Religious Affiliation of Comics Book Characters
Above: Logan (Wolverine) prays at a Shinto temple in Kyoto, Japan.[Source: Wolverine: Soultaker, issue #2 (May 2005), page 6. Written by Akira Yoshida, illustrated by Shin "Jason" Nagasawa; reprinted in Wolverine: Soultaker, Marvel Entertainment Group: New York City (2005).]
Above: Holding the Bible, Wolverine prays in a Christian church. [From the "Nightcrawler" episode of X-Men: The Animated Series.]
The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character
Wolverine
Logan, of the X-Men and the New Avengers
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Wolverine.html
Wolverine is the code name of the Marvel Comics character who was long known simply as "Logan." (Long after his introduction, the character's real name was revealed to be "James Howlett.") Although originally a relatively minor character introduced in The Incredible Hulk #180-181 (October - November, 1974), the character eventually became Marvel's second-most popular character (after Spider-Man).
[Source: Wolverine, volume 3, issue #6, page 18. Written by Greg Rucka. Pencils by Darick Robertson. Inks by Tom Palmer. Reprinted in Wolverine: The Brotherhood trade paperback, Marvel Entertainment Group: New York (2003).]
Wolverine was for many years one of Marvel's most mysterious characters, as he had no memory of his earlier life and the origins of his distinctive Adamantium skeleton and claws. Like much about the character, his religious affiliation is uncertain. It is clear that Wolverine was raised in a devoutly Christian home in Alberta, Canada. His family appears to have been Protestant, although this is not certain. At least into his teen years, Wolverine had a strong belief in God and was a prayerful person who strived to live by specific Christian ethics and moral teachings.
Over the many decades since he was a child and youth in 19th Century Alberta, Wolverine's character has changed significantly. It is safe to say that Wolverine, at his core, is now something of a cynic and a skeptic.
Some fans characterize Wolverine as an "atheist," but this may be an oversimplification or a misidentification with regards to the character's current status.
Has Wolverine been an atheist? Yes, absolutely. Has he identified himself as an atheist in the past? Yes. Is he an atheist today? That is a more difficult question to answer. Currently, this question seems open to interpretation depending on the writer or reader. On more than one occasion, Wolverine has been shown having experiences that led him to have faith in "immaterial" and "metaphysical" phenomenon, including God and Heaven.
Wolverine has indeed expressed disbelief and frustration with God in isolated stories. For example, Wolverine apparently briefly identified his theological position as an unbeliever in The Uncanny X-Men during the Brood War saga in the 160s (circa 1983, but not #166). A story delving into Wolverine's past showed how he became an atheist during World War II after his girlfriend was killed by the villain Cyber. But Wolverine has certainly changed and developed, while having many influential experiences and not a few theological dicussions, since then. For example, Wolverine has actually been to Heaven. It is safe to say to say that Wolverine has been an atheist in the past, but too many stories have established Logan as having found and practiced religious faith to characterize the current character as an atheist.
Wolverine has spent considerable time in Japan, and has studied under some Japanese martial arts masters. Wolverine has been shown praying in Buddhist and Shinto temples, and participating in Buddhist ceremonies in both the comic books and animated adaptations of The X-Men. But Wolverine is not known to practice Buddhism regularly nor is known to have ever overtly identified himself as a Buddhist.
Furthermore, although it is far more common for religious Japanese to identify themselves as Buddhists than Shintoists, it should be remembered that Wolverine's late fiance, Mariko Yashida, was from a family that was overtly identified as Shintoist. (Various visual clues indicate the Yashidas were also Buddhists, as is often the case in Japan.) Mariko worshipped the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu. Her cousin, Sunfire, is an acknowledged Shintoist. The wedding of Logan and Mariko was to have been a Shinto wedding, as shown in Uncanny X-Men #170. However, Wolverine should in no way be regarded as a Shintoist.
Wolverine has also been depicted praying in a Christian church and seeking advice and absolution from his devout Catholic teammate Nightcrawler on religious topics.
Although Wolverine has never been portrayed as religiously devout or an orthodox member of any organized religious denomination, he has frequently expressed sincere religious belief. Indeed, his various experiences suggest that he has more reason to believe in God than nearly all other Marvel comic book characters.
Wolverine has a highly developed personal sense of morality and ethics that seems to be of his own devising, and not derived from any specific belief system. However, Japanese culture (including Bushido and a Samurai sense of honor), as well as the teachings of Charles Xavier, have been important influences in the formation of Logan's belief system. Another important aspect of Wolverine's goals and personal code of ethics is his drive to regain and retain his humanity in the wake of his transformation into a living weapon at the hands the Weapon X program, the military/intelligence program which gave infused his skeleton with adamantium and trained him as a deadly operative. Wolverine also works to keep his anger in check, lest he slip into one of his deadly berserker rages.
Neither an atheist nor an orthodox religious believer, Wolverine may best be characterized as one who struggles both with God and himself. He is rarely a static character, but seems always to be on a journey toward self-improvement and personal redemption.
Wolverine is a hero not simply in the spandex-wearing, villain-fighting sense of the word. More importantly, he is marked as a hero by his constant battle with himself to overcome an inherently anti-social, violent, sinful, animal nature, while striving to live in a humanistic, spiritual, positive way.
With regards to the specific question of whether Wolverine/Logan believes in God, a reader of this website who has read every issue of Wolverine that has been published wrote that there have been numerous issues in which Logan has had the opportunity to debate about God and religion in general, always doing so with the sense that he believes God exists, although often wondering about specific points of doctrine and ethical questions.
Notable among recent storylines was an issue in which he sought out Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), an Catholic priest, to request last rites for a loved one who was dying in his arms. In Wolverine, volume 3, issue #6, Wolverine sought to receive spiritual absolution from Nightcrawler after feeling guilty about a recent with a particularly high death toll.
Wolverine is one of only a handful of characters in mainstream comics who is known to have seen the afterlife. After he lost his Adamantium skeleton because of Magneto, Logan was on his deathbed and was visited by Illyana Rasputin (a.k.a. "Magik," the sister of Colossus) in the afterlife, and he begged her to let him come home to heaven, or wherever she was.
[Source: House of M: The Day After, published by Marvel Comics Group (2005), page 34; reprinted in X-Men: The Day After trade paperback (2006); written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Randy Green and Aaron Lopresti, inked by Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund and Don Hillsman III.]
Below: Not long after coming back from the dead, Colossus and Wolverine talk about coming back from the dead. This scene shows that Wolverine is contemplative, or at least somewhat curious, about the "afterlife," at least inasmuch as the deaths and returns of Colossus and Psylocke might tell him something. Wolverine has not made up his mind about what he thinks the afterlife will be like. He is more of a "skeptical seeker" than somebody who has embraced a particular answer or belief set.
When the typically more philosophical Colossus turns the tables slightly and asks Wolverine why he now lives yet his sister is still dead, Wolverine isn't about to answer. Wolverine may be "the best he is at what he does," but answering deep philosophical questions about life and death is not what he does.
[Source: House of M: The Day After, published by Marvel Comics Group (2005), page 34; reprinted in X-Men: The Day After trade paperback (2006); written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Randy Green and Aaron Lopresti, inked by Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund and Don Hillsman III.]
Text from scene above, which takes place the day after "M-Day," the day when the Scarlet Witch's power caused most of the world's mutant population to be de-powered and turned into normal humans instead of mutants. From House of M: The Day After, published by Marvel Comics Group (2005), pages 33-34; reprinted in X-Men: The Day After trade paperback (2006); written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Randy Green and Aaron Lopresti, inked by Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund and Don Hillsman III:
Colossus: How many students are left, Logan?
Wolverine: Not a lot. Thirty, maybe. Y'know, Petey -- Magneto, Apocalypse, Sinister, Sublime, even Cassandra Nova -- at their worst, none of 'em ever hurt us as badly as this.
Colossus: What is wrong, tovarisch [Russian for: "friend"]?
Wolverine: Just feelin' my age. Usedta be, my life was a mystery. What I wanted more'n anything, was t' know what I missed.
Colossus: Be careful what you wish for.
Wolverine: Yup.
Colossus: It's been ages since I sketched you . . .
Wolverine: Some other time.
Colossus: I brought beer.
Wolverine: What the hell.
Colossus: So much has changed since I've been gone. I fell like I've been standing still.
Wolverine: You an' Psylocke both, back from the dead. Ever think to compare notes?
Colossus: For her, that transition was instantaneous. For me . . . day after endless day of torment.
Wolverine: You look like you're coping.
Colossus: Tell me, Logan. Why am I alive and not my sister? Why do I have my powers, when so many others have lost theirs?
Wolverine: How the hell should I know?
Colossus: Our cause seemed so simple when Professor Xavier explained it. And so . . . just. Good guys and bad guys, who can argue with that? I remember when we fought Proteus, who could turn the world to clay and twist it as he pleased. We found a way to win. I found a way to destroy him.
Wolverine: What's yer point?
Colossus: I want to hit someone. I want to fight. But how can you fight something like this?
Wolverine: Some things have to be taken on faith.
Colossus: And when that faith is lost?
Wolverine: Still workin' on that one.
Animated Wolverine: praying in church
In the X-Men animated TV series, an episode portrayed Wolverine converting from atheism to belief in God. The episode, titled "Nightcrawler" (episode #44, Season 3, 13 May 1995), introduced Kurt Wagner, the overtly Catholic Christian character of the same name. Nightcrawler's strong faith in God caused Wolverine to question his own disbelief and find faith in God. This may be one of the most religious, theology-laden episodes ever made in a mainstream animated cartoon series. The episode is included in the DVD X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine, which was widely distributed in video stores and other outlets. From: Steve Beard, "Bamf! The gospel according to Nightcrawler", on Thunderstruck.org website (http://www.thunderstruck.org/nightcrawler.htm; viewed 8 December 2005):
With the heightened popularity of the X-Men movies, a DVD collection of animated TV episodes from the early 1990s has been released entitled X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine (Buena Vista). It includes an entire episode devoted to the origin and theological disposition of Nightcrawler.
The story takes place within a monastery in a small Bavarian village in Germany. Three of the X-Men (Wolverine, Gambit, and Rogue) find themselves being aided by monks in the aftermath of an avalanche. Having been mistaken for a demon by the townspeople because of his looks, Nightcrawler explains to Wolverine and his friends that his genetic mutations were evident from birth and that the villagers chased he and his mother of out of town.
His mom (Mystique) also abandoned him as a child (in the comics, she throws him over a waterfall) and a family of travelling performers took him in. When he was young he was able to work in the circus, but he was still treated as an outcast, "shunned and hated." In talking with Wolverine, Nightcrawler says, "Though all people are flawed and struggle with the capacity for sin, none likes to be reminded of our shared human weakness. My appearance does not make it easy."
"Don't it make you crazy?" Wolverine asks with incredulity.
"It did once, but then I found peace by devoting my life to God," said Nightcrawler. "He directed me to this place [the monastery] where they value the character of my heart, not my appearance."