By Ian T. Wilson
Rating: G (suitable for all audiences)
Word Count: 339
Summary: A brief biography of Marvel’s Wolverine
Good afternoon, Fairydusters. This is Ian Wilson, Fellowship & Fairydust’s comic and superhero aficionado, and welcome to another Superhero Sunday. This week, I wanna talk about one of the most popular characters in comics and superhero movies today; Wolverine.
Wolverine actually has a very complex biography and publication history. If you’ve seen the Wolverine movies, you know Wolverine was born in Alberta, Canada, sometime in the 19th century, and was given the name James Howlett. After his parents’ murder by their groundskeeper Thomas Logan, James’ mutation manifested as long bone claws. With these claws, James killed Thomas Logan, and ran away from home, taking the pseudonym Logan. Bit odd to name yourself after you parents’ killer, but whatever.
It didn’t take long for Logan to realize that he was basically immortal. He had many adventures all over the world, fought in World War I and II, and even Vietnam. He was used as a supersoldier by the US government, who replaced his natural bones with an adamantium skeleton. Adamantium, by the way, is the strongest metal in the Marvel universe. Long story short, Logan eventually joined the X-Men, where he became a highly valued member.
He possesses superhuman strength, speed, and is basically invulnerable. Then there’s those claws. His senses of smell and hearing are also much more acute than any ordinary human.
It might surprise you to hear that Wolverine was not intended to be a member of the X-Men. At this point, the X-Men had been out of publication for several years (X-Men was one of the few Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creations that did not enjoy success). His first appearance was in The Incredible Hulk #180 in 1974. He was suggested to writer/artist team Len Wein and John Romita sr. by editor Roy Thomas. A revival of X-Men followed in 1975 and Wolverine was added to their line-up. His full origin story was not revealed until the 1990’s however. The writers wanted to keep Logan’s story a mystery, adding an unusual twist to the character.