Marvel's Wolverine may be reintroducing gamers to one of the X-Men's most well-known heroes, but appearances by other members of Marvel's mutants could open the door for a full X-Men game down the road. While Wolverine himself is one of the most popular members of the X-Men, fans of the franchise would argue that the team of mutants, and how they learn to work together, is much bigger than just one hero. Wolverine himself has often had his own solo adventures, but he is at his best when teamed up with his fellow X-Men, which is why Marvel's Wolverine should include Cyclops and other members of the team.
While it is important that Marvel's Wolverine keeps the focus of both the story and the gameplay on Logan, there are several ways that it could introduce other members of the X-Men without overstuffing the narrative. In Marvel Comics, Wolverine has been the star of his own series many times, though those storylines often bring in other members of the X-Men to work with him. For instance, in 1984's Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-6, Wolverine becomes Kitty's mentor while helping her save her father from the Yakuza. In 2019's Wolverine and Cyclops run, Wolverine has to team up with the last remaining member of the X-Men, Cyclops, in order to help protect mutant kind, forcing him to learn to work with his frequent foil. Marvel's Wolverine could take inspiration from these comics, helping to introduce other members of the X-Men without allowing them to take over the narrative.
This could lead to Marvel's Wolverine beginning a shared universe of games featuring the X-Men. In this way, if Insomniac wanted to eventually create a full X-Men game, Wolverine could take a backseat in the storyline, having already been introduced and developed in Marvel's Wolverine. This would give characters like Nightcrawler more of a chance to shine. Because of the massive breadth of characters regularly involved in X-Men stories, it can be challenging to give each main member the time they need to develop. However, since Insomniac already announced that Marvel's Wolverine and Marvel's Spider-Man share the same universe, the possibility of a crossover could provide more opportunities to flesh the studio's version of the X-Men out. Introducing certain members from the X-Men in Marvel's Wolverine would also help to build their individual characters prior to the events of their own game, and possibly hint at where the narrative could be headed.
Introducing More X-Men Would Expand Insomniac's Marvel Universe
Unlike Marvel's Wolverine or Marvel's Spider-Man, a full X-Men game would not just be able to focus on one playable character, as many X-Men fans would be let down that their favorite heroes were excluded. In this way, a full X-Men game could take after games like Marvel's Avengers or Gotham Knights and introduce co-op gameplay where players can work together online, or work with bots in single-player (possibly even being able to swap between heroes in solo mode). This would not only provide an opportunity for the game to utilize the many heroes it would introduce, but also set up team attacks or popular combos from the comics and animated shows. A great example would be to give players the ability to use Wolverine and Colossus' famous fastball special (where Colossus tosses Wolverine into enemies) if players have both characters on their team.
A full X-Men game would need to bring in multiple X-Men favorites such as Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Psylocke as playable characters, among many others. Having at least some of these X-Men established in Marvel's Wolverine could not only help to introduce players to the various characters on the team, but also help strengthen its gameplay with different combat opportunities, similar to the recently released Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. In this way, the X-Men can serve not only as an introduction to their own game, but as an asset to Marvel's Wolverine as well.