Marvel's Wolverine Is Changing X-Men Lore In A Big Way

A grittier Logan emerges in a fresh Spider-Man linked universe with altered lore and unexpected mysteries.

As I'm sure you all know by now, Marvel’s Wolverine is officially set in the same universe as Marvel's Spider-Man, meaning this version of Logan is a very different beast to the one we're used to. He is, of course, still the best there is at what he does. But fans of the X-Men should be prepared for some pretty massive, and surprising, changes when the game hits PlayStation 5 on September 15.

If you haven't already seen it, I'd recommend checking out the cinematic story trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine shown during Insomniac’s San Diego Comic-Con 2026. Not long after that, ScreenRant sat down with the game's leads: Liam McIntyre (Logan/Wolverine) and Krizia Bajos (Jean Grey). Creative Director Marcus Smith, Narrative Director Walt Williams, Senior Project Director Jess Reiner-Reedand, and Game Director Mike Daly were also in attendance to discuss the changes to X-Men lore and what that means for this new era of Marvel gaming.

"Unlike a lot of other mainstream superhero characters, Wolverine has been defined by a single iconic performance for over a decade now," explains Daly. "So one of the cool things that we realized very early on is that we were getting an opportunity to reintroduce the world of Wolverine for the first time, which does not come along very often. It was very rare. So we got to step back and really explore a new version of Wolverine."

"What are the things that excite us about this world and about exploring mutants? Building that out from the ground up to be something that would be both authentic and original. One of the things on the story side we latched onto very early on is that every great Wolverine story has an aspect of mystery and self-discovery to it, and working with Marvel to define just what exactly that would be. Because if we adapted a story or an arc that people already knew, then they would not be getting that part of a great Wolverine story. So finding that original tale of trauma and history and mystery that we were going to be able to develop and flesh out with Liam."

"God, this is so exciting," McIntyre adds with a laugh. "I had this weird situation where I watched the teaser, and I wasn't involved, and I was like, 'I'm gonna play the hell out of this game'. I love what you guys did in Spider-Man."

Williams adds: "What's great about working with Marvel, and don't tell them, I don't want to give them a big head or anything, but they allow us to build original stories. They encourage it. It's as long as we're staying true to the characters, the situations can change, and we can make it our own. And that's been great on all of our games."

As far as the performances go, there might only be one big screen Wolverine, but we've seen plenty of other fantastic performances in games and animation over the years from the likes of Cal Dodd and even Mark Hamill. Then we have Jean Greay, who's been played by stars like Sadie Sink and Sophie Turner. Do our leads find it helpful to look back at those performances when shaping their own takes on the characters?

"I did come in with that, and I felt immense pressure," admits Bajos, who specifically cites Jennifer Hale's performance as the telepath in X-Men '97. "There have been so many incredible Jeans, and I said: 'how am I supposed to fill these shoes?' One of the great things that they told me is, 'guess what? They're brand-new shoes and they're yours.' We want your version. We want what you bring to the table. We have crafted this story, but it's up to you to breathe a life into it. So that gave me a release of the pressure that I put on myself, and just a wonderful feeling of ownership, and that I could step into it in a way that I felt confident, relaxed, and free with this crew around me."

McIntyre agrees: "Yeah, it was weird for me in the sense that so many years ago, back in the olden times, my first job was of this caliber was Spartacus, where I replaced a guy who was sick and sad and passed away, and he was incredible. And through that long and challenging process. It was kind of I discovered that my job was to look at all these wonderful performances of that character and try to find the heart and the person, the glue of who that is, and see how it can come out of me, you know. And if I tried to copy anyone, I just look up like a pale imitation. Like you know, I'm not Hugh. I'm not Cal. I'm not Steve. But what they have given me is an incredible guide to what this character can be, and I can learn from that, read the comics, and try to find out where those bits that are quintessentially Logan can come through with me, and try to make something unique and special, but that feels, you know, that like it belongs with these wonderful other actors, you know. That's what we tried to do."

Reiner-Reedand recalls the casting process for Logan, and explains why there really was only choice for Insomniac. "There were folks that came in, and they brought on this voice that's like Wolverine, and they're, you know, they're putting on a character," she explains. "Liam came in and just was Logan at his core, like the nuance of Logan, like the quiet moments, also a lot of the growling and yelling and things, but not trying to put on a fake character, but just like in his heart, you could feel it."

When Wolverine and the X-Men have been so defined (to the general public, at least) by the Fox movies for the better part of three decades, seeing so many changes to the lore and universe may take some getting used to. Comic book fans, too, will no doubt have their own opinions on where Insomniac takes these iconic characters. With that said, Insomniac and the cast has clearly put everything they have into this project.

"Is Insomniac the right developer to do this?" Smith knew this was a question fans would ask from the beginning. "We've done not only Spider-Man, but Mike and I worked on Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart before that. There's a lot of people who really like making those family-friendly, charming games, and I was worried even. Like, is the internal team correct? And man, we had to hold them back. Everybody in the team really just came together and dug in and made this amazing game. So I'm shocked every day that they haven't figured out that I don't belong there!"