For a Good Reason, Marvel’s Wolverine Game Will Not Include Any X-Men Films (Report)

According to reports, Fox’s X-Men world will not be included in the Wolverine video game, which may debut as early as the fall of 2024.

The second of two planned Marvel games from the PlayStation first-party company is Insomniac’s Wolverine.

Little is known about Insomniac’s mutant-based game, which was unveiled at the same PlayStation Presentation as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and is increasingly likely to debut later this year.

Fans only truly know that Wolverine is on the way and that it takes set in a distinct universe than Insomniac’s Spider-Man, but some details have just come to light.

Wolverine on PS5 Refuses To Support Fox

Wolverine for the PlayStation will “avoid” any references to the Fox X-Men universe, according to Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb.

Insomniac’s future game would “stand on its own” from any pre-existing worlds, according to Grubb, who discussed this on his Morning Games Mess live show:

“[Insomniac] will avoid to have any sort of links or anything that sort of evokes the Fox movies. This thing’s going to stand on its own…”

The Spider-Man studio is aiming for a “hard-R [rated]” tone, which might result in the picture being classified M for Mature, he added to the list of information he has learned about the film.

“Hard-R is what they’re going for. It’s one of the concepts that I’ve heard. I think one of the cool things about ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ was, ‘Hey, the lightsabers slice the droids in half.’ And then the bad part was when you go up against Stormtroopers, it doesn’t do that. Now, I’m mostly okay with that. I think with ‘Wolverine’ though, put us into an environment where those claws are gonna work as claws.”

He stated that it is most likely “before [Wolverine] joins the X-Men” in the game.

 “I was trying to nail down the setting. I’ve heard maybe– at least, it will start before he joins the X-Men, which also makes sense. It’s a Wolverine game. Maybe you don’t wanna put in a situation where it’s like, ‘Where is Cyclops?’ It’s like, ‘Well, this is before he knew any of those people.’ But I don’t know that for sure. That just sounds like how it’s gonna work.”

Regarding a release date, Grubb said he has heard it may happen as soon as “Fall 2024:“

“Maybe the surprising thing for me is that I’ve heard two different dates and let’s just combine them here. I’ve heard as early as Fall 2024, which would be wild. So this is Insomniac after putting out ‘Spider-Man 2’ this Fall and then just to follow that up with ‘Wolverine’ in Fall 2024. Now, I’ve also heard internally, they’re still very much talking about 2025, so let’s not be very surprised if that’s, of course, what happens. But man, if anyone can pull off releasing two major AAA massive games, like marquee games for a platform back-to-back years, it is Insomniac.”

Other Wolverine Game Information Galore

Hearing all of this is fascinating, especially coming from someone as knowledgeable about the video game industry as Grubb. Despite not being a direct confirmation from Sony, Grubb’s track record strongly suggests that this information is accurate.

There are a few noteworthy details to discuss in this passage, the most important of which is the Fox X-Men specificity.

This break from the X-Men film series makes a lot of sense and isn’t particularly surprising. Without being constrained by any of the baggage that comes with the Fox-Verse, Insomniac wants to create its own thing.

That does not imply that there won’t be any Fox-Men Easter eggs, though. Small tributes to some of Spider-most Man’s memorable movie appearances may be seen in Marvel’s Spider-Man from the same studio. However, they were only passing nods and winks rather than profound bonds (a la the Raimi, MCU, or Amazing Spider-Man suits being playable).

Regarding Grubb’s “hard R” remark, that seems like the appropriate course of action for a Wolverine game. Given that he is one of Marvel’s most vicious and ruthless villains, why not make the game more mature if Marvel Games is open to it?

Last but not least, this release window for Fall 2024 seems a little crazy. It feels like an impossible job to have another video game ready in less than a year, especially when Insomniac is releasing another triple-A Marvel game THIS year (Marvel’s Spider-Man 2).

However, Insomniac is the studio behind the eight-month gap between the releases of Ratchet and Clack: Rift Apart and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Therefore, Insomniac is the studio most likely to accomplish it.