Marvel's Wolverine Easter eggs: is that Al Capone and Gambit?

I've finished Marvel's Wolverine, Insomniac Games' PlayStation game set in the same universe as Insomniac's Spider-Man games, and it's packed with more details and Easter eggs than I could cover in one piece. These are my favorites: memories that drop Logan into real twentieth century history, hints that point toward a possible future X-Men game, a locker room full of dead mutants, links to Insomniac's Spider-Man games, and a finale that borrows from Shadow of the Colossus. Be warned: there are spoilers ahead if you haven't played it yet.

Wolverine's Nightmare Cabin memories run him through 20th century history

The game opens in the modern day, with Wolverine working alongside Mystique and Sabretooth under Nathaniel Essex, better known as Mister Sinister. Along the way, he unlocks memories of his past through the fights and traversal challenges of the Nightmare Cabin. You can think of the Nightmare Cabin as a rustic memory palace, and despite its name, the memories it holds aren't nightmares. They play more like Wolverine running Forrest Gump style through his own twentieth century history, which I loved. I enjoy reimagining real historical events with a hairy, angry monster lurking in the shadows, so these memories were addictive for me.

1923: Wolverine reaches the Savage Land

Outside of real history, Wolverine ends up in the Savage Land after working as a deckhand on a ship lost near Cape Horn in 1923. The Savage Land is a familiar place from X-Men comics and video games, a land where dinosaurs live, and it has changed hands between various villains over the years. In this reality, it seems to have mostly stayed that primal dinosaur game preserve, so maybe we could get a Turok and Wolverine crossover.

1925: Running liquor for Al Capone

In 1925, Wolverine is running liquor for a bootlegger with a scar on his face. That's almost certainly a nod to Al Capone, probably the most famous gangster of the twentieth century. The hard part to believe is that Wolverine walked away from a life of violence and free booze to live alone on a farm.

1931: The Dust Bowl and The Grapes of Wrath

In 1931, Wolverine gets caught up in the Dust Bowl, which set off a huge wave of migration from Oklahoma toward the West Coast. That's the core subject of John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath. Now we know that at least one of those farmers was a lovesick mutant.

A signed Gambit card could hint at a future X-Men game

A few Easter eggs in Wolverine point toward a possible future X-Men game. When Wolverine is wandering around Lowtown with everyone furious at him for killing Trask, he finds an ace playing card signed by Remy LeBeau, also known as Gambit. After seeing Gambit charge Wolverine's claws in X-Men '97, I'm sure you'll forgive me for wanting this Easter egg to be a sure sign of a Mass Effect style X-Men RPG, where Wolverine is Shepard, Gambit is Garrus, and we get to romance all of them.

Dazzler concert posters

There are also spots in the game where you can find concert posters for Dazzler. As a true millennial I love every X-Men character, and Dazzler probably isn't in my top three, but I definitely have room in my heart for a character who was proposed by a record company and modeled on Bo Derek.

Essex's Canadian compound has an obelisk of dead mutants

If the Gambit card in Lowtown hints at mutants we might meet in the future, Essex's Canadian compound shows us the ghosts of mutants past. In the middle of a huge conversation pit stands an obelisk carrying only the names of dead mutants. From the obelisk alone, it's hard to tell whether they were all members of Team X or ordinary mutants lost in a cruel, indifferent world. But in the compound's locker room, you can see what some of the former members left behind.

First there's Eye Boy, Trevor Hawkins, who the obelisk tells us died in 2014. He's a mutant whose body is covered in eyes, and he can see extra parts of the electromagnetic spectrum like X-rays and infrared, along with very small things and things very far away. Next is Maverick, Christoph Nord, who died in 2012. Maverick has gone through many versions over the years, but the core of all of them is that he could absorb kinetic energy, up to a limit. Probably that's what happened in this universe too. Maybe he died absorbing a few too many Reaver bullets.

There are also lockers for Vivisector, who is essentially a werewolf, Onyx, essentially a stone man, and Rain Boy, essentially a drop of water. It looks like Rain Boy had his own tank, so maybe the water we see is Rain Boy himself. But like the others, his name is on the obelisk. Rain Boy died in 2008, Vivisector in 2001 and Onyx in 2000. Team X goes through mutants the way I go through toilet paper, a roll every few years.

Sabretooth's locker and room are decorated to match his personality

While we're in the locker room, I want to salute the environmental artist who put a motivational poster in Sabretooth's locker. Presumably the same person decorated Sabretooth's room with heavy metal posters and pinups. I enjoy it when a character is as dumb at home as he is at work. And to be fair, the poster isn't wrong. Determination.

Daily Bugle and Silver Sable connect Wolverine to Insomniac's Spider-Man

It's no surprise that Wolverine is full of mutant references, but because it shares a universe with Insomniac's Spider-Man games, there are links to those too. The story keeps things separate, but if you're the fussy type who reads every scrap of paper, you'll definitely find connections.

When you find Leech's hideout in Vancouver, there's an issue of J. Jonah Jameson's paper, the Daily Bugle, stuck on the wall. Look closely and at the very bottom there's a small item saying a real estate mogul has been arrested. That's the Kingpin story, news from the first act of Spider-Man that has made it all the way to Vancouver.

When you travel to Tokyo, you'll see a big sign for Silver Sable's Sable International on an ordinary office building. In the first Spider-Man game, Silver Sable put New York under martial lockdown and had a whole DLC of nonstop fights against armored enemies with rocket packs.

Roxxon and Alchemax billboards in Tokyo

Tokyo's billboards also show a few more notable Marvel megacorporations, especially Roxxon, and Alchemax, the company that made the spider that bit Miles in the Spider-Verse movies. I think the Roxxon and Alchemax of Wolverine's universe must be working on some toxic waste or biological horror that will turn into great DLC down the line.

Donald Pierce and Kelly Hu: nods to Logan and X2

The Reavers, cyborg mercenaries, are one of the main enemy groups you fight. Near the end of the game, by a truck in Madripoor, you'll find a note from Donald Pierce, the Reaver played by Boyd Holbrook in Logan. And Logan isn't the only Wolverine movie referenced. You may have noticed that Tiger, Mystique's wife in the game, looks familiar. That's because Tiger is played by Kelly Hu, who was Deathstrike in X2.

Wolverine's motorcycle fights recall Road Rash

Whenever the game offers a motorcycle, you can keep slashing enemies on the move. It's hard to fight on a motorcycle without thinking of Road Rash, and if you don't know it, Road Rash is the best game of the nineties. The premise is simple: race motorcycles, knock others off their bikes, win faster bikes, and repeat. The motorcycle sections in Wolverine are so much fun that I want a Road Rash mode.

More Wolverine Easter eggs: Warren Worthington's seat and Sabretooth's whiskey

There are plenty more details I don't have room for. A seat at the bar is reserved for Warren Worthington. And if you read the labels on the whiskey bottles, you can trace Sabretooth's evolution from circus spectacle to future Horseman of Apocalypse.

The Essex and Sentinel finale feels like a Shadow of the Colossus homage

The other big game referenced in Wolverine is Shadow of the Colossus, whose influence is impossible to overstate. In gameplay terms, Shadow of the Colossus popularized the idea that the boss is the level. Players roamed a ruined world hunting giant colossi, huge villains, with no small enemies at all. The job was to find these enormous creatures, climb them, stab them to death and feel regret for what you'd done, and it was great.

Admittedly, Wolverine's mood is different. Shadow of the Colossus is solemn and melancholy, while Wolverine is bloodier, louder and angrier. Still, parts of the final battle against Essex and his kaiju-sized Sentinel, which destroys Tokyo, feel like a direct tribute to it, and you can feel that foundation underneath.

There's no denying the final fight was excellent, and it's very satisfying when the best fight in a game is also the last one.