History
I'm the best at what I do and what I do ain't pretty, bub.
- — James Howlett, Wolverine
- — James Howlett, Wolverine
Early Life
James' claws manifest
James Howlett was born in Canada in 1919 to a prestigious family in Howlett Estate. As a child, James suffered bouts of allergic attacks and was frail. James spent most of his childhood playing with the son of the grounds-keeper, Victor Creed. Victor was abused by his father, so the children were close friends, but as they reached adolescence, the abuse inflicted upon Victor warped his mind and turned him into a cold and bitter man like his father which would result in them being kicked from the estate.
Claws manifest
Thomas (Victor's father), in a drunken stupor and armed with a shotgun, invaded the Howlett Estate with his son and attempted to take his former lover Elizabeth with him. John attempted to stop him and Thomas shot him in the head in cold blood. James entered his father's room to see the commotion, the rage and the stress of the situation caused the thirteen-year-old James' mutation to activate; bone claws extended from the backs of his hands and he attacked the intruders with uncharacteristic ferocity, killing Thomas. Suffering a mental breakdown, Elizabeth called James a monster and told him and Victor to leave, she would later take Thomas' shotgun and shoot herself.
Victor's mutant abilities would also manifest and like James, he manifested bone claws, and attacked James. The two engaged in a fight but James would eventually temporarily blind Victor and escape into the woods.
World War II
James, grownup
After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, twenty-year-old James would enlist in the Canadian military and would use his mutant abilities to end the Nazi and Hydra attacks. James would earn enough prestige and gain the nickname "Lucky Jimmy".
In 1942, he'd later go on to be recruited by Captain America and his Howling Commandos. In 1945, Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull had built a prototype A-Bomb made with ancient Celestial technology and had it planned to be dropped in Washington D.C. Though too late to stop the bomb's launch, Captain America managed to defeat the Red Skull and with the help of Bucky, get to the bomb moments before its launch. In a successful attempt to stop it in mid-air, he and Bucky fell to the sea, both presumed deceased.
After Captain America's sacrifice and shortly before the war's end, the Howling Commandos; now led by Jack Fury, would attack a Hydra base running an illegal program on mutants, the mission would prove a failure and James would sacrifice himself so that the rest of the team could escape. James was captured and would be subjected to torturous experiments, this facility would later come to be known as the Weapon X facility.
Escaping Weapon X
James, code named the Wolverine would spend decades being experimented on, he would even have his bones laced with Vibranium, the same material made from Captain America's very own shield, the Weapon X scientists would break James' mind by experimented on his mind and cause him to lose all of his memories.
In the 1980s, S.H.I.E.L.D. would raid the Weapon X facility and arrest the Hydra scientists and soldiers. S.H.I.E.L.D. would later go on to continue the project.
In the 1980s, shortly before Nick Fury would become the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., James would cause a riot and escape the Weapon X facility and go into hiding. Not remembering who he is, James would adopt the name Logan.
Joining the X-Men
Logan would spend years in hiding until he was located through Cerebro by Charles Xavier, he would send his X-Men to recruit him, after a few tries, they successfully convinced Logan to join their team where he would adopt his old Weapon X nickname; the Wolverine. Logan would also become a history teacher at Xavier's School.
Encounter with Magneto
On a seemingly quiet day at the X-Mansion. The X-Men and other Mutants were enjoying a peaceful day and were involved in bonding activities, like playing baseball and hosting a barbecue. That night, Wolverine would suffer a nightmare that would trigger a memory of the Weapon X project, Logan would go to confide Professor Xavier about this and would ask for help in recovering his memories. Xavier reached inside what was left of Logan's shattered memories; Xavier learned of the Weapon X project located deep in the mountains of Alps.
Xavier ordered the X-Men to accompany Logan on his journey in the X-Jet. Upon arriving at the abandoned Weapon X facility and entering its interior, Iceman would comment that this description seems familiar to a conspiracy theory on a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Cyclops would then go on to ask if S.H.I.E.L.D. did this to him. Wolverine would then suffer a flashback of Vibranium being laced to his bones and notices a Hydra symbol on one of the scientists. Wolverine then confirms Hydra may have had something to do with this as well.
Suddenly Wolverine would smell others in the facility, with Jean Grey confirming that she can hear the chatter of other minds. Wolverine then comments on a familiar scent until he is attacked by a man with a mohawk and a black tattoo on his left arm with claws similar to Wolverine's. The two engage in a brief fight until a voice in the distance orders the attacker to stop, Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants would then enter the scene. Magneto would then greet the X-Men mockingly and accurately guesses that the X-Men are here to help Wolverine regain his memories, Wolverine asks who the man with the mohawk is and why he has claws like Logan's. The man with the mohawk laughs maniacally and reveals himself to be Wolverine's brother; Sabretooth.
Magneto then notices Quicksilver and asks Quicksilver if it's really him, confused Quicksilver asks what he is talking about. Magneto then asks what his name is to which Quicksilver tells him his name, tears begin streaming down his face, Scarlet Witch becomes confused and asks her father what is wrong to which Magneto reveals, Pietro is his son. Pietro and Wanda are shocked but they also begin crying, Magneto is relieved that he has finally found his son and asks him to join him, Pietro then becomes conflicted and wonders if this is what he should do. The X-Men and Brotherhood plead with Quicksilver to join/stay with their cause, Quicksilver then comes to the decision that he won't abandon his friends and that his father and sister have hurt innocent people and won't be a part of it. Enraged and heartbroken, Magneto orders his Brotherhood to attack the X-Men.
The X-Men begin to battle the Brotherhood. Wolverine and Sabretooth begin battling each other in more of a personal vendetta, their personal fight takes them away from the overall battle. Sabretooth begins gaining the upper hand on Wolverine and comments on how he was always weak and he'll pay for killing his father. Wolverine begins fighting back as hard as he can, never fighting anyone like Sabretooth before, his sudden rush of past memories begin returning to him and remembers a bit more of his past. Wolverine then remembers his father was killed by Sabretooth's father and enters a berserker rage, destroying Sabretooth and temporarily blinding him like he did when they were children many years ago. Knowing he can't kill Sabretooth and that he is mortally wounded and will take a while to heal, Wolverine returns to help the X-Men combat the Brotherhood.
The battle would eventually come to a stalemate after Quicksilver injures Scarlet Witch and Magneto, being a concerned father retreats. The X-Men return to the X-Mansion revealing the news to Xavier. This battle would go on to leave the X-Men shaken and changed after this.
Meeting Cable
A month after the encounter with Magneto, the X-Men discover an intruder on Xavier's estate. The X-Men suit up to battle the intruder only to be defeated quickly and easily by him, the intruder then reveals himself to be Cable and that he is here to help. The X-Men then take Cable to Xavier and Xavier confirms that Cable is indeed there to help while also revealing he's from the future and the son of Scott and Jean. Now that the team trusted Cable, he then informed Xavier and the X-Men that in the future, Galactus arrives and defeats Earth's superheroes and creates a hellish future. The X-Men then ask how are they supposed to defeat him to which Cable explains that this time the world's superheroes will be prepared for him and that they all had to unite against Galactus
Arrival of Galactus
After Cable's revelation, Professor X contacts Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. detailing him of what has transpired and Cable's revelation. Nick Fury tells Xavier to send his X-Men to the Triskelion, and also bring the Cable.
When Galactus arrives, Fury sends Wolverine and the X-Men with the help of the Avengers and Fantastic Four into the field to distract Galactus while Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Reed Richards work on a way to stop him once and for all. When they arrive into the city and start battling Galactus, Hulk, Thor and the Thing are the heaviest hitters and causing the most damage to Galactus until he blasts them with cosmic energy causing Hulk to revert into Banner and Thor and the Thing to be knocked unconscious. Without their heavy hitters the three teams are decimated by Galactus' powers. As Galactus is about to kill the three teams, the Invisible Woman protects them with a psionic shield bubble but is diminishing her strength. Silver Surfer and Cable arrive to help, Cable is quickly knocked out but Silver Surfer gives Galactus a run for his money, realizing he can't defeat Galactus alone, Silver Surfer retreats and uses an untapped power the allows him to teleport himself, the other superheroes (including Spider-Man and Daredevil) back to the Triskelion.
Silver Surfer warns Nick Fury that Galactus sees them as a threat now and will be coming for them. Stark, Pym and Richards notify Wolverine and the other heroes that they have discovered a dimension called the Negative Zone that has no life in it and if they could create a wormhole and find a way to push him inside of it, they can defeat him. Ultimately, with the sacrifice of the Silver Surfer, the teams manage to do so.
After successfully averting the dystopian future Cable hails from, he begins fading from existence. As he is fading, Cable thanks Daredevil, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iceman and Quicksilver for being a family to him when no one else would in the future, and he tells Cyclops and Marvel Girl that he loves them and hopes to see them again soon. Jean would be devastated at her son fading from existence, this would also effect Scott as he would comfort her while she is bawling her eyes out, Logan and the others could only watch as they can't even comprehend what they're going through.
A few weeks later, Logan would request a leave of absence from the X-Men and the X-Mansion from Xavier in order to find out more about his past and the Weapon X program as the revelations by Sabretooth has left him unfocused and is gnawing at him. Xavier would grant this, and Logan would leave the country the next day.
Aftermath
A few months had passed since taking his leave of absence from the X-Men and Logan was getting nowhere when looking for answers about his past. He returned to the Weapon X facility prior but only had a few flashbacks but that was all.
While leaving a bar somewhere in Canada, Logan would be attacked by two masked individuals clad in leather, one male and one female. Logan is no match for their martial arts skills and becomes enraged popping out his claws and attacking them until suddenly the male unsheathed claws similar to Logan's and the female unsheathed hers which was similar to Sabretooth's.
They proved a formidable match for Logan but he defeated the two and unmasked them to see a black haired girl and a blonde haired boy no older than 17 and 16. Confused at who these two people are allowed for him to be knocked out by some unidentifiable soldiers. Logan would later wake up in a facility similar to the Weapon X program and be greeted by a Hydra agent.
Logan would ask who the two assassin's were to which a Hydra scientist would reveal to him that they are his children. Confused, Logan states that he never had kids to which the Hydra scientist would explain that when S.H.I.E.L.D raided the Hydra Weapon X facility in the 1980s, one scientist escaped with Wolverine's blood sample. For many years they would attempt to clone Logan and in the 1990s it would prove successful resulting in the birth of X-22 and X-23 through surrogate mothers.
The Hydra scientist would reveal the X-22, the 17-year-old male's name to be Jimmy Hudson and X-23, the 16 year old female's name to be Laura Kinney and that Hydra had been conditioning them for years to believe Wolverine was their father that abandoned them and an enemy. X-22 and X-23 who were spying on Logan and the Hydra agents heard of this revelation, and being their father's children they decided to rebel and kill the Hydra agents in the room and release Logan. Logan and his children would then go on a killing spree to escape the Hydra facility.
Upon escaping, Logan would comment on how he never knew of their existence and was sorry they were brought into the world the way they were, never having a choice. But he offered them a place at the Xavier Institute so that they'll never have to feel alone again, Jimmy and Laura would thank Logan but decline the invitation believing that they needed to leave and figure things out for themselves to which Logan understands and wishes them luck on their travels.
Alternate Future
Wolverine in 2045.
In an alternate future averted by Cable, Galactus invaded Earth in 2014 and wiped out Earth's superheroes in what would be called the Superhero Massacre, Galactus decided the Earth had potential and instead of devouring it, he made it his permanent base of operations while he ruled it with an iron fist. Logan and the other heroes who survived went into hiding. Logan started a farm and raised a family.
In 2025, a member of Logan's neighborhood discovered that he is a mutant and was a former member of the X-Men, told Galactus of this which caused him to send his herald Silver Surfer to find him. Logan was away at the time and upon returning he had discovered the Surfer had killed his family. Logan would then personally vow revenge on the Silver Surfer. Daredevil returned as a superhero to fight the oppression of Galactus, this would bring hope to the citizens of the world and would inspire other superheroes, including Wolverine to come out of the shadows.
Daredevil formed a team with; the Knights. The Knights was compromised of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Quicksilver and Iceman. Daredevil would go on to find Nathan Summers, the son of recently deceased ex-superheroes, Cyclops and Marvel Girl, Daredevil went on to take Nathan in and train him in combat and weapons.
When Nathan turned twenty-one, he joined the Knights. Daredevil and the Knights would go on to bring hope to the oppressed citizens of Earth until one day, Galactus sent the Silver Surfer to "take care" of the Knights. Daredevil sacrificed himself to save the Knights and was killed by the Silver Surfer, before dying he appointed Spider-Man as the Knights' new leader.
A few years later, Spider-Man would devise a plan to build a device and use Quicksilver's time travel abilities to power the device to go back in time and warn the heroes of Galactus' impending attack. Coming from a scientific background, Spider-Man built the device and Quicksilver powered it until the Silver Surfer attacked them at their base. With no time left, Spider-Man ordered Wolverine and Iceman to hold him off while he ordered Nathan to go back in time and warn the others.
Silver Surfer would defeat the Knights. Surfer killed the rest of the Knights but left Spider-Man alive, Surfer demanded to know where Nathan had gone but Spider-Man replied with "To end your reign", Silver Surfer would then proceed to kill Spider-Man also. Although after Nathan successfully warned Earth's superheroes in the present and helped them defeat Galactus, this future never came to be.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Mutant Physiology: Wolverine is a mutant who had been given a Vibranium skeleton by the Weapon X Program.
- Superhumanly Acute Senses: Wolverine possesses superhumanly acute senses that were comparable to those of certain animals. He could see at far greater distances, with perfect clarity, than an ordinary human. He retained this same level of clarity even in near total darkness. His hearing was enhanced in a similar manner, allowing him to detect sounds ordinary humans couldn't hear at a greater distance, enough to hear a teardrop in another room that has thick walls with enough focus. He was able to recognize people and objects by scent, even if they are well hidden. He could track a target by scent, even if the scent has been greatly eroded by time and weather factors, with an extraordinary degree of success. Wolverine could also use his keen sense of smell to detect lies due to chemical changes within a person's scent. These senses stemmed from, at least partially, his constant cellular regeneration, as were his enhanced physical capabilities.
- Enhanced Strength: His natural strength was augmented by the demand placed on his musculature due to the presence of over 50kg/100 pounds of vibranium bonded to his skeleton, which also removes the natural limitations of the human skeletal structure by allowing him to lift weights that would damage a human skeleton. Wolverine has been depicted with sufficient strength to break steel chains, support the weight of a dozen men with one arm and lift the 450kg/955 lb Ursa Major over his head before tossing him across a room. Wolverine's strength was enough to allow him to press/lift just about 2 tons.
- Enhanced Speed: Wolverine is able to move at low level superhuman speeds. He has attacked faster than the eye could follow and even Spider-Man briefly thought Wolverine was faster than he was in their first fight. His combat speed seems to have been more enhanced than anything else, as he has frequently kept up with Spider-Man in combat, and blitzed people before they pull their trigger fingers.
- Insulated Weather Adaptation: Wolverine's body is highly resistant to certain elemental extremes, particularly cold, to the extent that he could sleep nude in subarctic conditions with no apparent injury.
- Animal Empathy: Wolverine has the ability to sense the emotional state of animals on a basic level such as fear, anger, happiness or pain. He could even communicate with them to make the animal aware of his actions and or his intent.
- Retractable Bone Claws: Wolverine's skeleton included six retractable 12-inch long bone claws, three in each arm, that were housed beneath the skin and muscle of his forearms. Wolverine could, at will, release these slightly curved claws through his skin between the knuckles on each hand. The skin between the knuckles tore and bled, but the blood loss was quickly halted by his healing factor. Wolverine could unsheathe any number of his claws at once, although he needed to keep his wrists straight at the moment his claws passed from his forearms into his hands. When unsheathed, the claws were entirely within his forearms, allowing him to bend his wrists when they were extended. The claws were made of bone, unlike the claws of normal mammals which are made of keratin, and were originally believed to be bionic vibranium implants.
- Retractable Bone Claws: Wolverine's skeleton included six retractable 12-inch long bone claws, three in each arm, that were housed beneath the skin and muscle of his forearms. Wolverine could, at will, release these slightly curved claws through his skin between the knuckles on each hand. The skin between the knuckles tore and bled, but the blood loss was quickly halted by his healing factor. Wolverine could unsheathe any number of his claws at once, although he needed to keep his wrists straight at the moment his claws passed from his forearms into his hands. When unsheathed, the claws were entirely within his forearms, allowing him to bend his wrists when they were extended. The claws were made of bone, unlike the claws of normal mammals which are made of keratin, and were originally believed to be bionic vibranium implants.
Abilities
- Master Tactician: Though seemingly brutish, Wolverine is highly intelligent. When Jean Grey monitored Wolverine's vitals during a Danger Room training session, he reported Logan's physical and mental state as "equivalent to an Olympic-level gymnast performing a Gold-medal-winning routine whilst simultaneously beating four chess computers in his head", which gives something of an idea of the level of sophistication and tactical processing Logan was capable of utilizing while in combat. He remembered Ogun teaching him Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
- Master Martial Artist: Due to his extensive training as a soldier and a member of the X-Men, Logan was an exceptional martial artist, with expertise in Japanese martial arts, and has mastered 15 forms of martial arts, including Israeli Special Forces Training. His extraordinary hand-to-hand combat ability made him one of the finest combatants on Earth, as he was able to keep up with both the Black Widow and Black Panther; both expert martial artists. He has also defeated various hand-to-hand experts without using his claws.
- Expert Marksman: He was an expert marksman skilled in throwing weapons and firearms, but operated more efficiently without them.
- Skilled Acrobat: He was skilled in gymnastics, acrobatics and aerials, but was not on the same scale as other fighters such as Captain America and Daredevil.
- Skilled Mechanic: Along with Bobby Drake, Wolverine has also been the mechanic of the X-Men's Blackbird jet for a long.
- Multilingual: A polyglot; Wolverine was fluent in many languages including English, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Spanish; he had some knowledge of French, German, Thai, Vietnamese, Farsi and Portuguese.
Strength level
As a result of Wolverine's constant cellular regeneration and the additional weight and tensile strength of his skeleton, he had some degree of superhuman strength, enabling him to press somewhere in excess of 800 lbs, but not more than 2 tons, and he is able to place this strength in his strikes.
Weaknesses
- Vulnerable Senses: Wolverine's only other "weakness" was the fact that his heightened senses could be taken advantage of. For instance, when he was fighting the Hulk, he was nearly killed by the Hulk's thunder claps due to his heightened sense of hearing.
- Decapitation/Severe Spinal Damage: Professor X once stated that Wolverine could be killed if his head became separated from his body, causing his brain to be unable to send signals to the section(s) of his body that needs healing. Because of the addition of his vibranium-laced skeleton, however, the idea seems very unlikely.
Paraphernalia
Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.
Notes
- No special notes.
Trivia
- Logan was born in 1919.
- Like his Earth-1315 counterpart, Logan stands at 6ft.
See Also
- Appearances of James Howlett (Earth-1111)
- Character Gallery: James Howlett (Earth-1111)
- Quotations by James Howlett (Earth-1111)
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Wolverine · "Logan"%20Howlett&searchx=Search James "Logan" Howlett · James Howlett (Earth-1111)
Links and References
- None.