Wolverine is one of the greatest comic book characters ever created. He's headlined comic books, animated television shows and four major movies. He once brought an edge to comic books. His past was a mystery, and he wasn't afraid to cross boundaries if it meant getting the job done. He was the badass character everyone wanted to be. Yet over the years, Wolverine's extreme popularity has lead to Marvel including him in any comic book title they can. He is being overexposed.
Wolverine's overexposure is something that angers many comic book fans. Fans like a sense of continuity within the Marvel universe, so when Wolverine is able to jump back and fourth between the X-Men, X-Force, The Avengers, The New Avengers and his own solo series things can get pretty confusing. For one thing, Wolverine is at the centre of this year's X-Men event X-Men: Schism, which apparently occurs at the same time as Marvel's crossover event Fear Itself. For comic books to be treated with respect, they at least have to follow some sense of continuity, and when that is thrown out the widow to allow Marvel to generate some extra sales by throwing Logan on the front cover, it's bound to cause some angry faces.
With a level of uncertainty surrounding the comic industry in recent times, there is some logic as to why Marvel might stick Wolverine in anything they can. If the character truly does boost comic book sales, then it's slightly easier to accept why he stars in so many books. What I don't understand is that they stick him in any title they can, but don't give him any significance. For example, Wolverine could easily be removed from Fear Itself or the main Avengers series. Especially since the character's lost his edge. His origin has been explored and butchered over and over again, taking away the original appeal that went with the character. Why include him in two Avengers titles, if fan favourite characters like Bucky Barnes and Hawkeye are going to get pushed aside? It's frustrating.
It's also frustrating to see Wolverine continuously starring in X-Men movies when it's about time Marvel and Fox movie forward with projects for other characters. Fox have the rights for The Fantastic 4. It's about time they use them, instead of giving us more mediocre Wolverine origin movies. Or at least maybe expand on the Wolverine mythos, and give us a movie based on his son Daken, as some fans would argue Daken has become a far edgier, more compelling character than his father in recent years.
Wolverine's had his day. There are far more characters deserving of the attention and exposure Wolverine receives. Remove him from the Avengers and you might just see why Logan is more appealing when he's an X-Men exclusive. Perhaps now the Avengers movie draws near, we might see a more classic Avengers line up without Ol' Canucklehead.
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