Craig Zablo

Wolverine art by Dan Panosian

ComicBookMovie.com presents 10 Amazing Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Wolverine.  Here are three of my favorites…

10. His Claws Weren’t Originally Part Of Him
Wolverine has a lot of cool powers, including enhanced senses and the ability to heal from pretty much any injury. However, the pièce de résistance is obviously his six deadly claws. Creator Len Wein originally had some very different ideas for those though, and among his earliest ideas was that Logan would be a wolverine who had somehow mutated into a humanoid creature, similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

As if that wasn’t already weird enough, the now iconic claws would have been revealed as gloves with the claws attached to them, robbing Wolverine of arguably his most recognisable feature (and that classic “Snikt!” sound). It wasn’t until years later that we would learn those those claws were actually part of his skeleton before being coated in Adamantium.

7. Hugh Jackman Wasn’t Bryan Singer’s First Choice
After seeing Hugh Jackman play Wolverine almost countless times, it’s now hard to picture anyone else in the role (and with his final appearance as Logan set for next year, replacing him will be a huge challenge for 20th Century Fox). However, while this may now be hard to believe, Jackman wasn’t actually X-Men director Bryan Singer’s first choice to play the character.

It was Russell Crowe who both the filmmaker and the studio really wanted in the role, but he had no interest in joining the comic book adaptation. It was then that Dougray Scott was chosen to play Wolverine, but when scheduling conflicts forced him to drop out just weeks before the cameras started rolling, the unknown Jackman was chosen at the last minute, a decision Singer wasn’t initially that pleased with. Needless to say, it all worked out for the best!

4. Later Versions Were Modeled After Clint Eastwood
As you’ve now no doubt already realised, Wolverine was very much a work in progress when he was first introduced. Having decided against making the hero an angry teenager with clawed gloves, Marvel portrayed Logan as being a little rougher around the edges after he joined the X-Men. However, while his appearance had already been settled on, it’s Chris Claremont and Frank Miller who deserve the lion’s share of credit for the version of Wolverine we all know and love today.

Just like he did with Daredevil, Miller played a huge role in redefining how readers viewed Logan by taking inspiration from Clint Eastwood. That’s something which we’ve also been able to see on the big screen with Hugh Jackman, while Miller can also be credited with dreaming up the iconic line, “I’m the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn’t very nice.”