This year has been full of surprise game announcements that look to strengthen the catalogues of the next generation of gaming. PS5 and Xbox Series X owners have several games to look forward to over the next couple of years, and PS5 fans in particular were recently treated to the reveal of Marvel's Wolverine. The next superhero title from Insomniac Games, coinciding with the long-awaited reveal of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, its announcement at September's PlayStation Showcase was truly unexpected. Even with how short the reveal was, fans are already building theories and looking towards the future.
If Marvel's Wolverine is going to be anything like Marvel's Spider-Man, it's likely going to have its fair share of references and connections to other Marvel properties. While Wolverine is immensely popular on his own, it can be difficult to discuss the character without also bringing up the X-Men. Over the years, he's become so tied to Professor X's heroic team of mutants that Insomniac will likely make numerous references and possibly even feature X-Men characters. Depending on the direction that Marvel's Wolverine goes in, it could set up one of the first big X-Men games in a long time.
Wolverine's Relationship With The X-Men
The man known as Logan has lived a very long life in the comics, but one of the most important times for him was when he joined the X-Men. During his time with the team, Wolverine built up a strong relationship with the likes of Professor X, Cyclops, and Jean Grey. This connection could take many forms in Marvel's Wolverine, especially with how many X-Men villains could appear. If Insomniac goes through the effort of bringing so many big faces into Marvel's Wolverine, it would already have a strong foundation for an X-Men game that builds on what Wolverine brings to the table.
X-Men's Absence In The Superhero Game Renaissance
If Marvel's Wolverine were to set up an X-Men video game, it could mean very big things for one of the biggest teams in Marvel. The last decade and a half has seen an incredible increase in quality for superhero games as a whole. The Batman: Arkham series led the charge by combining an excellent gameplay and narrative, and many other developers have taken similar approaches with other heroes. X-Men has been unfortunately absent from this wave of success, but Wolverine could help gauge interest in a big budget X-Men game. The team certainly has the star power, so it would just be a matter of ironing out the finer gameplay and narrative details.
Insomniac's Rise As The Face Of Marvel Gaming​​​​
If the announcement of Wolverine has proved anything, it's that Insomniac is quickly becoming the lead developer for spectacular Marvel games. While companies like Square Enix dove headfirst into big team up games like Marvel's Avengers, Insomniac has excelled at providing strong, singular stories. All of that work could be building towards something bigger, and an X-Men game that follows up Wolverine could be the culmination of Insomniac's efforts with Marvel. Depending on the direction that's taken, it could be a big deviation from the Spider-Man formula, but Wolverine seems to make Insomniac the best candidate to develop an X-Men game at this moment.
There's currently no known plans for an X-Men game from Insomniac or any other developer, but Marvel's Wolverine certainly makes it an exciting possibility. It's hard to disconnect Wolverine from the X-Men considering his strong relationship with the team, and Insomniac has already shown that it's willing to bring all kinds of Marvel characters into its games. It may be wishful thinking considering Marvel's Wolverine doesn't even have a projected release date, but a larger X-Men connection is something interesting to consider until then.
Marvel's Wolverine is currently in development for the PS5.
