Summary

• Wolverine's first appearance was in The Incredible Hulk #180, where he attacks Hulk at the behest of the Candaian government.
• Created by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe, Wolverine was initially a short, aggressive man with retractable adamantium claws.
• Though he could have been a one-off Hulk villain, Wolverine found his place with the X-Men and became one of Marvel's most popular characters.

The iconic Wolverine is one of the load-bearing mutants of the X-Men, and even Marvel as a whole. However, he wasn't part of the original team, and wasn't even first introduced in an X-Men comic. Logan has had a long, curious life on the page and beyond. Read on for a deep dive into Wolverine's creation, his first story, and how he's changed in the fifty years since his introduction.

Jack Kirby signed on at DC Comics, and Stan Lee stepped down as Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief, ending the creative driving force at the publisher. Though Marvel heroes were never as squeaky-clean as their DC counterparts, the audience was ready for characters who lived in gray morality: antiheroes, villain protagonists, and more. Enter an unassuming, two-issue villain to face down the Hulk in Canada: The Wolverine.

Wolverine's First Comic Appearance: 'The Incredible Hulk #180' (1974)

"And Now...The Wolverine!" by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe

Wolverine is the best at what he does, and that's because he had a best-in-class creative team behind his invention. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas (Vision co-creator) asked Incredible Hulk writer Len Wein (Storm co-creator) to come up with a Canadian antihero character named “Wolverine.” Wein ed along the note to artist John Romita Sr. (Punisher co-creator), and the two got to work. Their office encyclopedia said a wolverine was a “small, ferocious creature with catlike features and claws,” so Romita designed him to be a short, aggressive man. The adamantium claws were retractable, but originally were only on Wolverine's gloves.

Because wolverines are small animals, Wolverine was designed to only be about 5'4" tall. Though he's acclaimed for the role, Hugh Jackman is almost a foot taller than Logan is supposed to be.

Wolverine's mutant lineage and product of government experimentation are on the page the Canadian government unleashes “Weapon X” to deal with him. The agents mention they've spent a lot of time and money on training this mutant to be an unstoppable powerhouse. As he's meant to be a foil for the Hulk, who hits hard, but is large and slow, Wolverine is called out for his claw strikes, but also his smaller stature and speed in evading Hulk.

Wolverine Is an Incredible Hulk Villain in His Debut

The Incredible Hulk #181 by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe

The Hulk is not back in Canada by coincidence; he's being summoned by Marie Cartier, the witchy sister of the Wendigo. She wants to transfer her brother's curse onto the Hulk, believing him to just be a violent monster already, so it’s okay if he also gains the power of Wendigo. To transfer the curse, she needs both men in the same place, so Hulk and Wendigo fight a path through the Canadian wilderness until interrupted, in the final of The Incredible Hulk #180, by Weapon X.

"It was just one of those secondary or tertiary characters, actually, that we were using in that particular book with no particular notion of it going anywhere." - Artist Herb Trimpe

Wolverine isn't interested in letting the two cause more destruction - he has six hours to take out or capture the Hulk before the Canadian military brings out bigger guns. He goes after the Hulk, but finds his claws aren't doing much damage, so he takes on Wendigo. Hulk, seeing the “little man” fight his enemy, figures that means Wolverine must be his new friend, and the two easily knock out Wendigo. With the big white monster out of the way, Wolverine turns back to take down the big green monster, who now also feels betrayal that his “friend” has turned on him.

Wolverine Finds His Calling With The X-Men

Return of the Short King

Other than later tweaks about his powers, backstory, and mask, Wolverine is practically fully formed right out of the gate. He has a snarky attitude, is a strong enough fighter to take on the Hulk, and is a product of Canadian government experimentation on mutants. One of the biggest discrepancies would be this first appearance's focus on his speed of movement. Most X-Men fans likely wouldn't say “speed” is one of Wolverine's greatest abilities. While the comic says he has a lot of stamina, his speed at evading Hulk is repeatedly called out by both the narrator and Wolverine himself.

Wolverine next appeared in Giant Size X-Men #1 in 1975, looking much more like his current iteration. closer in age to Spider-Man, but when artist Dave Cockrum drew him as a middle-aged, hairy man, Wein realized it worked better for the character. Wolverine quickly became a popular member of the X-Men, sealing his status as a top Marvel character with the Frank Miller-penned 1982 miniseries Wolverine.

Chris Claremont gave Wolverine the name Logan, after Canada’s Mount Logan, saying, “The idea was the tallest mountain being the name of the shortest character.” His 1970s origin painted him as a lone wolf, who didn’t get along with the X-Men, but a collection of young mutants who saw Wolverine as a father figure would prove otherwise. His amnesia meant writers could insert him into a variety of historical events like World War II without making an alternate canon, spreading his popularity further. It seems the only thing Wolverine isn’t good at is being a one-note Hulk villain.

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #180-181 are collected in The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: And Now...The Wolverine from Marvel Comics.