Hugh Jackman is officially in training and, as he puts it, is becoming Wolverine again, so I’m celebrating this by resurrecting a series I started two years ago, discussing Marvel hero’s mantel passes!

This one is obviously going to be covering the title of Wolverine, which has been held by only two characters throughout Marvel’s history – Logan Howlett and Laura Kinney.

I’m not going into full detail about either of these characters right now, simply because I’m leaving that for Deadpool 3/hopefully Laura’s appearance in the MCU, so I’ll give a brief overview of the characters and how they came to share the name of Wolverine instead:

Both Logan and Laura are mutants, with the powers of healing, decelerated ageing, enhanced senses, and bone claws (Logan has three claws in his hands, while Laura has two in her hands and one in each foot) covered in the metal adamantium – meaning that the two are practically indestructible.

The two are also trained assassins – Logan himself was captured as an adult and had his memory wiped to make him this weapon, while Laura was born and raised to be an assassin, much like the Black Widows, Natasha and Yelena. Logan was named Wolverine, while Laura was referred to as X-23 by their handlers.

Logan and Laura met after Logan found out about a facility that had created a female clone of him, using his DNA, and raised her to be the perfect assassin. This assassin clone turned out to be Laura.

Their first several meetings did not go well, generally ending in Laura attacking Logan, though he eventually managed to subdue her and get her to agree to live with him in the Xavier Institute with the rest of the X-Men. Here, Laura and Logan kept their names of X-23 and Wolverine, though Laura also went by the name Talon at times.

They lied to the other X-Men and said that Laura was not Logan’s clone, but his sister to keep her safe, and they developed a father/daughter type relationship. For years, they had no idea how right they were, with Laura eventually finding out that she was actually biologically Logan’s daughter.

It wasn’t until 2014 in the Death Of Wolverine storyline that the name Wolverine changed hands.

Logan, as Wolverine, was infected with a virus that turned off his healing factor, meaning that his enemies started gunning for him because they could now kill him. In the end, it was a battle with Logan’s creator – Doctor Cornelius – that killed him, leaving the X-Men, the superhero world, and Laura devastated. Laura decided to take on the mantel of Wolverine and wear a costume that resembled his, in his honour.

When Logan was resurrected, Laura briefly went back to being X-23, but, with Logan’s permission, took on the name Wolverine full-time. Now Logan is just known as Logan, and the title of Wolverine belongs to Laura. Some people still try to refer to Logan as Wolverine, or Laura as X-23, but they are soon corrected by the pair themselves.

The only exception is with an older version of Laura, who is also currently living on Krakoa alongside the younger one (covered in the latest X-Men run, which I will have a guide up for soon). This older Laura has stated that she’s spent long enough being known as Wolverine, and now goes by Talon. The younger Laura is keeping the name of Wolverine for herself, while Logan is still staying away from having a hero name.

And that’s the story of the mantel pass between Logan Howlett and Laura Kinney(s), if I find anybody else who has taken the name of Wolverine, I’ll update this, but at the moment, they are the only two to have used the name.

If you have any questions or want some recommendations for comics about these two, please do let me know and I’ll get right on it!