Marvel's Wolverine on PS5: Every Leak, Delay Theory and Reveal Rumor So Far

Wolverine has been one of the most popular and iconic superheroes for years, and even the most casual comic book fans know him thanks to Hugh Jackman's run on the big screen. Despite that popularity, only a handful of video games have portrayed him in a way fans would call accurate, and it has been over a decade since the last solo Wolverine game. That was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which launched in 2009 and was, in my opinion, a way better portrayal than the movie it was based on.

Movie tie-in games and Marvel projects generally fell out of style during the 2010s for reasons I am still not entirely clear on, so fans have been patiently waiting for another chance to play as Logan. Insomniac Games has been working on a new game starring the character, but we still have no official word on where development stands.

Marvel's Wolverine was revealed alongside Spider-Man 2 back in 2021

Wolverine was announced the same day as Spider-Man 2, during PlayStation's September 2021 showcase. It is being developed by Insomniac Games, though it is believed to be handled by a B team within the studio while the A team focuses on the new Spider-Man. The game is set in the same universe as Insomniac's Spider-Man titles and is reportedly being led by the same creative team behind Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Very little official information has come out since that reveal, which is why there is still no release window. With Spider-Man 2 set to release in the fall of 2023, I expected we would hear something about Wolverine at PlayStation's showcase in late May, but that did not happen.

The May PlayStation showcase left Wolverine out entirely, and I was not the only one disappointed

The showcase was pretty underwhelming as a whole, and I know I am not the only one who felt that way given how much stock Sony puts in its first party studios. Aside from a few minutes of Spider-Man 2 gameplay, there was no news on Last of Us Factions, no God of War Ragnarok DLC information (which I admit is just wishful thinking on my part), nothing on Cory Barlog's next project, and no Ghost of Tsushima 2 or PC port announcements, though I am still hoping for a Bloodborne remaster.

The biggest absence was Marvel's Wolverine. It does make sense that Sony would not want to outshine Spider-Man 2, but comparing this to the September 2021 showcase, which delivered the first God of War Ragnarok trailer alongside both Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine reveals, the hyped up May event simply did not deliver on the same scale. That contrast leads me to believe something else is planned for later in the year.

Industry insiders got the showcase date right but the content wrong, and that has me questioning how much to trust them

Looking through tweets from various trusted industry insiders, it seems Sony was originally planning to show a lot more first party material at this showcase, but that did not happen and nobody seems to know why. I am mainly confused rather than dismissive here. The insiders were correct that a showcase would happen and even correct about the exact date, May 24th, and correct about which games would appear.

The problem is that many of them also seemed to think the event would contain far more than it actually did. That leaves me wondering whether they randomly guessed the date correctly, or were told it by a reliable source, and if it was the latter, how they could be so wrong about the games shown. It is hard to know what to think anymore.

Leaks describe a gritty, M rated Wolverine with a new backstory

There are a lot of leaks about Marvel's Wolverine worth going over, since they give a realistic idea of what the game could be like. According to various sources, Insomniac's Wolverine is going to be gritty, bloody and an M rated action game set within the Spider-Man continuity, featuring a new version of the character not seen before in the comics, movies or shows, meaning Insomniac would be giving him a new backstory just like it did for Peter Parker and Miles Morales.

The gameplay reportedly will not be open world but rather semi-open, linear in the style of the 2018 God of War, with set start and end points per section but plenty of room for treasure hunting and secret paths that encourage exploration and multiple playthroughs. The combat is said to be extremely gory, likely similar to X-Men Origins, with Insomniac reportedly very concerned with making the character's claws feel like razor sharp weapons true to the lore.

Insomniac's own statement calls the project early but promises an emotional narrative

The official PlayStation Blog post states that Marvel's Wolverine is a standalone game directed by Brian Horton, the creative director, and the game director who recently led creative efforts on Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The statement reads that in the vein of the Spider-Man games, the goal is to respect the DNA of what makes the character popular while also making it feel fresh and reflecting the Insomniac spirit, and that even though the game is still very early in development, what has been seen so far is an emotional narrative and cutting edge gameplay.

The only official material we have is the short CGI trailer from September 2021. Beyond that there is nothing, which is strange given how much Sony likes to hype its first party games and how rare it is for Sony to reveal a game so far from completion. It is rare for a game to be revealed so far from completion, and typically a game is not revealed until it is less than two years from release, with the notable exception of The Last of Us Part II, so the silence around Wolverine after such an early reveal stands out.

My read on the release window: 2025 feels more realistic than 2024

According to leaks about gameplay details, Insomniac is reportedly targeting a 2024 release window, likely near the holiday season, which would space Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine's release dates apart while still riding the boost that holiday sales bring in the winter quarter. Assuming the game was in early production at the time of the September 2021 CGI trailer, it is safe to assume it is still roughly a year or two away from completion.

Since Wolverine is not going to be open world, it probably will not take as long to develop as Spider-Man 1 or 2, but Insomniac likes to take its time, and games in general take a long time to develop these days. I think a four year development cycle is realistic for a game like this, but since most things get delayed anyway, it is probably safe to say Wolverine will be in development for roughly five years before launch, which would put it in 2025 rather than 2024.

I am totally on board with seeing what Insomniac can do here. The studio proved with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, which had open world style segments, that it has the technology to make a gorgeous game, and it already knows what it takes to make a superhero game work. That said, I do not know how much to trust insiders anymore after they were so wrong about what the May showcase would contain, so even if they say Wolverine is coming next year, I am skeptical.

Why I think Wolverine will not launch until well after Spider-Man 2

I do not think Wolverine will enter full production at Insomniac until after Spider-Man 2 goes gold, and since Spider-Man 2 still does not have a firm release date attached to it, it seems Insomniac is going to be working on that game until the last minute. That means Wolverine is likely to be held back from releasing for at least two years, and I do not see Insomniac launching it right after Spider-Man 2.

There have been a lot of rumors going around that PlayStation deliberately held Wolverine back from the May showcase so Spider-Man 2 could be the sole focus and shine on its own, with the idea that after Spider-Man 2 releases, Sony would give another showcase with updates on games fans are looking forward to, including Wolverine, The Last of Us Factions and Cory Barlog's next project.

When do you think we will actually get our first look at Marvel's Wolverine gameplay, and do you think Sony is saving it for a showcase after Spider-Man 2 launches?