Contents
Comic History:
Len Wein and John Romita Sr. created Wolverine and got him cameoed in the Incredible Hulk issue 180. Wolverine made his first full appearance in the Incredible Hulk issue 181 in November of 1974. At that time comics were becoming increasingly popular in Canada and Roy Thomas, Marvel’s then editor-in-chief, suggested Len Wean to create a Canadian character to put in the comic he was then working on.
John Romita Sr. was then brought on to design the character. Using the animal as the basis for the character, he was given Clauses. As we all know he was also designed shot and stocky.
Wolverine’s Story
In Wolverine Origin written by Joe Quesada and drawn by Andy Kubert, Wolverine was born as James Howlett Hudson in the mid-1800s in Alberta, Canada. He was a second and sickly child to Elizabeth and John Hallett senior. His mother was ill, so in the early nineteen hundred’s a young Irish girl named Rose O’Hara was brought to the Hallett estate to be a friend and a caretaker to a young James. Together they made a new friend named Doug, son of the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Doug tried to form a natural bond between the two, but due to his father’s drunken abuse, he grew to resent the pair and plotted against them with his father. After a botched robbery turned into a successful murder, killing James Howlett (Wolverine’s dad).
Wolverine’s powers suddenly manifest, as a traumatic event in one’s youth is often the trigger for mutant powers. He then stabs Thomas with his newly drawn bone claws. J Monroe’s then flee the house and make their way through the harsh Canadian wilderness.
How He Got His Name:
They arrive at a mine where ROS gives false names calling James incorrectly as Logan, which is where his name Logan originated from. It is implied that Thomas Logan is Wolverines birth dad and that his mother Elizabeth Hallett had an affair with him. Which makes sense as Thomas Logan has a striking resemblance to how Wolverine appears today.
The workers at the time also dubbed him the Wolverine, because of his habit to tenaciously dig. Which is also where his x-men named Wolverine came from.
How Wolverine Got Adamantium Claws:
Flash-forward several years, Logan teamed up with Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Caps and Bucky were unaware of his mutation at the time and just believed him to be extraordinarily lucky since he would never get hurt.
Flash forward, even more, Logan was kidnapped from agents of the Weapon X program, which was a joint U.S. And Canadian program. He was taken to a facility in the Canadian woods, where he was examined by Professor Thornton, Dr. Abraham Cornelius, and Carol Heinz. The professor learned that Logan possessed a mutant healing factor and would be able to survive the installation of adamantium on to his bones, as the procedure would kill any other person. They attempted to create the perfect living weapon.
The procedure worked, and Logan now had a skeleton completely laced with the hard metal including his trademark claws, which were now razor sharp claws that could almost cut through anything. During his time with Weapon X, Logan was heavily sedated and being controlled through a helmet giving him false memories. It turned him into some puppet for the Weapon X program. He was even forced to kill an entire town to test if Logan would do anything they told him to do.
After Weapon X:
Eventually, Logan was able to resist the mind-control and broke free from the facility with the help of the Winter Soldier. After his escape from the Weapon X program, he spent months in the Canadian wilderness until Guardian and Vindicator found him. The two of them were scientists and super-powered humans who worked for a division of the Canadian government named Department H.
Later Logan was brought back to better mental fitness. He also started serving for the government. He did not remember much of his time in Weapon X. He did do a few missions for Department H and was finally given his yellow and blue costume and was officially given a secret identity though wolverine.
Logan’s most notable mission was to locate and subjugate the Hulk. Hulk was spotted in the Canadian forest, and Wolverine seemed to be the best operated to engage the Green Goliath. He was then dropped into the mission zone by Department H and soon found the Hulk who at the time was fighting Wendigo. Which brings us back to the events I just mentioned before, of him being set down to take down the Hulk in the Canadian forest happened and Wolverines first full appearance in the Incredible Hulk issue 181.
And then his origin and backstory that I just gave you guys were given to us in later years.
Other Two Potential Story Lines Marvel had in Mind:
Before Marvel went through with the origin, there were two other possible origins they had in mind.
The first Origins Storyline:
They wanted Wolverine to be mutated from the rain that was evolved into human form by the geneticist High Evolutionary. Instead of having retractable claws they would have been built into his gloves.
The second Origin Storyline:
They were thinking of going with Wolverine was to have him almost crushed in a car accident. He then would discover when attempting to stand for the first time after recovering, that his healing factor does not work on his bones and his legs immediately break. He spends over a decade on the hospital bed. When the Canadian government approaches him with an idea of replacing his skeleton, one bone at a time with adamantium and then the claws being a surprise.
I’m happy they didn’t go with either of those because I like the one Marvel ended up using.
How Wolverine became an X-Men:
Around the time of Wolverine fighting the whole, Professor X found out about Wolverine being a mutant and started to watch him closely. Professor-X reached the Canadian government and arranged a meeting with Wolverine.
There was friction between Wolverine and his superiors. Professor X offered Wolverine to join the X-Men at that very moment. He promised Logan that he would help him with his memory loss and in return, he would have to join the X-men Roster. Logan joined simultaneously with a bunch of other new X-men we now love like Nightcrawler, Storm, Thunderbird, and Sunfire.
But he’s not only been a part of the X-men, but he’s also been a member of X-Force, New Avengers, Secret Defenders, and many other teams.
Wolverines Basic Powers:
As far as Wolverines powers go, I’m sure you already know most of them already from the cartoons and movies. He has a super healing factor; he’s very animalistic, has a keen smell among other animal-like traits and most notably his retractable claws that can cut through almost anything.
Known Weakness:
As far as Wolverines weakness, it has been hinted that Wolverine can be killed by drowning.
Conclusion:
So this was it. I hope all your doubts regarding Wolverine are cleared. If you have any questions or doubts, comment down below.
