Wolverine is one of Marvel's finest heroes and one of the most popular comic characters of all time. The origin of Wolverine has been shrouded in mystery until Marvel recently released 'Wolverine : Origin' . The team of Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins and Andy Kubert weave a rich story describing how a pale and sickly boy becomes the ultimate killing machine with a heart as wide as the great outdoors.
The story is set in the late 1890's. The books starts off with the arrival of a 12-year old orphan girl, Rose, at the Howlett mansion. She is brought in to be young master James Howlett's companion. James Howlett is a pale and sickly 12-year old boy who is allergic to pretty much everything and hence spends most of his time indoors. There is one more 12-year old around the Howlett mansion and that is Logan's son. Logan and his son do odd works around the place. Everyone calls the boy 'Dog'. Soon enough, Dog, Rose and James become the best of friends. They start spending a lot of time outdoors, together. Once, by accident, James falls into the river. Panic-struck, Dog hesistates for a moment but manages to save James in time.James' father, John Howlett, feels that it's no one's fault by Old Mr.Howlett, his father, grumbles and tells him that the boy(Dog) ought to be whipped and should not be allowed to mingle with the other two. Logan too disapproves of Dog hanging out with the others.
Then comes Christmas, and with it, events that forever change the life of everyone in the Howlett mansion. Mr. John Howlett, being the nice guy that he is, buys presents for everyone. Even Dog recieves a toy train. But Logan, senselessly drunk, gets mad at Dog and beats up the kid. From that day, Dog is changed. He starts becoming more like his father. A few years pass by. James is still as pale and sickly as before. Rose has grown into a beautiful young woman. Dog had always admired her and now, his interest in her has grown stronger than ever before. Once James manages to save Rose from Dog's unholy passion. Dog get mad at him and kills the boy's pet dog ending in him and his father being thrown out of the mansion. Now Logan has no love for John. He swears revenge. That night, father and son, penetrate the Howlett mansion, armed with rifles. Young James walks into his mother's room to find his father's head being blown away by Logan's gun. And Logan then turns the gun towards the boy. It's at that moment, the beast within awakes.. Wolverine's infamous claws pop out and in a beastial frenzy, he kills the man who shot his father. He then runs out all crazed with what was happening to him. Rose goes out to help him while James' mother shoots herself. Dog is the sole person to witness this and to escape the noose, he puts the blame on Rose. Rose, thus flees the land, taking young James with her, for the boy has little memory of what had happended on that fateful night.
Together, they leave the country, James still being in a delirious state. Rose watches with amazement as James starts healing before her very eyes. They finally reach a mining camp where Rose decides they could settle down with people noticing. On being asked the name of her companion, to protect his identity, she gives the name Logan. And henceforth, James Howlett was known as Logan. Smitty is the owner of the place and manages the mining activity. He used to be a sailor on a merchant ship but the death of his father forced him to take up the family business. Though externally harsh and cold, Smitty has a noble heart, unlike most of the people in that neighbour hood, especially Cookie Malone, the chef. This huge lumbering btrute picks on people smaller than him and so the weak defenseless Logan become the target of most of his "pranks". Logan bear everything silently. He never speaks to anyone and does his work earnestly. Also, he begins to change. His senses go hyper and his hunter insticts flare up. Soon, he becomes strong and agile for a person of his age and size. Yet, he hardly retaliates when Cookie beats him up again. Once during a hunting expedition, he ends up facing a wolf. Cornered, his animal rage manifests itself and his claws pop out. Surprised, he collapses to the ground exhausted.
The wolves sense a kindred spirit in him and accept him as one of thier own. That day since, he starts running with the wolves. This also changes his attitude a lot. He challenges Cookie Malone and beats the stuffing out of him. Logan now has an air of confidence around him. People start saying that he is like on of them wolverines. But one thing brought darkness to his life. Rose and Smitty were getting closer and closer. Logan had taken it for granted that Rose and he would always be together. However Logan and Smitty are pretty close too and Logan was referred to by many as Little Smitty. But all that changes when Logan, by chance, sees Smitty kissing Rose. Rose later tells him that she and Smitty are gonna get married and that they are leaving the place. Logan walks away saying that Smitty was right. That the only way to get out of this heap is to look out for yourself.
Meanwhile grandpa Howlett regrets the loss of his only grandson and sets Dog in search of him. Dog sets out to look for the person who had killed his father and "stolen" his beloved Rose. Smitty is trying hard to raise money for the impending marriage when the local bar announces a cage match tournament for which the winner get a lot of money. He immediately signs up for there is not a single man in the place who could stand up to him. Or so he thought. Logan sees Smitty signing up and signs up too. Unseen by all, Dog is watching all this.
Rose is dead set against Smitty fighting. She fears for his safety as she is the only one who knows that Logan has a darker side. She tried to convince Smitty that it's dangerous to fight Logan but he just laughs it off saying that she was just trying to save the kid. And so the tournament begins. Logan reaches all the way up to the semi-finals to face Cookie Malone. Before Cookie Malone enters the cage, a stranger hands him a iron bit to tip the scales in Cookie's favour. The stranger is none other than Dog. Even with that, Logan kicks Cookie's ass to kingdom come. All burning with ferral rage, he is about to pop out his claws when Cookie pleads that his life be spared. And it was spared. And in the grand finale, Logan faces Smitty and much to Smitty's surprise, Logan starts kicking his ass big-time. Logan's grabs Smitty by the throat and tells him that he had stolen the one thing that was dearest to him, the woman he loved. Smitty says that if he really loves her, then he should do what's right. Logan for a moment. He then tells Smitty to hit him hard and to make it look good. And thus, Smitty wins the tournament and the money.
And so Smitty and Rose are about to leave. Smitty hands over the charge of the mining camp to Logan and return to his cabin to pack. Dog appears on the scene and starts beating up Logan. We see that Dog is very powerful and a good fighter. But Logan is not reacting. He has no idea who this person is and why he is mad at him. Dog keeps taunting him with all the things he had done in the past. Finally when he mentions killing his father, the beast in Logan awakes. He fights back and is on the verge of killing him with his claws when Rose, accidentaly jostled by the crowd, falls forward and gets impaled on his claws. And dies.
Logan wanders off into the wilderness leaving Smitty to his grief. And thus begins the adventures of the man known as Wolverine, stories that have fascinated young and old alike, about the man who is the best there is at what he does.
Marvel might release a follow up to this book, probably continuing his adventures, revealing facts that have been hidden so far.
Interesting facts
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Wolverine is supposedly over a 100 years old and his extended life span is attributed to his powerful healing factor which retards aging.
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Wolverine possesses natural bone claws which later were grafted with adamantium during the famous
Weapon X project. This is the operation that gave him his indestructible skeleton.
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Wolverine always thought that his claws were grafted in during the
Weapon X project but when
Magneto rips out the adamantium from
Wolverine's body, we find out that he actually possesses bone claws beneath the adamantium. This information was available even before
Wolverine : Origin came out.
- And last but not the least, in the movie, Hugh Jackman does the part perfectly. :) . Except for the height. Wolverine is 5'3".