WOLVERINE

Real name: James "Logan" Howlett Occupation: Adventurer Identity: Secret Legal Status: Canadian citizen Place of birth: Unknown, presumably in Canada Group affiliation: (current) X-Men, (current) Avengers, (former) Clan Yashida, the Weapon X Program, and Alpha Flight Base of operations: Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Westchester County, New York First appearance: Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #180 (1974) Height: 5'3" Weight: 195 lbs. Eye color: Brown Hair color: Black

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Little is known of his past, save that it was fraught with pain and loss. Long ago, he trained as a samurai in Japan; later, he became Weapon X, an operative for the Canadian government. Today, Logan is an X-Man -- using his animal-keen senses, healing factor and razor-sharp claws to help protect a world that fears and hates mutants!

Powers: Wolverine is blessed with animal-keen senses that enable him to track people and objects with an impressive degree of success. In addition, his accelerated healing factor allows him to survive wounds that would prove fatal to most humans and mutants.

Weapons: Wolverine's skeleton has been bonded with the indestructible metal Adamantium. Also, he possesses Adamantium-laced, retractable claws housed in his forearms. At will, he can release them through the skin on the back of each hand.

History: Until his first recorded encounter with the green-skinned behemoth called the Hulk as an agent of Canada's Department H, Wolverine's past remains shrouded in mystery. Due to extensive memory implants, even his own recollections are suspect: Was he a samurai in Japan? A mercenary operative for the Central Intelligence Agency? A "wild man" living off the Canadian wilderness? At least one of Logan's earlier memories -- meeting Captain America, the star-spangled Super-Soldier, during World War II -- has been verified as true. It's possible his healing factor affords him an extended life span and has granted him the physical condition of a man in his prime, despite his age.

Some time after World War II, Logan was drafted into the Canadian government's Weapon X project by a group of scientists who had been hired to perfect and implement a technique that would graft the indestructible metal Adamantium to human bone cells. The Adamantium was bonded with Logan's skeleton during a procedure he survived thanks only to his accelerated healing factor; he was indoctrinated into the program as an assassin, codename Wolverine.

Following Wolverine's encounter with the Hulk, Canada's Department H conscripted him to lead Alpha Flight, a team of superhuman government agents. Wolverine aided in the initial phases of the team's creation, but left Department H at the request of the telepathic, telekinetic Professor Charles Xavier to help rescue the original X-Men from the clutches of the island-being known as Krakoa.

Wolverine remained with the X-Men, standing in defense of a world on the brink of genetic war, partly because he had fallen for telekinetic teammate Jean Grey. Following an encounter with the mutant assassin Omega Red, Logan began to question his memories. However, all efforts to discover his true identity and past proved fruitless.

During one of the many clashes between the mutant terrorist Magneto and the X-Men, the Master of Magnetism tore the Adamantium from Wolverine's body. Logan's extensive injuries shorted out his healing factor for a time, and he learned the claws he believed had been a product of the Weapon X program were in fact a natural mutation. Wolverine's actual claws are bones, part of his skeletal structure.

Still without his Adamantium, Logan was kidnapped by the would-be conqueror Apocalypse, perhaps the world's first mutant, and forced to fight the savage assassin Sabretooth for the mantle of the Horseman Death. Viewing himself as a more merciful candidate than his fellow mutant, Logan fought hard to win the battle. As a result, his skeleton again was laced with Adamantium. Under the control of Apocalypse, Wolverine fought the X-Men ferociously in his Death persona. But with the help of his teammates, he eventually broke free from Apocalypse's control.