Given the presence of both Jean Grey and Mystique in Marvel's Wolverine, you'd be forgiven for thinking the game might feature a whole team of students from Xavier's School for Gifted Children. Alas, that's not the case, as this is all about Logan, and we shouldn't expect a maelstrom of X-Men throughout the game's story.
At least, that's what Marcus Smith, creative director on Wolverine, told Eurogamer. "The important thing, I guess, is the X-Men don't exist in our game," he says. "We wanted to focus on a Wolverine storyline and really build it from that character and build a world that is in a state where mutants aren't well known."
He clarifies, "they are known," technically, and they're being actively hunted. But they aren't the focal point of Marvel's Wolverine, and the cast we meet will come from across Marvel canon more broadly.
"There will be a lot of Marvel characters that come into the storyline; so we've already shown Mystique in the earlier trailer, we've shown Sabretooth, Jean Grey in this one, and players can expect to have a lot more throughout the game," Gray adds.
The distinction, I gather, is that, while we'll potentially see more mutants, as well as other heroes and villains from Marvel's hallowed pages, the X-Men haven't been established yet as a team or concept in the timeline of Marvel's Wolverine. I'm now suddenly curious about when this thing is set in terms of Jean and Logan's age, but this is a semantic questions I'm sure will be answered in due time.
Since Wolverine takes place in the same universe as Insomniac's iteration of New York City and its swinging webheads, though, I'm wondering if any of them will stop by. But Gray burst that bubble in another interview.
"It's correct that it does take place in the 1048 Marvel Universe, which is the Insomniac video game universe," he tells IGN about Wolverine. "It happens in the same world, but we don't have any crossover. Spider-Man will not be making an appearance in Wolverine."
Boo, I say. But I understand the separation. First, joining up with Spider-Man creates pressure to meld both storylines, and secondly, this realm of licensing can be fuzzy. Crossovers are rarely as simple as getting a character, or roster, and all its associated materials, and Marvel's long rented out characters to other creatives in parts. There may be a requirement that these game worlds remain separate unless otherwise discussed.
But we can all agree on one thing: Cyclops can sit this one out. Stay home, boy scout.
Marvel's Wolverine trailer reveals Jean Grey, Sabretooth, and more classic X-Men appearances
