WolverineWill Logan's arrival as Wolverine in the MCU herald the coming of the X-Men? Maybe not, and the clues are there.

I have speculated that instead of James Howlett using the Wolverine moniker in the MCU, Marvel Studios could be teasing the arrival of Patch in Madripoor.

As I have written before, last year Marvel released a set photo from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Keen eyes spotted the Madripoor flag on display, which establishes the fictional nation in the MCU. How it will come into play is anyone's guess. Could it be a setting for the Disney+ series or will it be simply an Easter egg? We'll have to wait and see.

WolverineWOLVERINE MCU DEBUT

The set photo is old news, but it raises many questions about Wolverine. There has been plenty of speculation that Logan will make an appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but I don't see that happening. Wolverine is much too big of a star to debut him on Disney+ instead of on movie screens. More likely is that he will be given at least a nod if not an outright allusion.

What I am anticipating is that instead of Wolverine, we will get Logan in his Patch days from Wolverine's first ongoing series from 1988. That opens up a new can of worms that couldn't be contained to one post.

 

WolverineWOLVERINE AND THE NEW AVENGERS

While nothing has been said about which X-Men we'll see in the MCU, it is a given that Wolverine will be brought into the fold. He's among Marvel's upper echelon of characters, and Kevin Feige knows that leaving him on the shelf would not make good financial sense, but that doesn't mean he will be in the X-Men.

Portraying the "lone wolf" Logan in his journey to find acceptance in the X-Men is a story Fox has already told. Marvel Studios will want something different. I predict we will see the Patch stories adapted for the big screen in order to set the stage for him in the New Avengers.

 

WolverineWOLVERINE'S HISTORY AS AN AVENGER

From the late 1970s through the 1990s, Wolverine was synonymous with the X-Men. He was the cash cow, and fans saw Logan cameo in almost every Marvel title to boost sales.

After years of Wolverine and the X-Men being the face of Marvel, once the MCU started, the company gradually pulled him away from the team. Instead, he joined the Avengers, and he sided with Captain America during Civil War and was a prominent New Avenger. The X-Men were not completely shelved, but they definitely took a back seat to everything Avengers.

In the comics, Marvel continues to push Wolverine as an Avenger. Certainly, he has remained in the pages of the X-Men titles, but he's also been thrust into Savage Avengers. This may not simply be a way to sell copies of a newer title. What we could be experiencing is Marvel planting the movie seeds and having readers associate Wolverine more with the Avengers than the X-Men so that when he heads up the New Avengers, it will make sense to fans.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In the end, it all comes down to two things: marketing and new stories.

The Avengers are the heart of the MCU, and that will not change. Every movie and series Marvel produces always leads to the Avengers, and Wolverine won't be any different. Then there's the issue of entering territory Fox has already tread. By avoiding the code name Wolverine and placing him in the New Avengers, Marvel Studios will be free to give audiences stories they haven't seen before, for Logan, the X-Men, and the Avengers.

In that respect, Wolverine and the Avengers is a perfect fit.

 

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