As summer quickly approaches and no official news has been shared aboutMarvel’s Wolverinesince its announcement teaser, it’s becoming more likely by the day that Insomniac’s first non-Spider-Mangame will land in the tail-end of 2025, if not sometime in 2026. That would be completely fine under any circumstances, but, sadly,Insomniac has also been marred by a seemingly unending series of malicious leaks. It’s because of these leaks that many potential details have been revealed long before Insomniac intended for them to.
Leaks, if legitimate, do unfortunately reveal a playable character other than Wolverine whose gameplay would be far more substantial and elaborate than, say, Mary Jane Watson’s in eitherMarvel’s Spider-ManorMarvel’s Spider-Man 2.
It’s possible thatMarvel’s Wolverine’s final product could contradict leaks wholly, and until anything is confirmed by Insomniac it will be up in the air. That said, in the event thatMarvel’s Wolverinedoes turn out to have more playable characters, it can’t lose sight of its titular protagonist as the focus should be almost fully on Wolverine if it is indeed named after him.
Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Multiple Playable Characters Has Been Good for Storytelling, But Not for Gameplay
Knowing how long AAA video game development can take, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if developers packed their games with as much worldbuilding and novel gameplay features as necessary so that a framework is established for whatever that studio decides to do afterward. Insomniac’s work, for example, unmistakably bleeds into everything that follows it—the bones ofSunset Overdrive’s traversal given tissue to becomeMarvel’s Spider-Man,Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart’s instant-load portals becomingMarvel Spider-Man 2’s Doctor Strange portals, and so on.
Therefore, Insomniac potentially layeringMarvel’s Wolverinewith playable characters in order to make its possible transition to an ensemble X-Men game seamless would be logical.Rift Aparthas Rivet,Marvel’s Spider-Manhas Mary Jane Watson and Miles Morales, andMarvel’s Spider-Man 2has MJ, Hailey Cooper, and Venom, ensuring that a second or third playable character inMarvel’s Wolverinewould be more than likely regardless of leaks.
However, it’s stilldebatable that MJ’s gameplay adds anything of substance to the series’ gameplaywhen the amazing power fantasy lies with being a spider-person. Making MJ playable has reinforced her importance in the story, and yet without those sequences theMarvel Spider-Mantitles would still be exceptional Spider-Man games. Conversely, a Wolverine game with one or more other playable X-Men may muddy that water and tug attention away from the adamantium-laced brute.
A ‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ Game Shouldn’t Eclipse Its Titular Mutant with Other X-Men
Having multiple playable characters, much less playable mutants who may reappear down the road inan X-Men game, would be fortuitous and allow Insomniac to lead into an ensemble game much more fluidly. It’d make sense to introduce as many characters as possible inMarvel’s Wolverineif they’d be reprised in a sequel, especially with Insomniac’s Marvel universe having an originality continuity that’ll need to be explored fully.
It’ll be exciting to see what Wolverine’s relationships are like with other X-Men characters, for instance, though aMarvel’s Wolverinegame leaning too heavily on X-Men in general could make it difficult for him not to blend into the crowd.
IfGambit, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, or Jean Greywere to appear and be playable, there’s a decent chance that their gameplay may seem far more interesting than Wolverine’s inevitable hack-n’-slash, even if they’re only playable in short sequences. X-Men cameos will easily be the most popular talking point ofMarvel’s Wolverineand that’d ultimately be disappointing as, not unlike how Spider-Man has had New York City all to himself in Insomniac’sMarvel’s Spider-Manseries, Wolverine deserves to have a game to himself whether or not an X-Men game is intended to follow it.
