OK, comic fans - it's been years since I read any comics (X-Men was always my favorite, back in the Chris Claremont era), but I was just reading about the Wolverine movie on IMDB, and someone posted that Wolverine was born around 1880, and it's his healing power that keeps him young-looking.

Anyone know about this? Is this 'canon'? Presumable he only got his claws in the second half of the 20th century, though, right, based on what I remember of Barry Windsor Smith's Weapon X story. Then I guess he fought the Hulk soon after that, and the rest is history...

Wolverine's early life has been revealed gradually over time. The story of Wolverine's childhood was told in the limited series Origin. He was born James Howlett, the son of wealthy Canadians John and Elizabeth Howlett in 19th century Alberta. As he was a sickly youth, his father hired a girl named Rose to take care of him.

Elizabeth's first son was believed to have been born with the same claws as her second son James, but he died in an unspecified tragedy prior to the story's beginning. This traumatic experience caused Elizabeth to go insane and be committed to an asylum for some time. It is revealed that she had an affair with the groundskeeper of the Howlett estate, Thomas Logan, a man who looks exactly like the adult Wolverine. Years passed and she eventually gave birth to James Howlett.

Thomas Logan's son, Dog Logan, who was obsessed with Rose, attacked her, leading John Howlett to reprimand Thomas. After Dog murdered James' puppy Callie, Thomas was dismissed from the estate, but the father and son broke into the Howlett estate to abduct Thomas' beloved Elizabeth. During the event Thomas Logan killed John Howlett.

James' mutant powers, particularly his claws (which were previously believed to have been added by Weapon X), emerged when he discovered his dead father and the murderer. With his new powers, James killed Thomas Logan and scarred Dog.

Elizabeth chose to commit suicide, having lost her husband and lover and discovering her second son was also a monster (the existence of mutants was unknown to the world at large at the time).

James's grandfather blamed him for these events and sent James and Rose into exile. They made their way to a British Columbia mining colony, where James grew into a strong and ferocious worker. He also adopted the name Logan (originally given to him by Rose in an attempt to hide James' true identity) and acquired the nickname of Wolverine.

Years later Dog, who by now strongly resembled the adult Wolverine's adversary Sabretooth, tracked him down. Forced to remember his painful childhood, Logan fought Dog savagely. Logan had gained the upper hand in the fight but as Rose attempted to prevent the killing of Dog, she was accidently impaled by Logan's claws. Wracked with grief over the death of his first love, Logan's mind reverted into a more animal-type of nature and virtually abandoned civilization. Instead, he spent more time in the woods with wolves where he felt more at home.

Wow, that was a cool read - thanks.

So Sabretooth wasn't Wolverine's father as we were led to believe for a while? And he had his claws from puberty? Were they simply coated in adamantium during the Weapon X story, or is Origin a rewrite of history?

booyah said:

no, they were replaced with the adamntium during weapon x

And if Elizabeth's first son also had claws, are we to assume that Thomas Logan was also his father? Otherwise, why would Dog Logan grow up with similar attributes, of it was all from Elizabeth's gene pool...

jerseykrs said:

Replaced? As in the original claws were pulled out? Oh, man, that's got to hurt (I never got my cat de-clawed).

Presumably the movie trilogy treats the story differently, since Stryker told Wolvie in X2, "You were always an animal. I just gave you claws." (I'm seeing X3 tonight, so forgive me if I'm overlooking details from that movie too.)

there was some deal with magneto where wolverine lost the adamantium claws/skeleton, right? he had bone claws for a while, i remember. i have no idea how he got the ginsu claws back. nail art maybe?

jerseykrs said:

Wolverine's early life has been revealed gradually over time. The story of Wolverine's childhood was told in the limited series Origin. He was born James Howlett, the son of wealthy Canadians John and Elizabeth Howlett in 19th century Alberta. As he was a sickly youth, his father hired a girl named Rose to take care of him.

Elizabeth's first son was believed to have been born with the same claws as her second son James, but he died in an unspecified tragedy prior to the story's beginning. This traumatic experience caused Elizabeth to go insane and be committed to an asylum for some time. It is revealed that she had an affair with the groundskeeper of the Howlett estate, Thomas Logan, a man who looks exactly like the adult Wolverine. Years passed and she eventually gave birth to James Howlett.

Thomas Logan's son, Dog Logan, who was obsessed with Rose, attacked her, leading John Howlett to reprimand Thomas. After Dog murdered James' puppy Callie, Thomas was dismissed from the estate, but the father and son broke into the Howlett estate to abduct Thomas' beloved Elizabeth. During the event Thomas Logan killed John Howlett.

James' mutant powers, particularly his claws (which were previously believed to have been added by Weapon X), emerged when he discovered his dead father and the murderer. With his new powers, James killed Thomas Logan and scarred Dog.

Elizabeth chose to commit suicide, having lost her husband and lover and discovering her second son was also a monster (the existence of mutants was unknown to the world at large at the time).

James's grandfather blamed him for these events and sent James and Rose into exile. They made their way to a British Columbia mining colony, where James grew into a strong and ferocious worker. He also adopted the name Logan (originally given to him by Rose in an attempt to hide James' true identity) and acquired the nickname of Wolverine.

Years later Dog, who by now strongly resembled the adult Wolverine's adversary Sabretooth, tracked him down. Forced to remember his painful childhood, Logan fought Dog savagely. Logan had gained the upper hand in the fight but as Rose attempted to prevent the killing of Dog, she was accidently impaled by Logan's claws. Wracked with grief over the death of his first love, Logan's mind reverted into a more animal-type of nature and virtually abandoned civilization. Instead, he spent more time in the woods with wolves where he felt more at home.

Tell me you copied and pasted that, Jersey. Please.

kidelrich said:

i was thinking the exact same thing when i read it!

but i read it without being tempted to just reply "i'm not going to read all of that" like i usually do, so that's something!

kidelrich said:

hahah, it was a copy and paste job, however, sadly, I probably could have explained the whole thing in my own words also.

DON'T JUDGE ME!!! I'M SEEING A GIRL TONIGHT!!!

jerseykrs said:

on TV?

Anx said:

Better than an evening with Marvel Comics!

jerseykrs said:

depends on the date, i guess.

Anx said:

Hey, she's real, she has a myspace page.

kidelrich said:

kidelrich said:

Thanks, jersey, I didn't know any of that. (I haven't read the books in awhile.)

...However, I'm worried about you.


I'm glad you're going on that date tonight.

s

Natsume said:

Come explore your inner-

TMPletz said:

...

TMPletz said:

that sounds vaguely sexual

Natsume said:

I was going to post "Come. Explore your inner-, but I thought that sounded bad.