Wolverine (character)

Publication history

Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas asked writer Len Wein to devise a character specifically named Wolverine, who is Canadian and of small stature and with a wolverine's fierce temper. John Romita, Sr. designed the first Wolverine costume, and believes he introduced the retractable claws, saying, "When I make a design, I want it to be practical and functional. I thought, 'If a man has claws like that, how does he scratch his nose or tie his shoelaces?'" Wolverine first appeared in the final "teaser" panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (cover-dated Oct. 1974) written by 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 (Nov. 1974) again by the Wein–Trimpe team. In 2009, Trimpe said he "distinctly remembers" Romita's sketch and that, "The way I see it, [Romita and writer Len Wein] sewed the monster together and I shocked it to life!... It was just one of those secondary or tertiary characters, actually, that we were using in that particular book with no particular notion of it going anywhere. We did characters in The [Incredible] Hulk all the time that were in [particular] issues and that was the end of them." Though often credited as co-creator, Trimpe adamantly denies having had any role in Wolverine's creation.

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 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 modeled his rendition of Wolverine on actor Paul D’Amato, who played Dr. Hook in the 1977 sports film Slap Shot. Byrne also 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.

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 (Nov. 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, Mark Millar, and Gregg Hurwitz. Many artists have also worked on the series, including John Byrne, Gene Colan, 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 (Nov. 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 appeared as a regular character throughout both the 2010–2013 Avengers series and the 2010–2013 New Avengers 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 an already established Marvel geneticist, 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 said on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine blu-ray special features that he has read "Ten things you did not know about Wolverine", which states the character was originally intended to be a mutated wolverine cub, and that this rekindled Wein's frustration. He again stated that he had "always known that Wolverine was a mutant."

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 said 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 stated, in both interviews and 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 conceived of 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.

Fictional character biography

Wolverine was born James Howlett in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, during the late 1880s, purportedly to rich farm owners John and Elizabeth Howlett though he is actually the illegitimate son of the Howletts' groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. After Thomas is thrown off the Howletts' property for an attempted rape perpetrated by his other son, named simply Dog, he 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, as his mutation manifests. He flees with his childhood companion, Rose, and grows into manhood on a mining colony in the Yukon, adopting the name "Logan". When Logan accidentally kills Rose with his claws, he flees the colony and lives in the wilderness among wolves, until he is captured and placed in a circus. Saul Creed, brother of Victor Creed, frees Logan, but after he betrays Logan and Clara Creed to Nathaniel Essex, Logan drowns Creed in Essex's potion. Logan returns to civilization, residing with the Blackfoot people. Following the death of his Blackfoot lover, Silver Fox, at the hands of Victor Creed, now known as Sabretooth, he is ushered into the Canadian military during World War I. Logan spends time in Madripoor before settling in Japan, where he marries Itsu and has a son, Daken. Logan is unaware of his son for many years.

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

As a member of Team X, Logan is given false memory implants. Eventually breaking free of this mental control, he joins the Canadian Defence Ministry. Logan is subsequently kidnapped by the Weapon X program, where he remains captive and experimented on, until he escapes. It is during his imprisonment by Weapon X that he has adamantium forcibly fused onto his bones. James and Heather Hudson help him recover his humanity, and Logan begins work as an intelligence operative for the Canadian government's Department H. He 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, Professor Charles Xavier recruits Wolverine to a new iteration of his superhero-mutant team, the X-Men. It was later revealed that Wolverine had been sent to assassinate Xavier, who wiped Logan's memories and forced him to join the X-Men.

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. 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. 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 2004, Mark Millar took on Wolverine with the "Enemy of the State" story arc. Wolverine travels to Japan to search for Mariko's missing nephew, but it was a trap by the Hand to brainwash Wolverine. HYDRA is revealed to be allied with the cults the Dawn of the White Light and the Hand in order to kill superheroes and brainwash them into soldiers. Wolverine kills The Hornet, so Elektra and S.H.I.E.L.D. decide to come after him. Wolverine also attacks the Fantastic Four in the Baxter Building. He is not able to injure the team, but hacks their computer and steals Reed's anti-Galactus weapons before teleporting out. They believe that the next attack will be against Daredevil, but it was a trap to capture Elektra and brainwash her. He also attacks the X-Mansion. He threatens Rachel Summers with a bomb that will kill the students unless she uses Cerebro to kill the president. Instead she figures out how to disarm the bomb. Right before he is subdued, Wolverine strikes at Kitty Pryde, who phases, so his blades kill Northstar. Wolverine is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and submitted to VR reprogramming. Hydra then strike's the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier with all their brainwashed villains. Wolverine is unleashed on them and manages to save Nick Fury from Elektra. Wolverine then tracks down Northstar and the Dawn of the White Hand with three reprogrammed sentinels. He then attacks the Hand's secret base with the last Sentinel and faces Elektra, who is now the Queen of the Hand. It turns out she can't be brainwashed since she's been resurrected so many times. They finish off the Hand leaders, then track down The Gorgon, whom Wolverine kills by showing him a reflection of himself on his adamantium claws. Wolverine is finally able to track down the grave of missing boy.

In Wolverine (vol. 3) #32, Mark Millar drafts a tale of Wolverine in a concentration camp, who is constantly executed and burned in a furnace, then resurrected, which mentally tortures the camp warden. He does not speak a word in the issue, which suggested to Millar by Will Eisner, to resolve Millar's perception that Wolverine's normal manner of speech would not be an appropriate fit for the story's setting.

In 2005, author Brian Michael Bendis had Wolverine join the Avengers. During the miniseries House of M, Wolverine is able to recall that his previous memories and uses mutant Layla Miller, to deconstruct the world Scarlet Witch created. Wolverine is one of the few characters who can remember the House of M world and seeks out to 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 Uncanny 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 confronts Thomas Logan. Thomas was the groundskeeper of Wolverine's legal father, but is revealed to be the hero's biological father. Wolverine is also reunited 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 whom 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 incapacitates 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. 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, who 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, who were in possession of a spawn of the original Krakoa.

Kid Omega, who wants to prove himself to Broo, Idie and Kid Gladiator, reasoned with Krakoa who then joined Wolverine's X-Men. Wolverine confronts the Hellfire Club tells them to stay away from his school, though he admonishes Krakoa not to attack them. Matt Murdock tells Kade Kilgore that he is being sued by Wolverine for the sum of $879 million for the damage he did to the school. As the school is rebuilt, Logan is informed that Krakoa was glad they allowed him to stay and Logan notes the advantage of school grounds that could defend itself.

"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 tries and convince Wolverine to switch sides and become part of the X-Men once more. Wolverine is infuriated, feeling Cyclops has betrayed what the X-Men stood for, and did not have the right to determine who was a part of them.

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 gives a eulogy at the funeral of Professor X, where he admits that he wanted to kill Cyclops. Later he becomes a member of the Avengers Unity Squad, a team created by Captain America to improve human/mutant relations by having X-Men and Avengers working together. The team's first mission pits them against a clone of the Red Skull who had grafted Professor X's brain onto his own.

During those events, a solo mission left Wolverine infected with an "intelligent virus" hailing from the Microverse. While his healing factor purges the infection from his body, the viral agent was still able to suppress Wolverine's healing factor, leaving him in the search for a cure.

Death of Wolverine

In September and October 2014, the "Death of Wolverine" storyline began after a virus from the microverse turned off Wolverine's healing factor, allowing his enemies to be able to kill him. Heroes such as Mister Fantastic offered to work on finding a means of reactivating his healing factor. When he learned that a bounty had been placed on his head, Logan resolved to find his foe, eventually identifying it as Doctor Abraham Cornelius, the founder of the Weapon X program. After defeating Dr. Cornelius' latest experiment, Wolverine slashed the adamantium container before it could be infected with Dr. Cornelius' chemicals and Wolverine gets covered in it during the process. Wolverine dies from suffocation from the hardening adamantium.

Wanting to possess Logan, Ogun traveled to the Paradise facility to find him already dead, so instead he made Sharp his host. His body was later seen still kneeling on the roof when the subjects led by Sharp escaped Weapon X soldiers looking to retrieve them and escaped the lab in a helicopter, and was last seen caught in an explosion on the roof.

Post mortem and legacy

The aftermath of Wolverine's death is explored in the series Wolverines. Sharp, Skel, Neuro, Endo, Junk, and the "Wolverines" (a team formed from the fallout of his death by Daken, Lady Deathstrike, Mystique, Sabretooth, and X-23) try to find Logan's adamantium-covered body, which is taken by Mister Sinister. The group infiltrate Mister Sinister's fortress to retrieve the body, but it is taken by the X-Men after a battle.

As one of his last requests, Wolverine arranged for Spider-Man to become a member of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning's staff, wanting Spider-Man to investigate a suspected double agent. Despite the initial hostility he faced from the rest of the team, Spider-Man soon exposed a plan by Mister Sinister to acquire genetic samples from the X-Men and create a new clone army. Storm even noted after Sinister's defeat that Spider-Man's unconventional attitude made him more like Wolverine than she had acknowledged.

Black Widow tracked a knife covered in Wolverine's blood in the possession of A.I.M. to a research facility in Moscow. Captain America and Deadpool went to retrieve it in order to prevent A.I.M. from misusing Wolverine's DNA. Deadpool was given the blood-covered knife by Captain America to do with it as he wanted. Deadpool had recently acquired an incubator that could create new bodies using a DNA sample. Deadpool deferred the decision to bring Wolverine back to life until he had more time to think on whether it would have been what Wolverine wanted.

X-23 begins wearing a variation of Wolverine's costume and adopts his codename.

An alternate timeline version of Wolverine known as Old Man Logan that arrives in Earth Prime after Secret Wars is invited to join the Extraordinary X-Men. Old Man Logan was shown the adamantium-frozen body of his Earth-616 counterpart to prove that this wasn't the elderly Logan's past.

In the afterlife, Wolverine makes a brief reappearance when he, Phoenix and Amanda Sefton encourage Nightcrawler, who has just been fatally stabbed by the Crimson Pirates, to return to the land of the living.

Powers and abilities

Wolverine is a mutant with a number of both natural and artificial improvements to his physiology.

Healing and defensive powers

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. 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 ingesting 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.

His healing factor is facilitated by 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. While the adamantium in his body stops or reduces many injuries, his healing factor must also work constantly to prevent metal poisoning from killing him. As his healing powers are currently inactive, Beast has synthesized a drug to counteract the adamantium poisoning.

His healing factor also dramatically affects his aging process, allowing him to live far beyond the normal lifespan of a human. Despite being born in the late 19th century, he has the appearance, conditioning, health, and vitality of a man in his physical prime. While seemingly ageless, it is unknown exactly how greatly his healing factor extends his life expectancy.

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. 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.

Depictions of the speed and extent of injury to which Wolverine can heal vary due to a broad degree of artistic license employed by various comic book writers. Originally, this was portrayed as accelerated healing of minor wounds, though Chris Claremont, head writer of the X-Men comics from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s increased Wolverine's healing factor substantially, though not nearly as later writers would. During the 1980s, Wolverine's mutant healing factor is depicted as being able to heal massive levels of trauma, though his recovery time could extend to days, weeks or months before fully healing; often depending upon the severity of the injuries, their extent and the frequency with which they're inflicted. During the 1990s through the modern era, other writers have increased 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. The Xavier Protocols, a series of profiles created by Xavier that lists the strengths and weaknesses of the X-Men, states 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 is possible to suppress the efficiency of his healing powers. For example, if an object composed of carbonadium is inserted and remains lodged within his body, his healing powers are slowed dramatically. The Muramasa blade, a katana of mystic origins that can inflict wounds that nullify superhuman healing factors, can also suppress Wolverine's powers. It has also been noted that Wolverine needs protein for his healing factor to generate tissue, meaning that if he was seriously injured and malnourished, his body might not be able to repair itself.

It has been suggested that Wolverine can be killed by drowning. He has stated that he is not particularly fond of being in water, due partially to the additional weight of his adamantium laced skeleton, and that he can die if held under water long enough with his healing factor only prolonging the agony. The two part story arc, "Drowning Logan" finds Wolverine trapped under water for an extensive period of time. The second part of the story arc hints that this time underwater gravely affects his healing factor with significant consequences to his health going forward. Following the events of "Drowning Logan", Beast reveals that an "intelligent virus" originating from the Microverse has shut off his healing factor, though not before his healing factor was able to purge his body of the virus itself. As a result, Beast states that he's now as susceptible to injury and disease as any ordinary human and ages at a normal rate.

In Wolverine vol. 3, #57 it is 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.

A study by the University of British Columbia states that Wolverine's healing factor resembles the axolotl's ability to regenerate lost limbs. It suggests that a novel protein—which the study's authors dubbed Howlett—found in tissue samples taken from him, and which resembles the Amblox protein found in axolotl but is much more efficient, is responsible for Wolverine's rapid regeneration.

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.

Other abilities

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. 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.

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.

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, including most metals, wood, and some varieties of stone. The only known exceptions are adamantium itself and Captain America's shield, which is made out of a proto-adamantium-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. His claws can also be used to block attacks or projectiles, as well as dig into surfaces allowing Wolverine to climb structures. The adamantium also adds weight to his blows, increasing the effectiveness of his offensive capabilities. His adamantium skeleton makes him highly susceptible to magnetic-based attacks. According to Reed Richards, Wolverine would be unable to move without his enhanced strength due to the additional weight of the adamantium bonded to his skeleton.

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, lifting Ursa Major (in grizzly bear form) over his head before tossing him across a room, and hauling a concert grand piano, and the platform it rests on, via a harness, while climbing a sheer cliff.

Skills and personality

The essence of [Logan's] character [is] a "failed samurai." To Samurai, duty is all, selfless service the path to their ultimate ambition, death with grace.

During his time in Japan and other countries, Wolverine became proficient in many forms of martial arts, with experience in many different fighting styles. He is proficient with most weaponry, including firearms, though he is partial to bladed weapons. He has demonstrated sufficient skills to defeat expert martial artist Shang-Chi and Captain America in single combat. He also has a wide knowledge of the body and pressure points. Like many of the X-Men, he is trained to pilot the group's SR-71 Blackbird supersonic plane. He is 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 as not even Wolverine knows what he will do next in his berserk state. Despite his apparent ease at taking lives, he mournfully regrets and 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, Italian, Korean, Hindi, Persian, German, and Portuguese. When Forge monitors Wolverine's vital signs 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, Kitty Pryde and X-23, and has had failed romantic relationships with numerous women (most notably Mariko Yashida), as well as a mutual, but unfulfilled attraction to Jean Grey, leading to arguments with her boyfriend (and later husband), Scott Summers. He also married Viper as part of a debt, then later divorced her. It has also been implied that he and Squirrel Girl had a relationship at some point in the past. Wolverine has had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with teammate Storm.

Other versions

As one of Marvel's flagship characters, Wolverine has seen many adaptations and re-imaginings. For example, an issue of Exiles featured a planet of Wolverines. In the Marvel Mangaverse, Wolverine is even the founder of the X-Men. In Marvel Zombies, Wolverine appears zombified alongside Marvel's other major players. The Ultimate Marvel line of comics sought to ingrain Wolverine into its Ultimate X-Men title from the onset. The "Old Man Logan" storyline is set in an alternate timeline 50 years into the future where the world's superhuman heroes are dead; Wolverine has aged considerably and has become a pacifist.

In other media

Wolverine is one of the few X-Men characters appearing in every media adaptation of the X-Men franchise, including film, television, and computer and video games. He has also starred in eponymous video games. Australian actor Hugh Jackman has played Wolverine in nine X-Men films.

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, with 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 Sivan plays the young Wolverine (James Howlett). 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 come to be enemies. William Stryker and Victor Creed are played by Danny Huston and Liev Schreiber, respectively.

Another film went into development in 2009. Titled The Wolverine, the film is based on Wolverine's exploits in Japan and is modeled after Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series about the character. It is set after the third X-Men film, but is not a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film was released in theaters July 25, 2013.

Jackman has an uncredited cameo as Wolverine in the 2011 prequel film X-Men: First Class, where Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr attempt to recruit him into the X-Men in a brief bar scene. He calmly says "go fuck yourself" without bothering to even look at them. He made a second uncredited cameo as Wolverine in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, in which the X-Men release him from a military research facility under Stryker's control.

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.)

In July 1984, Canadian comic book publisher Aardvark-Vanaheim was threatened with possible legal action by Marvel Comics over a parody of Wolverine in the comic book series Cerebus.

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

Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in a third Wolverine film, titled Logan, in 2017. This film features an older Wolverine that goes on an adventure to save Laura Kinney, his biological daughter. On May 7, 2015, he said it would be the last time he plays the character on film: "It is my last time. It just felt like it was the right time to do it. And let's be honest, 17 years. I never thought in a million years it would last, so I'm so grateful to the fans for the opportunity of playing it."

Reception

Wolverine topped Wizard magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time list. IGN ranked Wolverine 4th in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes. Empire magazine named him the fourth-greatest comic book character.