How Old Is Wolverine? [Movies & Comics]

Wolverine is one of the fan-favorite characters among the X-Men and mutants in the Marvel comics and movies. There’s so much information about Wolverine out there. However, it seems almost impossible to pinpoint just how old he is due to his healing factor and several origin stories. So, how old is Wolverine in the movies and comics?

The information was revealed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but some storylines from other movies revisit that date with Wolverine from the future returning to the past and similar situations. Let’s go through the information we have to determine how old Wolverine is at specific points in the character’s history.

How Is Wolverine So Old?

Wolverine’s mutation gives him a very strong healing factor. He can heal from any kind of damage – even regrow limbs after he loses them. The healing factor also slows down his aging, which allows him to grow that old – joining the X-Men when he was already around 130 years old.

Had there not been the Weapon X experience and adamantium injected in his body, he would likely be able to grow much older than he did before eventually dying. Deadpool’s healing factor came in the same experiments directly from Wolverine but modified to battle his cancer – eventually allowing Wade Wilson to grow even older.

Is Wolverine the Oldest Mutant?

Being around 130 years old when he joined the X-Men, Wolverine is the oldest member of the X-Men, older than even Professor X and Magneto. However, he’s not the oldest mutant ever.

For instance, Seleene is often considered the first-ever human mutant, born in 10000 B.C. Apocalypse was also at least 5000 years old. Also, the 1990 comic called Namor: The Sub-Mariner has a tagline that says, “Marvel’s first and mightiest mutant.” His story predates the X-Men by decades, even centuries.

There’s also Exodus, Azazel, and others. Compared to them, Logan being born in the 19th century is nothing. Come to think of it, even Sabretooth is older than Wolverine, seeing that he’s depicted in the movies as Logan’s older brother.

How Old Is Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine?

I’ll start with the movies, as we have a more definitive answer about Logan’s age than in the comics. We learn exactly when Logan was born in the prologue of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

We learn that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was born in 1832 to rich parents on a farm in Canada. He learns that he had mutant powers when he was already thirteen and killed his father, Thomas Logan Howlett. We also learn that’s why Wolverine goes by the name of Logan despite his real name being James Howlett.

Wolverine fights alongside his half-brother Victor Creed, who is six years older than him. They battle in numerous wars, including the Civil War in the late 1800s, WW I, WW II, and the Vietnamese War. Victor eventually turns bad and becomes the infamous Sabretooth, while Logan undergoes the Weapon X experiments in the early 1990s.

By that time, Wolverine is already around 160 years old.

How Old Is Wolverine in X-Men: First Class?

The X-Men: First Class movie revolves around the first X-Men team that Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, ever assembled. The team included Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Beast, and others, while the plot is set in the early 1960s.

Although Wolverine still wasn’t a part of the team, we saw him in 1962. He still doesn’t have the adamantium skeleton, but following his origin story makes him 130 years old at that moment.

How Old Is Wolverine in Days of the Future Past?

Some fans might’ve been confused with Wolverine’s age in the Days of the Future Past storyline, even if they knew that the Origins story marks his date of birth in 1832.

The plot is set in an apocalyptic future in 2023, where Logan already has visible grey hair, meaning his healing factor is slowly diminishing, and signs of aging become visible.

He then returns to 1973, where Logan from the future possesses his past self to change future events before they transpire. However, his body is still the same age, meaning that Wolverine is 141 years old in 1973, or 191 in 2023.

How Old Is Wolverine in X-Men: Apocalypse?

The timeline in Apocalypse is a bit warped, as we see Logan already entering the Weapon X program in 1983. Still, his birth should be considered the same – therefore, he’s 151 at the moment when Jean Grey saves him and lets him escape the experiments.

How Old Is Wolverine in X-Men 1?

The X-Men 1 is considered the first time when the movie Logan officially meets the X-Men. It’s in the year 2000, meaning that Wolverine is around 168 years old when he joins the team.

Later revisions of the timeline caused by the events in Days of the Future Past change that a bit,  but we’ll stick to the original timeline to determine his age in the movies.

How Old Is Wolverine in X2: X-Men United?

The second X-Men movie came out in 2003, the same year when the events depicted in the movie took place. Logan returns to Weapon X that year as well.

The timeline from Origins still stands, meaning that Wolverine is 171 years old in the second X-Men movie.

How Old Is Wolverine in X3: X-Men: The Last Stand?

This was one of my favorite movies in the entire franchise. It was also the most emotional event for Wolverine, as he had to battle Magneto with the rest of the X-Men and his love, Jean Grey, who had become the Dark Phoenix.

The events in The Last Stand happened in 2006, meaning Wolverine is 174 years old.

How Old Is Wolverine in The Wolverine?

After his love, Jean Grey dies after the Last Stand, Wolverine leaves the X-Men in grief briefly and goes to Japan. There, he meets an old friend whose life he had saved many years ago, but it turns into a big conspiracy between the mutants and the Yakuza.

The Wolverine movie takes place between 2013 and 2014, So if we’re following the original continuity, Logan is 181/182 at the moment. After this came Days of the Future Past, where the timeline changed due to time traveling and changing past events.

How Old Is Wolverine in Logan?

Finally, we come to the last movie where we’ve seen Logan – the movie where he dies. The film of the same name, Logan, was released in 2017, but the movie’s events are set in 2029, as the director James Mangold said in an interview for ComicBook.com.

Logan is 197 years old there, and signs of aging are clearly visible. He has grey hair and beard, and scars are visible on his body. He even dies in the end due to injuries, which was almost impossible before.

Why Did Logan Get Old?

When we know that Logan lived for over 170 years and looked as fresh as ever, it’s hard to understand how he could’ve gotten so old only a few decades later. Well, it’s a combination of several factors that leads to him eventually getting old and dying.

Logan has a healing factor that prevents his aging or at least severely slows it down. However, the healing factor gets weaker and slower as he ages. It wouldn’t be a big problem, and he could’ve lived a lot longer, but there’s a problem.

The adamantium that was put inside him is poisoning him severely all the time. Therefore, as his healing factor slowed down, it couldn’t cope with the heavy metal poisoning fast enough, resulting in Logan rapidly aging and eventually dying.

How Old Is Wolverine in the Comics?

It was never explicitly stated how old Wolverine is in the comics. However, many hints point to him being born around the 1880s. That means he’s about fifty years younger than the movie version of the character but still the oldest member of the X-Men by a landslide.

He first joins them when Professor X asks him for help to save captured X-Men from Krakoa. Logan is around 130 years old then and gets much older throughout the comics.

There are several versions and timelines in the comics, so Wolverine’s age varies based on the version. For instance, in Old Man Logan, he’s around 200 years old, and his healing factor slowed down, making him wrinkled, grey-haired, and slowly but painfully dying from adamantium poisoning.