Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan; birth name James Howlett) is a Marvel Comics superhero, and member of the X-Men. The character first appeared on the last page of Incredible Hulk #180 (1974), with a full introduction in the following issue, Hulk #181. In the 1990s his popularity grew from obscure to a household name, perhaps as well known as Spider-Man.

A mutant, Wolverine possesses a regenerative healing ability that enhances his physiology in a number of ways including enhanced, animal-like, senses and reflexes. Additionally he has six claws, three of which extend and retract from the back of each hand. The foot long claws are laced with an unbreakable metal alloy adamantium, a substance also bonded to his entire skeleton.

Aptly named, Wolverine's intensely fierce nature helped forge the mold for comic book anti-heroes. His willingness to use deadly force, his efforts to come to terms with his questionable past and his angst-filled inner conflicts have become standard for anti-heroes. The character is a nonpareil master of combat who will not hesitate to meet lethal force in kind.

Wolverine was created by Len Wein and John Romita Sr., with some additional influence by Herb Trimpe. Yet the actual dimensions of the hero did not take shape until the celebrated creative talents of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, popularly remembered for their work on the X-Men, developed him. Frank Miller, usually remembered for his revitalization of Daredevil, deserves credit for establishing important nuances in the Wolverine limited series he co-wrote with Claremont, such as the memorable catch phrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice."

Wolverine first joined the X-Men roster in 1975 and has been featured in his own continuous solo series since 1988. He has been a central part of X-Men animated series and films.

Publication history

Cover of Incredible Hulk #181, featuring Wolverine's first full appearanceWolverine first appeared in Incredible Hulk #180 (October 1974), in the final panel of an issue written by Len Wein and illustrated by Herb Trimpe. His full introduction was in the next issue, #181 (November 1974. He appeared in a costume designed by John Romita, Sr: yellow-and-blue spandex which didn't particularly resemble a true wolverine, sporting foot-long metal claws. His introduction left an ambiguous impression revealing little more than he was an agent of the Canadian government with superhuman powers. The basic facts about the character had not been established.

Wolverine next appeared in Giant-Sized X-Men #1 (1975), in which he joined the X-Men. Written by Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum (who altered Wolverine's mask), the issue was successful enough to revive the title, starting with #94 (August 1975), drawn by Cockrum but written by Chris Claremont. Wolverine was initially overshadowed by the other characters, and Claremont even considered dropping the character later.


Cover to Uncanny X-Men #133. Art by John Byrne.Cockrum's replacement by John Byrne resulted in Wolverine's character being brought into focus. Himself a Canadian, Byrne did not appreciate the suggestion of dropping a Canadian character. One of his ideas involved creating Alpha Flight, a group of Canadian superheroes, who tried to recapture Wolverine due to the expense the Canadian government incurred in training him. Wolverine's murky past was gradually established, as was his unstable nature, which he tried to keep in check. Wolverine had a brief crush on Jean Grey (later revisited), the team leader Cyclops' girlfriend, and the two men often clashed over Cyclops' more cautious approach. Byrne designed a new, brown-and-tan costume for Wolverine, keeping the distinctive Cockrum-designed cowl. The new look succeeded and the readers' interest began to climb.

Following Byrne's departure, Wolverine remained with the X-Men, written by Claremont. By this point he was becoming popular with regular comic book readers, and appeared in his own mini-series Wolverine (#1-4 by Claremont and Frank Miller, September - December 1982) and in Kitty Pryde and Wolverine (#1-6 by Claremont and Al Milgrom, November 1984 - April 1985).

Wolverine graduated to his own ongoing series with Wolverine #1 (by Claremont and John Buscema, November 1988). Since then he has remained an active member of the X-Men, has appeared in his own series, and in several side series. Notable side stories include Weapon X (by Barry Windsor-Smith in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84, 1991), and Origin #1-6 (by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins and Adam Kubert, 2002), both of which filled in periods of his past.

Character biography

The first issue of the 1980s Wolverine mini-seriesWolverine first appeared as a Canadian superhero and government agent fighting theThe Incredible Hulk and the Wendigo, in order to halt the destruction in the wake of their battle. His superhuman endurance, enhanced manoeuvrability, and tactical guile proved to be a match for the two plodding powerhouses of vast superhuman strength, and he was able to fight both creatures to a standstill.

Soon Professor X recruited him to join a new team of X-Men, and he resigned from his position in Canada over his superiors' objections. Over the following year Wolverine was revealed to be a mutant whose skeleton had been laced with the unbreakable metal adamantium. Initially misanthropic and a loner, Wolverine often clashed with the X-Men's leader Cyclops. Given to berserker rages in combat, he slowly learned how to control his feral instincts. However, Wolverine is the X-Man most likely to permanently deal with adversaries who dispense lethal force.

It was revealed that he had forgotten much of his past: He had been transformed by a project called Weapon X, which had added the adamantium to his body. He had then been adopted by James and Heather Hudson into their project which eventually became Alpha Flight. Intended to eventually lead that team, when he departed to join the X-Men he precipitated James Hudson's adoption of the identity of Weapon Alpha (later Vindicator and then Guardian), and a lengthy and often hostile effort where Alpha Flight tried to bring Wolverine back to Canada, while Wolverine attempted to retain his freedom. Wolverine would eventually make peace with Hudson and Alpha Flight, while remaining a member of the X-Men.


Wolverine and Mariko. Cover to Uncanny X-Men #172. Art by Paul Smith.Complexity to their character was subtly implied over time: He could read and speak Japanese, he had a strong sense of personal honour, he became close friends with his teammate Nightcrawler, despite their many differences. He went by the name "Logan", without a surname, but it was unclear whether this was his real name. Wolverine briefly became interested in Cyclops' true love, Jean Grey, but the interest was never truly reciprocated. He later met and became engaged to Lady Mariko Yashida of a Japanese crime family. He was forced to kill her father in a duel and single-handedly destroyed his crime cartel. Mariko and Logan became estranged due to the strange honour customs of her family, and the manipulations of the villain Mastermind. Once they were finally reunited she was poisoned by Reiko, an assassin for the Yakuza. She requested Wolverine end her life quickly rather than let her die a slow and painful death from the toxin, and he obeyed. 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 supervillain Magneto in a desperate battle. Following this another maniac, 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 which he knew greater physical power than ever before, at the price of part of his humanity. Genesis did not survive the battle following his failed experiment. Finally, the villain Apocalypse kidnapped Wolverine, brainwashed him, and had the adamantium rebonded to his skeleton successfully. Wolverine overcame Apocalypse's programming and returned to the X-Men.


Wolverine first uses his claws in Origin #2.Wolverine's early life has been revealed gradually over time. His time as a captive and subject of the Weapon X project has been revealed as a period when he was entirely at the mercy of feral instincts due to severe physical and psychological trauma inflicted upon him in by the program. Finally, the story of his childhood was told in the miniseries Wolverine: Origin. He was born James Howlett, the son of a wealthy Canadian. When his mutant powers - particularly his claws - developed, he was exiled by his grandfather and became a nomad. It is unclear how much Wolverine recalls about his past, as his memories have been extensively tampered with.

Today, Wolverine remains an integral part of the X-Men, He is also an officer of the mutant law enforcement agency the X-Treme Sanctions Executive (XSE), and he recently joined the The New Avengers alongside other famous Marvel Comics heroes such as Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man.


"Skrullverine"
A Skrull working for Apocalypse briefly replaced the real Wolverine to allow the real one to be kidnapped and brainwashed. Due to mental programming to allow him to take the place of the real Wolverine without alerting the X-Men's telepaths, he believed himself to actually be Wolverine.

The Skrull imposter of Wolverine was initially created as part of a program initiated by the Skrulls to impersonate Earth's heroes en masse, at the cost of the shapeshifting abilities of those used - instead they would be physically locked into the forms they were imitating, in addition to mental programming designed to make them believe they were the hero in question. Due to the limitations of the process and their technology, however, they could not duplicate most of the abilities in question (e.g., the fake "Nightcrawler" could only pretend to teleport by becoming invisible). After the Skrull homeworld was destroyed by Galactus, Apocalypse found some skrulls and put them to use, including using this process on one of them to cover while they kidnapped the real Wolverine. The limitations meant, however, that "Skrullverine" had no "healing factor" or enhanced senses.

The imposter took on Wolverine's heroic qualities and saved several members of the X-Men and the Mannites (super powered children) from being eliminated by Apocalypse's acolyte of Death. The Skrull impostor was killed by the acolyte of Death (who turned out to be the real Wolverine who had been brainwashed). His death was noble and heroic.


Powers and abilities

Wolverine from Wolverine Unleashed
Jim Lee, artist.Wolverine is a mutant with a number of both natural and artificial enhancements to his physiology. He regenerates and heals hundreds of times faster than a normal human. Thanks to this superhumanly regenerative "healing factor," he has been able to completely recover from injuries which would prove fatal to most humans, even those with superhuman abilities. Over the years, this has increased in potency to the point where he can regenerate organs such as eyes or large portions of flesh, but he cannot regenerate limbs, such as feet and arms, which have been completely severed.

Other benefits of the healing factor include an immunity to most toxins (except in massive doses) or diseases and greatly improved stamina (he can exert himself at peak levels for days before feeling fatigue). His healing factor retards his aging process to an unknown degree. It is strongly implied that he is well over 100 years old and yet his appearance and physique are unchanged since the peak years of his life (apparently over a century ago). However, the healing factor has also been hypothesized as the cause of his amnesia.

Wolverine also possesses superhumanly acute senses that are comparable to those of certain animals, enabling him to see and hear distant objects more clearly than a normal human, and identify and track someone purely by scent. Although this may be seen as a separate ability, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, an encyclopedia that was first produced by Marvel Comics in the 1980's, indicates that these heightened senses, which are only slightly less developed than those of Daredevil, are actually a result of his cellular regeneration.

Wolverine's physical appearance also displays number of animal - like mutations, most notably, two canine teeth among his others, and six retractable claws housed within his forearms, which he can release from behind his knuckles (causing bleeding that is rapidly healed by his healing factor). Although claws in the animal kingdom are made of keratin, Wolverine's are made of bone, (which may have been a scientific error on the part of the writer who first established this fact in the 1990's).

Wolverine's skeleton has been molecularly laced with nigh-indestructable metal Adamantium, including the claws housed in his forearms. Due to the adamantium coating (which also maintains the cutting edge), the limiting factor on what he can cut through is based upon his own strength, rather than the resiliency of the claws. The adamantium in his skeleton interferes with his bones' ability to produce red blood cells, but is compensated by his accelerated cellular regeneration. The enhanced tensile strength of his skeleton combined with his constant cellular regeneration grants him great physical strength. His blows are weighted (similar to using brass knuckles) due to the presence of this metal.

Skills
Wolverine has extraordinary hand to hand combat ability, and, alongside Captain America and Taskmaster, is considered one of the finest combatants on Earth. He is fluent in English, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Lakota, and Spanish. It is also known that he has knowledge of several other foreign languages. He is also an accomplished pilot and extremely well trained in espionage and covert operations. In more recent stories it has been revealed that Wolverine has some skills at computer hacking.


Ultimate Marvel Version
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Wolverine entered the story of Ultimate X-Men as a villain and an assassin who worked for Magneto. Unlike the original Wolverine, he made very quick, very seductive, advances toward Jean Grey, and originally was under orders to kill Charles Xavier. He eventually left a romantic involvement with Jean Grey to allow for Scott ( Cyclops) and Jean, to express genuine endearment toward one another.

Just like the original Wolverine, he possessed keen senses and rapid, almost instant, cellular regeneration. But it seems that numerous criminals had in mind to obtain his adamantium for their own purposes, since that is virtually the only protection from Wolverine's claws, unlike the otherwise rare and expensive formula developed by the government.

The Ultimate Marvel version of Wolverine's archnemesis, Sabretooth, was identical, except that in addition to his sharp nails and teeth, he possessed eight adamantium claws, four that retracted from the back of each hand, just like Wolverine. Sabretooth also was openly proud of his psychotic tendencies, and was Weapon X's only apparent voluntary mutant military officer. Wolverine also ended the terror of Sabretooth quite quickly, by decapitating him in Magneto's arctic headquarters, not relatively long after their initial encounter.

Wolverine also appeared to have an alternate origin as well. According to Captain America's account, he was James Howlett, an officer and a commando for the Canadian military during World War II. It is also claimed by Sabretooth that he had a wife and child, and Sabretooth proudly claimed responsibility for killing them, unlike the original Wolverine, who lived as a single man, (except in a possible future, where he married and had a child with Elektra).