Real Name: James Howlett

Known Aliases: Logan, formerly Weapon Ten, Death, Mutate #9601, Jim Logan, Patch, Canucklehead, Emilio Garra, Weapon Chi, Weapon X, Experiment X, Agent Ten, Canada, Wildboy, Peter Richards, Mai'keth, others

Identity: Secret, known to certain government agencies

Height: 5'3"

Weight: (without Adamantium skeleton) 195 lbs., (with Admantium skeleton) 300 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Distinguishing Features: Animal-like canine teeth, hirsute physique, unique hairstyle

Occupation: Adventurer, former bartender, bouncer, spy, government operative, mercenary, soldier, sailor, miner, various others

Teaches: Self Defense

Place of Birth: Alberta, Canada

Citizenship: Canadian, possible dual citizenship in Japan and/or Madripoor, no known criminal record

Marital Status: Divorced (Viper)

Known Relatives: Unnamed grandfather (deceased), John Howlett Sr. (father, deceased), Elizabeth Howlett (mother, deceased), John Howlett Jr. (brother allegedly deceased), Viper (ex-wife), Amiko (foster daughter), Erista (son), X-23 (clone)

Group Affiliation: X-men, Avengers, formerly Horsemen of Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Secret Defenders, Clan Yashida, Department H, First Flight, Department K, Weapon X, Canadian Army, The Flight, Team X, Devil's Brigade Education: Privately tutored as a child

POWERS & ABILITIES

Strength Level: Wolverine possesses the normal human strength of a man of his apparent age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise

Superhuman Powers: Wolverine is a mutant with the ability to regenerate damaged or destroyed areas of his cellular structure at a rate far greater than an ordinary human. The speed at which this healing factor works varies in direct proportion to the severity of the damage suffered. For example, Wolverine can fully recover from a normal gunshot wound in a non-vital area of his body within an hour. More serious injuries can take months to fully heal.

Wolverine's healing factor also affords him virtual immunity to poisons and most drugs, as well as an enhanced resistance to diseases. For example, it is nearly impossible for him to become intoxicated from drinking alcohol. He also has a limited immunity to the fatigue poisons generated by bodily activity, and hence he has greater endurance than an ordinary human. Also due to his healing factor, Wolverine has an extended life span.

Wolverine also has superhumanly acute senses, allowing him to see things at a distance greater than that of a normal human. His sense of smell is similarly enhanced, allowing him to recognize people and objects by sent, even if they are hidden from sight. Wolverine can use his enhanced senses to track any creature with an impressive degree of success.

Furthermore, Wolverine possesses six retractable one-foot-long bone claws, three in each arm, that are housed beneath the skin and muscle of his forearms. At will, Wolverine can release these slightly curved claws through his skin beneath the knuckles on each hand. The skin between the knuckles tears and bleeds, but is quickly repaired by his healing factor.

Wolverine can unsheathe any number of his claws at once; however he must keep his wrists straight at the moment his claws shoot from his forearms into his hands. When unsheathed, the claws reside in his hands and thus Wolverine can still bend his wrists. The claws are naturally sharp and tougher than that of normal human bone structure.

Special Limitations: Despite the extent of his healing factor, Wolverine is not immortal; if the injuries are extensive enough, especially if they result in the loss of vital organs, large amounts of blood, oxygen deprivation, and/or loss of physical form, Wolverine can die.

Special Skills: Due to his extensive training as a soldier, C.I.A. operative, a Samurai, a member of the Weapon X program, Avengers, and the X-Men, Wolverine is a master of multiple forms of martial arts, weapons, and vehicles. He is also a trainined expert in explosives, espionage, and assasination. Wolverine is also fluent in many languages, including Japanese, Russin, Chinese, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Spanish. He also has some knowledge of French, Thai, and Vietnamese.

PARAPHERNALIA

Personal Weaponry: The nigh-indestructible metal Admantium had been artificially bonded to Wolverine's entire skeleton. As a result, his bones are virtually unbreakable and his claws are capable of cutting through almost any substance, depending on its thickness and the amount of force he can exert. Due to his healing factor, the presence of Admantium in his body does not interfere with his bones' normal function of generating blood corpuscles.

History: Born into privilege in Alberta, Canada during the late 19th Century, James Howlett was the second son of wealthy landowner John Howlett and his wife, Elizabeth. After the untimely death of his elder brother, Daniel, the sickly James became close friends with Rose, a governess living at the Howlett estate, and the young boy known only as "Dog", the son of the Hewlett's' cruel groundskeeper, Thomas Logan.

Dog's growing obsession with Rose prompted him to attack her one day, forcing James' father to fire Thomas and evict him and Dog from their home on the estate. Unbeknownst to John, Thomas was having an affair with Elizabeth, and he sought to convince her to leave with them. When John interrupted their discussion, Thomas shot and killed him. The shock of seeing his father murdered, caused James to manifest his latent mutant abilities when bone claws jutted from the back of each of his hands. He attacked and killed Thomas, and slashed Dog's face. Completely unhinged by the violence, Elizabeth took her own life.

James suffered a severe breakdown, but his mutant healing factor "repaired" his mind, blocking all memories of the traumatic events at the estate. With James now wanted for murder, Rose spirited him away to a mining colony in British Columbia and gave him the name "Logan" to protect his true identity. The frail "Logan" grew into a strapping young man at the mine, and acquired the nickname "Wolverine" thanks to his tenacity and refusal to back down from a challenge. Logan's happiness at the camp came to an end when Dog tracked him down. Remembering the night of his father's death, Logan fought Dog savagely. During the struggle, Logan accidentally impaled Rose on his claws. Wracked by grief over the death of his first true love, Logan fled into the woods and was not seen again for some time.

Eventually, Logan came to reside in a frontier community nestled in the Canadian Rockies. Among the community's residents was a man who would become his greatest foe ? Victor Creed, better known as Sabretooth. Logan had fallen in love with a young Native American girl named Silver Fox, but their happiness was short-lived after she was brutally attached by Sabretooth on Logan's birthday. Logan sought to avenge his lover's apparent death, but was easily defeated by the older and more experienced mutant. Unable to bear the pain of both his loss and his defeat, Logan left the community.

Some time later, Logan joined the Canadian Army and fought in World War I as a member of the Devil's Brigade. He eventually left the military and traveled to Chine where he first met Ogun, a Japanese samurai and sorcerer who began instructing the young mutant in the martial arts. Logan remained under Ogun's tutelage for many years, eventually leaving to adventure on the island nation of Madripoor. At the advent of World War II, Logan worked with the American super-soldier Captain American in opposing the Nazi agent Baron Strucker and The Hand ninja clan. Soon after, Logan returned to Canada and once again joined the Army. Attaining the rank of Corporal, he was assigned the First Canadian Parachute Battalion and fought at the Battle of Normandy.

After the war, Logan was recruited into Weapon X, a multinational intelligence operation overseen by the American Central Intelligence Agency. Amongst his teammates, Logan was surprised to encounter both his nemesis Sabretooth and his former lover Silver Fox. The program used various methods, including false memory implants, to ensure the loyalty of its members despite their past affiliations. As a result, Logan was paired with Sabretooth on numerous missions.

Logan eventually quit Team X and worked for a time as a spy for the secret branch of the Canadian government known as Department K. Some time later, Logan was captured and taken back to Weapon X with the intent of using him in an experiment that would bond the nigh-indestructible metal Adamantium to his skeleton. Forced to undergo the procedure, Logan was subsequently brainwashed in an attempt to create the perfect assassin. However, Logan rebelled against Weapon X's programming and slipped into a berserk fury, killing almost everyone in the complex before fleeing into the nearby woods. James Hudson and his wife Heather eventually discovered Logan in a feral state and brought him back to humanity. He then helped James form The Flight, the first team of super-powered adventures that operated under the auspices of the Canadian government's Department H.

On his first public mission for the Department, Logan was sent to capture the gamma-spawned creature known as the Hulk, and clashed with both the jade giant and the mythical beast known as the Wendigo. Logan was subsequently approached by the telepathic mutant Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the team of mutant heroes known as the X-Men. Xavier was recruiting mutants to help rescue from the sentient island-being Krakoa. Logan resigned his commission with Department H and accompanied Xavier to rescue the X-Men. Afterwards, he joined the team if only for his attraction to one of its members, Jean Grey.

During one mission with the X-Men to Japan, Logan met the Lady Mariko Yashida, cousin of the former X-Man Sunfire. At first frightened of him, Logan was soon able to put Mariko at ease, and he found himself strongly attracted to her gentle, refined manner. They spent much time together during the X-Men's stay in Japan, and later, when she visited New York, they continued their relationship.

On a return visit to Japan, Logan discovered that Mariko's father, the crimelord Shingen Harada, had forced her to marry one of his criminal associates who proved to be an abusive husband. Logan sought to convince Mariko to leave with him, but she was bound by her duty to her father to remain. Shingen sought to eliminate Logan, and employed the ninja named Yukio to capture him. Drugged with nerve poison, Logan was brought before Shingen who challenged him to a duel while Mariko watched. Unaware that her father, by striking at Logan's sensitive pressure points was actually trying to kill him, Mariko was shocked when Logan retaliated by lashing out at Shingen with his claws. Noticing Mariko's dismay, Logan lost the will to battle and was soundly defeated. Disillusioned, Mariko agreed with her father that Logan was unworthy of her love.

Logan later returned for Mariko, and slew Shingen after his dishonourable actions were revealed. As the new head of Clan Yashida, Mariko named Logan as her champion and presented him with the Clan's honour sword. They then announced their engagement, however Mariko called the wedding off whilst under the influence of the psychic mutant Mastermind. He also forced Mariko to establish ties between her Clan and the Japanese underworld. After Mastermind was defeated, Mariko was deeply ashamed by what she had done while under his control and vowed that she could not marry Logan until she had proven herself worthy to him.

During the X-Men's next mission in Japan, Logan encountered a dying woman who made him promise to care for her daughter, Amiko. Logan agreed; realizing his life was not one to share with a young girl, he left Amiko in Mariko's care. Furthermore, in exchange for the honour sword of the Clan Yashida, Mariko's half-brother ? Keniuchio Harada, the Silver Samurai ? became honour-bound to ensure Amiko's welfare.

Later, after a battle with the X-Men's nemesis magneto, the mutant master of magnetism, Logan and his teammates found themselves in the hidden Antarctic jungle known as the Savage Land. Finding himself at home on the prehistoric surroundings, Logan would come to be a regular visitor over the ensuing years. He even fathered a son with a Savage Land native named Gahck.

Logan began regularly visiting Madripoor once more, buying in to one of the local establishments, the Princess Bar. He continued to adventure with the X-Men until an encounter in Australia with the band of cybernetic assassins known as the Reavers. Captures and crucified, Logan was freed by the young mutant named Jubilee, who escaped with him to Madripoor. During his recovery, Logan came to regard Jubilee as something of a daughter and the unlikely duo shared several adventures before rejoining the X-Men.

Eventually locating the hidden facility of the Weapon X project, Logan learned of his false memory implants and, after the members of Team X were reluctantly reunited, they tracked down the man responsible and defeated him. Soon after, on another visit to Japan, Logan was present when a Hand assassin wounded Mariko with an incurable toxin. She begged him to end her pain, and seeing no other alternative he acceded to her request with his claws. To this day, Logan visits Mariko's grave on the anniversary of her death each year to pay his respects.

During another encounter with Magneto, Logan was critically injured when the Adamantium was forcibly removed from his body. His healing factor overloaded as it worked to repair the massive trauma, but Logan still prevailed. During his recuperation, Logan rediscovered the full extent of his mutant nature as he unsheathed claws of bone. He then left the X-Men for a time, briefly returning to watch the wedding of his former teammates Cyclops to Jean Grey from afar.

Logan was later kidnapped by Genesis, pretender to the legacy of the eternal mutant Apocalypse, who sought to make Logan one of his horsemen by recreating the Adamantium bonding process. This time, however, Logan's body rejected the Adamantium, and he regressed once more into a feral state. With the help of the ninja named Elektra, Logan found his way back onto the path to humanity.

Logan was then forced to follow his code of giri, or "honorable debt," when he reluctantly agreed to marry the crimelord known as the Viper which allowed her to take control of Madripoor. Viper later invited Logan to partake in an underground fighting tournament during which he encountered Ogun's demonic spirit. With Viper's help, Ogun's spirit was banished, and Logan subsequently terminated their marriage.

Logan was later seemingly killed in battle against the newest Horseman of Apocalypse to bear the name Death, however it was revealed that a member of the shape-shifting Krulls had impersonated him. Logan had actually been captured by Apocalypse and transformed into Death, complete with a new Adamantium skeleton. Logan eventually managed to break Apocalypse's programming and rejoined the X-Men once more.

Logan's past would come back to haunt him once more when the Weapon X program was reactivated and began recruiting many of its former agents, including Sabretooth. However, Sabretooth had his own agenda, and used the program's technology to strip Logan of his mutant powers. Sabretooth then recruited Logan's enemies to attack his closest friends. Although powerless, Logan confronted Sabretooth in the original Weapon X facility, but was no match for him and was left for dead.

However, Logan survived once more and soon after learned the truth behind the Weapon X program from the mercenary named Fantomex. Weapon X was but one of a series of experimental programs, collectively known as the Weapon Plus program, which began with the "creation" of America's original super-solider Captain America. The program sought to create an army of super-soldiers to protect mankind against the perceived threat posed by mutants. Logan was involved in the tenth attempt, while Fantomex was part of the thirteenth.

Whilst investigating the orbital Weapon X facility known as The World, Fantomex gave Logan access to a computer file that, at long last, revealed the mysteries of his past. Logan's discovery was interrupted by the arrival of the program's latest creation, weapon XV. Logan managed to defeat the creature, but the battle damaged the base and he was left stranded in space. Sensing Logan was in danger, Jean Grey took a shuttle to return him to Earth but the pair were trapped on Avalon, Magneto's former space station, which the villain sent hurtling into the sun. Only Jean's transformation into the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix saved them, and they returned to Earth to rejoin the X-Men in opposing Magneto. In the ensuing battle, Magneto killed Jean with a lethal electromagnetic pulse. This act sent Logan into a berserk rage, and he decapitated Magneto. When Xavier announced his intent to return Magneto to his nation of Genosha for a proper burial, Logan followed. The twp argued over their differing opinions of Magneto, resulting in Logan leaving on less than friendly terms.