The Story Of Marvel's Wolverine And The Forces Shaping It

Video games have become much more prominent at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con than they were at previous shows, with dozens of panels to attend, booths to visit, and cosplayers to admire as you wander the show floor. A panel called Marvel’s Wolverine: Deep Cuts took place on Thursday in the infamous Hall H, and I was in the room to learn everything the team at Insomniac had to share about its upcoming PS5 exclusive, Marvel’s Wolverine. Hosted by Naomi Kyle, the panel had creative director Marcus Smith, Wolverine director Mike Daly, narrative director Walt Williams, project director Jess Reiner-Reed, and executive producer Eric Monacelli, as well as Liam McIntyre and Krizia Bajos, the actors playing Wolverine and Jean Grey, all on hand to discuss the game ahead of its September 24 release.

The show kicked off with the debut of the new story trailer, which gives us a much deeper look into how Insomniac games is handling their characterization of the iconic mutant than we’d previously seen. “Our Wolverine is cynical, he’s candid, he keeps people at a distance,” explains Mike Daly. “Not just because he knows he’s dangerous, but also because he doesn’t want to get hurt again. He’s got a big heart and that gets him into trouble,” he added, likely referring to the tumultuous relationship he shares with Jean Grey in the comics and movies.

A different side of Earth-1048

Daly also explains that while this game isn’t an origin story, mutants operate in secret and are still not widely known; the X-Men aren’t around quite yet, either. Still, the story trailer shows off a heavy handful of familiar mutants and characters from lore that fans will surely recognize, like Sabretooth, Mystique, Omega Red, and even Bolivar Trask, who serves as one of the game’s antagonists. We also got confirmation that Wolverine takes place on Earth-1048, the same Earth as Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, but it remains to be seen if characters from those games will make any cameos.

The game starts three years after Logan’s taken on the mantle of Wolverine and was part of Team X, a special ops team put together by Nathaniel Essex (otherwise known as Mister Sinister in the comics), but he’s lost his memory. Daly explained that Logan will spend much of the game unraveling his recent past, and there’s even an official prequel comic book available at SDCC, published by Marvel and penned by the game’s narrative director Walt Williams, that details the traumatic events that led to his place in the game’s story.

It isn’t required reading, but I was able to snag one and read through it. It details an early mission by Team X, made up of Wolverine, Sabretooth, Mystique, and Sunfire, investigating one of Trask’s hideouts. Here they find Trask’s wife and mutant daughter sequestered away from the world thanks to Trask’s disdain for mutants. I won’t delve too deep into the comic’s story to avoid spoilers, but Logan experiences his first bout of Berserker Rage, leading directly into the start of the game.

Combat has been described by the team as animalistic, and that’s very evident in all the brutal gameplay we’ve seen since the game’s reveal. Liam McIntyre, who plays Logan, told Entertainment Weekly that he was initially scared to go all out with his performance. He reluctantly searched for video footage of how rabid dogs behave to get a feel for Logan’s “feral” and animalistic qualities, and praised the work and dedication of the game’s motion capture team to help him feel safe in his performance, explaining that the team gave their full support.

Romance with Jean Grey

Jean Grey and Logan have a storied past, and that’s a focal point in Insomniac’s story. Since the X-Men don’t exist in this world yet, she’s been out on her own searching for other mutants to help and take care of. This leads her to cross paths with Logan, leading to a “cosmic connection,” according to Jean Grey voice actress Krizia Bajos. It remains to be seen just how deep their relationship will become in the game, but we can likely expect the dynamic between them to be a main focus.

Music also plays a big role in Wolverine, and Insomniac and Marvel Games have enlisted the talents of Emmy Award-winning composer David Fleming, recently of Widow’s Bay fame. We were treated to a sample of the game’s main theme, aptly titled “Logan.” The panel also showed off a Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls Wolverine skin you can use in-game on day one, and teased that the fighting game will get an Insomniac Wolverine skin in the near future to celebrate both games’ releases.

The presentation concluded with each panelist giving their closing thoughts about the game. Creative director Marcus Smith mentioned that he hopes players feel powerful when taking control of Logan throughout their time with him, and if what I saw is anything to go on, “powerful” may be a bit of an understatement.