Is it a gruff guy in a yellow costume, prowling through grime and muck with his claws popped out? Is it Hugh Jackman flexing his Hollywood muscles? Perhaps he’s a Saturday-morning cartoon character, or the “monster” of a horror podcast.
In the PlayStation 5 game Marvel’s Wolverine, developed by Insomniac Games, its mutant antihero is both an amalgamation of his 50-plus years of history and something else entirely: a romantic tragedy. Even if they’re not good people, you owe them loyalty or your love, because you know it’s the right thing to do. Being able to tell this kind of love story—this mature story—was cool.” In September, Marvel’s Wolverine became the newest superhero game on PlayStation 5.
Set in its own universe where the X-Men haven’t formed, the game follows Wolverine as he tries to prevent a weapon that could wipe out all mutant life. In the process, he meets Jean Grey (played by Krizia Bajo), a powerful fellow mutant who is part of a small band of runaways targeted by enemy forces. Insomniac applies its unique design signatures from its open-world wonder, Marvel’s Spider-Man, but Wolverine is a more linear outing in which players traverse endless corridors, alleyways, rooftops, and secret laboratories to fight increasingly stronger enemies.
You know—like a video game. It’s Ninja Gaiden in yellow spandex, with all the M-rated violence expected of a comic-book superhero whose first and only response to a problem is to claw his way through it. As familiar as Wolverine might be as a video game, its characterization of the famous X-Men member is its real innovation.
In contrast to most Marvel media in which Wolverine is a loner pining for Jean Grey from afar, Insomniac’s story is about traumas, past mistakes, and doomed love. No spoilers here, but Wolverine and Jean Grey have history, and players slowly discover the depth of their relationship. In the end, the door is open for more.
And Wolverine gets to be a romantic lead who does actually get the girl, if only for a little while. It’s something McIntyre—who calls the part a dream come true—always saw in the man called Logan. He says it’s Wolverine’s unrequited love for Jean Grey that compelled him for decades.
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