weapon X", by writer-artist Barry Windsor-Smith, serialized in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 (1991); and Origin, a six-issue limited series by co-writers Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins, and Bill Jemas and artist Andy Kubert (November 2001 – July 2002). A second solo series, Wolverine: Origins, written by Daniel Way with art by Steve Dillon, spun off of, and runs concurrently with, the second Wolverine solo series.

 

 

Wolverine's first intended origin

 

Despite suggestions that co-creator Len Wein originally intended for Logan to be a mutated wolverine cub, evolved to humanoid form by the High Evolutionary, Wein denies this:

“

While I readily admit that my original idea was for Wolvie's claws to extend from the backs of his gloves ... I absolutely did not ever intend to make Logan a mutated wolverine. I write stories about human beings, not evolved animals (with apologies for any story I may have written that involved the High Evolutionary). The mutated wolverine thing came about long after I was no longer involved with the book. I'm not certain if the idea was first suggested by Chris Claremont, the late, much-missed Dave Cockrum, or John Byrne when he came aboard as artist, but it most certainly did not start with me.

”

Wein has stated in a conversation with Stan Lee included on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine blu-ray special features that he has read "Ten things you did not know about Wolverine," which states that he was originally intended to be a mutated wolverine cub, and this re-kindled Wein's frustration. He again stated that he had "always known that Wolverine was a mutant."

 

In X-Men #98 (April 1976), a biological analysis of Wolverine suggests that he was in some way different from the other X-Men, and in X-Men #103, Wolverine says he does not believe in leprechauns, to which the leprechaun replies, "Maybe leprechauns don't believe in talkin' wolverines, either."

In an article about the evolution of Wolverine included in a 1986 reprint of The Incredible Hulk #180-181, titled Incredible Hulk and Wolverine, Cockrum is quoted as saying that he considered having the High Evolutionary play a vital role in making Wolverine a human. Writer Wein wanted Wolverine to be the age of a young adult, with superhuman strength and agility similar to Spider-Man. This changed when Wein saw Cockrum's drawing of the unmasked Wolverine as a hairy 40-year-old.Wein originally intended the claws to be retractable and part of Wolverine's gloves, and both gloves and claws would be made of adamantium. Chris Claremont eventually revealed that they were an integrated part of Wolverine's anatomy in X-Men #98 (April 1976). Writer Jeph Loeb used a similar origin for Wolverine in the Marvel continuity, having feral mutants be an evolved lifeform.

 

 

Wolverine's second intended origin

 

John Byrne said in interviews and on his website that he drew a possible face for Wolverine, but then learned that Dave Cockrum had already drawn him unmasked in X-Men #98 (April 1976), long before Byrne's run on the series Later, Byrne used the drawing for the face of Sabretooth, an enemy of the martial artist superhero Iron Fist, whose stories Chris Claremont was writing. Byrne then had the idea of Sabretooth being Wolverine's father. Together, Byrne and Claremont came up with Wolverine being approximately 60 years old and having served in World War II after escaping from Sabretooth, who was approximately 120 years old.The plan had been for Wolverine to have been almost crushed in an accident; he would discover, when attempting to stand for the first time after recovering, that his healing factor does not work on bones, and his legs immediately break. He then spends over a decade in a hospital bed, almost going mad, when the Canadian government approaches him with the idea of replacing his skeleton one bone at a time with adamantium, the claws being a surprise. This origin, too, was never used.

 

 

Fictional character biography

As shown in the 2001–2002 miniseries Origin, Wolverine was born as James Howlett in Alberta, Canada, in the late 1880s, to rich farm owners John and Elizabeth Howlett. As the Origin miniseries insinuates and the Wolverine Goes to Hell story fully reveals, however, he is actually the illegitimate son of the Howlett's groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. After being thrown off of the Howlett's property for violent actions perpetrated by his other son, named simply Dog, Thomas returns to the Howlett manor and kills John Howlett. In retaliation, young James kills Thomas with bone claws that emerge from the back of his hands and is cast out by his mother (who then kills herself).His grandfather sends him away with his childhood companion, Rose (who closely resembles Jean Grey). The character grows into manhood on a mining colony in the Yukon Territory, adopting the name "Logan." After accidentally killing Rose with his claws, Logan leaves the colony and lives for a time in the wilderness among wolves until returning to civilization, residing with the Blackfoot Indians. Following the death of his Blackfoot lover, Silver Fox, at the hands of Sabretooth, he is ushered into the Canadian military during World War I. Logan then spends some time in Madripoor, before settling in Japan, where he marries Itsu and has a son, Daken.

 

During World War II, Logan teams up with Captain America and continues a career as a soldier-of-fortune/adventurer. He then serves with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during D-Day, and the CIA, before being recruited by Team X, a black ops unit.

As a member of Team X, Logan is given false memory implants. He continues on the team, until he is able to break free of the mental control and joins the Canadian Defense Ministry. Logan is subsequently kidnapped by the Weapon X program, where he remains captive and experimented on, until he escapes, as shown in Barry Windsor-Smith's "Weapon X" storyline which ran in Marvel Comics Presents. It is during his imprisonment by Weapon X that he has unbreakable adamantium forcibly fused onto his bones.

Logan is eventually discovered by James and Heather Hudson, who help him recover his humanity. Following his recovery, Logan, this time under the supervision of Department H, once again works as an intelligence operative for the Canadian government. Logan becomes Wolverine, one of Canada's first superheroes. In his first mission, he is dispatched to stop the destruction caused by a brawl between the Hulk and the Wendigo.

 

Later on, Professor Charles Xavier recruits Wolverine to a new team of X-Men. Disillusioned with his Canadian intelligence work and intrigued by Xavier's offer, Logan resigns from Department H. It was later revealed, however, that Professor X had wiped Logan's memories and forced him to join the X-Men after Wolverine was sent to assassinate Xavier

 

 

 

Wolverine first uses his claws in Origin #2.
Art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In X-Men #25 (1993), at the culmination of the "Fatal Attractions" crossover, the supervillain Magneto forcibly removes the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton. This massive trauma causes his healing factor to burn out and also leads to the discovery that his claws are actually bone. Wolverine leaves the X-Men for a time, embarking on a series of adventures during which his healing factor returns, greatly increased in speed and efficiency (due to the fact that the adamantium in his bones used a considerable amount of his healing factor on a constant basis). It is also realised at this time that Wolverine constantly mutates (unlike other mutants) and that the adamantium slowed his mutation to a halt. His natural abilities such as healing factor and animalistic senses increase slowly over time. Feral by nature, Wolverine's mutation process will eventually cause him to degenerate physically into a more primitive, bestial state. After his return to the X-Men, Cable's son Genesis kidnaps Wolverine and attempts to re-bond adamantium to his skeleton. This is unsuccessful and causes Wolverine's mutation to accelerate out of control. He is temporarily changed into a semi-sentient beast-like form in which he gains greater physical power than ever before, at the price of part of his humanity. Eventually, the villain Apocalypse captures Wolverine, brainwashes him into becoming the Horseman Death, and successfully re-bonds adamantium to his skeleton. Wolverine overcomes Apocalypse's programming and returns to the X-Men.

In 2005, author Brian Michael Bendis had Wolverine join the Avengers. After the miniseries House of M, Wolverine regains his memories and prepares to seek out and enact vengeance on those who wronged him. In Wolverine: Origins, the character's second solo series, Wolverine discovers that he has a son named Daken, who has been brainwashed and made a living weapon by the villain Romulus, the man behind Wolverine's own brainwashing. Wolverine then makes it his mission to rescue Daken and stop Romulus from manipulating or harming anyone again.

 

During the events of the Messiah Complex storyline, Cyclops orders Wolverine to reform X-Force. Since then, Wolverine and the team (initially consisting of X-23, Warpath, and Wolfsbane) have starred in a new monthly title. The team was also featured in the "Messiah War" storyline, a sequel to Messiah Complex. After the events of Second Coming, Cyclops ends the X-Force program, but Wolverine continues a new X-Force team in secrecy with Angel/Archangel, Psylocke, Deadpool and Fantomex.

In 2008, writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven explored a possible future for Wolverine in an eight-issue story arc entitled "Old Man Logan" that debuted with Wolverine #66. Millar, the writer for the story, said, "It's The Dark Knight Returns for Wolverine, essentially. The big, wide, show-stopping series that plays around with the most popular Marvel character of the last forty years, a dystopian vision of the Marvel Universe and a unique look at their futures. The heroes have gone, the villains have won and we're two generations away from the Marvel we know."

In X-Men #5, it is revealed that in order for Wolverine to fully infiltrate the ranks of the vampires that were attacking Utopia at the behest of Dracula's son (when Wolverine thought the vampire virus had simply bested his healing factor), Cyclops has to infect him with nanites that are capable of shutting off Wolverine's healing factor. Cyclops can activate them by merely clicking a button on a remote control device he carries with him at all times.

 

 

Wolverine Goes to Hell

"The Red Right Hand" is a group of people who have been wronged by Wolverine and have sworn revenge on him. They trick him into trying to save his recent girlfriend Melita Garner (who was Mystique in disguise) and then trap him in a mystical circle to send him straight to Hell. While he is in Hell, a group of demons possess Wolverine's body. The demons then attack Wraith while he is at church, then they attack Colossus. The Red Right Hand then start to kill off people that Wolverine knows, like the Silver Samurai. While in Hell, Wolverine finally confronts his biological father, Thomas Logan. He is reunited as well with various people he has either killed or died because of him, both foes (led by Sabretooth) and friends. Wolverine manages to escape from Hell with the help of Melita, Daimon Hellstrom, and the Ghost Rider. However, his body is still possessed by the demons. The X-Men find out that Wolverine is possessed and decide that he should die to protect humankind, believing Wolverine would prefer to die rather than kill innocents. Wolverine is attacked on all sides by fighting the demons that still possess him and the X-Men that want him killed. He subsequently tracks down the Red Right Hand and kills their team of killers, the Mongrels. Wolverine fights his way through them only to find that the Red Right Hand's members have all committed suicide, while a pre-recorded message reveals that the Mongrels were all his illegitimate children. Unable to seek vengeance, Logan drags his children to the graves of their mothers before abandoning the world altogether. Broken and depressed, Wolverine secludes himself in the frozen wilderness and travels with a pack of wolves, eating little scraps of what's left of their kills. Poachers find the pack and capture any wolves that are young enough to fight. Wolverine goes to find his pack and kills the poachers. As he debates going back to the wild and hiding in deeper seclusion, he finds injured children who the poachers were using to fight wolves for sport. Wolverine returns the children to their families only to be found by Melita and his allies who convince him to come back to civilization. Sometime afterwards, the events of Fear Itself and before Schism take place

 

 

Schism

At the beginning of the events of Schism, Cyclops thanks Wolverine for always being there for him as they seem to finally have come to a mutually spoken and understood respect for each other after years of fighting and rivalry. While at a conference for weapon control, Kid Omega (Quentin Quire) launches a psychic terrorist attack on the ambassadors present. In response, Sentinels are deployed at the conference and are disposed of by Cyclops and Wolverine. Due to growing fears of mutant threat, countries around the world begin to mobilize their Sentinel forces. As Cyclops begins to deploy X-Men around the globe to deal with the threat, Wolverine returns to Utopia to find Hope Summers and the Lights waiting for their combat training lesson. After insulting Hope's team and realizing that Idie is losing her childhood, Wolverine asks Kitty Pryde to make him a doll to give to Idie. Wolverine gives the doll to Idie and eats ice cream with her while news reports of Sentinel activity play and tensions build around Utopia. Sometime after, Kid Omega shows up on Utopia. Wolverine tries to attack Kid Omega when Cyclops stops him. While Cyclops sends a team of some of his most powerful X-Men, as well as some of the island students, to a local mutant museum exhibit as a "show of force," Wolverine goes to a local bar to sulk in his aggravation with the current situation. The new Hellfire Club attacks the exhibit and incapacitate all senior X-Men present. As Wolverine rushes to the museum to help from the bar and Cyclops flies in from Utopia, Idie asks if she should kill the Hellfire Club to help. While Wolverine protests against it profusely, Cyclops tells Idie to do what she feels is right. Idie kills almost every Hellfire Club member left to save her friends and mentors. Wolverine pops his claws at Cyclops in anger that he used a child to save the day, but restrains himself when he realizes what he is doing.

 

From the wreckage of the museum, a sentinel begins to form. While Wolverine tries to stop the sentinel from maturing, he is thrown into the ocean. Shortly after, Wolverine swims on to Utopia and tells the mutant children that they need to leave. Cyclops tells the students to fight together and that they can beat the sentinel, but Wolverine objects to using children to fight battles. Cyclops doesn't listen and begins to prepare the students for combat. Shortly after Wolverine returns with a detonator to blow up Utopia and orders all remaining people on the island to evacuate. Cyclops and Wolverine's frustration with each other come to a head when Cyclops brings up Jean Grey saying that she never loved Wolverine and always feared him. Wolverine replies "And if she were here right now, who do you think she would be more frightened of?" The two fight each other in a rage while being attacked by the sentinel and as Wolverine claws into Cyclops visor, the students reappear on the battlefield to help them fight the sentinel. In the morning, Cyclops and Wolverine stand victorious with the students all living, but Wolverine cannot continue watching Cyclops use children as soldiers to fight these battles. Wolverine announces his departure from Utopia and indicates he will take any mutant on the island who wants to leave with him. While Wolverine does not leave as an enemy of Cyclops and his X-Men, he makes clear he wants both sides to stay out of the others business.

Wolverine returns to Westchester, New York to open a new school, the "Jean Grey School for Higher Learning."

 

 

Regenesis

After the Schism, around half of all the mutants on Utopia accompany Wolverine to Westchester to be a part of the new school. He appoints himself as the headmaster, Kitty Pryde as the co-headmistress, Hank McCoy as the vice-principal, and various other characters such as Rogue, Cannonball, Iceman, Rachel Grey, and Gambit are appointed as the school's staff. Even Toad is appointed, as a janitor. The first issue focuses on the state education board visiting to approve of their school application. As Logan and Kitty give the delegation a tour, Kade Kilgore shows up and tells Logan that he is the one who caused the Schism and he will destroy all that Logan has worked to build up. Wolverine founded the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, spending all the fortune that he had amassed over the years upon it. On its first day it was assaulted by the new Hellfire Club, whom had been a major force in causing the Schism of the X-Men. Wolverine made it clear that he didn't want to lose any of the kids and fought as hard as he could against the Frankenstein Monsters whom Iceman defeated by making Ice clones of himself. Then, they were attacked by the Hellfire Club, that were in possession of a spawn of the original Krakoa. Kid Omega who wanted to prove himself to Broo, Idie and Kid Gladiator who told him they never heard of him, reasoned with Krakoa who then joined Wolverine's X-Men.

Wolverine, with everyone in the school, confronted the Hellfire Club and he made it clear to them to stay away from his school. As the Hellfire Club members were leaving, Krakoa almost attacked them but Logan stopped him as he had a better idea on how to deal with them. The next day Matt Murdock told Kade Kilgore that he was being sued by Wolverine for the sum of 879 million dollars for the damage he had done to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning and if he didn't pay they would take control of his company. As the school was being rebuilt, Logan was informed that Krakoa was glad they allowed him to stay and Logan found it good to have a school ground that could fight back

 

 

Avengers vs. X-Men

When the Phoenix Force returned to Earth, Wolverine sided with the Avengers and went with them to Utopia to take Hope Summers into custody (as they suspected her of being the Phoenix Force's intended host). Wolverine found this particularly difficult to do as he was forced to fight those he once thought of as family.

Cyclops arrived at the Jean Grey School in order to try and convince Wolverine to switch sides and become part of the X-Men once more. Wolverine was infuriated, saying Cyclops didn't get to decide who was and wasn't part of the X-Men and that Cyclops had betrayed every thing the X-Men stood for.

After Hope's escape, Wolverine accompanies her to the Blue Area of the Moon. She promises to let Wolverine kill her if she is unable to control the Phoenix Force; her only request is that she gets the chance to control it. However, Wolverine betrays her by summoning the Avengers. The Phoenix Force begins to bond with Hope, at which point she admits that she cannot contain it. She asks Wolverine to kill her, but he is prevented from doing so by Cyclops. Eventually, the Phoenix Force possesses the X-Men present on the moon, who then return to Earth, leaving Wolverine and the Avengers injured on the Blue Area of the Moon

 

 

Uncanny Avengers

After Avengers vs X-Men, Wolverine gave a eulogy at the funeral of Professor X, where he admitted that he wanted to kill Cyclops. He visits Cyclops after Captain America persuades him to do so

 

Powers and abilities

Wolverine is a mutant with a number of both natural and artificial improvements to his physiology. His primary mutant power is an accelerated healing process, typically referred to as his mutant healing factor, that regenerates damaged or destroyed tissues of his body far beyond the capabilities of an ordinary human. This power facilitated the artificial improvements he was subjected to under the Weapon X program (in later comics called the Weapon Plus program), in which his skeleton was reinforced with the virtually indestructible metal adamantium.

Depictions of the speed and extent of injury to which Wolverine can heal vary. Originally, this was portrayed as accelerated healing of minor wounds, but writers have steadily increased this ability over the years. After several years, Wolverine's healing factor was depicted as healing severe wounds within a matter of days or hours. Other writers went on to increase Wolverine's healing factor to the point that it could fully regenerate nearly any damaged or destroyed bodily tissues within seconds.Among the more extreme depictions of Wolverine's healing factor include fully healing after being caught near the center of an atomic explosion and the total regeneration of his soft body tissue, within a matter of minutes, after having it incinerated from his skeleton. An explanation is given in a recent mini-series starring Wolverine for the increase of his healing powers. In the series, Wolverine is referred to as an "adaptive self-healer" after undergoing numerous traumatic injuries to test the efficiency of his healing factor. Wolverine has endured so much trauma, and so frequently, that his healing factor has adapted, becoming faster and more efficient to cope with increasing levels of trauma. It has been stated in the Xavier Protocols, a series of profiles created by Xavier that lists the strengths and weaknesses of the X-Men, that Wolverine's healing factor is increased to "incredible levels" and theorizes that the only way to stop him is to decapitate him and remove his head from the vicinity of his body. It's possible for the efficiency of his healing powers to be suppressed. For example, if an object composed of carbonadium is inserted and remains lodged within his body, his healing powers are slowed dramatically though they are not fully suppressed. His healing factor can also be greatly suppressed by the Muramasa blade, a katana of mystic origins that can inflict wounds that nullify superhuman healing factors. His healing factor also dramatically slows his aging process, allowing him to live beyond the normal lifespan of a human. Despite being born in the late 19th century, he has the appearance and vitality of a man in his physical prime. It is unknown exactly how greatly his healing factor extends his life expectancy. Though he now has all of his memories, his healing abilities can provide increased recovery from psychological trauma by suppressing memories in which he experiences profound distress. In addition to accelerated healing of physical traumas, Wolverine's healing factor makes him extraordinarily resistant to diseases, drugs, and toxins. However, he can still suffer the immediate effects of such substances in massive quantities; he has been shown to become intoxicated after significant amounts of alcohol, and has been incapacitated on several occasions with large amounts of powerful drugs and poisons; S.H.I.E.L.D. once managed to keep Wolverine anesthetized by constantly pumping eighty milliliters of anesthetic a minute into his system.

 

Although his body heals, the healing factor does not suppress the pain he endures while injured.Wolverine also admits to feeling phantom pains for weeks or months after healing from his injuries. He does not enjoy being hurt and sometimes has to work himself up for situations where extreme pain is certain. Wolverine, on occasion, has deliberately injured himself or allowed himself to be injured for varying reasons, including freeing himself from capture, intimidation, strategy, or simply indulging his feral nature.

Wolverine's mutation also consists of animal-like adaptations of his body, including pronounced, and sharp fang-like canines and three retractable claws housed within each forearm. While originally depicted as bionic implants created by the Weapon X program, the claws are later revealed to be a natural part of his body. The claws are not made of keratin, as claws tend to be in the animal kingdom, but extremely dense bone. With their adamantium coating, the claws can cut substances as durable as most metals, wood, and some varieties of stone. They can also be used to block attacks or projectiles, as well as dig into surfaces allowing Wolverine to climb structures.Wolverine's hands do not have openings for the claws to move through: they cut through his flesh every time he extrudes them, with occasional references implying that he feels a brief moment of slight pain in his hands when he unsheathes them.

 

On more than one occasion, Wolverine's entire skeleton, including his claws, has been molecularly infused with adamantium. Due to their coating, his claws can cut almost any known solid material. The only known exceptions are adamantium itself and Captain America's shield, which is made out of an iron-vibranium alloy. Vibranium alone is not comparable in terms of durability with adamantium, seeing as Colossus has broken it. Wolverine's ability to slice completely through a substance depends upon both the amount of force he can exert and the thickness of the substance. The adamantium also weights his blows, increasing the effectiveness of his offensive capabilities. However, this also makes him exceptionally susceptible to magnetic based attacks.Also, while the adamantium is in his body his healing factor must work constantly to prevent the metal poisoning from killing him, with the result that his ability to heal is slightly lessened compared to what he would be capable of normally.

 

Wolverine's healing factor also affects a number of his physical attributes by increasing them to superhuman levels. His stamina is sufficiently heightened to the point he can exert himself for numerous hours, even after exposure to powerful tranquilizers. Wolverine's agility and reflexes are also enhanced to levels that are beyond the physical limits of the finest human athlete. Due to his healing factor's constant regenerative qualities, he can push his muscles beyond the limits of the human body without injury. This, coupled by the constant demand placed on his muscles by over one hundred pounds of adamantium, grants him some degree of superhuman strength. Since the presence of the adamantium negates the natural structural limits of his bones, he can lift or move weight that would otherwise damage a human skeleton. He has been depicted breaking steel chains, lifting several men above his head with one arm and throwing them through a wall and lifting Ursa Major (in grizzly bear form) over his head before tossing him across a room.

It was recently revealed that, when Wolverine is injured so seriously that his body actually dies before his healing factor can repair the damage, he returns to life by fighting with Azrael, the Angel of Death, while trapped in Purgatory, due to Wolverine defeating Azrael in combat in the real world during the First World War. However, after Wolverine's soul was damaged following his resurrection and brainwashing by the Hand, he made a new deal with Azrael to repair the damage that had been done to his soul that negated their previous arrangement, with the result that, the next time Wolverine sustains death-inducing injuries, he will remain dead, and his healing factor has apparently been slightly weakened in the process.

 

Wolverine's senses of sight, smell, and hearing are all superhumanly acute. He can see with perfect clarity at greater distances than an ordinary human, even in near-total darkness. His hearing is enhanced in a similar manner, allowing him to both hear sounds ordinary humans cannot and also hear to greater distances. Wolverine is able to use his sense of smell to track targets by scent, even if the scent has been eroded somewhat over time by natural factors. This sense also allows him to identify shapeshifting mutants despite other forms they may take. He is also able to use his senses of smell and hearing, through concentration, as a type of natural lie detector, such as detecting a faint change in a person's heartbeat and scent due to perspiration when a lie is told.

Due to a combination of his healing factor and high level psionic shields implanted by Professor Xavier, Wolverine's mind is highly resistant to telepathic assault and probing. Wolverine's mind also possesses what he refers to as "mental scar tissue" created by all of the traumatic events over the course of his life. It acts as a type of natural defense, even against a psychic as powerful as Emma Frost

 

 

Skills and personality

During his time in Japan and other countries, Wolverine becomes a master of virtually all forms of martial arts and is experienced in virtually every fighting style on Earth. He is proficient with most weaponry, including firearms, though he is partial to bladed weapons. He has demonstrated sufficient skills to defeat the likes of Shang-Chi and Captain America in single combat. He also has a wide knowledge of the body and pressure points. He is also an accomplished pilot and highly skilled in the field of espionage and covert operations.
 

Wolverine will sometimes lapse into a "berserker rage" while in close combat. In this state he lashes out with the intensity and aggression of an enraged animal and is even more resistant to psionic attack. Though he loathes it, he acknowledges that it has saved his life many times, it being most notably useful when he faced the telepathic 'Mister X', as X's ability to read his mind and predict his next move in a fight was useless in a berserk state as not even Wolverine knows what he will do next in this state. Despite his apparent ease at taking lives, he does not enjoy killing or giving in to his berserker rages. Logan adheres to a firm code of personal honor and morality.
 

In contrast to his brutish nature, Wolverine is extremely knowledgeable. Due to his increased lifespan, he has traveled around the world and amassed extensive knowledge of foreign languages and cultures. He is fluent in English, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Cheyenne, Spanish, Arabic, and Lakota; he also has some knowledge of French, Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Hindi, and Persian. When Forge monitors Wolverine's vitals during a Danger Room training session, he calls Logan's physical and mental state "equivalent of an Olympic-level gymnast performing a gold medal routine while simultaneously beating four chess computers in his head." Much to Professor Xavier's disapproval, Wolverine is also a heavy drinker and smoker - his healing powers negate the long term effects of alcohol and tobacco and allow him to indulge in prolonged binges.
 

Wolverine is frequently depicted as a gruff loner, often taking leave from the X-Men to deal with personal issues or problems. He is often irreverent and rebellious towards authority figures, though he is a reliable ally and capable leader. He has been a mentor and father figure to several younger women, especially Jubilee, Rogue, Kitty Pryde and X-23, and has had romantic relationships with numerous women (most notably Mariko Yashida), as well as a mutual, but unfulfilled attraction to Jean Grey, leading to jealous run-ins with her boyfriend (and later husband), Scott Summers. He also married Viper as part of a debt,and then later divorced her. When Squirrel Girl is hired as a nanny for the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, Wolverine reveals that he and Squirrel Girl had a relationship at some point in the past, and she uses his given name, James, indicating she knew him at some point when he was aware of his birth name. According to Wolverine, the relationship ended with the two agreeing never to see each other again, but Squirrel Girl stated she hopes they "can be professional" during her tenure as nanny
 

 

In other media

Wolverine is one of the very few X-Men characters to be included in every media adaptation of the X-Men franchise, including film, television, and computer and video games, and he has also starred in his own video games (e.g., X2: Wolverine's Revenge and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

Marvel Animation has completed the first and only season of the animated series, Wolverine and the X-Men, in which Wolverine leads the X-Men while Charles Xavier and Jean Grey are missing. The series aired the full first season in Canada and the U.S. (aired on Nickelodeon's Nicktoons channel). An anime series based on Wolverine began airing on January 7, 2011 as part of a 4-part collaboration between Marvel Animation and Madhouse called Marvel Anime.
 

20th Century Fox, in association with Marvel Studios, released an X-Men spin-off movie based on Wolverine, titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which stars Hugh Jackman returning as the title character. Gavin Hood directed the film, which was released in North America on May 1, 2009, and in Australia, the United Kingdom, and France on April 29, 2009. Troye Mellet plays the young Wolverine. The film chronicles Wolverine's metamorphosis from a sickly child in 19th century Canada discovering he is a mutant to his time in the army with his half-brother Victor Creed/Sabretooth, and then explores how they gradually came to be enemies. William Stryker and Victor Creed are the main antagonists in the film and are played by Danny Huston and Liev Schreiber, respectively. Another film went into development in 2009.Titled The Wolverine, the film will be based around Wolverine's exploits in Japan and will be modeled after Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series on the character. It is not stated to be a sequel, but rather a standalone story from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Jackman has an uncredited cameo as Wolverine in the 2011 prequel film X-Men: First Class, in which he is nearly recruited by Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr into the X-Men in a brief bar scene, but simply snaps "go fuck yourself" without even looking the men in the face.

In the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Wolverine stars as one of the four main heroes, with the others being Spider-Man, Captain America, and Thor. He is also a playable character in the games X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, and many others. (See List of X-Men video games for more details.)
 

Wolverine appears in the Spider-Woman motion comics. In this series, he is voiced by Jeffrey Hedquist.

 

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

 

Wolverine appears alongside the other X-Men in the episode "A Firestar Is Born" of the animated series, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends played by voice-actor Neil Ross
 

 

Pryde of the X-Men

He also appears in the 1989 animated television pilot X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. Neil Ross reprises the character in both episodes, using an apparent Australian accent. This was due to the actor and director misunderstanding a line in the script. In the original script Wolverine calls the Australian mutant Pyro "dingo", and rather than take that as an odd Australian slur, they assumed Wolverine to be Australian
 

 

Marvel animated universe

Cathal J. Dodd voice-acts as Wolverine in the 1990s X-Men animated television series, the Marvel vs. Capcom series of fighting games, two episodes of the Spider-Man animated series, and the X-Men Cartoon Maker PC game. Masashi Ebara voiced the character in the Japanese dub. He used the aliases "Logan" and "John Logan" in the series.

Wolverine is nearly taken straight from the comics. Though he never kills his opponents, it has been implied several times that he would if the other X-Men were not there to hold him back. He dons the classic yellow and blue costume from the comics. Wolverine is also in love with Jean Grey, who is Cyclops's girlfriend for most of the series. This and Cyclops's decision to leave Morph and Beast behind following an attack from the Sentinels led to Wolverine feeling a great resentment for the X-Men leader. Wolverine remembers very little about his past. One difference from the comic version is that Wolverine actually sees the claws when they first come out his hands.
 

 

X-Men: Evolution

In the 2000–2003 animated television series X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine, a man whose past is shrouded in mystery, provides the teenaged X-Men with battle training and creates conflict among his younger teammates. Voice-actor Scott McNeil portrays him.

This version of Wolverine doesn't have a romantic interest in Jean Grey, largely due to the age gap between the two. While this is normally not a problem for the hundred-year-old plus Wolverine in the comics, Jean was technically a legal minor for at least part of the first season of the show (she was around 17 at that time on the show), and the writers likely did not want to portray such a relationship to avoid censorship issues, a problem which does not exist in the comics as both are over the age of majority and of consent. Wolverine is an acting teacher at Xavier's institute, specifically in combat and survival techniques, but his gruff nature and soldier-minded concepts of training garner very little enthusiasm for his sessions from the younger students. His training as a ninja is hinted at in "Rogue Recruit", when he dons a nightsuit during a demonstration session for Kitty Pryde.
 

Wolverine, along with Storm and Beast, is an old friend of Xavier and takes a surrogate father role to the students much as Xavier does, specifically with Kitty Pryde, Rogue, and Nightcrawler. He shows a very protective side of himself when confronted with the story of the background of X-23, his clone who is introduced to the world in the third season. He also has ties to Magneto in this series, having saved Magneto as a child from the concentration camps in World War II, although the two of them are enemies throughout the entirety of the series, Magneto refuses to take an opportunity to kill Wolverine, Rogue, and Nightcrawler in the episode "Operation Rebirth" due to a debt he feels he owes to Wolverine for said rescue.

For most of the series Wolverine wears an orange and black costume reminiscent of his second, tan X-Men suit. Late in the series, he adopts a more realistic costume close in design to his Ultimate uniform

 

Wolverine and the X-Men

Wolverine and the X-Men is the newest cartoon for the X-Men franchise, with Steven Blum playing the lead role. After an attack on the school and the disappearance of Xavier and Jean Grey, the X-Men disassemble. However, Wolverine begins taking a slightly uncharacteristic role in rebuilding the team, and with Beast investigating the attack on the school. After recruiting Iceman, Shadowcat, Forge, Beast, Cyclops, Storm and reluctantly agreeing to take on Emma Frost as their resident telepath, Logan leads the team in search for Xavier. After finding their mentor who is left in a coma-like state, they receive a message from Xavier in the future, informing the team that Logan continues to take leadership of the team, over Cyclops (who now suffers from depression over the loss of Jean, and cannot lead). This is the first series to mention Wolverine's birth name of "James", which he was called by Mystique.

 

 

The Super Hero Squad Show

For the seventh time, Steve Blum voices Wolverine again for the The Super Hero Squad Show series on Cartoon Network as a member of the squad. This version of him is more kid friendly, although still tough and violent. He used to attend Xavier's School for Higher Learning, known as Mutant High in this universe, but never obtained his diploma due to the Shi'ar invasion. Captain Canada appears in episode 11, "O, Captain, My Captain!". Tired of all he can take with the Super Hero Squad, Wolverine joins up with the international All-Captains Squad (consisting of Captain America, Captain Australia, Captain Brazil, Captain Britain, and Captain Liechtenstein) as Captain Canada where he helps them fight Plantman in the Amazon

 

Black Panther

Wolverine appears in Black Panther voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
 

 

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Wolverine appears during a flashback scene of episode 14 of the prequel micro-series to the animated series, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Logan fights alongside Captain America and other heroes as a Howling Commandos soldier in World War II. He is referred to as Howlett, which corresponds with his birth name of James Howlett. He is again voiced by Steven Blum.

Wolverine makes an initial cameo appearance in Season Two of the show - along with Beast and Cyclops - in The Avengers episode "Infiltration" on one of the photos of known superbeings pondered over by Nick Fury, who is trying to determine which heroes he can now turn to in the upcoming Skrull invasion.

Wolverine also appears in the "New Avengers" episode. He appears in his astonishing costume and is never unmasked. In the episode, he joins forces with Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, War Machine and the Thing to fight Kang.

Marvel Anime: Wolverine
As part of a four-series collaboration between the Japanese Madhouse animation house and Marvel, Wolverine starred in a twelve-episode anime series that premiered in Japan on Animax and in the United States on G4 in 2011. The series will focus on him going to Japan to investigate A.I.M. Logan also appears during episode 4 of the Iron Man portion of the collaboration. He is voiced by Rikiya Koyama in the Japanese version and Milo Ventimiglia in the English dubbed version

Spider-Woman motion comics
Wolverine appears in the Spider-Woman motion comics. In this series, he is voiced by Jeffrey Hedquist


Marvel Anime: X-Men
Wolverine makes his next Marvel Anime appearance here, along with his fellow X-Men. Steven Blum reprises the role of Wolverine in the English version, along with familiar voice actors from Wolverine and the X-Men.

Ultimate Spider-Man
The Ultimate version of Wolverine appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man, again voiced by Steven Blum. In this version he sports his mainstream-version brown and yellow costume, rather than his Ultimate costume

Films

Many actors were considered for playing the part of Wolverine in a film adaptation of X-Men. At one point in the 1990s, Glenn Danzig was approached to play Wolverine in ad hoc committee X-Men film, because he bore a slight resemblance to the character, as well as being the same height as Wolverine, and very muscular. However, he had to decline, because the shooting for the film would have forced him to put a halt to touring with his band for nine months.

Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men movies, spoke to a number of actors about the role. He says Russell Crowe was too exhausted after playing a similar role in Gladiator; that the role didn't appeal to Edward Norton (Norton was also considered for fellow Marvel villain the Green Goblin in Spider-Man which he didn't play and would later be cast as fellow Marvel hero Hulk for the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk); Fox themselves ruled out Mel Gibson as being too expensive. In 1999, SFX magazine spoke to Keanu Reeves, who told the publication he didn't feel he was right for the role.

Eventually, Dougray Scott was cast as Wolverine, but shooting on Mission: Impossible II overran. Hugh Jackman became his replacement, and went on to play Wolverine in all the X-Men films: X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand. When it was first announced, it was considered a highly controversial move, as Hugh Jackman was not only known solely for his musical theater career, but the fact that he was simply too tall for the role (Jackman being 6'3", the comic-book version of Wolverine being approximately 5'3"). Despite these divergences though, Jackman's actual performance was incredibly well-received, becoming one of highlights of the series and launching his career into super-stardom. He played this role again for a prequel film revealing more on Wolverine's origins titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He also has a brief cameo in X-Men: First Class.

 

X-Men (2000)

 

At the beginning of X-Men, Logan / Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is introduced as a Canadian cage fighter, taking advantage of his adamantium skeleton. He is confronted by a young runaway named Marie, who later becomes Rogue (Anna Paquin). It is here that she sees Wolverine's retractable adamantium-laced claws, when the latter engages in a fight. When he is about to leave in his truck, Rogue introduces herself to him and asks if she can come along. At first, he refuses, but later he relents and takes her with him.

On their way, their truck is attacked by Sabretooth (Tyler Mane). Wolverine tries to battle with him, but is knocked out. Before Sabretooth can do any further damage, he is stopped and chased away by two other mysterious mutants, Cyclops (James Marsden) and Storm (Halle Berry), who rescue both Wolverine and Rogue and bring them to the X-Mansion.

When Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Jannsen) tries to treat Wolverine, he comes to his senses and immediately starts exploring the place. He finds out that there are mutants like him there who were trying to control their unnatural abilities under the tutelage of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Professor X convinces Wolverine to stay with them and become an X-Man, as he could get an opportunity to learn more about his forgotten past. Wolverine agrees and stays. A rivalry immediately forms between Cyclops and Wolverine as the latter romantically flirts relentlessly with Jean, the girlfriend of Cyclops.

Later, Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), impersonating Bobby Drake / Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), tells Rogue to leave the place as "she is a danger to everybody else". This was actually a trick to lure Rogue out of the X-Mansion, so that she could be used by Magneto (Ian McKellen) in the success of a machine that could turn all humans into mutants. When Wolverine finds out about Rogue's absence, he along with the X-Men reach the Statue of Liberty where Magneto is operating on his plans. In the process, Wolverine encounters Mystique and stabs her, virtually killing her, but she survives. He is also challenged by Sabretooth and they both engage in a fight, but Cyclops knocks Sabretooth off the Statue and he crashes into a boat below. In the end, Wolverine frees Rogue from the machine after Cyclops takes out Magneto, but she appears to be dead. Wolverine suffers life-threatening injuries when he intentionally makes contact with Rogue, allowing her to absorb his mutant regeenrative healing factor in order to recover. After awakening in the mansion and recovering from his vast injuries, he declares his sincere amorous feelings for a reticent Jean. As a reward of his victory along with the X-Men, Professor X gives Wolverine a hint for the search of his past, directing him to a mysterious Alkali Lake. Prior to his departure, Wolverine leaves his dog-tag necklace with Rogue, promising that "I'll be back for this". At the end of the film, Wolverine is seen leaving the mansion on Scott's (Cyclops) bike towards his destination.

 

X2 x-men united

 

 

In X2: X-Men United, continuing his search that he started at the end of X-Men, Wolverine finally discovers the Alkali Lake, but only finds an old and deserted factory, giving no clue about his forgotten past. He is disappointed and returns to the X-Mansion after a call from Professor X.

Upon returning, Wolverine is given the responsibility to look after the mutant children in the mansion in Professor X's absence, who plans to visit Magneto in his "plastic prison" with Cyclops to discover what information had he given to William Stryker (Brian Cox). Jean Grey and Storm also leave in search of Nightcrawler (Alan Cummings), who was found guilty of attacking the President of the United States. When the Professor is interrogating Magneto, he learns that Magneto had been drugged to leak all the information about the X-Mansion and the Cerebro to Stryker. Moreover, Professor X is later kidnapped along with Cyclops by Stryker's forces.

Back in the X-Mansion, at night, Wolverine has nightmares of his involvement in the mysterious Weapon X program, and decides to walk around the mansion, where he starts chatting with Bobby / Iceman. But all of a sudden, Stryker along with his military troops, invades the mansion and starts to the look for the Cerebro. Wolverine kills many of the soldiers, and saves the mutant children. He asks Colossus / Piotr Rasputin (Daniel Cudmore), Bobby, Rogue and Pyro / John Allerdyce (Aaron Stanford) to leave. And as Wolverine is about to escape too, he is confronted by William Stryker, whose presence strikes more forgotten memories in his mind. But he shakes out of it, and leaves with the remaining X-Men in a car for Boston to Bobby's house. Meanwhile, Stryker finds the Cerebro and steals it.

When Storm and Jean, along with Nightcrawler, learn of the attack on the X-Mansion from Wolverine, they head towards Boston in the X-Jet to recruit the X-Men from Bobby's house. During the X-Men's journey, Magneto and Mystique, who helped the former to escape from his prison, offer their help to the X-Men in bringing down William Stryker, who, as revealed by Magneto, was planning to use Professor X and his handling of the Cerebro to kill all the mutants on Earth. He also reveals Stryker's base of operations to be the Alkali Lake. The X-Men agree to form the alliance. Wolverine later kisses Jean, but is rejected by her as she tells him that she loves Scott. Mystique, seeing this exchange, takes advantage of Wolverine's love for Jean and approaches him in his tent, disguised as Jean, but Wolverine quickly discerns that she is an imposter(by the wound on her stomach made by Wolverine's claws in the first film) and rejects her.

At the Alkali Lake, Jean finds that Stryker's base was underground. Mystique, impersonating Wolverine, infiltrates the base and tricks Stryker's troops to open a gateway for the X-Men to enter. There, Wolverine decides to explore the base all by himself and he comes across a laboratory where he sees his claws' scratch marks on the walls. Now, he starts remembering what happened to him and how he was experimented upon with the adamantium. William Stryker arrives and clears Wolverine's doubts, revealing that he had created the "animal within Wolverine". When Wolverine is about to get his hands on him, Stryker introduces another mutant with adamantium skeleton and claws, Lady Deathstrike / Yuriko Oyama (Kelly Hu), who gets the better of Wolverine in a fight until he injects an overdose of liquid adamantium into her body. Wolverine trails Styker while the other X-Men rescue Cyclops, Professor X and the kidnapped mutant children.

After the destruction of his base, Stryker tries to flee in his helicopter but is caught by Wolverine and interrogated. Stryker refuses to cooperate and is pinned by Wolverine, who leaves him to be drowned in the flood water. When the X-Men are about to leave, Jean sacrifices herself by protecting them from the flood. Wolverine and Cyclops mourn her death. In the end of the film, Wolverine, hiding his love for Jean, informs Cyclops that Jean had chosen to be with Scott.

X-Men: The Last Stand

 

 

Wolverine returns in X-Men: The Last Stand. He once again stands against Magneto and his Brotherhood, apparently now more comfortable in his role as an X-Man and a hero, but he is conflicted with the decision of whether or not to kill Jean Grey, who is being influenced by her dual personality, the Phoenix.

He goes to Magneto's hideout to get Jean. He is confronted by Spike whom he kills with his claws. After listening to Magneto's speech to hundreds of his mutant army and their plans to kill Jimmy, the mutant that the "mutant cure" originated from, he decides to convince Jean to return with the X-Men. After a brief confrontation with Magneto, Wolverine tells Beast, Storm and others about Magneto's plans and they decide to stop him.

In the climax, on the Alcatraz Island With the help of Colossus and a Fastball Special, he distracts Magneto, allowing Beast to inject him with the cure, curing him. Finally, when Jean,(possessed by the almighty Phoenix Force) goes on a violently destructive rampage, he goes towards her, relying on his rapid, regenerative healing abilities to save himself from being dismembered by Jean's vastly strengthened and magnified psisonic powers which were now working at sub-atomic power level. Finally, he decides to go against his decisions and stabs Jean with his claws after confessing his deep, strong romantic love for her.

 

 

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

 

 

20th Century Fox set Gavin Hood to direct Hugh Jackman in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, an "X-Men" spinoff that was written by David Benioff and Skip Woods. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which began production in November 2007 for a May 1, 2009 release, was produced by Lauren Shuler-Donner, Ralph Winter, Jackman and his Seed Productions partner John Palermo. Using several resources that include the Marvel Comics lore, along with the more recent Weapon X graphic novels, Wolverine mixes action with an origin story about how Logan emerged from a barbaric experiment as an indestructible mutant with retractable razor-sharp claws.

This story begins with Wolverine's childhood as James Howlett, his powers activating in 1845 after witnessing the death of his father at the hands of Thomas Logan, who reveals that he is James' biological father only after the grief-stricken James has impaled him with his new claws. Fleeing with his half-brother Victor, the two spend the next several decades operating as soldiers in various wars (where their mutant abilities offered an edge in battle, allowing the brothers to survive from time to time) until Vietnam when they are recruited by now-Major William Stryker for a special team (consisting of Logan, Stryker, Victor, teleporter John Wraith, super-strong Fred Dukes, marksman David North (a.k.a. Agent Zero), electricity manipulator Chris Bradley and swordsman/martial artist Wade Wilson) after Victor kills their commanding officer, but James leaves the team after realizing how willing the other members are to kill innocent people to achieve their goals.

Moving on to become a lumberjack with a woman called Kayla Silverfox, James - now going by the name of his real father, Logan - is lured back to Stryker after the apparently rogue Victor kills Kayla, prompting him to agree to Stryker's offer to enhance his skeleton with adamantium to give him the strength to kill Victor- choosing the name 'Wolverine' from a tale Kayla told him about a spirit that was tricked into being parted forever from his lover the Moon-, only to flee when he learns that Stryker intends to erase his memories and use his DNA as part of another experiment. Escaping the labs and eliminating the first wave of pursuers- along with his former teammate Agent Zero- Wolverine tracks down teammates John Wraith and Fred Dukes, learning from both of an island facility where Stryker keeps mutants prisoner. Finding the facility with the aid of Gambit- the only mutant alive to escape it-, Wolverine is horrified to learn that Kayla was actually an agent of Stryker's all along and her death was faked, but is spurred back into action when he learns that she did genuinely love him. Freeing the mutant prisoners- including Kayla's sister Emma and Wolverine's future ally Scott Summers-, Wolverine confronts the newly activated 'Weapon XI'- his former teammate and friend Wade Wilson now Deadpool, his mouth now sealed shut and artificially granted multiple mutant powers-, finally defeating him with the aid of Victor, who vows that only he gets to kill Wolverine.

Before Wolverine can leave with Kayla, however, Stryker shoots Wolverine in the head with adamantium bullets, subsequently departing after Kayla orders him to leave using her power of persuasion. When Wolverine regains consciousness, his injuries have healed but the damage to his brain has seemingly permanently destroyed his memories, subsequently departing the island to seek his own way.

X-Men: First Class

 

 

Jackman reprises his role as Wolverine in a cameo in X-Men: First Class, another origin film set in the 1960s about the beginnings of the X-Men. Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr find Wolverine via Cerebro and introduce themselves to him at a bar, but he rudely dismisses them, although he looks back at them thoughtfully as they leave the bar.