Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine (real name James Howlett, often simply called Logan) is a
comic book superhero in the
Marvel Comics universe, and a prolific member of the
X-Men. He first appeared in brief in
The Incredible Hulk #180; many sources credit his first full appearance in
Incredible Hulk #181 as his actual first appearance.
Len Wein is the writer credited with creating the character. Other writers such as
Chris Claremont,
John Byrne, and
Frank Miller are also responsible for much of the character's development.
History
The character who would later become Wolverine made his first appearance as a Canadian superhero fighting the anti-hero known as The Incredible Hulk. Wolverine was originally known as Weapon X. Since then, he has had a long and varied career, most notably as a member of the X-Men.
His first appearance was in The Incredible Hulk #180, though he only appeared in a single panel, not being fully introduced until the next issue. He was able to fight both the Hulk and the Wendigo to a virtual standstill in his first appearance, and his nature and powers remained vague.
Wolverine joined the X-Men in Giant Sized X-Men #1 (1975). It was here that it was revealed that he is a mutant with an ability to heal rapidly, who has a skeleton and retractable claws both laced with the unbreakable (fictional) metal adamantium. When working for the Canadian government he was supposed to become the leader of the incipient team of superhuman mutants who would later be known as Alpha Flight. However, Wolverine instead chose to join the X-Men and left the country. This decision would come to plague the X-Men as the Alpha Flight would fight the X-men in an effort to kidnap Wolverine and force him to fulfill his contract with the Canadian government.
Logan has had some very complicated romantic entanglements. He had a romantic interest in Jean Grey (who shared the attraction), but as she was already in a relationship with the team leader, Cyclops, their love would go unfulfilled. This created tension between Wolverine and Cyclops, though the two shared a bond of mutual respect. Wolverine was engaged to Lady Mariko Yashida of a Japanese crime family, Clan Yashida, at one time. He was forced to kill her father, Shingen, in a duel and single-handedly destroyed Shingen's crime cartel. Mariko and Logan became estranged due to the strange honor customs of her family and once they were finally reunited she was poisoned by Reiko, an assassin for the Yakuza, (Japanese Mafia). She asked Logan to save her from the horrible death and he obeyed by using his claws to end her life. This changed Wolverine's character significantly making him more disciplined and emotionally distant.
At some point in the 1990s the adamantium in Wolverine's skeleton was forcibly removed by the villain Magneto. Following this, a character known as Genesis kidnapped Wolverine and attempted to re-bond the metal to his skeleton. This was unsuccessful and caused Wolverine's mutation to accelerate out of control. He was temporarily changed into a semi-sentient beast-like form. In this form Wolverine was physically more powerful than he had ever been before. Genesis did not survive his error and was dispatched by Logan in his savage manifestation. Finally, the mutant villain known as Apocalypse kidnapped Wolverine, brainwashed him, and had the adamantium rebonded to his skeleton successfully. Wolverine was able to escape Apocalypse's plans for him, however.
Wolverine is renowned for his gruffness and sheer feral savagery. He is one of the few X-Men who has no compunctions about killing when necessary, and has been frequently at odds with his fellow teammates as a result. Despite that fact, he does live by a code of honor and does respect life. He has a dark past that involves many secret organizations and even the Canadian government and its superhero team, Alpha Flight, and some of the X-Men's greatest foes. It has been revealed that Wolverine's memories have been tampered with extensively making very little of what he believes is his past credible.
At the end of New X-Men #150 Wolverine decapitated Magneto for killing Jean Grey. More recently he has distanced himself from Scott over his affair with Emma Frost and from Professor X over the latter's reluctance to condemn Magneto. Though he has agreed to work with Scott on the public "Astonishing" team, Logan has grown much closer to "his" generation of X-men (Storm, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat) and is an officer of the mutant law enforcement agency the X-Treme sanctions executive (XSE). He also continues to adventure on his own in the monthly wolverine comic.
He has also been briefly "married"* to NYPD detective Sara Pezzini (aka: Witchblade) during an adventure in Las Vegas, as with all crossovers this should be taken with a pinch of salt continuty wise but is a fun book. (This book is written by Chris Claremont the writer most commonly associated with Logan, and strongly implies that he has run across a witchblade wielder before).
- Since logan used a false name probably not valid.
Powers
Wolverine is a mutant with a number of enhancements to his physiology. Wolverine possesses heightened senses, making him capable of seeing things at a maximum distance greater than that of a normal human. His hearing is enhanced in a similar manner, and he is able to recognize people and objects by scent, even if that person or object is hidden. He can use these enhanced senses to track anyone, with an impressive degree of success.
Wolverine possesses retractable claws that are housed in his forearms. At will Wolverine can release these claws through his skin between the knuckles on each hand. The skin between the knuckles tears and bleeds, but bleeding is quickly halted by his healing factor. This allows Wolverine to be able to cut through almost any material without any fear of damage to the claws.
Wolverine possesses an accelerated healing factor based on his physiology. While most normal humans heal injuries over a long period of time, Wolverine's healing factor speeds up that natural process. Wolverine's natural healing has been advanced to the point where he can heal extensive injuries (such as broken limbs) in a matter of hours to days. This factor gives him a higher resistance to poisons and toxins, and he can recover from almost any injury. The more extensive the injury, the longer the healing time will be.
Despite Wolverine's chronological age, he is still as healthy and physically fit as a man in his prime. In fact, resulting from his mutation he is physically about as strong and agile as the hero known as Captain America.
Movies & Television
His voice was provided by Cathal J. Dodd in the X-Men animated television series, and in a series of video games through the 1990s. In the animated television series
X-Men: Evolution, his voice was provided by Scott McNeil.
In the
movies, he was played by
Hugh Jackman.
In the movie tie-in computer game
X2: Wolverine's Revenge, his voice was provided by
Mark Hamill.
Enemies
\nA handful of Wolverine's more notable and colorful foes:\n*Brotherhood of Evil Mutants\n*Cyber\n*
Genesis\n*The Hand\n*
The Hellfire Club\n*
Lady Deathstrike\n*
Magneto\n*
Mister X\n*
Ogun\n*
Omega Red\n*The
Reavers\n*
Roughhouse and
Bloodscream\n*
Sabretooth\n*
Shingen Harada\n*
Silver Samurai\n*Viper\n*
Weapon X
External Links
