Want to know what the biggest issue with Wolverine and the X-Men could be in the movies? It’s the lack of continuity that occurs since so many different directors have so many different visions of what the X-Men should look like and act like. Wolverine has thankfully been one of the few constants even if his story hasn’t since the video below makes it clear that once the original X-Men story was concluded and the new actors were brought in, Logan was effectively given a slightly different history that resonates a little more with the comics. Now, if you’ve been reading the comics then you know fully well that Wolverine’s origins are about as muddy as they can get since there’s so much that’s gone into the character over the years that clinging to any one origin is kind of difficult. There are a few constants, such as his real name being James Howlett and there being a relationship between him and Victor Creed aka Sabretooth, but the comics and the movies have allowed this to be mucked up more than once. One thing that is obvious though, among the X-Men he’s one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, of them all since his healing factor has slowed his aging process in a big way.
There are a lot of people that think they know a lot about Wolverine and some do since the more hardcore fans tend to read everything they can get their hands on and are typically in the know when something new comes along. Having paid attention to the fiery-tempered mutant for so long I can admit that I’ve let a few things slip but the core knowledge of the character is that he was first introduced in the Incredible Hulk, which sparked a huge and popular rivalry, and eventually was brought in as one of the new X-Men when the original team went missing. It is fair enough to say that Logan didn’t take off as his own character until he received his own comic, and even then it took a while for him to get going. But if anyone remembers, the first issue of a limited series Wolverine comic was nothing less than iconic as the picture of Logan on the cover, smiling, with one set of claws extended and the other in a beckoning gesture that promised little more than mayhem to come, was one that a LOT of comic book fans went nuts over.
It meant that Wolverine was coming out in a big way and he was finally being promoted as the character that so many people wanted. The do-gooder attitude of the goody-goody heroes was starting to slip and thankfully Logan was right there as it continued its lateral slide into the antihero phase. Obviously this transition had already been coming for some time before then, but until Logan the idea of the antihero was still something that was enjoyed in private and wasn’t always so public. If anything, Logan helped the idea of the antihero along just a bit since he was the kind of guy that went in to mess up the bad guy, not just put him down and put him in jail. If you don’t buy that then look at Wolverine issue #1 of his actual long-running series featured Logan, sans his regular outfit, standing atop a pile of bodies with a clear indication that he was responsible for the carnage.
Then look at the series Marvel Comics Presents, in which Wolverine was featured in the first issue as well, and even came back eventually to relive the story of Weapon X. Wolverine has been one of the prime characters that Marvel has pushed for years now and his history extends beyond the X-Men, though keeping things in-house as it were has always been seen as preferable by a lot of fans since while he does get along with a wide number of heroes his history has always been tied the closest with his fellow mutants. As the video above shows there were attempts by the X-Men in the movies, moving far, far away from the comics, to recruit Logan, and he’s always been fairly reluctant.
But had the movies gone along with the comics then the first X-Men movie, barring the originals, would have brought in Wolverine, Colossus, Banshee, Thunderbird, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Sunfire. See? I’ve been an X-Men fan long enough to know that the movies have eschewed a great deal of the comics and gone their own route, and while it’s been interesting to say the least, it hasn’t been anywhere close to accurate most times apart from various relationships and other matters that have thankfully been kept. Wolverine’s origins have been ripped up and redone a couple of times, and had they gone by the comics then he would have spent a great deal of time under the Weapon X program before ever escaping. If anyone ever does go according to the comics in the future it will be an amazing sight to see.
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