10 Subtle Changes That SAVED Iconic Comic Book Characters

5. Joined The X-Men - Wolverine

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Marvel Comics/Gil Kane

Wolverine originally debuted in an issue of The Hulk, as a one-off opponent for the jade giant. After the issue ended, we didn't hear much out of Wolverine, and why would we? He was a bad guy of the month, and once The Hulk was done with him, he'd served his purpose.

But then came along Len Wein and Dave Cockrum.

With the X-Men having laid dormant for several years, Wein and Cockrum decided to reboot the entire team with new and old characters - one of which was Wolverine, who was co-created by Wein in that aforementioned Hulk comic.

Wolverine's base personality went unchanged, but when he was put on a team with characters like Cyclops, Storm, Kitty Pryde, and Jean Grey, Logan's personality and backstory began to flourish.

The results of this speak for themselves, as Wolverine is now one of the most famous characters in the entire Marvel canon. Where would he be today without the X-Men?

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?