Wolverine is the most popular X-Man by a wide margin. There was something about the character that just grabbed fans immediately, and he was built up into the most complex on the character on the team. Wolverine rode the X-Men to superstardom, and since then he’s become one of the most popular superheroes ever. Spider-Man has been around longer and most people consider him the most popular Marvel character. However, an argument can be made that Wolverine may be just as popular, if not more popular, than Spider-Man. Wolverine became an icon, and his star has grown beyond the comics, thanks to X-Men: The Animated Series and Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of the character in the movies. Deadpool/Wolverine made a billion dollars, and while Deadpool was popular, we all know why the movie grossed what it did — Wolverine.
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The X-Men were once the most popular Marvel characters, but those days are long behind them. The X-Men are still popular, but comics have changed a lot since the team’s heyday in the ’80s and ’90s. However, Wolverine has remained as popular as ever. Right now, Wolverine stars in four ongoing series that have his name on the cover and is a member of the cast of Uncanny X-Men. 2024 was Wolverine’s 50th anniversary, and he starred in so many books, from ongoing to miniseries. Wolverine sells, and it’s about time to realize that he’s grown beyond the X-Men. However, this isn’t the best thing for Marvel for a variety of reasons.
The X-Men Need Wolverine More than Wolverine Needs Them
Wolverine is a near-perfect Marvel character when you look at his history. One of the problems with superhero comics is the static nature of the characters. Superheroes become known for certain things to people who don’t read comics, and changing them too much can make it harder for new readers, who are looking for something very specific from characters, to get into the comics. However, Wolverine has grown in a variety of ways over the years. Look at Wolverine from the early days of the X-Men and compare him to who he is now. Wolverine was the loudmouth troublemaker of the team, and he’s grown into one of the best X-Men. He’s basically everyone’s older brother, a gruff yet caring man who plays an important role in the X-Men’s ecosystem. However, his popularity, which used to drive sales to the X-Men books, has become a double-edged sword. People want to read about Wolverine, and this means one of two things for the team — either he overshadows the other members of the team or he’s not used as much as fans want him to be. Either way is bad for the X-Men; X-Men fans don’t always want to read about Wolverine, but other fans read the X-Men to get even more Wolverine content and they might stop reading if he’s not a focus of the book.
The X-Men aren’t having the best time of things lately. The “From the Ashes” reboot was popular at first, but since then the sales have leveled off. Wolverine, though, is still as popular as ever. Ultimate Wolverine, Deadpool/Wolverine, and Spider-Man & Wolverine are more popular titles than the vast majority of X-Men titles, and serve as a better place for the character than the X-Men books. Fans still want Wolverine stories, but they don’t care enough about the X-Men to go there for them. Wolverine has starred in brilliant stories over the decades, and most of them have come from Wolverine solo comics. MCU fans are more likely to pick up something like Deadpool/Wolverine than they are Uncanny X-Men, and this has hurt the sales of that book. Wolverine used to buoy the X-Men books, but there are so many Wolverine solos and team-up books that fans don’t need to buy X-Men books to get their Wolverine fix. While the X-Men’s fall from prominence can’t be completely blamed on the variety of Wolverine titles taking Wolverine readers away from the X-Men books, the fact that fans don’t need to go to X-Men books at all to get Wolverine stories hasn’t helped.
Wolverine Is Bigger Than the X-Men
For a long time, Wolverine was the secret sales weapon of the X-Men books. Wolverine sells books, and his presence made a big difference for the X-Men (and later for the Avengers; there was a point where he was on two different Avengers teams as well as several X-Men teams). However, Marvel is giving readers so much other Wolverine content that they don’t need to read the X-Men books at all. Wolverine is bigger than the X-Men, and that’s going to be a problem going forward for the team.
The X-Men nearly as popular as they were even five years ago, but Wolverine is more popular than ever. Marvel needs to do something to get the X-Men popular again and making those books Wolverine’s home would definitely help in that regard. However, Marvel also isn’t going to get rid of all the bestselling Wolverine comics in order to use Wolverine to sell X-Men comics.
Do you think Wolverine is bigger than the X-Men? Sound off in the comments below.
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