Wolverine (birth name: James Howlett; alias: Logan and Weapon X) is a character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics, mostly in association with the X-Men. He is a mutant who possesses animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, a powerful regenerative ability known as a healing factor, and three retractable claws in each hand. Wolverine has been depicted variously as a member of the X-Men, X-Force, Alpha Flight, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers.

The character appeared in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 before having a larger role in #181 (cover-dated November 1974). He was created by Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, writer Len Wein, and Marvel art director John Romita Sr. Romita designed the character's costume, but the character was first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe. Wolverine then joined a revamped version of the superhero team the X-Men, where eventually writer Chris Claremont, artist Dave Cockrum, and artist-writer John Byrne would play significant roles in the character's development. Artist Frank Miller collaborated with Claremont and helped revise the character with a four-part eponymous limited series from September to December 1982, which debuted Wolverine's catchphrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice."

Wolverine is typical of the many tough antiheroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War;  his willingness to use deadly force and his brooding loner nature became standard characteristics for comic book antiheroes by the end of the 1980s. As a result, the character became a fan favorite of the increasingly popular X-Men franchise, and has been featured in his own solo Wolverine comic book series since 1988.

He has appeared in most X-Men adaptations, including animated television series, video games, and the live-action 20th Century Fox X-Men film series, in which he is played by Hugh Jackman. Troye Sivan portrayed a younger version in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Jim Lee (born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey Award, Inkpot Award and three Wizard Fan Awards.

He entered the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and The Punisher War Journal, before gaining popularity on The Uncanny X-Men. X-Men #1, the 1991 spin-off series premiere that Lee penciled and co-wrote with Chris Claremont, remains the best-selling comic book of all time, according to Guinness World Records. His style was later used for the designs of X-Men: The Animated Series.

In 1992, Lee and several other artists formed their own publishing company, Image Comics, to publish their creator-owned titles, with Lee publishing titles such as WildC.A.T.s and Gen¹³ through his studio WildStorm Productions.

Finding that the role of publisher reduced the amount of time he was able to devote to illustration, Lee sold WildStorm in 1998 to DC Comics, where he continued to run it as a DC imprint until 2010, as well as illustrating successful titles set in DC's main fictional universe, such as the year-long "Batman: Hush" and "Superman: For Tomorrow" storylines, and books including Superman Unchained and the New 52 run of Justice League. On February 18, 2010, Lee was announced as the new Co-Publisher of DC Comics with Dan DiDio, both replacing Paul Levitz. Upon DiDio's departure from the company in February 2020, Lee became the sole Publisher of DC Comics. Since June 2018, he has also been the Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of DC Comics, replacing Geoff Johns.

Aside from illustrating comics, he has done work as a designer or creative director on other DC products, such as action figures, video games, branded automobiles and backpacks. Outside of the comics industry, Lee has also designed album covers, and one of General Mills' monster-themed cereals for its 2014 Halloween edition.

MCU: Everything That's Been Said About Hugh Jackman Returning as Wolverine

Hugh Jackman said farewell to the Marvel character back in 2017, but is there now a possibility we'd see him return as Wolverine in the MCU?

Hugh Jackman played the famous Marvel mutant Wolverine in various X-Men films for 17 years. He was first introduced as the character in 2000's X-Men and became an immediate fan favorite when the movie was released, leading him to continue in the role for eight more movies until his retirement from the character in 2017's Logan, which saw Wolverine sacrifice his life. Jackman felt it was the right time to retire from the role, and it was time to move on to let someone else play the iconic X-Men character. However, in 2019, Disney acquired the rights to the X-Men following their purchase of Fox, and since then, there have been rumors that Jackman might possibly return as Wolverine in the MCU. Especially now that the MCU is exploring the Multiverse, and we've seen Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return to their roles as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it's not a huge stretch that Jackman could return even if it's just for a single movie.

Last year, when asked about the rumors, Jackman told YouTuber Jack Hamilton, "The fact that I'm hearing this from you, and there's nothing in my inbox from Kevin Feige, means it's probably, no matter what idea I came up with, not on the table." Yet, now that Patrick Stewart reprised his role as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and rumors are that Fiege wants Jackman to return as Wolverine to join the MCU, there could be a chance that he possibly got the email. In the past, Jackman has also said, if Disney had acquired the rights to the X-Men earlier, he would've loved to join the MCU, but regardless, he has made it clear that he will never return to Marvel as Wolverine.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time a Marvel actor lied about being involved in an MCU movie. Many actors from No Way Home lied to keep the movie's secrets under wraps, and with how notoriously secretive Marvel is, we won't know if Jackman is returning as Wolverine until we're sitting in the movie theater watching the movie that'll introduce Wolverine into the MCU.

Should Hugh Jackman Return as Wolverine?
Many fans are crossing their fingers that we'll get at least one more movie featuring Jackman's Wolverine, but the honest truth is, should that really happen? He spent almost two decades in the role, and with that came maintaining his physique with strict diets, work out regimens to either bulk or cut, and dehydrating himself to look good shirtless on-screen — the latter of which is something, as Ranker has outlined, that has become very common for male actors in terms of body image since the rise of superhero movies. And even after all of that, Jackman still gave us closure with his farewell as the character in Logan. It was a great way to close the door on that era of X-Men and open the door for Disney to bring in the next generation of mutants. We've seen the full extent of Jackman's Wolverine and him returning, even just for one movie, wouldn't do much but provide fan service. It's possible that Marvel fans will need to learn to let go of their beloved actors in these roles and embrace the change if Jackman decides he will never return to the character. Looking at the MCU X-Men's future, anything he does would ultimately end up being just a cameo.