Hold On, How Old IS Wolverine? (2024)

One question that often comes up whenever Wolverine is involved concerns the character's age. How old is Wolverine really? Why does that matter? Well, now that has hit theaters, we're having that conversation all over again. Though Hugh Jackman's take on Wolverine had initially concluded with 2017's Logan, the third Deadpool outing introduces a new version of the character, one with basically the same history save for a starkly different ending than the one we had seen previously in Logan or X-Men: Days of Future Past. But in both cases, Logan still has the same on-screen origins, which can help us determine just how old this Marvel icon actually is.

810

R

Action

Sci-Fi

Comedy

Superhero

Wolverine joins the "merc with a mouth" in the third installment of the Deadpool film franchise.

Release Date

July 26, 2024

Director

Shawn Levy

Cast

Ryan Reynolds , Hugh Jackman , Emma Corrin , Morena Baccarin , Rob Delaney , Leslie Uggams , Karan Soni , Matthew Macfadyen , Brianna Hildebrand , Shioli Kutsuna , Stefan Kapicic , Lewis Tan , Randal Reeder , Jennifer Garner , Aaron Stanford , Billy Clements , Ollie Palmer , Chris Hemsworth , Rob McElhenney

Runtime

127 Minutes

Wolverine Was Born in the 19th Century

Generally speaking, Wolverine is usually depicted as being at least over 100 years old. During his initial appearances in the 1970s, Logan's past is only ever hinted at, with Marvel Comics readers eventually learning that the character remembers very little of his history. Though fans were teased for years with the truth, we finally learned that Logan was born James Howlett to plantation owners in 19th-century Canada. The Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, and Paul Jenkins-penned Origin series detailed young James' first few years upon discovering his mutant powers, set largely between 1897 and 1907. In the 21st century, that would mean that Wolverine has been around for well over 100 years. X-Men: Prelude to Schism #4 notes that Logan was born in 1982, but that seemingly contradicts the birth of his older brother in 1885 as explained in Origin.

Of course, the character's origins are a bit different depending on the variant you pull from. Not unlike how there are multiple Wolverine variants throughout Deadpool & Wolverine, so too is there a difference between what we read about the character in the comics and what we see in the live-action films when he's played by Hugh Jackman. According to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan is a young boy who first discovers his powers in 1845, around 50 years before what we see in the Origin comic book series. It's also worth noting that the movie version takes liberties with Wolverine's rivalry with Sabretooth as well, with the pair being portrayed as brothers here rather than simply mortal enemies.

The Hugh Jackman Wolverine Is a Bit Older Than the Marvel Comics Version

Though we don't get a ton of additional backstory to the Wolverine variant primarily featured in Deadpool & Wolverine, we get the sense that this version of the character had a similar upbringing and initial history as his X-Men movie counterparts. Even when Days of Future Past upended the X-Men movie timeline, it only diverged Logan's story in the 1970s, with most of the opening events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine — in particular, Logan's birth, first mutation, and war experience — remaining intact. That's not to mention that Hugh Jackman plays the character very similarly to the way he did in previous portrayals.

Though Wolverine's exact age is a bit of a mystery (we're still not sure exactly when the character was born, either in the comics or the films), we have a pretty good grasp on how old he is generally. In the comics, Wolverine is well over 100 years old by now, but not much more than that. In the films, Logan is closer to 200 years old, and if Hugh Jackman really does end up playing Wolverine until he's 90, we might even get to meet a 200-year-old Wolverine at some point down the line.

Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in theaters. Click below for showtimes.

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