Version 3.00, last updated on January 01, 2008.

I was first introduced to Wolverine (or more accurately THE Wolverine) when I picked up Uncanny X-Men #111 at a 7-11 back in 1978. Chris Claremont and John Byrne were creating the golden era of the X-Men, and I became mesmerized by this cantankerous Canadian. After school, my best friend and I would talk endlessly about every last revelation of Wolverine’s past. I even started a notebook tracking all references of his life before he joined the X-Men. Later it became a Word document that I updated and rewrote as more and more entries sprang to life from the pages of various Marvel comics. After more than 25 years, I finally decided it was time to put it on the Web and let others enjoy the fruits of my obsessive compulsion.

Now that I am transitioning the chronology into this blog, I encourage readers to add thoughtful and articulate comments, but while I am very much looking forward to reasoned discussions, I will delete the equivalent of ‘you suck’ on these detailed and annotated pages. If you would rather share your opinions in private (or offer me a job writing for Marvel Comics!), email me at dig@typingmonkeys.com. –DiG…

In late 1974, Wolverine made his first appearance in the Marvel Comics universe, debuting in the pages of The Incredible Hulk. In the stories that followed, the mystery of Wolverine’s seemingly contradictory past intrigued and infuriated fans alike, especially when tantalizing nuggets of his previous escapades were revealed over the course of 30 some years. As Chris Claremont noted, “My gut feeling has been that less is more, that certain characters benefited from an over-arching sense of mystery. Wolverine’s a character that deserves to have a certain measure of mystery to his life.”[1]

In the following pages, I have attempted to make sense of that past, weaving a chronological tapestry out of Wolverine’s frustratingly enigmatic life as James Howlett, Logan, Weapon X and Wolverine. But first, it is helpful to understand the waves of origin stories that were produced over the past 30 years, each building (and sometimes contradicting) the stories that came before them.

Chris Claremont became Wolverine’s preeminent writer in the late 1970s and over the course of the next 15 years left a series of hints of a definitive origin. But in 1991, Barry Windsor-Smith unveiled how Logan received his adamantium skeleton and claws in the legendary Weapon X, and Jim Lee revealed Wolverine’s arch-nemesis Sabretooth as Logan’s former CIA teammate. Before long, Larry Hama added nearly a decade’s worth of seemingly self-contradictory history onto Wolverine’s past. But 2001 saw the ‘true origin’ of Logan’s earliest years revealed in a story by Marvel President Bill Jemas, Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and writer Paul Jenkins produced in an era where strict adherence to continuity was viewed as an anathema to good storytelling. Finally the past few years have welcomed writers Jeph Loeb and Daniel Way as they have attempted to weave a consistent theme (and arch-villain) through the entirety of Wolverine’s past with mixed results.

So without further ado, here is my speculative (but comprehensive) journey through Wolverine’s past with the first stop being his creation within the walls of Marvel Comics…

The earliest reference to Wolverine comes from late Marvel Comics artist Dave Cockrum who claimed to have created a montage of potential X-Men characters in the early 1970s for then Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas and writer Mike Friedrich. Included was a vulpine brother of a female vampire called Wolverine.[2] Though he sported fangs and had no claws, he had a similar hairstyle to what Wolverine would later be revealed to have and was characterized as animalistic, bestial, feral and “…one nasty son of a bitch.”[3] Wolverine Files reader Glen Cadigan points out, however, that the montage was actually a piece Cockrum did while working at DC Comics a year before joining Marvel. Specifically, a montage of villains for the Legion of Super-Heroes called The Devastators (seen here at Legionworld.net) with the Wolverine character bearing a striking resemblance to Fang from X-Men #107.

In any event, time passed and Marvel was making inroads into the Canadian market leading Roy Thomas to suggest that Len Wein introduce a Canadian character into the pages of The Incredible Hulk.[4] As Len Wein remembers it Thomas ” …wanted to see what I could do with a Canadian accent.”[5] Because heroes based on animals were quite popular at the time, Thomas narrowed the character’s name down to two creatures that lived in both the United States and Canada: Wolverine and Badger. Thomas finally chose Wolverine due to its similarity to ‘wolf,’ and Wein began the task creating a new superhero.[6] Accordingly, Wein “…went out and read up about wolverines and found out that they’re short, nasty creatures who have no qualms about attacking beasts ten times their size to protect their young and to protect their territory.”[7] The strong separatist movement in Quebec even led Wein to consider making Wolverine French Canadian, a concept somewhat incongruous with the present character. Fans should perhaps be grateful that this approach was not pursued further for no one would be intimidated upon hearing, “I am ze Wolverine, no?”

Legendary Marvel Comics artist John Romita, Sr. was then assigned the task of designing the character. At first, he “…thought a wolverine was a female wolf!”[8] He and Len Wein “…discussed Wolverine’s look after going straight to the encyclopedia… [and seeing] a shot of a wolverine… That’s the way it evolved, eventually including the claw idea and the general claw shapes repeated on the costume.”[9] Len Wein then debuted the character in The Incredible Hulk, with Herb Trimpe using Romita’s sketches as a guide. It is interesting to note that Romita rejected several intriguing concepts along the way. “Originally, his claws were going to come out of his fingertips like a cat’s, but that was too grotesque and they just didn’t appear as strong as I wanted them to be.”[10] Knowing that Marvel was considering reviving the superhero team of the X-Men with an international flair, Wein intentionally made the Wolverine a mutant.[11] What is not readily apparent is that Wein intended the Wolverine to be a teenage mutant with claws extending from a pair of special gloves. “He was a mutant only in terms of his ferocity and animal senses. He was a hunter and a tracker and incredibly resilient. He was able to get the stuff knocked out of him by the Hulk and still be able to get back on his feet.”[12] In fact, Wein would have made Wolverine as super-humanly strong as Spider-Man had he continued writing the X-Men.[13] Dave Cockrum later asserted that originally, he and Len Wein intended Wolverine to be revealed as a mutated wolverine, but Stan Lee nixed the idea.[14]

Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel, Incredible Hulk #180

Next: Wild Child

[1] “Wendigo,” Wizard Wolverine Masterpiece Edition, Dec. 2004.
[2] Peter Sanderson, “Wolverine: The Evolution of a Character, ” The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine #1, 1986.
[3] “Interview with Dave Cockrum,” The X-Men Companion I, 1982.
[4] “Interview with Roy Thomas,” X-Men Companion I, 1982
[5] Richard Ho, “Who’s Your Daddy,” Wizard #157, Nov. 2004.
[6] Craig Shutt, “Secret Origins,” Wizard’s Wolverine Special, 1999.
[7] Peter Sanderson, “Wolverine: The Evolution of a Character, ” The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine #1, 1986.
[8] “Dressed to Kill,” Wizard Wolverine Masterpiece Edition, Dec. 2004.
[9] Scott Beatty, “Beastmasters,” Wizard Tribute to Wolverine , 1996.
[10] James Busbee, “Killer Fashion Sense,” Wizard’s Wolverine Special, 1999.
[11] Craig Shutt, “Secret Origins,” Wizard’s Wolverine Special, 1999.
[12] “Interview with Len Wein,” The X-Men Companion, 1982.
[13] Peter Sanderson, “Wolverine: The Evolution of a Character, ” The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine #1, 1986.
[14] Scott Beatty, “Beastmasters,” Wizard Tribute to Wolverine, 1996.