19 Things You Didn't Know About Wolverine
He Can Grow Bone Claws
For all he knew, Wolverine's claws were given to him when his bones were laced with adamantium during the Weapon X Project. When Magneto tears Wolverine's adamantium from his body, it was soon revealed to him (and us) that Wolverine has bone claws.There was a time when Marvel and DC were friends... well maybe not friends, but they were both in enough financial trouble to know they couldn't do things on their own. In the mid-90s, fanboys around the world rejoiced when they announced a Marvel vs. DC crossover event. Marvel and DC let it be known which characters of theirs they would have go at it and allowed the fans to vote for who would win.
Even more shocking than the actual crossover skirmishes was the merging of the two big comic book companies into one, called Amalgam. In the Amalgam universe, we got to see the merging of such characters as Captain America and Superman, Storm and Wonder Woman, and the most badass of them all, Wolverine and Batman, named Dark Claw.
Who wouldn't want to live in a universe where a hero exists that has Wolverine's claws and Batman's brains?
He Mentors Several Female Characters
In the comics, Wolverine has taken it upon himself to mentor some of the young girls of the X-Men like Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Jubilee, and Armor. It may seem a bit creepy with him being being over a hundred years old, but the girls he's mentored see him as a father figure.He Loves Indulging
Much to Professor X's disapproval, Wolverine is a heavy drinker and smoker. Due to his healing factor, Wolverine isn't concerned about long term effects of alcohol and tobacco.He Didn't Remember His Past For A Long Time
Just like us, Wolverine didn't know about his past. Anything before he went under the Weapon X Program was all just a blur. It wasn't until the events of the "House of M" crossover event that Wolverine regained his memories.He'll Slay His Friends If Needed
Video: YouTube
Wolverine is known for getting the job done by any means necessary. He's slain hundreds of other characters, and at one point in the comics even ended Jean Grey, who some consider to be the love of his life.
While the two of them were propelling towards the sun on Asteroid M, thanks to the traitor Xorn, Jean asks Wolverine to terminate her so she doesn't have to suffer burning up in the sun. He reluctantly does so. But seconds before they reach the sun, the Phoenix Force manifests within Jean and saves them both.
He Accidentally Had Two Faces For A Minute
Artist John Byrne sketched a face for what he thought Wolverine would look like under his mask, not knowing artist Dave Cockrum already revealed Wolverine's face in an earlier issue. When Byrne discovered this, he used what would've been Wolverine's face as his future arch-nemesis', Sabretooth.He's Been On A Lot Of Superhero Teams
His Origins Were A Mystery For Decades
Wolverine has been around for over 40 years, but it wasn't until 2001 that Marvel finally revealed Wolverine's origin in a six-issue comic book mini-series Origin.The Odds Of A Movie Crossover Are Slim
Even though Hugh Jackman has expressed greatly how he'd love to appear in an Avengers film as Wolverine, as long as Fox continues to make X-Men films we will never see a movie crossover with Wolverine and the Avengers.
Not saying it will never happen, though - Fox has lost the film rights to Daredevil to Marvel Studios for not making a film in time, who's to say the same couldn't happen with the X-Men?He First Appeared In The Hulk's Title
Wolverine is known for being a member of the X-Men. But did you know his first appearance was actually in Incredible Hulk #180? Yes, the relationship between Wolverine and the Green Goliath goes way back to October of 1974.
Wolverine only makes a cameo appearance in #180 but returns for his full appearance where he tangles with the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #181.He's A Father
After he regained his memories, Wolverine discovered he has a son named Daken. They never saw eye to eye, and Wolverine ultimately eliminated him in the Uncanny X-Force comic.
It doesn't end there, though. Wolverine tracks down the Red Right Hand, a group of people who've been wronged by Wolverine in the past and sent him to Hell as revenge. To get to them he has to get through their team, the Mongrels. He easily ends them all. When he reaches the Red Right Hand, they all took their own lives with a recorded message revealing the Mongrels were actually Wolverine's offspring. Twist!
And on top of all that, Wolverine has a son named Erista with the leader of the Tribe of Fire in the Savage Land named Gahck. The thing is, Wolverine never knew about Erista.
He Once Inadvertently Took Out All The X-Men
In the "Old Man Logan" storyline, the X-Men mansion was taken over by dozens of villains. With no other X-Men in sight, and with a school full of children to defend, Wolverine slaughtered all the villains. Wolverine soon realized that the entire assault was an illusion created by Mysertio, and the enemies were actually his fellow X-Men. At that moment he swore to never pop his claws again.
Fortunately for us, this story takes place in an alternate reality (Earth-807128).
Sabretooth Is His Fiercest Rival
The rivalry between Wolverine and Sabretooth originates from when Wolverine offed Sabretooth's brother, which was revealed in the comic book miniseries Origin II .
It was writer Chris Claremont's intention to have Sabretooth and Wolverine be father and son, but this would always get contradicted by other writers when trying to build up to it. Sabretooth always managed to find Wolverine on his birthday no matter where he was, and would come within an inch of killing him for no other reason than to remind Wolverine that he could.
Sabretooth has also slain some of Wolverine's past lovers , like Silver Fox, and was involved in the killing of Itsu, who was the mother of Wolverine's son, Daken.
Wolverine finally had enough and used the Muramasa sword, which nullifies healing factors, to finally end it with Sabretooth by taking his head. Though, it was later revealed Wolverine actually took out one of the many clones of Sabretooth, grown by Romulus.
He Originally Had Whiskers
John Romita Sr. was the first artist to sketch Wolverine, having helped create the character. In his design, he had whiskers on Wolverine's mask. This look premiered in The Incredible Hulk #180. But when Wolverine was reintroduced in Giant Size X-Men #1, artist Dave Cockrum changed the mask by taking away the whiskers and adding longer ears.
Check out the best Wolverine costumes here.He's Had The Same Voice Actor For A While
Video: YouTube
Wolverine has appeared in many cartoons and video games, and has been voiced by a number of talented voice actors. Even Hugh Jackman voiced the character in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine video game. But the voice actor who's voiced Wolverine the most is Steve Blum.
Blum first voiced Wolverine in the X-Men Legends video game back in 2004. Since then, he's voiced Wolverine for over 20 different projects. Most notably he voiced Wolverine in the cartoon Wolverine and the X-Men, which ran for 26 episodes.Thunderbird Was A Really Similar Character
When the new team of X-Men was introduced (when Wolverine joined the team), readers found the characters Thunderbird and Wolverine to be too similar with their short tempers. To fix the issue, writers had to eliminate one of the characters, which ultimately ended up being Thunderbird.
He Finally Perished In The Comics
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC-BYRumors had been circulating that Marvel planned to terminate Wolverine. But Wolverine is hard to get rid of, especially with his healing factor. Well, Marvel took away his healing factor, which led to the comic book miniseries Death of Wolverine.
In it, he saved dozens of test subjects at a Weapon X facility by breaking open a large container of adamantium in its rare liquid form. The adamantium covered him from head to toe, and as the adamantium began to cool it hardened leaving Wolverine unable to move or breathe, suffocating him.
He Was Partially Inspired By A Character In 'Slap Shot'
Video: YouTube
There are many inspirations that make Wolverine what he is today. Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry has been thrown around, and Jack Nicholson as well, but legendary artist John Byrne might have revealed the most interesting one. "My Wolverine is an actor whose name I don't even know, who's on camera for all of five minutes in a Paul Newman hockey movie called Slap Shot," Byrne said.
The actor he's referring to is Paul D' Amato who played Dr. Hook in the 1977 flick. Watch the video and you'll totally see Wolverine in his character.
