Wolverine X-Men: Who Is Logan and Who Plays Him?

Wolverine is the codename of Logan, a mutant born James Howlett, who carries bone claws, a healing factor and, for most of the films, a skeleton bonded with adamantium. Hugh Jackman plays him from X-Men (2000), directed by Bryan Singer, to Logan (2017), directed by James Mangold. The credits use several versions of the name: "Logan", "Logan / Wolverine" and, in the last film, "Logan / X-24".

Why does Wolverine call himself Logan? In X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), directed by Gavin Hood, a boy named James Howlett sees his father killed in the 1840s, and his bone claws burst out for the first time. By the time he quits Major William Stryker's team of mutant operatives, the film calls him Logan. In X-Men (2000) he is a gruff drifter in Canada who is also called Wolverine, so Logan becomes the everyday name while Wolverine is the one the team uses.

The healing factor and the claws are the heart of the character. Origins shows James and his half-brother Victor Creed surviving one American war after another because they cannot easily be killed, and it shows Stryker's procedure that bonds adamantium to Logan's skeleton. Magneto tells the team in X2 that Stryker was the man who gave Logan his metal skeleton. If you want the wider list of abilities across the saga, the page on x men powers covers them.

What weaknesses does Wolverine have? The films answer that in several ways. In The Wolverine a robotic parasite on his heart suppresses his healing, and a Silver Samurai suit cuts off his claws. By Logan his healing is fading and he is worn down and ill. In Origins, adamantium bullets fired into his head by Stryker leave him with no memory. His healing also makes him resistant to Jean Grey's power in X-Men: The Last Stand, which is why he is the only one who can get close to her, though that counts as a strength.

Wolverine's closest ties are with Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, Rogue and, at the end, a girl named Laura, and his oldest enemy is his own half-brother. Professor X gives him a home and a purpose in the first film, and in Logan he secretly cares for an elderly, ill Xavier whose failing mind makes his powers dangerous.

Rogue is his first traveling companion, and he risks his life to save her at the end of X-Men (2000). Jean Grey is the great loss of his life, and The Wolverine shows him haunted by visions of her after he was forced to kill her. Cyclops and Storm are his teammates throughout the original trilogy, and Storm takes over the school at the end of The Last Stand.

Victor Creed, the half-brother he grows up fighting beside, is the enemy who killed Kayla Silverfox in Origins. Stryker is the man behind the adamantium and the memory loss. Magneto is an enemy who turns into a reluctant ally, saving the team in X2 and appearing at an airport in the mid credits scene of The Wolverine. Mystique poses as Wolverine to help the team into Stryker's base in X2, and in Days of Future Past his mission depends on her choice.

In Tokyo he meets Mariko, Yukio and the Yashida family. In Logan, Laura is a young girl who turns out to have been grown in a lab from mutant DNA, and she is effectively his daughter. The villain on the other side is X-24, a savage clone of Logan made by Transigen. Origins also introduces Wade Wilson, turned by Stryker into a mutant killer, whom Logan and Victor team up against.

In my opinion, Wolverine's best scenes are the ones where the claws matter less than the choice, and perhaps that is why Logan works as a farewell. These are my picks, and they are opinion.

First, the end of x men 2000, when he gives Rogue some of his healing power on the Statue of Liberty and falls into a coma. It sets the pattern for the character: he saves someone and pays for it.

Second, the Alkali Lake fight in X2, where Wolverine defeats Yuriko while Storm breaks Stryker's hold on Xavier with a snowstorm in the Cerebro chamber. It is a clean example of an ensemble film giving him a set piece without letting him take over the whole team.

Third, the Nagasaki opening of The Wolverine, when he shields Yashida from the bomb in 1945. It could be argued that it introduces his healing factor better than any lab scene, because it shows what it costs to survive.

Fourth, the Munson farm night and the grave in Logan. Laura tipping the cross into an X is the closest the saga comes to a final answer on his legacy, and, paradoxically, the quietest scene of his career is the one that lands hardest for me. If you want the team films first, start with x men movies in order, while wolverine movies in order follows his solo run.