As today is Stan Lee’s birthday, I’m featuring ten facts about the iconic Marvel character, Wolverine. OK, so Stan Lee didn’t create him, it was a chap called Len Wein, but Stan had a lot to do with the development of The X-Men, of which Wolverine is a member.
Wolverine’s real name is James Howlett. He was born in the late 19th century in northern Alberta, Canada, the son, officially, of farm owners John and Elizabeth Howlett, though he is in fact the result of an affair between Elizabeth and groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Thomas was fired when his other son, Dog, was accused of attempted rape and he killed John Howlett. James killed Logan, and later started using his name.
It was quite a while, though, before this origin story was established. Wolverine’s origins were left vague for quite some time. There were rumours that he was the son of his enemy, Sabretooth, or that he wasn’t human but a wolverine mutated to a human form.
Wolverine’s powers include Superhuman strength, stamina, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, and senses, a healing factor, which heals injuries and illness and a slowed rate of ageing resulting in a superhumanly extended lifespan. His healing factor means no injury short of beheading will actually kill him, and he can’t get drunk because the healing factor neutralises the effects of alcohol. He also has an enhanced sense of smell and can recognise people and objects by scent alone. This, combined with his combat and stealth training, makes him one of the world’s foremost trackers. However, he can be drowned, and would be easy to drown because his adamantium skeleton is heavy and so he’d sink like a stone. Also, the healing factor doesn’t work underwater. He can also be floored by a Vulcan neck pinch, as was revealed in a 1996 Star Trek/X-Men crossover. When Spock calmly requests that the X-Men follow him to Security, Wolverine flies into a rage and hurls himself at Spock, who successfully deploys the neck pinch.
The claws are part of his mutation rather than something added when he was turned into a weapon by the military. They were originally enhanced bone, and were coated with adamantium later.
Because he’s been around such a long time, he’s had plenty of time to learn a whole lot of skills, including martial arts and other systems of combat, and languages: he's completely fluent in English, Russian, Chinese, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Spanish. He also knows some Thai and Vietnamese.
He first appeared in an Incredible Hulk comic in 1974, in which he was a villain. When Hulk crosses the Canadian border, the Royal Canadian Air Force decides that it's time to mobilize "Weapon X" to deal with him.
He was created, in fact, to cash in on a growing interest in comic books in Canada at the time. Marvel's Editor-in-Chief at the time, Roy Thomas, suggested to Len Wein that it was time for a Canadian superhero. The Badger was one of the two suggested names for the character, but they went with Wolverine.
He was first recruited to the X-Men in 1975, although he’s worked with several other Marvel teams as well, including The Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight. Wolverine was almost dropped from the X-Men by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum, but when Cockrum was replaced by John Byrne, who happened to be Canadian, he insisted that the Canadian character must stay.
At 5'3", Wolverine is one of the shortest characters in the Marvel Universe. Hugh Jackman, who plays him in the films, is taller than that, as is Russell Crowe, who was the first choice to play him. Crowe, however, refused to play the part unless Wolverine was bald, which turned out to be a deal breaker. The second choice was Dougray Scott, but scheduling conflicts forced him to leave three weeks into filming, meaning that Jackman was actually a last minute casting. In James Cameron's X-Men movie that ultimately never happened, Bob Hoskins was going to play Wolverine, and it’s been said that he has the closest resemblance to the character as he appears in the comics than any of the others.
Wolverine is known for his loner tendencies and anger management issues. He’s learned ways to help him cope with his temper though: he practices zazen sitting meditation.
Character birthday
Agnes Greenwood, mother of Seraphina (Fyre). Agnes has no powers. At school, she was an awkward teen who embraced Goth culture, and had a hopeless crush on classmate Jason Warner (Firefox). On leaving school she worked as a journalist, often interviewing superheroes such as Firebolt, with whom she had a brief affair. This proximity to the Freedom League brought her back in contact with Jason and now, he noticed her and they became an item. However, the revelation that Superwil was not his biological father led Jason to leave his family and friends to explore his new identity. Hence when Agnes discovered she was pregnant with Seraphina, she had no idea how to contact Jason. She brought her daughter up alone for six years although a villain known as Incendio tried to infiltrate her life to gain access to Serapina and recruit her to the Power League. The Freedom League became involved on hearing that a child was being coached to set fire to things using a power and they diverted her from Incendio. Agnes then met Jason again and they reunited. Agnes and Jason had two more children, twin boys, one of which was a variant and the other was not.
Fire in her Blood
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