X-Men Origins: Wolverine has remained in the popular consciousness for twelve years as the butt of jokes and the bane of fans worldwide. The film failed for a vast variety of reasons, but perhaps the real tragedy is how easily they could've reworked the project into something much better. The clear intention behind X-Men Origins was to launch a series of origin stories for the iconic characters from Xavier's School, starting with the clear fan favorite. This was not a bad idea, a reasonable attempt to combat Marvel during the early days of the MCU's rise to dominance, but its first effort went so poorly that the entire concept crashed and burned.
Wolverine is one of the most popular characters in Marvel's canon, placed in the forefront of nearly every X-Men project and routinely gifted solo projects over any of his peers. These projects vary wildly in quality, improving over time from Origins, to the decent action film The Wolverine, to the absolutely stellar swan song that was Logan. The reason Origins didn't work is multifaceted and complex, its more blatant crimes against Deadpool aside.
The film tells a story most fans already know, does it in a way that never shakes expectations, and stops at every turn to shove in meaningless cameos or fanservice. So much of the film is given over to boring retreads of the same kind of action fans have already seen in the X-Men films or surprise appearances by Gambit or Blob that there isn't much special about Wolverine in his supposed origin. Stunningly, a much more interesting part of Wolverine's story, one that could delve into new situations with the character and explore his evolving personality rather than his shiny new weapons, is passed by during the opening credits.
After a brief cold open, the opening scene of X-Men Origins: Wolverine sees James Howlett and his half-brother Victor Creed flee their native Canada in 1845. Both men are mutants, born with the ability to heal from any wound in minimal time, granting them functional immortality. After leaving home under duress, James and Victor find their new calling in life, fighting as a soldier in the US military. Together, the brothers fight in the Civil War, then in both World Wars and in Vietnam.
As immortals, the pair fight throughout time, with only each other to lean on. No organization of superheroes, no comic book supervillains, no giant blue laser to destroy the Earth. Just a pair of superhumans entering the fray to end slavery, struggle through the trenches, defeat the Nazis and do what they think is right. Or are they just fighting because it's all they know? What does risking life mean when one cannot die? Can James and Victor, violent men who risk nothing as they charge into battle time and time again, really be doing the right thing? If they aren't, could James grow into a better man? That is what a Wolverine origin story should be.
Origin stories are massively overdone, almost every superhero gets one, many get far more than one. They often become formulaic, in some cases feeling as if they're working from a checklist. A way to break the mold could be eschewing the obvious parts of the story, like how the hero got their powers. Perhaps a story could defy expectations and create something special through exploring what made the hero who they are on an emotional level, rather than what gave them their gifts or who gave them their job. Most fans know how Wolverine got his claws, but learning how the sickly kid became a hardened warrior and how that violent soldier can become a righteous hero is a personal and compelling narrative.
This is an issue of iconography versus impact. It is very hard to pitch a Wolverine film in which he isn't doing the one thing fans associate with the character; killing people with metal claws. Creators will often lean towards fanservice, X-Men Origins being one of the worst culprits in that department. A deeper dive into the character is harder to accomplish than a showcase of cool scenes and fun moments. That's why Origins skips over more than a century to spend two hours on a more marketable portion of the character's narrative.
James and Victor's character interaction was a particularly weak aspect of Origins, essentially boiling down to a dispute over acceptable levels of violence. This dynamic could be extremely interesting if it were explored properly. Wolverine has a complicated relationship with violence, often the most brutal of his peers, but he plays the calming influence with his brother. The pair fighting their way through battles that they know they'll survive, but don't know they'll win, is imminently fascinating. The pair struggling against each other, Victor becoming more hateful and vicious as James struggles against his own instincts. This kind of interplay is character building, for a relationship that will last the franchise.
Wolverine got a perfect send-off with Logan, but a deeply flawed background in Origins. If filmmakers could embrace origin stories that focus on building the person, rather than showing off the powers, maybe the trope wouldn't feel so tired.