When he was first introduced, Wolverine was Marvel’s ultimate “mystery man.” First appearing in final page of The Incredible Hulk #180, readers knew nothing about the new superhero aside from his code name and status as a Canadian government agent. Everything else – from his unmasked appearance, to his real name, to the fact that his adamantium claws were actually part of his skeleton – was revealed in bits and pieces once Wolverine joined the X-Men.
Even then, Wolverine’s past remained an enigma – even to Logan himself. Having lost his memory long ago, Logan’s past remained one of Marvel’s greatest mysteries, until the creative team of Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada, Bill Jemas, and Andy Kubert told the official version of Wolverine’s early years in the acclaimed 2001 miniseries Origin. The series revealed that Wolverine was originally a sickly, frightened child named James Howlett who slowly grew into a gruff brawler while hiding in the Canadian wilderness after the emergence of his mutant powers led to him to accidentally kill his father.
Oddly enough, however, aspects of the Origin story showed up over ten years earlier in Wolverine #25, in a story by Jo Duffy and John Buscema entitled, “Heir-Aid.” While not an identical tale, this early version of Wolverine’s origin shows some remarkably similar plot points to Origin’s most famous twists.
“Heir-Aid” finds Logan living on the corrupt island of Madripoor where gangs and back alley deals are a way of life. When the crime boss Morrow calls in a favor, Logan travels to Madripoor’s poorest district of Warfside, and becomes involved in a gang war between Morrow and rival crime boss Piggot. Rather than recruit Logan to fight in the war, however, Morrow asks him to take care of his six-year-old son Gabriel, whom he fears Piggot might abduct and use as leverage.
Logan takes to his duties with his usual gruffness, but when Gabriel asks for a bedtime story, Logan softens and tells him about a time long ago in Canada when a weak, frightened boy named Logan was abandoned in the wilderness by his father for being a “useless coward.” Forced to trudge through a thick snowbank, the boy met up with a pack of wolverines who – for some unknown reason – decided to adopt the boy and make him a member of their pack.
As the years passed, the boy went feral – but grew to love his wild life, especially when he discovered that his body was resistant to the weather, his senses were as acute as an animal’s, and his wounds would heal with superhuman speed. When hunters tracked down the wolverines and began murdering them, however, the young Logan savagely attacked the hunters and provided the wolverines with enough carrion to last them through most of the winter.
Back in the present, Logan hears intruders enter the house and protects Gabriel – but becomes overwhelmed when the gang war spills into Morrow’s house and forces Logan to battle dozens of thugs. In the chaos, Piggot attempts to murder Morrow, but Gabriel – inspired by Logan’s story – hits him with a cart and saves his father. In the aftermath, Logan shows how much he respects the boy’s courage by remarking, “when the next generation rolls around, I know who I want running this end of town.”
While a separate story from Origin, “Heir-Aid” showed a version of a young Logan that has since made it into official Marvel canon. Like James Howlett, the boy in Logan’s story starts out frightened, weak, and afraid. He’s also cast out of his society, much like James was forced to run away from his home during the winter (albeit with the help of his governess Rose). Moreover, both James and the boy get in touch with their wild, stronger sides by running with a pack of wolverines.
Since Logan still couldn’t remember his early life in this story, it’s debatable how he came up with this story. Perhaps some trace memories of his past lingered in his mind or maybe he just merged his recollections of how he was abducted by the Weapon X program into a story resembling The Jungle Book. Either way, Wolverine’s “bedtime story” revealed his true origin to fans long before Marvel decided to produce an “official” version.