I've talked about this before (in my Alpha Flight article), but in light of a conversation with Youtuber Kinda Culty I wanted to go over Wolverine's origin. Right now the iconic character's origin is a mess (eg). I want to look at where it all began and where I hope the MCU goes with it. What's worth noting is that from writers Wein through Claremont and Byrne, his origin is very straightforward. Unfortunately, when he unexpectedly became one of Marvel's most popular characters, adding to that origin became profitable and allowed different authors to add their own tweaks to the character.
Len Wein (Hulk 181) - Wolverine is sent by the Canadian government to put a stop to the fight between the Hulk and Wendigo in Quebec
1975
Len Wein (Giant-Sized X-Men 1) - Wolverine is in a secret government facility in Quebec where he's known as Weapon X; Xavier offers him freedom from government service by joining the X-Men, something his government superiors don't appreciate
1978
Chris Claremont (X-Men 109) - James Hudson (Weapon Alpha, later Vindicator then Guardian) is sent by the Canadian government to recover Wolverine; Wolverine mentions the two were virtually brothers in the past
1979
Claremont/John Byrne (X-Men 120-121) - Alpha Flight's HQ is now in Ottawa (rather than Quebec); the group is sent to retrieve Wolverine; Wolverine describes Alpha Flight (and himself in the past) as government agents, with Hudson as the lead and the one who took the Xavier-role of recruiting a group of mutants; Wolverine says psychologists believed he was an uncontrollable psycho, but Hudson didn't go along with that; in Hudson's internal monologue he says he never wanted to lead the group, wishing that for Wolverine; Sasquatch refers to Wolverine as 'captain'; Wolverine indicates Hudson gave him no choice in being changed (presuming he means the adamantium procedure); Hudson indicates that when he found Wolverine, he was a feral wildchild that he and his wife gave a home
1980
Tom DeFalco (Machine Man 18) - Department H is in charge of Alpha Flight
Claremont/Byrne (X-Men 139-140) - Wolverine visits Heather in Ottawa wanting to make peace with Hudson; Wolverine reveals his name is Logan to Nightcrawler (and, thus, the X-Men), although it's appeared in prior thought bubbles and Heather was aware of it; the idea of Hudson wanting Wolverine to lead Alpha Flight is repeated; Department H re-confirmed; Hudson and some other Alpha Flight members are seeking a creature Wolverine recognizes as the Wendigo; Wolverine mentions being 'James Bond' for Canada for quite some time after first fighting the Wendigo (but before joining the X-Men); Wolverine mentions that Hudson's suit was designed to protect him from Wolverine's claws; Snowbird calls Wolverine a good leader; Wolverine recalls being nursed back to health by Hudson and Heather years ago--having been frozen, starved, and near death; he hates the adamantium treatment that followed, believing it turned him into a killer; the government had him perform brutal, dirty assignments and Wolverine can't forgive them for that; after the Wendigo is stopped Hudson declares Wolverine a free man who can come and go as he pleases; Alpha Flight and Department H are disbanded for budgetary reasons (leading into the Alpha Flight comic)
1981
Claremont (X-Men 147) - Re-asserts that Hudson and Heather helped Wolverine be something other than a berserker, but that the government considered him an unredeemable psycho
1984
Byrne (Alpha Flight 17) - Flashback to when Wolverine leaves for the X-Men; Hudson repeats that he wanted Wolverine to be the leader, but that he was too aggressive to take on the role; referred to as Weapon X; mentions years of therapy for Wolverine; Wolverine refers to Hudson as his closest friend; Wolverine says he hated the world for making him what he was and hated himself for letting it (this is prior to being helped by the pair); Wolverine is said to be older than the pair; reiteration that Weapon X is government property along with being accorded certain protections by being a government agent; Wolverine implies that Puck worked as a special agent for someone other than the Canadian government in the past, but contextually it must be after Wolverine became a government agent
Here is where the road to confusion and insanity begins (the following isn't comprehensive, since this isn't meant to be encyclopedic):
1986
Bill Mantlo (Alpha Flight 33) - Retconned origin: Wolverine attacks Hudson/Heather in full health and is knocked out when Heather shoots him from pointblank range; Wolverine already has his claws, but they seem to be a recent addition; mentions having been in the Devil's Brigade (World War 2); claims he became a government agent to create space between he and Heather, which makes little sense given him being both Weapon X and a core part of the developing Alpha Flight; in Mantlo's version, Lord Dark Wind (Kenji Oyama) was responsible for creating adamantium and Hudson was knowingly part of the process of experimenting on Wolverine when that process was stolen (the latter a variation on the '79 assertion), arranging for his attack on he and Heather--this element is preposterous given Hudson's prior portrayals; some of this retcon remains (Devil's Brigade particularly), but not the darker portrayal of Hudson
1991
Larry Hama (Wolverine vol.2 49) - Wolverine and Sabretooth are around for JKF's assassination
1997
Roger Stern (Untold Tales of Spider-Man 1) - Worked with Peter Parker's parents at the CIA
1998
Steve Seagle (Alpha Flight vol.2 8) - Adding to Mantlo's iteration, but this entire bit of history seems to have subsequently been ignored or retconned away
2001
Paul Jenkins/Bill Jemas/Joe Quesada (Wolverine: The Origin) - A large number of bad ideas for his pre-history (the James Howlett/19th century nonsense)
2006
Daniel Way (Wolverine vol.3 40) - Interactions with the Winter Soldier, yet another love interest in Japan including yet another child (the fascination Marvel writers have with Claremont's passing story of Logan and Mariko apparently requires endless repetition, despite Claremont understanding that events work best when you move on from them)
2007
Jeph Loeb (Wolverine vol.3 53) - Romulus, the Hand, more Sabretooth, yet another love in Silver Fox
2011
Jason Aaron (Wolverine vol.4 14) - Wolverine fathered a bunch of children who later pursue him
There's so much more of this nonsense. Relationships, children, interactions with history (both real world and Marvel)--far, far too much to either make sense or even be useful. It's a convoluted mess that strips any grounded past for Wolverine. Essentially, if someone farted in Marvel's history, Wolverine was there to smell it.
Summarizing the Initial Origin
This is, from what I can tell, the commonly understood history of Wolverine up through the end of Byrne's run on Alpha Flight (November, 1985). While there was one or two minor tweaks, but the basic beats of the story do not change and are very straightforward:
- Name: Logan ('Wolverine' is a nickname prior to becoming an X-Men; very few people initially know 'Logan')
- Designation: Weapon X (which he drops when he joins the X-Men)
- Background: An almost feral creature who had basically lost his mind (his past before being found is never concretely touched on); psychologists think he's a lost cause and presumably want to institutionalize him, but Hudson disagrees and he and his wife help him recover, which requires years of therapy
- Weapon X: Byrne seems to have changed his mind, because initially Hudson is part of the process of Wolverine being given the adamantium treatment, but he removed that connection (likely because it doesn't jive with the Hudson being Logan's best friend--something he continues to say long after he joined the X-Men). As Weapon X, Wolverine spent time as a secret agent ('James Bond')--doing the dirty jobs for the government and spending long stretches out of the country. Hudson wanted him to lead Alpha Flight, but ultimately thought Logan was too temperamental to assume the role (despite members of Alpha Flight considering him a good leader); he's referred to as 'captain', which makes little sense with how the term is used by the Canadian military (we can't expect Byrne to be much of an expert, despite being Canadian), so he's using it casually. This general unhappiness with his role causes Wolverine to accept Xavier's offer, but he did so with no acrimony towards his former colleagues at Alpha Flight (opposing, only, their mission to retrieve him)--this attitude would make no sense if Hudson had forced him to endure experimentation
- Sundry: Wolverine had a crush on Heather that he recognized was fruitless and destructive, so did his best to bury it (this is certainly meant to echo his crush on Jean Grey, as the two are of a type in both being young redheads already in a relationship)
Timeline
(Marvel time and real time don't correlate, but for simplicity's sake we'll treat 1974 as the baseline for his fight with the Hulk)
- c.1965 - 17-year old Heather McNeil becomes the secretary of James Hudson (who is in his late 20s or early 30s); the two quickly become a couple and get married
- c.1967 - The couple rescue Logan from starvation and cold; psychologists believe he's a lost cause, but the couple work to bring him out of savagery, making the trio very close (the alternative beginning where he's shot by Heather or Hudson and then helped could also work, but I think it's less effective); I've set this a couple of years after Heather and James meet because he leaves Am-Cam Petroleum with the suit he designed early on
- c.1970 - Hudson brings him into Department H as the Canadian government tries to build it's own Avengers; Logan receives the adamantium treatment at the behest of those in charge (something forced upon him and that he resents); he's given the Weapon X designation, becomes part of Alpha Flight, and serves as 'James Bond' for the Canadian government; I've given a few years for Wolverine's recovery, psychological development, and experimentation
- 1974 - Fights the Hulk at the behest of the government; Alpha Flight would exist at this stage, although perhaps who would lead it is still in doubt
- 1975 - Wolverine accepts Charles Xavier's offer to join the X-Men, wanting to be free of government control; at this stage Hudson is in his late 30s or early 40s (probably the former), putting Heather in her late 20s
Comics play fast and loose with time and ages, so take these as approximations. The thing is, the above works. It's not overly complicated (essential for the MCU) and includes all the background and motivation you need for the character. The problem I have with subsequent changes is that it pushes the timeline back beyond any sensibility, stuffing it full of largely American events and rendering his original origin largely meaningless (possibly the intention).
As much as I prefer the earlier origin, I have my doubts we'll see it--Canada is too small a market to be very appealing and their are no points to be scored with critics for representation from it. What I do believe is that the MCU will simplify the current mess into something with this kind of symmetry. I think how much of the good stuff we get depends entirely on whether Marvel wants to use Alpha Flight or not (you can see some fan casting for them here). If they skip the Canadian team, then some amalgam of this with the later changes will be used--he could simply be Weapon X without Alpha Flight (granted that's essentially what Fox did). What works in my favour is the prior choices by Fox, leaving the original version intact and unmolested for the MCU to dive into.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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