# X Men Question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469 "2004-09-28T13:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yakkette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@Yakkette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yakkette)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/1 "2004-09-28T13:11:22Z")
I rarely post at all here, but this has been bugging me since last night. I was watching the X Men sequel, but dammit, I fell asleep. :smack: What I need to know is…what are Wolverine’s origins?? I mean, I understand the mutations are “genetic,” but where did Logan/Wolverine come from? I know SOMEONE here has the comprehensive answer… Thanks, all! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/2 "2004-09-28T13:13:19Z")
> [@yakette](#): > > but where did Logan/Wolverine come from? Well, **Yakette** , when a mommy wolverine and a daddy wolverine love each other VERY much… ---
**Author:** ![Yakkette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@Yakkette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yakkette)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/3 "2004-09-28T13:14:40Z")
Hm. I guess I left myself open for that one. Damnit. I HATE when I do that. :smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/4 "2004-09-28T13:22:41Z")
> [@Yakkette](#): > > I rarely post at all here, but this has been bugging me since last night. I was watching the X Men sequel, but dammit, I fell asleep. :smack: > > What I need to know is…what are Wolverine’s origins?? I mean, I understand the mutations are “genetic,” but where did Logan/Wolverine come from? > > I know SOMEONE here has the comprehensive answer… > > Thanks, all! 😃 Well, from what I know, wolverine’s origins are more than a little mysterious, in every aspect of the canon. He was born, possibly a very long time ago, as a mutant with remarkable healing powers. They suspect that some military organization was experimenting to see how far those healing powers went… and managed to replace his entire skeleton with an artificial one, not to mention implant the claws. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/5 "2004-09-28T13:30:38Z")
I can add a little more info. Woverines’ mutant abilities are a healing factor and animal scenses. Wolverine is very old. He was an experienced fighter in WWII, and has been around possibly much longer than that. His healing factor stops the aging process in the same way it heals wounds and doesn’t allow him to get very drunk. A group of scientists working for or with the canadian government took Woverine and Sabretooth for an experiment. They both have healing factors. Wolverine went first, and had his skelaton replaced with adamantium, an unbreakable metal. This would kill a normal person, but the healing factor constantly keeps him alive. They also added the claws. The Canadian government was doing the experiment to create powerful mutant fighters that they could control. They wanted them to join their superhero team “Alpha Flight”. Before the procedure could be done on Sabretooth, Wolverine trashed the place and they both escaped. Since Sabretooth has super strength in addition to the same scenses and healing factor of Wolverine, he would have been very powerful if the procedure was done on him as well. Since he didn’t get the adamantium bones, they are about evenly matched. My apologies in advance if I messed up any of the details. The movie was basically true to what I’ve said, they just left out some of the details in the interests of brevity. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/6 "2004-09-28T13:34:19Z")
And then you’ve got the whole “Wolverine is part of an ancient race” story that came out of the _Earth X_ clusterf\*\*\*. Just how does that whole series tie into the Marvel canon, by the way? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/7 "2004-09-28T13:38:37Z")
[_Origin_ Trade Paperback from Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078510965X/qid=1096378560/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-0418484-9761603?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) Wolverine was born James Howlett in Alberta, Canada, towards the end of the nineteenth century. _Origin_ follows his story from the point of view of a girl named Rose, who was hired to keep him company as a child. If you want more detail, just ask, but I didn’t want to ruin the story for you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/8 "2004-09-28T15:31:12Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > And then you’ve got the whole “Wolverine is part of an ancient race” story that came out of the _Earth X_ clusterf\*\*\*. > Just how does that whole series tie into the Marvel canon, by the way? I think it’s been categorized as a kind of Marvel-style Elseworlds. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/9 "2004-09-28T15:53:46Z")
And unless this has been contradicted recently, the experiment DIDN’T actually add the claws, they were always part of his skeleton, and just plated with adamantium like the rest. This was discovered when Magneto ripped out the adamantium from his body, and he had bony claws for a while. (Which were somehow shaped differently than when they were covered with adamantim.) ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/10 "2004-09-28T16:41:06Z")
Out of curiosity, how did he get the adamantium back into him after Magneto tore it out? ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/11 "2004-09-28T16:55:27Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Out of curiosity, how did he get the adamantium back into him after Magneto tore it out? Apocalypse got a hold of him and made him into the Death horseman. Re: Earth X: I don’t recall that at all. I actually loved that series, but I appear to be the only one… Re: Origin. One of the nice things about comic books is that one has the ability to ignore pretty much whatever you want. Don’t like Punisher having been an angel? Don’t read it. Never happened. Don’t like Wolverine being a whiny idiot from Wuthering Heights? In that case, Origin doesn’t make a difference. Don’t want Spider-Man to have been married? Well, you’re screwed with that. Check out BWS’ WEAPON X which is one of the more brilliant stories out there. It was originally written as eight page installments for Marvel Comics Presents, but reads (with one or two exceptions) seamlessly. And, for those of you who actually notice such things, it’s got the best lettering I’ve yet seen (outside Cerebus of course). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/12 "2004-09-28T16:55:45Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Out of curiosity, how did he get the adamantium back into him after Magneto tore it out? A high-mineral diet. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/13 "2004-09-28T17:18:23Z")
I still prefer the idea of having had the High Evolutionary evolve him out of an actual wolverine… ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/14 "2004-09-28T17:28:42Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > [_Origin_ Trade Paperback from Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078510965X/qid=1096378560/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-0418484-9761603?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) > > Wolverine was born James Howlett in Alberta, Canada, towards the end of the nineteenth century. _Origin_ follows his story from the point of view of a girl named Rose, who was hired to keep him company as a child. > > If you want more detail, just ask, but I didn’t want to ruin the story for you. 😉 The recent Grant Morrisson run of **New X-Men** speculates that some/all of his memories in this regard were implanted and artificial, and that he was _really_ Weapon X (pronounced “Weapon Ten”), the product of a genetic research team that performed evolution experiments in an envelope of accelerated time, so that they could observe and cross-breed several orders of magnitude more mutations than they would normally be able to. Morrisson also posits that “Weapon I” was Captain America. I’m sure that later on we’ll hear that Wolverine is _really really_ imagining the whole thing, including the old memories and the old-old memories and the old-old-old memories, and was _actually_ the spawn of a ninja and a female werewolverine, and the bone claws “grew in” once the metal claws were added, sort of like a specialized calcium deposit. And that he used to love pudding but now he can’t stand it. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-men-question/266469/15 "2004-09-28T17:58:39Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > The recent Grant Morrisson run of **New X-Men** speculates that some/all of his memories in this regard were implanted and artificial, and that he was _really_ Weapon X (pronounced “Weapon Ten”), the product of a genetic research team that performed evolution experiments in an envelope of accelerated time, so that they could observe and cross-breed several orders of magnitude more mutations than they would normally be able to. Hm. I’ll have to pick that up. But I still like the _Origin_ take on it, if only because the ending intimates that since “Logan” has forgotten where he came from, and Rose’s diary is burned, no one in the X-Men Universe will _ever_ know his true origins. Oh, and **Yakkette** , there’s another trade paperback called _Mutant Genesis_ that includes Logan’s memories of his original Weapon X stuff. That might be what you were _really_ looking for. 🙂