Wolverine in other media

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Hulk Vs (2009)

Steven Blum reprised his role as Wolverine in the film Hulk Vs, in a segment called "Hulk Vs. Wolverine". It also features many insights on Wolverine's past. This was tied in with the Wolverine and the X-Men series in the seventh episode, titled "Wolverine vs. Hulk", though the ties are loose, as there is very little (if any) continuity between this movie and the episode.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload (2013)

Wolverine is featured in the 2013 Lego film Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced once again by Steve Blum, originally aired as a five-part miniseries.

X-Men film series (2000–2017)

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 for the role in the 1990s due to a slight resemblance, however, Danzig declined as the shooting would interfere with his band's nine-month tour. Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men movies, spoke to a number of actors, including Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves and Edward Norton, for the role. Fox ruled out Mel Gibson as being too expensive. Though Dougray Scott was cast, the role of Wolverine went to Hugh Jackman. Despite what was thought to be a highly controversial move due to his much taller stature than Wolverine's comic depictions by a nearly full foot of height, Jackman's actual performance was well received. Jackman, at 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) stands 28 cm taller than Wolverine, who is said in the original comic book to be 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m). Hence, the filmmakers were frequently forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or only from the waist up to make him appear shorter than he actually is, and his co-stars wore platform soles. Jackman revealed in an interview with The Huffington Post that his character was originally going to have a cameo in Spider-Man.

While possessing all the same powers as the comic book counterpart, this portrayal of Wolverine is shown to have a much more powerful healing factor, able to mend and regenerate any damage short of decapitation within seconds, and also rendering him ageless, being nearly twice as old as in the comics while still in his prime. By the time of the first X-Men film (2000), Wolverine first appears as an amateur cage fighter in Laughlin City, Alberta and meets Marie "Rogue" D'Ancanto and ends up getting himself involved in the conflict between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. After helping stop Magneto's plan, Logan is directed by Professor Xavier to an abandoned military base around Alkali Lake that might contain information about his past.

This leads to the sequel X2 (2003) where Logan, finding nothing left of the base and returning to Xavier's school, where he encounters William Stryker. During a confrontation with Stryker, Wolverine regains some of his memory, but opts to remain with the mutants over Stryker's objections, while Stryker himself is killed when the base floods after sustaining damage.

In X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Wolverine, Storm and Beast take over in leading the X-Men after Xavier and Cyclops are apparently killed by Jean Grey's Phoenix persona, and to fight against Magneto's expended Brotherhood of Mutants. Wolverine is forced to kill Phoenix in the end.

In the X-Men Origins: Wolverine prequel (2009), Wolverine's past is fleshed out. Born James Howlett in 1832 Canada, Logan awakened his mutant powers at age 13 when he murdered his biological father after the groundskeeper killed the only father he knew. Running off with his half-brother Victor Creed, Logan spends the next century fighting in numerous wars including the Vietnam War, where he is briefly a member of Stryker's Team X before leaving due to the group's disregard for life. However, Logan's past catches up to him through both the Weapon X Project in which he is pitted against Stryker, Creed and Wade Wilson. Though Logan and Creed eventually work together to fight and kill Wilson, Stryker shoots Logan with adamantium bullets before he is arrested. Though Logan survives, his memory is lost.

Wolverine also makes a cameo appearance in X-Men: First Class (2011) where he is shown rudely declining Charles Xavier and Magneto while recruiting mutants to their team.

In The Wolverine (2013), the guilt-ridden Wolverine has finally regained his memory, lives in isolation in the Yukon one year after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, before being sought by Japanese CEO Shingen Yashida, wanting to repay Wolverine for saving his life during World War II. When Wolverine refuses to have his healing powers transferred into Yashida, it leads to a series of events leading to his adamantium claws being severed before finally letting go of his guilt over Jean's death. After returning to America, Wolverine finds himself approached at the airport by Magneto and Xavier while learning of a new threat to all mutants.

This leads to the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). With the world essentially controlled by advanced Sentinels by the year 2023, Wolverine's mind is transferred back in time into his 1973 self to prevent Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask and curb the Sentinels' creation. With the help of the younger Xavier and Hank McCoy they are able to deter Mystique from assassinating Trask, preventing the apocalyptic future from occurring. Once his mission is fulfilled the original timeline is erased and Wolverine returns to a changed future, while his past self regains consciousness with no memory of his future self's activities. In the altered 2023 Wolverine is shown to have joined the X-Men and had become a history teacher at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and learns that the past changes negated Cyclops and Jean's deaths. It is unknown what this did to the alternate Logan's consciousness.

While Wolverine doesn't appear in person in Deadpool, he and Hugh Jackman are referenced in a comical fashion multiple times. Near the end of the film, a mask made from a photograph of Hugh Jackman is worn by Deadpool to represent the character of Wolverine.

Wolverine makes a brief appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse as "Weapon X". Having somehow been captured by Stryker at some point, he has been given an adamantium skeleton and subject to brutal mental conditioning, leaving him operating on a more feral state than a human level. When some of the adult X-Men are captured by Stryker's men, Jean, Scott and Kurt Wagner are able to infiltrate Stryker's base and find Logan's cage, with Jean sensing the human mind underneath the conditioning and releasing him so that he can help. After Weapon X tears his way through Stryker's forces, the three teens find him at a small side-exit to the base, Jean's telepathy to restore some of Logan's human memories before he runs off into the snow. Writer Simon Kinberg explained that the character was originally intended to have a larger role in the film, saying "There was always a notion that we wanted Wolverine to be in the movie. We wanted to find a way to feature him in the film, partly because Bryan [Singer] and I love Hugh [Jackman] so much. We love the character, obviously, and he’s such a huge part of the franchise. There were a lot of iterations of how Wolverine would enter and exit the movie. There was a version when he was going to come in at the midpoint of the film and be like the drill sergeant for the kids and take over as their leader. And we felt like that stepped on Jennifer Lawrence's role in the movie and becoming their leader".

Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in another solo-film titled Logan in 2017, but has confirmed that this will be his final appearance as the character. The film is set in 2029; by this point Logan's healing factor has deteriorated, causing him to age rapidly. He is also slowly dying from adamantium poisoning. He spends his days working as a chauffeur and hustling for prescription drugs along the border between Texas and Mexico. He and fellow mutant Caliban live in an abandoned smelting plant across the border in Mexico, where they care for a senile Charles Xavier, who had inadvertently killed several of his X-Men in a seizure-induced psychic attack one year earlier. He is tasked by Gabriela, a nurse for Transigen, to escort an 11-year-old girl, Laura, to a place in North Dakota called "Eden." Logan, Charles, and Laura escape the Transigen hunters called the "Reavers," and discover that Laura is Logan's "daughter", as she was bred with his DNA. After accepting shelter from a family they helped on the highway, Xavier is killed by X-24, a perfect clone of Logan. Logan and Laura escape and bury Xavier's body near a lake. Eventually, Logan and Laura arrive at Eden, which is a safe haven run by Rictor and former Transigen test subjects. There, Logan learns that the children will make an eight mile journey across the forest to the Canadian border and entrusts Laura to them before departing on his own. However, when the children are located and captured by the Reavers, Logan uses a mutant serum given to him by Rictor to restore his strength and healing factor,. He then plows through the Reavers, but the serum quickly wears off before he meets Zander Rice, the head of the Transigen project, who sought to avenge his father's death during the Weapon X program by creating the virus. Logan kills Rice and confronts X-24. However, with his healing factor now gone, Logan is no match for X-24, who impales him through a tree. Laura shoots X-24 in the head with an adamantium bullet that Logan had kept with him for years, destroying his brain and half his skull. After Logan succumbs to his wounds and dies in Laura's arms, Laura and the children bury him before continuing their journey across the border. As they all leave, Laura returns to Logan's grave, removes the cross, and places it on its side to create an "X" to honor Logan as the last of the X-Men.

Video games

Wolverine is a playable character (often the primary or default playable character) in all X-Men video games and many Marvel video games in general.

Solo games

Video games featuring Wolverine as the lead character are Wolverine (1991) for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Wolverine: Adamantium Rage (1994) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, X-Men: Wolverine's Rage (2001) for the Game Boy Color, X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), voiced by Mark Hamill, for GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Mac, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), voiced by Hugh Jackman, for Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox 360.

X-Men related games

Wolverine appears as character in the following X-Men games.

Playable

Not playable

Spider-Man related games

Other Marvel related games

Super Hero Squad games

Other games

Books

Wolverine appears in the X-Men/Star Trek crossover novel Planet X. In it, he befriends Worf, who has a similar appreciation of combat and fighting. Wolverine programs the holodeck of the Enterprise-E to simulate Sabretooth, the Blob, Unus the Untouchable, and Juggernaut for him and Worf to fight.