The one (super bi) thing we need from Marvel’s Wolverine
September 2026 is promising the newest addition in fighting games focused on a brooding, muscly man with the premiere of Marvel’s Wolverine. This project for the PlayStation 5 has superhero fans excited, ready to hack and slash through countless villains using the titular hero’s trademark set of claws.
X-Men fans especially are thrilled to be getting a project focused solely on the Canadian mutant, though the many queer people who love this character have one main question as we get ready for the game’s release: will it show Wolverine as the queer icon he truly is?
Because, despite what some supposed fans (and executives) would have you think, Wolverine actually has a long history as one of the Marvel’s most beloved LGBTQ+ mutants. This started out as a headcanon for many fans; Wolverine’s first appearance saw the short of stature but beefy of body mutant square off against the Hulk. Readers were instantly intrigued by the man’s lethal claws and flamboyant outfit, with queer audiences especially becoming intrigued by a figure who combined rugged masculinity and campy aesthetic. It had this audience hoping for more info on the character — which they would get very soon, in the most homoerotic fashion possible.
Wolverine joined the official X-Men roster and was instantly thrust into a love triangle with team members Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Thousands of issues saw the tensions between this trio, with each man vying for the omega telepath’s affection…and accidentally falling for their romantic rival as well.
While this was always teased through occasional comments and hints at a possible throuple in early comics, recent years have seemingly canonized this polyamorous relationship for many LGBTQ+ readers. An in-book visit to the Summers’ residence on the moon (the Krakoa Era was quite a time) showed that the group had a rather…unconventional sleeping situation. Their rooms were adjoining and had no doors, showing that there was seemingly no need for privacy and that each hero had free access to the others two’s quarters.
This adds onto the many other instances proving them as a polyamorous couple in recent years, with the threesome even gracing the cover of a ‘Marvel’s Voices: Pride’ issue with their arms around each other celebrating their queer pride. Of course, this implied grouping is almost always sidelined narratively by the men’s love for Jean. But from Wolverine’s first introduction to now, Logan has made it clear that his love for Jean spills over to their headgear-wearing team leader.
And that doesn’t even factor in his multiversal variants! These may not be in the mainline 616 universe, but fans have been thrilled at seeing writer’s play with Logan’s identity across timelines to offer the queer love he’s never been allowed to openly show. One of the best examples of this is James Howlett of Earth-12025, a more destitute version of our world whose Wolverine served as his community’s Governor-General — and the love of that timeline’s sexiest demigod, Hercules.
This multiversal pairing took the homoeroticism of Logan and Scott, turned it up to eleven, and finally gave it the attention it deserved. So many panels in this story are filled with James and Hercules’ rippling muscles as they fend off monsters and embrace one another.
Beyond the visual thirst, though, what really made this couple stand out is that it showed what would happen if Wolverine was finally allowed to fully show his queerness. James and Hercules have a beautiful relationship that literally transcends the muddled realities of this story. It reveals to readers just how beautiful it would be to allow Wolverine to explore his attraction to men, and finally, after decades of seeing him hide the full breadth of himself with Scott and Jean, it brought the man’s most genuine sense of love into the spotlight.
Message boards today are still filled with fights between fans over whether Wolverine truly is an LGBTQ+ character. It’s this uncertainty that will probably hold the creators back from allowing Marvel Wolverine to show him off in all of his bisexual glory, once again robbing players from seeing their clawed hero love one of the many men in his life. But any good portrayal of Wolverine is one that recognizes his sexuality, that sees the nuance within this character and uses it to shape his complex view of the tumultuous world around him.
Here’s hoping that Marvel Wolverine recognizes this and features the heroic X-Men as the queer icon he is— they’d be doing their story, and the character’s thousands of LGBTQ+ fans, a huge favor if they did.
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