Closing PlayStation’s September 24 State of Play with a ‘snikt’ and bloodshed, Marvel’s Wolverine reared its head officially for the first time since its announcement teaser for a gameplay trailer, a Behind the Claws developer diary discussing it, and a release window of fall 2026. The trailer itself leans fully into what players can expect from Marvel’s Wolverine’s violent combat, which doesn’t shy away at all from technologically advanced enemy fodder being skewered by Logan’s adamantium-laced claws.
In typical pre-release fashion, especially with this gameplay trailer being the first broad glimpse at Marvel’s Wolverine that has been shared since staring at Logan’s back, forearm, and fist for the last four years, it wouldn’t seem as if much can be narrowed down about the story. However, that doesn’t mean the trailer isn’t chock-full of juicy Easter eggs and context clues, particularly regarding the globe-trotting adventure that the burly, animalistic mutant is headed on, and the “Canadian wilderness” being a locale may leave a tantalizing trail of breadcrumbs for the story to follow.
Wolverine is Insomniac’s Second Original Marvel Narrative
Origin stories in comic book media balance on a thin tightrope concerning how redundant they may be or what exposition and worldbuilding they bring forth for the characters in question. Some characters arguably deserve an origin story more than others if they’re obscure, for example, while some characters have already had their origin stories told ad nauseam, even if they do differ dramatically in each retelling.
Insomniac chose not to regale players with an origin story for its Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man, which boasts an original narrative and continuity, and its series has been all the more unique as a result, instead beginning with Peter being a university graduate and eight years into his crime-fighting career as Spider-Man. Not having an origin story allows the player to fill in those blanks if they choose, alongside peripheral lore that can be read in Marvel’s Spider-Man’s backpack collectibles, yet the idea was to move forward with Peter’s story, not backward.
Marvel’s Wolverine’s story looks no different, thrusting players into the throes of Logan’s life, whether that’s during or after him being an affiliate of the X-Men—the yellow-and-grey suit seemingly a dead giveaway, besides few other explicit ties to Professor Charles Xavier’s band of mutant misfits in the trailer beyond Mystique and a Sentinel. But, because Marvel’s Wolverine is also an original narrative, and with Insomniac capable of penning it any which way it wishes, some sort of backstory to know what the state of the world and his relationships with the people in it are may be vital information.
Marvel’s Wolverine’s ‘Canadian Wilderness’ is a Chance to Air Out Logan’s Baggage
Marvel’s Wolverine’s Logan—who may or may not truly be James “Logan” Howlett in Insomniac’s original universe—is described as an “unreliable narrator” with “gaps in his memory” by creative director Marcus Smith. Furthermore, the trailer itself has a description that reads:
“As he searches for answers about his past, Wolverine will do whatever it takes – unleashing brutal claw combat, violent rage, and relentless determination – to cut through the mystery of the man he used to be.”
As such, while it might not be an origin story in the traditional sense, Marvel’s Wolverine is clearly centered around Logan’s fractured psyche, typically catalyzed by the horrific Weapon X program that grants him his adamantium-coated skeleton.
Therefore, the Behind the Claws developer diary referencing the “Canadian wilderness” to the backdrop of snow-tipped mountains and a green road sign for Squamish, British Columbia, as well as Logan originally being from Canada, are enough evidence to lend credence to the belief that Marvel’s Wolverine will be an origin story after all, only with players learning about Logan as he learns those details himself, and possibly involving him coming to terms with a past he or players may have never predicted. Either way, Insomniac has a treasure trove of X-Men lore to draw inspiration from and a creative open-endedness to what Logan’s foggy past could look like.