Even before Hugh Jackman turned the character into an international Hollywood sensation, Wolverine was already one of Marvel’s big three. In the same way DC had Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, Marvel’s pre-MCU days were highlighted by the ubiquitous popularity of Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Logan. And even after countless adaptations, he continues to be one of comics’ most enduring and compelling characters. So when Insomniac announced Marvel’s Wolverine just over two years ago, there was hype, there was fanfare, but there wasn’t much shock. Logan is one of the most beloved characters in comics, and he’s one of those that just makes sense for a mature Marvel video game.
Despite this, however, there’s one aspect of the character that adaptations never seem to get right. Whether it’s cartoons or the character’s MCU debut in last year’s Deadpool and Wolverine, almost no adaptation of the character ever gets his height right. He’s almost always portrayed as a burly, six-foot-tall strong man, heavily evocative of Jackman’s take on the character. In the comics’ canon, however, Logan stands at a mere five-foot-three, making him one of the shortest heroes on Marvel’s roster. While the more Jackman-esque stature is more prevalent and certainly more physically imposing, there’s a strong argument to be made for Insomniac to make the Logan in Marvel’s Wolverine a comic-accurate short king.
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Marvel’s Wolverine Needs to Embrace All Aspects of Logan’s Character, Including His Height
Logan’s Height Lends Itself to His Unique, Feral Fighting Style
One aspect of Logan’s fighting style that most adaptations never touch on is his agility. For a man with a skeleton made entirely out of metal, Wolverine can move from enemy to enemy quickly and nimbly, due in large part to his smaller size and lower center of gravity. It’s a unique fighting style that comic readers have been familiar with for years, but have never properly seen adapted to another medium because it’s exceedingly difficult to portray a larger man fighting that way.
By making Logan his comic-accurate height, Insomniac is opening Marvel’s Wolverine up to a whole new type of combat system focused on agility, ferocity, and acrobatics. It can be similar enough to what the team accomplished with the combat in the Marvel’s Spider-Man games, but with the vicious, bloody edge that only Wolverine can deliver.
Other Adaptations Are Finally Warming to a Shorter Wolverine
Until fairly recently, taller Wolverine adaptations have been the standard for the character, likely spiraling off the popularity of Jackman’s role. But in the last year alone, every major take on Logan has either had the character at his canonical height or at least made some reference to it. X-Men ’97, a continuation of a classic X-Men show from before the Fox movies, features Logan in all of his short glory. Marvel Rivals, arguably the most popular portrayal of the character right now, depicts him as small enough for the Hulk and Thing to throw him in the iconic Fastball Special. Even Deadpool and Wolverine addressed the character’s true height, albeit in a throwaway, multiversal gag.
After 20+ years, non-comic media is finally warming up to the idea that Logan doesn’t have to be mountainous to be an intimidating character. Even though it was the butt of a joke in Deadpool and Wolverine, Logan’s canonical height is becoming less of a trivia night question and more of a commonly accepted fact about the character. With more and more mediums embracing it, Insomniac would do well to follow suit and portray Wolverine as the diminutive ball of adamantium, fury, and whiskey that he is.
Insomniac Is All About Writing Love Letters to the Characters’ Fans
Ultimately, the number one reason Insomniac should portray its Wolverine as a comic-accurate 5’3” is because it’s true to the character the team is trying to portray. It’s a heavily underappreciated aspect of Wolverine’s character that many adaptations shy away from, rather than seeing the potential in this character trait. Until recently, the Jackman-esque physique was the dominant look for Logan, with even some comic artists seemingly forgetting how tall he’s supposed to be over the years.
Insomniac has a longstanding track record of making its superhero games love letters to fans of those characters. The first two Marvel’s Spider-Man games were widely praised as pitch-perfect encapsulations of who Peter Parker and Miles Morales are and what they’re meant to represent as characters. Insomniac understood the assignment, and more importantly, it understands the characters it’s making games about.
Though Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 arguably faltered in this regard, especially with its controversial portrayal of Venom, Marvel’s Wolverine is an excellent chance for the studio to remind fans that it really does understand these characters and it’s committed to bringing them to life in a faithful way.
