Marvel’s Wolverine Release Date Window, Plot Details, Spider-Man Connections, and More for the Insomniac Game

With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 now out in the wild, Marvel’s Wolverine is now the biggest upcoming Marvel game for PlayStation 5. Developer Insomniac Games shocked the world during the September 2021 PlayStation Showcase by revealing Marvel’s Wolverine. Yes, the people who made those excellent Spider-Man games for Sony consoles are doing Wolverine next. The project is headed up by Brian Horton and Cameron Christian, who led the charge on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales development. Details surrounding the game are still quite scarce, but here is everything we do know about Marvel’s Wolverine.

When Is the Marvel’s Wolverine Release Window?

Marvel’s Wolverine doesn’t even have a rough release window just yet. In a PlayStation Blog post about the game, Insomniac’s Head of Franchise Strategy & Studio Relations Ryan Schneider mentioned that it’s “very early in development,” which makes sense, considering Miles Morales came out less than a year before Wolverine’s announcement.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launched in October 2023, leaving Wolverine as Insomniac’s biggest revealed project. There’s still no word on a release date, but the Spider-Man series has followed a two-to-three-year cycle for releases, and it’s possible Wolverine could follow that schedule. In any case, it’s not likely to launch until 2025 at the earliest.

Is There a Marvel’s Wolverine Trailer?

Yes, there is! A short teaser trailer revealed the game during the September 2021 PlayStation Showcase. It doesn’t reveal too much, only the aftermath of a bar fight Wolverine was in. Check it out below.

What Is the Marvel’s Wolverine Story?

In a short interview after the presentation, Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst teased that Marvel’s Wolverine will be an “emotional and suspenseful journey.” Considering Wolverine’s rich history in comics, Insomniac has a lot to work with narratively.

And thankfully, Marvel’s Spider-Man games show that Insomniac knows how to tell a good superhero story. Insomniac teased a little bit of what players can expect in a PlayStation Blog post shortly after the reveal.

“In the vein of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit,” Schneider wrote. He also thinks Wolverine is more similar to Spider-Man than one might think.

“So many of the Insomniac team are such huge fans of the character, and one of the key elements that drew us to him is surprisingly not that different from Spider-Man: Both heroes feel deeply compelled to defend people who are less able to do so.”

Creative Director Brian Horton also confirmed that Marvel’s Wolverine will be a “full size” game, as opposed to a shorter experience like Miles Morales.

To assist with the story, Insomniac Games brought on Walt Williams, who’s best known for his work on Spec Ops: The Line. Williams will serve as Narrative Director on Marvel’s Wolverine. In addition, Animation Director Mike Yosh tweeted an image in April 2022, indicating that motion capture had begun.

Since the Wolverine trailer’s release, fans have speculated that the game could take place in Madripoor, a Southeast Asian island from the Marvel continuity. In Marvel comics, Wolverine spends time in Madripoor going by the alias Patch. Fans suspect that the eyepatch seen in the Wolverine trailer could be a reference to the arc. The trailer also shows posters for the Princess Bar, a location that Wolverine spent time in while he was in Madripoor.

Spider-Man 2 added fuel to the fire with another reference to Madripoor. While tracking down Kraven, players can find a note referencing a Dr. Farley Stillwell, who was relocated to Madripoor to use lab equipment for his own experiments. Dr. Stillwell is responsible for creating the Spider-Man villain Scorpion, and fans suspect that this Easter egg could point to a plotline that will be picked up in Wolverine.

What Are the Marvel’s Wolverine Platforms?

Since Marvel’s Wolverine is being developed by Insomniac Games, a first-party Sony studio, this game will be exclusive to PS5. By the time it launches, the PS4 will likely be phased out, with Sony focusing on its newest hardware. It’s unlikely this game will come to Xbox or Nintendo Switch, but a PC port is possible.

What Will Marvel’s Wolverine Gameplay Be Like?

Insomniac Games hasn’t shown gameplay yet, so it’s unclear what Marvel’s Wolverine will look like in action. The PlayStation Blog post only briefly teases gameplay. “Even though Marvel’s Wolverine is very early in development, from what I’ve seen of its emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay (see what I did there?), the team is already creating something truly special,” Schneider explains.

Speculating, this will likely be a brutal action game allowing players to hack and slash through enemies as Wolverine. The X-Men Origins: Wolverine game was surprisingly good as it leaned into that brutality that the character is known for. If Insomniac can surpass that licensed game’s quality, we’re in for a bloody good time.

While it might be a while before we actually see this game in action, we can’t wait to see more.

Marvel’s Wolverine is in development for PlayStation 5.