Wolverine in other media

Wolverine is one of the few X-Men comic book characters to be included in every media adaptation of the X-Men franchise, including film, television, computer and video games, and is the only one to have starred in his own video games.

Television

1980s

• Wolverine appears alongside the other X-Men in the episode "A Fire-Star Is Born" of the animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. He is portrayed with an Australian accent^[1] by Neil Ross.^[2]
• Wolverine appears in the 1989 animated television pilot X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. He was voiced again by Neil Ross^[3] and this version also has an Australian accent.^[4]

1990s

• Wolverine appears among the main cast of the X-Men animated TV series, voiced by Cathal J. Dodd.^[5] He frequently mocks Gambit, calling him "Cajun". Wolverine was also a close friend of Morph, feeling saddened by his supposed death. He often spends time by himself, but has a soft spot for Jubilee - the X-Men's rookie.
• Wolverine appears in the episodes "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda" and "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 5: Mutants Revenge" of the 1994 Spider-Man animated TV series voiced by Cathal J. Dodd.^[5]

2000s

• In the 2000–2003 animated television series X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine, a man whose past is shrouded in mystery, provides the teenaged X-Men with battle training and creates conflict among his younger teammates. Unlike most versions, Wolverine did not sport his signature muttonchops and was noticeably taller. Voice-actor Scott McNeil portrays him.^[6]
• Wolverine is feature in Wolverine and the X-Men. In this cartoon series, Wolverine is tasked with leading the X-Men and carrying out orders from Professor Xavier (who is in a coma in the present, but communicates through his body from the future). Steven Blum plays the lead role.^[7]
• Wolverine appears in the fifth episode of the first season of Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. motion comic. In this series, he is voiced by Jeffrey Hedquist.^[8]
• Steve Blum voices Wolverine for the The Super Hero Squad Show series on Cartoon Network as a member of the squad.^[9]
• As part of a four-series collaboration between the Japanese Madhouse animation house and Marvel, Wolverine starred in a twelve-episode anime series named Marvel Anime: Wolverine, which premiered in Japan on Animax and in the United States on G4 in 2011.^[10] The series focuses on him going to Japan to investigate A.I.M.. Steven Blum dubbed the role of Wolverine in the English version of Marvel Anime: X-Men.^[11] Logan also appears during the fourth episode of the Iron Man and the seventh episode of the Blade portion of the collaboration. He is voiced by Rikiya Koyama in the Japanese version and Milo Ventimiglia in the English dubbed version.^[12]

2010s

• Wolverine appears in the second episode of the first season of Black Panther cartoon series, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.^[13]
• Wolverine appears during a flashback scene of the fourth episode 4 of the prequel micro-series to the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Logan fights alongside Captain America and other heroes as a Howling Commandos soldier in World War II. He is referred to as Howlett, which corresponds with his birth name of James Howlett. He is again voiced by Steven Blum. Wolverine also appears in the "New Avengers"^[14] episode (second season) as part of the New Avengers, a team set up by Tony Stark as a fail-safe in case the main Avengers would be unable to fight. Wolverine is summoned and joins with Spider-Man, Heroes for Hire members Luke Cage and Iron Fist, War Machine and the Fantastic Four's Thing to fight Kang the Conqueror. He and the rest of the New Avengers appears again in the series' finale, "Avengers Assemble".^[15]
• In Disney XD's Marvel Universe programs, sporting his mainstream-version brown and yellow costume, the Ultimate version of Wolverine is voiced by Steven Blum. He appears in four episodes of Ultimate Spider-Man, and then makes a cameo appearance in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., episode "The Collector", as one of the heroes captured by the titular villain, and a full appearance in the episode "Wendigo Apocalypse", when he teams up with the Hulk to hunt the Wendigo.^[16]

Films

Animation

Hulk Vs (2009)

Steven Blum reprised his role as Wolverine in the film Hulk Vs, in a segment called "Hulk Vs. Wolverine". It also features many insights on Wolverine's past. This was tied in with the Wolverine and the X-Men series in the seventh episode, titled "Wolverine vs. Hulk",^[17] though the ties are loose, as there is very little (if any) continuity between this movie and the episode.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload (2013)

Wolverine is featured in the 2013 Lego film Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced once again by Steve Blum,^[18] originally aired as a five-part miniseries.

Live action

X-Men film series (2000–2017)

Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, has appeared in nine installments of the X-Men film series.

Many actors were considered for playing the part of Wolverine in a film adaptation of X-Men. At one point in the 1990s, Glenn Danzig was approached for the role in the 1990s due to a slight resemblance,^[19] however, Danzig declined as the shooting would interfere with his band's nine-month tour.^[19] Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men movies, spoke to a number of actors, including Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves and Edward Norton, for the role.^[20] Fox ruled out Mel Gibson as being too expensive.^[21] Though Dougray Scott was cast,^[22] the role of Wolverine went to Hugh Jackman. Despite what was thought to be a highly controversial move due to his much taller stature than Wolverine's comic depictions,^[23] Jackman's actual performance was well received.^[23] Jackman, at 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in)^[24][25] stands 30 cm taller than Wolverine, who is said in the original comic book to be 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m).^[26] Hence, the filmmakers were frequently forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or only from the waist up to make him appear shorter than he actually is, and his co-stars wore platform soles. Jackman revealed in an interview with The Huffington Post that his character was originally going to have a cameo in Spider-Man.^[27]

By the time of the first X-Men film (2000), Wolverine first appears as an amateur cage fighter in Laughlin City, Alberta and meets Marie "Rogue" D'Ancanto and ends up getting himself involved in the conflict between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. After helping stop Magneto's plan, Logan is directed by Professor Xavier to an abandoned military base around Alkali Lake that might contain information about his past.

This leads to the sequel X2 (2003) where Logan finding nothing left of the base and returning to Xavier's school where he encounters William Stryker. During an alter confrontation with Stryker, Wolverine regains some of his memory, but opts to remain with the mutants over Stryker's objections while Stryker himself is killed when the base floods after sustaining damage.

In X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Wolverine, Storm and Beast take over in leading the X-Men after Xavier and Cyclops are apparently killed by Jean Grey's Phoenix persona, and to fight against Magneto's expended Brotherhood of Mutants. Wolverine is forced to kill Phoenix in the end.

In the X-Men Origins: Wolverine prequel (2009), Wolverine's past is fleshed out. Born James Howlett in 1832 Canada, Logan awakened his mutant powers at age 13 when he murdered his biological father after the groundskeeper killed the only father he knew. Running off with his half-brother Victor Creed, Logan spends the next century fighting in numerous wars including the Vietnam War, where he is briefly a member of Stryker's Team X before leaving due to the group's disregard for life. However, Logan's past catches up to him through both the Weapon X Project in which he is pitted against Stryker, Creed and Wade Wilson. Though Logan and Creed eventually work together to fight and kill Wilson, Stryker shoots Logan with adamantium bullets before he is arrested. Though Logan survives, his memory is lost.

Wolverine also makes a cameo appearance in X-Men: First Class (2011) where he is shown rudely declining Charles Xavier and Magneto while recruiting mutants to their team.

In The Wolverine (2013), the guilt-ridden Wolverine has finally regained his memory, lives in isolation in the Yukon one year after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand before being sought by Japanese CEO Shingen Yashida wanting to repay Wolverine for saving his life during World War II. When Wolverine refuses to have his healing powers transferred into Yashida, it leads to a series of events leading to his adamantium claws severed and some of his healing powers being drained before finally letting go of his guilt over Jean's death. After returning to America, Wolverine finds himself approached at the airport by Magneto and Xavier while learning of a new threat to all mutants.

This leads to the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), where his drained healing powers has led him to gain some minor aging by developing some grey hairs by the year 2023. With the world essential controlled by advanced Sentinels and nearly all of life destroyed by them, Wolverine's mind is transferred back in time into his 1973 self to prevent Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask, resulting in the creation of the Sentinels. Wolverine is selected for this as the strain of the transference would kill anyone else sent back that far as his healing factor is the only thing that would allow him to cope. With the help of the younger Xavier and Hank McCoy, they are able to prevent Mystique from assassinating Trask, preventing the apocalyptic-future from ever occurring. Once his mission is fulfilled, the original timeline is erased and Wolverine returns to a changed future while his past self regains consciousness and has no memory of anything that happened. Wolverine wakes up in his proper time-frame of 2023. In the alternate time, Wolverine is shown to have joined the X-Men and had become a history teacher at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and learned that the past changes negated Cyclops and Jean's deaths. It is unknown what this did to the alternate Logan's consciousness as it is implied that it may be permanent this time. It is also implied that Wolverine's memories are completely restored. However, he has no memories of the new timeline when he reawakens in the new future.

While Wolverine doesn't appear in person in Deadpool, he and Hugh Jackman are referenced in a comical fashion multiple times. Near the end of the film, a mask made from a photograph of Hugh Jackman is worn by Deadpool to represent the character of Wolverine.^[28][29]

Wolverine makes a brief appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse as "Weapon X". Having somehow been captured by Stryker at some point, he has been given an adamantium skeleton and subject to brutal mental conditioning, leaving him operating on a more feral state than a human level. When some of the adult X-Men are captured by Stryker's men, Jean, Scott and Kurt Wagner are able to infiltrate Stryker's base and find Logan's cage, with Jean sensing the human mind underneath the conditioning and releasing him so that he can help. After Weapon X tears his way through Stryker's forces, the three teens find him at a small side-exit to the base, Jean's telepathy to restore some of Logan's human memories before he runs off into the snow.

Jackman is set to reprise his role as Wolverine in another solo-film titled Logan in 2017, but has confirmed that this will be his final appearance as the character.^[30]

Parody films

Wolverine has been portrayed in a number of comedy spoof films. The Wolverine character was portrayed 2007 in Epic Movie by Vince Vieluf and later in 2008 in Superhero Movie by Craig Bierko.

Video games

Wolverine is a playable character (often the primary or default playable character) in all X-Men video games and many Marvel video games in general.

Solo games

Video games featuring Wolverine as the lead character are Wolverine (1991) for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Wolverine: Adamantium Rage (1994) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, X-Men: Wolverine's Rage (2001) for the Game Boy Color, X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), voiced by Mark Hamill,^[31] for GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Mac, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), voiced by Hugh Jackman,^[32] for Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox 360.

X-Men related games

Wolverine appears as character in the following X-Men games.

Playable

• The Uncanny X-Men (1989)
• X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (1989)
• X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants (1990)
• X-Men (1992)
• Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (1992)
• X-Men (1993)
• X-Men (1994)
• X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
• X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994)
• X-Men: Gamesmaster's Legacy (1995)
• X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995)
• X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996)
• X-Men: Mojo World (1996)
• X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse (1997)
• X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000) – voiced by Cathal J. Dodd^[33]
• X-Men: Mutant Wars (2000)
• X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001) – voiced by Tony Daniels^[34]
• X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse (2001)
• X-Men: Next Dimension (2002)
• X-Men Legends (2002) – voiced by Steven Blum^[35]
• X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2004) – voiced by Steven Blum
• X-Men: The Official Game (2006) – voiced by Hugh Jackman^[36]
• Uncanny X-Men: The Days of Future Past (2014)

Not playable

• X-Men: Destiny (2014)

Spider-Man related games

• Wolverine also appears in several Spider-Man related games, beginning with 1992's Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, and followed by a cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the Game Boy and as a poster on a wall in the 2000 Spider-Man video game.
• Keith Szarabajka voices the character in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game. He appears as a boss that the player must defeat when playing as the villain Venom. Venom flings Logan's motorcycle through the wall of a pub, and Logan attacks in retaliation. Venom proves stronger.
• Wolverine appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows voiced by Steven Blum. He ambushes Spider-Man at Hell's Kitchen and ask him questions to determine if Spider-Man is a symbiote or not. (Even if the player gives wrong answers, likely due to not reading the comics, the fight continues.) He helps Spidey evacuate a church; however, before he can board, Wolverine is attacked by two burly Symbiotes, which dog pile him to the ground. As a result, Wolverine turns into a monstrous symbiote version of himself; he attacks Spidey, even using the Symbiote pods to gain armor. If the player chooses the Red Suit Path, Wolverine uses his claws to gut himself, effectively removing the symbiote. (Ironically, Wolverine had originally suggested doing this to Spider-Man if the symbiote managed to gain control of him.) If the player chooses the Black Suit Path, Spider-Man will absorb Wolverine's symbiote and then rip him in half with Wolverine swearing to kill him. In both Black Suit endings, Black Widow enlists a symbiote-controlled Wolverine (who is in full control of his symbiote) to bring her Spider-Man dead or alive. The Symbiote-Wolverine prefers the dead option. Wolverine is an assist character who will slash at any opponents in all versions.
• Wolverine is referenced in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions in Deadpool's level where Deadpool mentions him and Spider-Man switching brains. He also makes a cameo in the Hobgoblin's level as a visual display, seemingly borrowing the design from Hulk Vs.

Other Marvel related games

• He is a playable character in several fighting games: Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (in two different versions: one with adamantium claws and the other with longer bone claws), Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Marvel Contest of Champions. He is voiced by Cathal J. Dodd in these games with the exception of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, in which Steven Blum reprises his role.
• Steven Blum reprises Wolverine in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. His Modern costume (simply a torn-up T-shirt and jeans), Classic costume (John Byrne's tan and brown design), Astonishing costume (John Cassaday's variation of the classic yellow and blue costume), and Ultimate Marvel costumes are available. He has special dialogue with Jean Grey, Deathbird, Dum Dum Dugan, The Vision, Black Widow and Nick Fury. A simulation disk has Wolverine fighting Warstar on the Omega Base and another simulation disk has Ghost Rider defending him from Baron Mordo.^[37]
• Wolverine appears as an initially playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, alongside Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and Nick Fury, attacking Latveria at the beginning of the story. His Secret War attire features as his alternate costume. Steven Blum again reprises the role.
• Wolverine appears in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, voiced David Kaye.
• Wolverine is a playable character in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Wolverine appears as a playable character in the 2012 fighting game Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.
• Wolverine is a playable character in the MMORPG Marvel Heroes, with Steve Blum reprising the role.
• Wolverine appears in Deadpool, again voiced by Steve Blum. His most prominent role is in a minor bonus feature in the "Genosha" level in which Deadpool repeatedly slaps the unconscious Wolverine while yelling nonsensical insults in an attempt to wake him up. He appears unaware that he is in a game, given his response to Deadpool stating that he was setting up a surprise for the player. Deadpool apparently calls constantly to ask if he can take the Blackbird out for a joyride.
• Wolverine is a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes,^[38] with Steve Blum reprising the role.
• Wolverine is a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics.

Super Hero Squad games

• Wolverine appears as a playable character in the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game and its sequel, with Steven Blum voicing the role.
• Wolverine appears as a playable character in the game Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat, again voiced by Steven Blum.
• Wolverine is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, and have five forms: his normal yellow and blue outfit, his classic yellow and brown outfit, an "Avenger" outfit, jeans and white T-shirt outfit and a samurai outfit with the Murasama blade. Steven Blum reprises his voicing role.

Other games

• Wolverine is available as downloadable content for the game LittleBigPlanet, as part of "Marvel Costume Kit 3".^[39]
• Wolverine is an unlockable character skin in Activision's 2001 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

Books

Wolverine appears in the X-Men/Star Trek crossover novel Planet X. In it, he befriends Worf, who has a similar appreciation of combat and fighting. Wolverine programs the holodeck of the Enterprise-E to simulate Sabretooth, the Blob, Unus the Untouchable, and Juggernaut for him and Worf to fight.

Music

The Bloodhound Gang mention Wolverine in the song "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?". In the first few lines, the song states that when the person was born, "Wolverine is less hairy than your son", referencing Wolverine's prodigious body hair.

The band Entombed has an album, Wolverine Blues, with Wolverine on an alternate cover. The album also had a single of the same name. The band, though, did not intend to associate the album or the song with the character - even though the music video of the title track contains many images of Wolverine.^[40]

Brazilian rock singer Nasi, in his first solo album, called Onde Os Anjos Não Ousam Pisar (in English, "where angels dare not to tread"), posed as Wolverine, with a cigar and adamantium claws. The album has also a track called "Wolverine Blues", but it has no connection with the Entombed version.

The punk band Rancid has a song called "Sidekick" which mentions Wolverine fighting police officers and government agents to protect homeless people.

See also

• X-Men in other media

References

External links

• Wolverine at the Internet Movie Database