PREVIEW – Marvel’s Wolverine doesn’t have a release date or even a release window yet, but there are already plenty of exciting details circulating about this upcoming action-adventure game. The teaser trailer, which dropped back in 2021, caught fans’ attention with its dark and mature tone. Insomniac Games has promised a unique, emotionally-charged story.

Insomniac Games, the developers behind Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequels, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, are known for creating impressive and thrilling adaptations of the Spider-Man franchise. This track record suggests that Wolverine is in good hands and could join the ranks of the best single-player and story-driven games once it’s released.

Just like Marvel’s Spider-Man, we expect Marvel’s Wolverine to be an action-packed, story-driven game with plenty of satisfying combat and engaging cutscenes. However, as Creative Director Brian Horton put it, Wolverine will have a “mature tone.” Given James ‘Logan’ Howlett, the titular Wolverine, is known for his dark adventures and grim personality, it makes sense that Insomniac is heading in this direction. Read on for more details and an in-depth analysis of the teaser trailer.

Marvel’s Wolverine: Release Date

There’s no release date or window for Marvel’s Wolverine yet. However, it is confirmed to be a timed PlayStation exclusive, much like the Marvel’s Spider-Man games. While it’s confirmed for PS5, there’s no indication that it will come to PS4, and this seems increasingly unlikely as time goes on.

It’s not impossible that the game will eventually make its way to PC; after all, Sony’s exclusives often do. Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales are both available on PC, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is likely to follow sometime this year. This suggests that Wolverine could also appear on PC, but probably well after its PS5 debut.

Marvel’s Wolverine: Initial Announcement

Marvel’s Wolverine was announced at Sony’s PlayStation Showcase event in September 2021, with a short teaser trailer introducing Insomniac’s version of Logan.

The teaser shows a rundown bar with wounded men sprawled across the floor. The camera shifts to a rear view of a man wearing a cowboy hat and plaid shirt, drinking. His fist and the surrounding area are covered in blood. In the background, one of the injured men rises and pulls out a knife. Sensing the threat, the man at the bar – our hero – clenches his fist, revealing iconic metal claws.

While the trailer doesn’t showcase combat or Logan himself, it sets the tone for Marvel’s Wolverine. It looks to be a bloodier, more mature alternative to Insomniac’s Spider-Man series. You can watch the announcement trailer below.

So far, the announcement trailer is the only teaser we have. In the meantime, keep an eye on PlayStation’s official YouTube channel for future updates.

Marvel’s Wolverine: Story and Setting

Although we don’t have specific details about Marvel’s Wolverine’s story, the announcement trailer offers several intriguing hints.

Firstly, the trailer’s setting suggests when and where Marvel’s Wolverine takes place. Logan is drinking at the Princess Bar, located in Madripoor (recognizable from the Marvel TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), indicated by the bar sign and a Madripoor tourism poster.

In Marvel Comics Presents Volume 1, Issue 1 (1988), Wolverine visits the Princess Bar while hunting down a criminal named Roche. After dealing with Roche’s enforcers – who were extorting protection money from the bar’s owner, O’Donnell – Wolverine becomes a regular at the bar, under the alias “Patch,” and even co-owns it for a while. The bar essentially became Logan’s second home during a period when the X-Men were inactive. Is Insomniac suggesting that Marvel’s Wolverine is set during this time? Will Logan face off against Madripoor’s criminal underworld? Both seem likely.

Another potential Easter egg is the Radio Lowtown 104.8 poster. Lowtown is a district in Madripoor, making it a plausible setting for the game. It’s also possible that the number 104.8 refers to Marvel Earth-1048, the universe in which Marvel’s Spider-Man takes place. This implies that Insomniac’s Spider-Man games and Wolverine exist in the same universe, hinting at future crossover potential. This would be a huge opportunity, allowing Insomniac to create an alternative to the Marvel Cinematic Universe without the burden of endless sequels and story overload.

The radio station isn’t the only Easter egg referencing specific comics. The bar’s license plate reads “HLK 181,” seemingly referring to The Incredible Hulk #181, which features Wolverine’s debut. Could this mean Hulk might appear in Marvel’s Wolverine? Here’s hoping.

Marvel’s Wolverine Creative Team

According to Creative Director Brian Horton, Wolverine’s solo adventure on PS5 will be a full-sized game with a “mature tone.” Horton confirmed this on Twitter in response to a fan asking whether Wolverine on PS5 would be a large or smaller “Miles Morales” sized game.

In a PlayStation Blog post, Insomniac Games revealed that Marvel’s Wolverine is being led by Brian Horton (Creative Director) and Cameron Christian (Game Director), who spearheaded the creative efforts on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Insomniac Games stated that while they intend to honor the “DNA” that makes Wolverine popular, the studio will put a fresh twist on Logan.

“In the spirit of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit,” wrote Insomniac Games in a PlayStation blog post. Although still in early development, Marvel’s Wolverine promises “emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay.”

Marvel’s Wolverine: What We Want to See

While Marvel’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are critically acclaimed games, they are all relatively family-friendly. This isn’t a criticism – Spider-Man, after all, is famously a “friendly neighborhood guy,” known for his youthful antics and witty quips. The lighter tone suits the character. Wolverine, however, isn’t so light-hearted. His backstory and character are much darker, filled with angst, betrayal, and often bloody violence.

We hope Insomniac explores this side of Logan in the Wolverine game, offering a more mature experience than Spider-Man. We don’t need gratuitous violence, but we think a different tone is necessary. To delve deeply into Wolverine’s backstory (depending on when the game is set), you can’t avoid Logan’s darker moments. Plus, our hero could hardly slice up his enemies with his iconic claws without shedding at least a little blood. Without the darkness, you’re only scratching the surface of the story – pun intended.

We don’t want anyone stealing the spotlight, but it would be great to see a few other Marvel heroes in Insomniac’s interpretation of Wolverine as side characters. The details will depend on the story Insomniac wants to tell, but we hope to see some X-Men characters like Jean Grey, Professor X, or even Rogue.

As for the villains, we currently don’t know who the main antagonist will be in Marvel’s Wolverine, but there are plenty of infamous foes to choose from – and it’s possible some might appear in minor roles. We hope to see Logan face off against Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, or even Silver Samurai. Or perhaps we’ll see him struggle to bring down the Weapon X program that subjected him to painful experiments and gave him his famous adamantium skeleton.

Set in the Spider-Man Universe

Insomniac has done a fantastic job creating standalone products that have allowed us to meet all sorts of heroes and villains from Marvel comics. However, now that the studio is moving away from Spider-Man, it has the chance to establish a shared continuity, offering many of the benefits the Marvel Cinematic Universe provides but without the story overload. This is a tantalizing idea, and we’d love to see what Insomniac’s talented storytellers could do if they chose to go down this path.

Marvel’s Wolverine is indeed set in the Spider-Man universe. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Creative Director Bryan Intihar confirmed this in an interview with Kinda Funny Games. When asked if the two series are set in the same universe, he replied, “They’re all 1048.” This is a reference to Earth-1048, the universe in which Marvel’s Spider-Man games are set. We’re hoping to see a Spider-Man cameo in the upcoming Wolverine game!

Will Marvel’s Wolverine Come to Xbox?

Marvel’s Wolverine is not planned for release on Xbox. Currently, it’s only listed for PS5, but like other Sony projects, it might eventually come to PC. Unless Sony’s first-party strategy changes drastically in the coming years, we will never see Marvel’s Wolverine on Xbox platforms.

-Gergely Herpai “BadSector”-