PlayStation exclusive games like Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel’s Spider-Man aren’t Sony’s only connection to superhero media. Sony Pictures also produces the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man movies (and, of course, the likes of Madame Webb). That’s created some creative opportunities, as Tom Holland himself has admitted that some of Brand New Day’s terrific stunts and fight scenes were inspired by the trilogy of games. Considering the Spider-Man flicks are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios could do worse than taking some similar notes from Marvel’s Wolverine.

While the action in Marvel’s Wolverine on PS5 is certainly bombastic – expect lashings of blood and gore as Logan pops his adamantium claws to de-limb cybernetic reavers and pounce on ninja hidden in trees before ripping their chests out – high-octane action isn’t unusual for the angry superhero. No, I think the most impressive aspect of Marvel’s Wolverine, playing it as a long-time comic and movie fan, is how unbothered it is by the long shadow of Fox’s iconic X-Men saga, many instalments of which put Wolverine himself front and center.

Suit up

With 10 core movies spanning 2000–2017 (discounting spin-offs like Deadpool), the landmark X-Men films truly define a generation of superhero cinema. Its original two films, alongside Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies, helped to put the comic book movie on the map and turned them into the audience-pleasers they are today.

Even since Marvel Studios got the mutant rights back from Fox in 2019 with Disney’s acquisition of the company, they’ve so far been unable to resist the allure of playing with pre-existing toys. The past eight years have seen variant timeline heroes such as Professor Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and Wolverine in Deadpool and Wolverine being reprised by original actors Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman respectively. A core meta red herring twist in Wandavision even revolves around the idea that Evan Peters may be reprising his role as Quicksilver. Following Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Marvel has finally announced a proper X-Men film is on the way in 2028, starring an all-new cast – and it’s vital Marvel gets it right in a post Avengers: Doomsday world.

During all this to-ing and fro-ing, Insomniac Games’ own Marvel universe on PlayStation has been in its lane, thriving. The Marvel’s Spider-Man games kicked off with Peter Parker already active as the web-slinger, reinventing his history with a suite of villains while also coming up with fresh origins for familiar faces to create a world for Peter Parker to inhabit that’s both familiar and fresh.

Marvel’s Wolverine takes this approach even further. This is also no Wolverine origin story – only a small flash of memory points towards his Weapon X backstory that saw his bones fused with adamantium metal – but this is a universe in which the X-Men don’t yet exist as an institution. In fact, the game opens up with Logan effectively coming out of retirement to assist his old crew, Team X, with rescuing their founder Nathaniel Essex from Bolivar Trask’s illegal mutant blacksite facility, ending up on the trail of a grander scheme that imperils mutantkind in the process.

Logan is old, but due to suffering amnesia after going feral, he can only remember the last thirty years of his life, even if his skills before then return naturally – like being able to speak several languages fluently. Even while not being an origin story, this still manages to be a tale that juggles Wolverine finding himself and defining his future rather than his past, all while a parallel journey is happening for a dispersed and diminished mutantkind being hunted down by prejudiced forces. A better future is worth fighting for.

Team X is neither quite like the black ops Team X from the comics (formed of Weapon X test subjects) nor the X-Men themselves. They’re an off-the-grid group led by Nathaniel Essex, fighting for mutant rights in a world that has forced them to do so with extreme violence. Early chapters where memorials for fallen members loom large make it clear that anything less will see you snuffed out.

There’s plenty of blood-spilling from Logan, but Marvel’s Wolverine is also home to quieter, bleaker moments of tragedy that are heartbreaking. Especially as – like in Spider-Man – this paints a familiar world that’s just different enough from the source material to leave me constantly wondering where it’ll go next, and how it can possibly resolve in a way that’s not completely devastating.

Jean Grey, too, is a core character (we are living in the year of Jean Grey). Unlike her recent appearances where she’s much younger, it’s nice to see Jean Grey here as a grown woman fully capable and comfortable with who she is, what she wants, and what she’s willing to fight for.

Here, she’s grown up alongside Callisto and this game’s version of the Morlocks – a found family of unhoused and abused-by-society mutants with nowhere else to turn. It’s even neat to see Logan’s pining for Jean in other media inverted as Jean herself is clearly won over by the power of PS5 and its ability to render Logan’s incredible amount of realistic body hair and big, glistening puppy dog eyes.

Both Liam McIntyre and Krizia Bajos inhabit their roles as Wolverine and Jean Grey fantastically, with direction that makes the most of the gaming medium to give them a wider gamut of emotions through its lengthy runtime than one movie would be capable of. I also have to tip my hat to Troy Baker’s turn as Nathaniel Essex, whose British accent is surprisingly good for Team X’s morally grey mentor.

Even with these differences, Jean Grey still feels true to aspects from the comics that define her as an enduring character, the same as Wolverine. Plenty of Wolverine easter eggs, teasers, and cameo appearances make it clear where a potential sequel would go while ensuring this version of the world still feels like one lived in by mutants – albeit still different from either of Fox’s now-converged X-Men timelines. I actually think it’s quite funny that the only movie tie-in suit Wolverine can unlock in the game so far is the yellow one from Deadpool and Wolverine, which is from a character who is decidedly not the one from the rest of the Fox X-Men movies.

I’d been worried elements of Fox’s X-Men would be too enduring for this game to escape, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. Next up, it’ll be time to see the MCU’s take on rebooting the X-Men, which promises a back-to-basics team composed of Professor Xavier, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops, and Emma Frost, with Nathaniel Essex also part of the picture. Still, a true back-to-basics approach feels a little obvious. After all, that’s what X-Men: First Class already did so well. I want a different take, a fresh take, one that will make me reconsider what I believe the X-Men to be – just as Marvel’s Wolverine has done for me in gaming with its own twists on the mutant world.

Logan’s latest adventure is definitely not without problems. In our Marvel’s Wolverine review, we criticized poor pacing and a choppy structure that feels like it was compiled hastily. But, even days after finishing it a second time through New Game Plus, I’m still thinking about the game’s new interpretations of classic characters. I really hope this gets a sequel, purely because I hope this isn’t the last time we’ve seen this take on Wolverine, Jean Grey, and the rest of Team X on PS5. That’s exactly the feeling Marvel’s X-Men movie needs to give me when I walk out of the theater in 2028. [Pulls out a chess board mimicking the Professor X / Magneto scenes in the movies] – It’s your move, MCU.

Snarling for more to play? Check out our best Marvel games ranking. Or, if you’d rather chill, our best Marvel movies list has plenty of suggestions!