Popverse's top stories

• The Wile E. Coyote AMA on Reddit turned out to be the most inspirational thing you'll read today
• We're having a Labor Day sale on pre-signed celebrity items from Florida Supercon, and more... and Popverse members get first dibs!
• One of VIZ Media's parent companies, Shogakukan, committed "human rights violation" by secretly rehiring sex offender, according to independent third-party investigator it hired

Chris Claremont defined the many of the most prominent elements of Wolverine's backstory through his legendary 17-year X-Men run and his work on the hero's own stories, but when the time came to tell his full origin story, it wasn't Claremont who took the reins. Instead, it was writer Paul Jenkins who wrote Wolverine: Origin, which revealed a history for Logan that has remained controversial for many readers, Claremont included.

"As the writer of Origin and I have sort of agreed over the century, [Paul Jenkins] has his version, I have mine. I'm right," Claremont quips in an X-Men writers panel at Terrificon 2026, going on to explain that, while he did put forth his thoughts on the story to Marvel, he was never asked to write Wolverine: Origin.

"We were at this meeting trying to figure out what the next thing we could do that would be really exciting for the X-Men. And the point was made that the one question that everyone wants answered is Wolverine's origin. And my comment was, 'You can only do that once,' Claremont explains. "It's sort of like Peter Parker getting married to Mary Jane Watson. Most people don't go to Satan to get a divorce. If it works, that's great for the first generation. If it doesn't work, you have a problem. But you can only do it once. After that, the audience kind of, eh."

Fellow panelist Fabian Nicieza adds that he's never even read the series, saying that Claremont and the other writers who developed Wolverine's story should have had a chance to tell his origin.

"I will ingratiate myself by saying I've never read it; I never will read it. And honestly, the reason is, it wasn't written by the people who had the right to write it. So I never bothered with it," he states.

For his part, Claremont has never revealed what his origin for Wolverine would have been, leaving Jenkins and Marvel to invent their own story, establishing Wolverine's real identity as James Howlett, the mutant son of a wealthy family born in the late 19th century.

Despite Claremont's comments that Wolverine's origin story can only happen once, Marvel published a sequel titled Wolverine: Origin II in 2013 written by Kieron Gillen. Additionally, in December a third series, Wolverine: Origin III - The Dark Ages, kicks off, bringing back Paul Jenkins to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first Origin comic.

Want to know what's coming up next in pop culture? Check out Popverse's guides to:

• Upcoming movies
• Upcoming TV shows
• Upcoming comics
• Upcoming games
• Upcoming fiction books
• Upcoming comic conventions