Ethan Crossfield 
Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine won’t start with the familiar X-Men lineup—according to a new developer interview, this game takes place before the X-Men exist, reframing how mutants and Logan’s mission are likely to play out in the story.
What happened: Mutants are real, but the X-Men aren’t
Entertainment Weekly’s interview with members of Insomniac’s team adds crucial context to the game’s setting. While the world already recognizes superheroes such as Spider-Man—tying into events from Insomniac’s prior Spider-Man games—the X-Men haven’t formed yet. Mutants, meanwhile, are described as largely living in the shadows, with public awareness either driven by fear or by the belief that mutants should be exterminated.
In that environment, Logan is working for a special unit called Team X. The group is framed as a black-ops operation inspired by the comics’ version of Team X, with a stated goal of fighting for mutant survival. The implication is clear: even if mutants exist, organized mutant resistance through the X-Men is still in the future.
Why it matters: Team X reshapes what kind of Wolverine story to expect
The “no X-Men yet” detail helps explain what players have seen so far in trailers. Wolverine is often presented as a mostly solitary figure, and the interview suggests why the usual yellow-suited roster may be absent at this point. Even when characters like Jean Grey appear in recent footage, her look and relationship to Logan appear less like an established X-Men dynamic and more like something still undefined.
Team X also raises questions about how directly the game will lean into crossover-style encounters. The interview reportedly confirms several characters associated with Team X across other adaptations—including Sabretooth, Omega Red, Lady Deathstrike, and Mystique. However, the same coverage notes that Wolverine appears to be battling each of them at some stage. That leaves two likely interpretations: either Logan’s relationships within Team X fracture, or those characters are positioned as opponents rather than allies.
What to watch next: Combat, casting, and whether the X-Men arrive later
Beyond setting, the interview spends time on Insomniac’s approach to Wolverine as a character, including actor Liam McIntyre’s performance. McIntyre described using footage of rabid dogs to connect with Wolverine’s feral side, and collaborators characterized the commitment as intense. The creative team also emphasizes trust during production—animation director Brian Wyser suggests that this confidence helps the final performance look right.
With the game’s story reportedly focusing on Logan’s violent journey through a mutant landscape that hasn’t yet produced the X-Men, the biggest open question is timing. Fans hoping for a narrative-driven X-Men team experience may need to wait, but the coverage hints that the road could be paved for Xavier’s Academy further down the line.
- Expect a Wolverine-centric story where mutants exist, but the X-Men as an institution have not formed yet.
- Team X is confirmed as Logan’s in-world faction, but roster relationships may be unstable given the presence of major antagonistic figures.
- Trailer design choices—like the absence of the classic X-Men look—make sense in a timeline that predates the team.
- Watch for how Logan’s connections to other mutants (including Jean Grey) evolve without an established X-Men structure.
Expert View
This is a smart narrative constraint from Insomniac: by placing Wolverine in a pre–X-Men world, the studio can build tension around fear, extermination rhetoric, and underground survival rather than relying on the comfort of an already-established team. For players, it means the game’s identity is less “X-Men squad adventure” and more “mutant survival thriller with Wolverine at the center.” The risk is obvious—some fans may feel the absence of the team—but the upside is a cleaner, more character-driven arc that could make the eventual arrival of Xavier’s school (or the X-Men’s formation) feel earned rather than retrofitted.
