NOTE: This article contains SPOILERS for the entirety of Marvel’s Wolverine. Don’t read it until you’ve played the game through!
Marvel’s Wolverine is now out, and Marvel and Insomniac Games fans alike can dive right into the hairy little mutant’s latest adventure. Along the way, you might run into some pretty big Easter eggs that reference not just previous Insomniac Marvel games, but wider parts of Earth-1048.
As a big comic dork, I paid close attention to every nook and cranny as I searched for anything of note, and I found quite a few. Here are 34ish of the Easter eggs that I noticed while playing through the game:
Previous Team X Members
As you wander through the Team X locker room, you can see the cubbies that once belonged to Logan’s previous teammates. The three that stood out would have to be:
- Maverick: Also known as Christoph Nord/David North, he’s often portrayed as a Weapon X/Team X member across different comics and adaptations. His mutant power is to absorb kinetic energy, though he also has a bit of a healing factor. His helmet is probably his most recognizable feature, though. He was even in a recent episode of X-Men ‘97, if you’ve watched Season 2.
- Eye Boy: Trevor Hawkins is a young man with the mutant power of 57 eyes across his body, which he can use for enhanced sight, X-Ray vision, and several other optical feats. He’s an unexpected pull, though examining his headgear has Logan point out that he thought one of the eyes might shoot some kind of lasers, à la Cyclops,
- Rain Boy: Besides the odd coincidence of having two mutants with the codename “Blank Boy,” Carl Aalston’s power is essentially that he’s a living pile of water. He can shoot water from his body, but that’s about it.
Iceman’s Escape
An early part of Marvel’s Wolverine has you run through a nuke-test-esque town used to experiment on mutants as you search for Nathaniel Essex. One such mutant seemed to be none other than founding X-Man Bobby Drake, a.k.a. Iceman, as one fake house is filled with what appears to be blasted ice. In that ice is a mutant restraint collar, implying Bobby managed to get out of it and escape the facility. Here’s hoping he found Charles Xavier after getting out.
Essex’s Fallen Fellows
- John Wraith: Wraith is a teleporter who has frequently been a part of Team X in the comics, as his ability to ‘port his teammates out of a jam would be immensely useful for a wetwork squad. Fun fact: Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas played Wraith in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and its video game adaptation. The world is a wild place.
- Kodiak Noatak: Also known as Harpoon, he’s a member of the evil Marauders. His unique mutant ability is to infuse metal spears with his “bio-energy,” which lets him do all sorts of things with the projectiles.
- Sidney Green: Codenamed Onyxx, he’s a mutant from the mid-2000s with four eyes and a rocky hide. Like a lot of X-Men characters, he’s died and gotten better.
- Myles Alfred: Known as “Vivisector,” he’s a werewolf-like mutant with superhuman senses. As of this writing, he’s dead in the comics.
- Michael Baer: Like Harpoon, Michael “Blockbuster” Baer is a Marauder who has ridiculous strength and durability – he’s even broken Thor’s arm. He’s died and been cloned more than once throughout the comics.
- William H. Thorton: One of the names that the villain Mesmero has gone by. Mesmero is a powerful hypnotist who can control people, make them see things, and even alter their memories.
- Robbie (Prism): Another Marauder (which is fitting for Essex’s squad), Prism can reflect energy attacks and store light within his body. Yet again, this guy has died a lot.
- Carl Aalston: This is Rain Boy, who we discussed above. RIP to a real one.
- Christoph Nord: Maverick also punched his ticket, it seems.
- Trevor Hawkins: It’s Eye Boy. Why do the good mutants die young?
- Lazaro Kotikash: The mutant Kidogo could shrink down to four inches tall, like Ant-Man, without using Pym Particles. In the comics, he lost his powers following the House of M event.
- Benjamin Deeds: Deeds can change his appearance and alter people’s chemicals to make them like and trust him, leading him to, fittingly, take on the moniker of Morph after the original Morph – Kevin Sidney – seemed to primarily take on the darker name/role of Changeling following his resurrection in the House of X/Powers of X storyline.
- Sarah Vale: Vale is a technopath, like the X-Man Forge, who can communicate with and control machines and technology. She died after House of M, but has since been resurrected.
- Roxanne Washington: Also called Bling!, Washington can change into an incredibly durable diamond form, not unlike Emma Frost. The exclamation point is part of her code name, by the way.
Trask’s Mentions
Trask mentions a few “dangerous mutants” offhand, which could each be an actual, established character.
- “Teen who killed his parents by combusting” – This could potentially be Bailey Hoskins – the star of the self-contained story Worst X-Man Ever. Bailey’s power is to explode once, and only once, because he dies as soon as he does it. This could be a tragic Easter egg for a comically tragic character.
- “Girl who can liquify your brain with her voice” – This could certainly be Theresa Cassidy/Siryn – daughter of Giant-Size X-Men team member Banshee. In the comics, she has similar powers to her dear dad – the ability to emit sonic screams that can do all sorts of stuff. She can even make people fall in love with her using these tones, like the mythical creature she’s named after.
- “People who can kill you with a thought” – This could be pretty much any telepath, from Emma Frost to Betsy Braddock/Kwannon. My bet is this refers to Professor Xavier or his dark twin, Cassandra Nova, both of whom are known for their ridiculous telepathic power.
Another First Class X-Man
An article about the X-Gene you can find in a lab was written by none other than Henry “Hank” McCoy – the founding X-Man Beast. He’s famously intelligent in the comics when it comes to genetics, so it’s cool to see Insomniac lay the groundwork for one of the X-Men’s most recognizable members.
Mutant Detection Machine: Pre-Cerebro?
The mutant detection machine found in Trask’s labs could be setting the stage for Cerebro – Professor Xavier’s device that amplifies his telepathy to help him locate mutants around the world. The machine in Marvel’s Wolverine is presented in a way that’s certainly reminiscent of Cerebro’s appearance in many X-Men adaptations, so I’d argue it’s safe to say this is an intentional parallel.
Fastball special w/ Sabertooth
The Fastball Special is a classic maneuver often performed in the comics by Colossus and Wolverine, in which Colossus lifts Wolverine with one arm and throws him at something (or someone) with intense force. In the game, Sabertooth performs this technique with Logan while battling the Sentinel prototype, giving the iconic tag-team attack a new flavor.
Dazzler’s Tour
While in Madripoor, you can come across a poster advertising either a show or the music of Alison Blaire, also known as Dazzler. She’s a well-known member of the X-Men who can turn sonic vibrations into light and use that light to do anything from creating holograms to hovering off the ground. She appeared as a playable character in the beloved Konami X-Men beat-em-up and is surprisingly well known even by casual fans. In Marvel’s Wolverine, Logan even notes that he prefers her old stuff, which is some fun character work.
He’s About to Make a Name For Himself Here
During the Madripoor downtime following Trask’s death, you can find an “I.O.U.” written on a playing card in Walter’s music room. It’s signed by none other than Remy LeBeau – the memorable mutant Gambit, who infuses playing cards with kinetic energy. Madripoor’s a pretty Gambit-y place, so it makes sense that he’d be around and “borrowing” Walter’s stuff.
Viper Lounge — But Which Viper?
Near the bar in Madripoor, you can find a place called the Viper Bar, which Logan says is even better if the titular lady spits in your drink. This seems to be referencing Viper/Madame Hydra, whose real name is Ophelia Sarkissian. Though she uses poison weapons at times, it’s mainly in the film The Wolverine that she can spit acid, which seems to be what Logan is referring to.
A Classic X-Men Antagonist
In the Trask station, you can find a book titled “My War,” written by none other than William Stryker – the antagonist of one of the best X-Men stories: God Loves, Man Kills. In the comics, Stryker is an anti-mutant televangelist who tries to use an incapacitated Professor Xavier’s powers to kill all mutants. Brian Cox plays him in X2, where he’s also part of Logan’s Weapon X backstory.
A Timely Easter Egg
This could reference a few things, but the two most likely candidates are Marvel’s original name – which was Timely Comics – and the character Victor Timely. You might recognize the name if you watched Loki Season 2 when it came out, as he played a central role in it. Timely is a variant of Nathanial Richards/Kang the Conqueror who has eternal youth and is, like Kang, a genius. I guess he might have used that intellect to start a massive transport company on Earth-1048 – unless it’s just a fun naming reference to Marvel Comics’ origins.
Hellfire Club Hits Japan
A door in Japan that you can come across has an intriguing symbol on it – one that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Hellfire Club’s logo. The Hellfire Club is a secret society in Marvel’s comics – one made up of mutants like Emma Frost, Mastermind, and Sebastian Shaw, all of whom have come up against the X-Men on more than one occasion. Logan calls them “stuck-up pricks” when you examine the door, which fits the bill nicely.
Silver Sable International Tried to Poach Logan
You can also see a Sable International sign in Japan, which refers to the PMC that played a big role in the DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man. Logan notes that the company tried to poach him from Team X once, which Essex was apparently less-than-thrilled at.
Setting the Stage for 2099
Another company sign in Japan is one advertising Alchemax – the massive corporation that played a major role in the 2099 comics. In the comics, Miguel O’Hara was a geneticist at the company, which led to him becoming Spider-Man 2099. If Insomniac ever wants to tackle a 2099 timeline, establishing Alchemax early is certainly a solid move.
Roxxon’s Still Making Headlines
Finally, one more billboard in Japan to round out this section of Easter eggs. Those who played Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will recognize this company, which caused a lot of problems for the titular web-swinger. Marvel’s Wolverine definitely takes place after the prior Insomniac games, as shown when Logan wonders aloud if “that asshole [Simon Krieger] is still in jail,” implying the events of Miles Morales already happened.
Muramasa’s Grave
While wandering Japan, you can also find the grave of Muramasa – a weaponsmith who made an unparalleled katana that’s even capable of killing Logan. It’s popped up quite a bit in the comics and is wielded by Blade in the recently released Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls. Plus, it has some relevance to the plot of Marvel’s Wolverine too.
Wolverine Gets Pinned Down By Ninja a Lot
Wolverine being pinned down by swords and arrows wielded by deadly ninjas is as iconic an X-Men visual as Cyclops shooting blasts into the sky whilst screaming, or Rogue taking someone’s powers with a kiss. First seen in the iconic Wolverine miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, which saw Wolverine trying to help his lover Mariko in Japan – this visual has since made its way to adaptations like 2013’s The Wolverine.
Jean’s Throwback Dress
When Jean goes in “disguise” to the Hand gala, she’s wearing a very familiar outfit. The green dress and yellow mask immediately bring to mind her Marvel Girl outfit from the 60s and 70s, though it was used as recently as the 2019 House of X and Powers of X series of X-Men comics.
Greetings From the Savage Land
One of Logan’s Nightmare Door memories speaks of his time in the Savage Land – a tropical nature preserve located within Antarctica. It’s popped up plenty of times throughout numerous Uncanny X-Men stories, but less hardcore fans may recognize it as the home of Sauron – the green pteranodon scientist who Spider-Man argued could “cure cancer,” if he weren’t so occupied with turning people into dinosaurs.
Another Daredevil Callback
When explaining where he got his recent Hand information from, Shiro mentions a “lawyer in Hell’s Kitchen” who had “all sorts of ninja stuff.” This is pretty clearly a reference to Daredevil/Matt Murdock – the blind lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen who has had several run-ins with the Hand throughout his adventures. This isn’t the first time Matt was mentioned in an Insomniac Marvel game, so he seems to be keeping pretty busy in this universe too.
Elektra’s Out There, Too
If Daredevil wasn’t enough, the deadly assassin Elektra gets a shout-out, too. When raiding the Hand headquarters, you can find a Sai on display in their shrine, which is Elektra’s iconic weapon. Elektra trained with the Hand in the assassin arts and made impressive use of it, so it makes sense they’d honor her at a shrine. Maybe we’ll see her and Daredevil cross paths in a future Insomniac game, since the duo has quite an extensive and tangled history.
Corrigan’s Poor Planes
This is a dead-on reference to some of Wolverine’s most famous adventures in Madripoor in the comics, as the late-‘80s Wolverine comic run saw him flying on Archie Corrigan’s plane when he was running the ruler of Madripoor, Prince Baran. In the comic, Logan’s presence (as Patch) leads to Archie’s plane being totaled, which fits Wolverine’s in-game note that his plane was never found.
The Reaver Leader
You can see an email from Donald Pierce in Madripoor, which points to a pretty big name in X-Men mythology. Pierce was the cyborg founder of the Reavers and hates mutants as much as his underlings do. You might know him best from his appearance in 2017’s Logan, in which Boyd Holbrook played him.
Alpha Flight’s Presence
I always love to see a reference to Alpha Flight – the Canadian superhero team that Logan was once a member of. Some graffiti in Madripoor says “Puck was here,” with Wolverine commenting that “that little man could fight.” Puck is a 3”6 fighter who, when first created, had no special powers – just exceptional hand-to-hand combat skills and mobility. Later down the line, he’d be given “compressed rubber physiology” – essentially, his muscles are condensed like a spring, making him incredibly strong and resilient.
Yet Another First-Class Member
When infiltrating the Hightown casino in Madripoor, you can see a seat reserved for yet another original X-Men member – Warren Worthington III/Angel. Given he comes from a wealthy family, it’s safe to assume he’d be a known visitor to such a swanky place. Now, since mutants are just being learned about, I wonder if his iconic wings have sprouted yet.
A Hellish Customer
The man kicked out of the VIP penthouse in the Hightown casino is noted to be Liu-wo Han – a crime lord from Hong Kong who is, most notably, a part of the Hellfire Club. He’s not one of the major members, but it’s cool to see the world be filled out with Marvel characters of all statuses.
X Marks the Spot
When Logan “dies” against the massive Sentinel, he’s buried with what appears to be a wooden “X” on his grave. My first thought was that this harkens back to the unforgettable ending of 2017’s Logan, which saw the titular mutant buried by the kids he saved and given the same sort of grave marker. Of course, Deadpool & Wolverine had a little fun with that afterward, but the point still stands.
Phoenix or Brood?
I’m still trying to figure this one out, as I feel it could be one of two things. In one of his Nightmare Door memories, Logan mentions a “comet” that came from the sky, which turned out to be an egg. Apparently, a hideous thing came from the egg.
Given the themes of Phoenix and her repeated resurrection throughout Marvel’s Wolverine, I first thought that this would be the Phoenix Force coming back as an egg, as it does in the comics. The hideous thing, though, had me thinking it was a Brood – an alien creature not unlike the Xenomorph that the X-Men have tangled with many times. Though the Brood come from eggs, they typically implant them within human hosts, so I’m not certain it’s them either. Maybe I’m blanking on something, but this feels like it must be one or the other, in some capacity.
A Visual Deadpool & Wolverine Parallel
When destroying the teleporters used to send the Sentinels worldwide, Logan acts as a conduit for the heavy electricity between machine components. This feels taken straight from Deadpool & Wolverine, towards the end of the film where Logan does this very thing whilst shirtless and gleaming with sweat. It’s a bit more serious a moment in Marvel’s Wolverine, though.
Three More Mutants
Among the blood samples in Essex’s lair, you can see a few recognizable mutant names:
- Janos Quested: Also called Riptide, he can spin super quickly and shoot out pieces of his bones as he does. He was a part of Gambit’s Marauders, and has worked for Mister Sinister/Nathaniel Essex in the past.
- Kodiak Noatak: We spoke about him further up the list, but it seems his blood sample is here even though he’s gone.
- Cessily Kincaid: With the fitting codename of Mercury, Kincaid is basically made up of Mercury. She can be a liquid or solid form of the metal, and she’s been a part of Emma Frost’s Hellions.
Apocalypse’s Presence
The climax of Marvel’s Wolverine features Apocalypse inside of Logan’s head, calling him “Death.” This harkens back to a couple of things from the comics. For one, Wolverine has indeed served as Apocalypse’s Horseman of Death, and when doing so, wore a costume incredibly similar to his “Shinigami” look from this very game.
Additionally, Apocalypse has played a major role in Logan’s backstory. Originally, Chris Claremont planned to reveal that Apocalypse was ultimately behind the adamantium-bonding process Wolverine endures as part of Weapon X. This is quietly alluded to in the iconic 1991 Weapon X storyline, in which The Professor speaks to some sort of mysterious benefactor over the phone during Wolverine’s experimentation. Claremont never got to tie this story together, but having Apocalypse be present in Logan’s hazy thoughts feels like a perfect nod to Claremont’s original intent.
Dazzler’s Opener
As the world learns about Mutants in the game’s credits, we see the name Lila Cheney on a poster (which was also on Dazzler’s poster earlier in the game). She’s both a mutant and a British rock musician in the comics, so it makes sense that her shows might be delayed by the less-than-tolerant Marvel universe populace when they discover she’s one of the scary new “mutants” that everyone has just discovered.
The “ish” Easter Egg
This is more of a silly consistency, but Logan and Jean crash their plane when headed to Japan in Marvel’s Wolverine. If there’s one thing X-Men stories love doing, it’s having their characters be incapable of peaceful flying, as pretty much every aircraft an X-Man touches blows up, crashes, or both. It’s good to see this time-honored tradition carry on in the latest game.
