Insomniac Games has its hands full now that its toes are dipped in the Marvel universe. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which follows both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, is currently scheduled to release sometime in 2023 and has shared a cinematic reveal teaser depicting high profile antagonists. This was featured at the PlayStation Showcase 2021, and in the same conference Insomniac announced Marvel’s Wolverine to many fans’ surprise.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s release window of 2023 essentially notifies fans that Marvel’s Wolverine will not be arriving any time soon. Still, Marvel’s Wolverine’s teaser is a welcome surprise that at least puts Insomniac’s latest Marvel title on the radar of both players and interested developers. Hints are scattered throughout Marvel’s Wolverine’s teaser that suggest what fans may expect out of it, while a lot of speculation will surely follow until more is officially announced. Moreover, one character needs to be addressed for the sake of Marvel’s Wolverine’s continuity: Professor Charles Xavier.
Professor X Can Bridge the Gap Between Wolverine and the X-Men
To be plain, no Professor X means no X-Men. The most salient way Marvel’s Wolverine could confirm that the X-Men all coexist in its universe is to introduce Xavier, whether it is in a reference, a cameo, or a full-blown NPC interaction. Xavier is a powerful mutant telepath who is most notably wheelchair-bound and bald. Many iterations of the X-Men have now appeared in different continuities with their own respective members and founding characters, but Xavier is typically the one who rallies them all together and gives these mutants a home when they had none.
Xavier is the backbone of the X-Men and believes that mutants and humans can coexist peacefully, while hateful mutants who have been subjected to human torture and oppression may believe in mutant supremacy. Professor X needs to be featured in Marvel’s Wolverine if there is in fact a connection that Logan shares with the X-Men. The implications of featuring Professor X are great, and Insomniac will surely include him if it intends to establish a connected universe.
If Logan is either a retired member or a current member of the X-Men, then Professor X would be instrumental in bridging that connection. Xavier could even communicate with Logan telepathically. Of course, other X-Men could also appear in some capacity, but it might still be unclear what Logan’s history with the X-Men are if Xavier does not interact with him directly somehow. If Xavier does not appear in Marvel’s Wolverine, many questions will be raised. It is also incredibly likely that Xavier, let alone any other X-Men affiliate, will not be featured in Marvel’s Wolverine.
The Case for Marvel’s Wolverine to Not Feature Other X-Men
For one reason or another, Marvel’s Spider-Man features many references to other characters in the Marvel universe, but refused to have cameos for any such characters. Avengers Tower, the Sanctum Sanctorum, and the Wakandan Embassy are only a few examples of these references, and establish their related characters in Marvel’s Spider-Man, but the characters themselves are nowhere to be seen. Some fans may believe this to be a missed opportunity to feature familiar faces, but it is likely to Insomniac’s benefit that these characters were not shown.
In comic book source material, Spider-Man has bounced around to different affiliations on different occasions, but he is chiefly a solo crime-fighter. Because he is not intrinsically connected to other characters in a team such as the Avengers, Spider-Man has no obligation to meet up with other characters outside of surprise cameos. Wolverine, however, is directly linked to his affiliation with the X-Men, and therefore it would be more difficult to deny him an interaction or references to characters that are also a part of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Still, Marvel’s Spider-Man is able to concentrate on developing Peter Parker’s character without the distraction of other superheroes. It could be argued that Logan could at least speak to lesser known mutants, but Marvel's Spider-Man is a good example of why that should not become Marvel's Wolverine's sole focus.
It is possible that Marvel’s Wolverine could allow players to stroll through Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and pass by other important mutant characters, but it would have to be careful not to throw around too many high profile characters that could steal the spotlight from Logan. Indeed, Marvel’s Wolverine is titled as if it is a standalone, solo game, and featuring a ton of X-Men in primary roles may make that decision feel misleading, as if it should have just been an X-Men game to begin with.
Marvel’s Wolverine Will Likely Follow Its Own Canon Like Marvel’s Spider-Man
Marvel’s Spider-Man offers Insomniac the liberty to pave its own path for the web-slinging wall-crawler. In this creative license, Insomniac chose to depict Peter Parker as a 23-year-old college graduate who had already encountered many of his iconic super-villains. Because Marvel’s Spider-Man produces its own canon and universe, any character could be interpreted uniquely and twists in the narrative will be unexpected as a result of new possibilities.
Marvel’s Wolverine’s cinematic reveal teaser only shared a look at a bar and Logan’s adamantium claws, and the game will have the exact same opportunity to produce a new continuity with iterations of characters and events that may alarm players or subvert expectations. Professor X is undeniably an important part of the X-Men that should not be neglected if the X-Men are truly part of Marvel’s Wolverine’s universe.
However, it is just as likely that the X-Men may not be a part of Marvel’s Wolverine’s universe, and that Insomniac wanted to represent Wolverine singularly in a standalone title. Further, Marvel’s Wolverine may establish the foundation for an X-Men game in the future, especially after Insomniac masters the mechanic of featuring multiple playable protagonist characters in a single-player game without implementing co-op, as is rumored to be the case for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Until then, an X-Men game may not be satisfying with only one or two playable characters out of the bunch, which is why a standalone Wolverine game makes sense. Either way, Marvel’s Wolverine brings up an inevitable association to the X-Men. These questions will need to be answered at some point down the line, and it is anyone’s estimate who may be featured or what new narrative alterations have been made in order to craft an authentic, unique take on Logan in Marvel’s Wolverine.
Marvel's Wolverine is in development for PS5.