Marvel's Wolverine: What the Motion Capture Clues, Madripoor Easter Eggs and Insomniac's Own Words Tell Us

Marvel's Wolverine is the next big superhero game in development from the team that brought us Marvel's Spider-Man, and there is a lot worth unpacking about tone, story, setting and when we might see more of it. I want to go through the release date situation, story and plot details, a possible crossover with Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the likely setting, the gameplay features I am hoping for, and when the next reveal is likely to land.

Wolverine is one of the most notorious characters in the Marvel Universe, using his regenerative abilities, superhuman strength and his claws to solve any problem in front of him. Insomniac Games is developing this game to have a much more mature tone than what we got with the Spider-Man games or really anything else Insomniac has made, which is not surprising given who the character is.

Insomniac says it will respect Wolverine's DNA while still making the game feel like an Insomniac game

Insomniac said in a PlayStation blog that it is going to respect the DNA of what makes Wolverine so popular. Fans want the chance to play a powerful character that stays true to the original source material, and while Insomniac recognizes that, the studio will reportedly still look for opportunities to make the game feel fresh and reflect what I would call the Insomniac spirit.

That matters to me because of how well Insomniac has handled its other franchises, from Spider-Man to Ratchet and Clank, which is basically my childhood. That is the DNA I love about this studio, and I really hope it continues while elevating Wolverine to feel a bit more realistic to the source material. Basically, we want Wolverine to be Wolverine, and I have no doubt Insomniac will stay true to the character's DNA. Whether Disney follows suit is a separate question, and I am not convinced it will, but I will leave that there.

There is still no release date, but a motion capture tweet points toward a possible 2024 window

As of now there is no definitive release date and not much of a confirmed update from Insomniac on what stage of development the game is in. What we do have is a tweet from the game's lead animator, Mike Yosh, who posted a picture of a motion capture stage with the caption "so peaceful and quiet it will not be like this for long."

Insomniac said last year that on future projects it would push motion capture later in development, after the full script is finished. So what we can speculate right now is that the full script is likely done and Insomniac is moving forward with getting some motion capture completed. The catch is we do not know exactly what is being captured, it could be story related, or it could just be stuntmen working through combat and traversal.

Either way, seeing this game already at the motion capture stage is a good sign, and it opens up the possibility of a mid-2024 release, which is exciting to think about with Spider-Man 2 confirmed for the following year at the time.

A Madripoor bar sign and a hidden 104.8 poster hint at a shared universe with Spider-Man

There is not a ton of official story detail yet, but one theory dominates the discussion around the trailer's Easter eggs. Logan is shown at the Princess Bar in Madripoor, which is clear from the bar sign and a tourist poster in the trailer. There is also a Lowtown 104.8 poster hanging by the bar, with Lowtown being a district of Madripoor, suggesting the game's setting could mainly be within Madripoor's districts.

The 104.8 detail looks like it could be referencing Marvel Earth 1048, which some may recognize as the designation for the Marvel Spider-Man game universe. What that likely means is that Wolverine could be set in the same universe as Spider-Man and Miles Morales, where we could see the same events play out from Logan's perspective, and vice versa in future games.

That also raises the possibility of an actual crossover game or series of games. What PlayStation, Insomniac and Marvel appear to be building reminds me of the early stages of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and if this is the early stage of a PlayStation Marvel crossover universe of games, I cannot be more excited about that.

My own theory is that Wolverine skips the origin story and finds Logan already an established X-Men member

My theory on story and plot is that the game will take place while Wolverine is already part of the X-Men, giving a more in-depth look at his life at that time and how he progressed through the years alongside the team and the villains they took down together. There is already a lot of media covering Wolverine's origin story, so retreading that ground would feel repetitive, and we did not get Spider-Man's origin story in Insomniac's first game either, instead picking him up further into his life as a hero.

Unless Insomniac has a twist planned that makes this an origin story after all, my guess is Logan will already be an established hero. I would personally love to see an arc that gets players as emotionally attached as I was to the 2017 film Logan, something like the Brotherhood arc, where Wolverine goes on a quest to avenge the murder of a young girl who asks for his help against villains who are just regular humans. That said, whatever story direction Insomniac takes is not really a concern of mine, since I trust the studio based on its past work.

I am hoping for Mortal Kombat style finishers, real time destruction and an open world like Spider-Man's

There are no official updates yet on gameplay mechanics, but the expectation is that Wolverine will be able to tear through enemies in an outstandingly destructive way, and Insomniac has already proven it can deliver strong fight mechanics with Spider-Man, so I trust the studio here as well.

One thing I really want is a new level of real time destruction that we have not seen before in the PlayStation Marvel games, and based on the teaser trailer, that looks like it could be the case given the destruction shown at the bar where Wolverine is sitting. I would want a giant sandbox where players can wreak havoc while taking down enemies.

For combat, I am hoping for a style similar to Spider-Man, with unique combos, perfect dodges, counters and an in-depth skill tree, but my biggest hope is that the finishers lean toward something like Mortal Kombat, with Logan slicing up enemies without holding back, ideally with a rating to match.

As for whether the game will be a non-linear open world like Spider-Man or more linear like The Last of Us, that is still uncertain. Wolverine does not have Spider-Man's fast way of traversing a city with webs, and the trailers seem to lean toward a more linear story progression like The Last of Us, though riding a motorcycle through a city would still feel immersive. I would be fine with either a linear game done well or a non-linear open world, as long as it is not a drag to play, though my personal preference leans toward open world.

The next look at Wolverine was likely tied to a PlayStation Showcase, the Game Awards or Spider-Man 2's own promotional push

With Spider-Man 2 confirmed for a 2023 release at the time, the next teaser for Wolverine could have come at almost any point. There had been rumors of a PlayStation Showcase for that year, but with 2022 coming to an end, that looked less likely, especially since Sony's main promotional focus was on God of War Ragnarok, making it an odd time for Sony to also be pushing a different upcoming game.

Another possibility was a new trailer or teaser at the Game Awards in December, given how big that night tends to be for gaming and for PlayStation specifically. If nothing came by the end of that year, the next likely window was the first or second quarter of 2023, around when a PlayStation Showcase would likely happen again or around the time E3 traditionally took place in June. It could also have happened at any random State of Play.

Outside of small tidbits, a deeper dive into Marvel's Wolverine was not expected until closer to Spider-Man 2's release date in 2023. My hope for whatever comes next is that it includes actual gameplay footage and starts answering the questions fans have been asking about what this game really is, because that is the biggest open question of all.

Are you hyped for Marvel's Wolverine?