X-Position: An X-Men Podcast #14: Repo Man

"There's always a choice. You're the one who taught me that."

After giving us a glimpse of Wolverine's past in "Red Dawn," the stage was set for a full-length exploration in our very next episode. And with that, season two continues its globe-trotting, introspective character-driven features with a solo outing centered on the enigmatic Canadian X-Man. Notably, the extended flashback at the center of "Repo Man" pulls directly from Barry Windsor-Smith's 1991 Marvel Comics Presents serial, "Weapon X." Violent and atmospheric, this adaptation can't help but suffer in comparison due to the necessity of reigning in the comic's harsher elements for Saturday morning consumption. Beyond that, "Weapon X" had a tenuous relationship with the canon from its inception, with the story calling its own authenticity into question at various points. Nevertheless, "Weapon X" was so well-received that it stood for years as the most definitive account of Wolverine's origin. Later revelations and retcons would muddy the waters, but at this point, the animated series is guided by a very solid pedigree.

The inclusion of Alpha Flight, while appreciated from a world-building standpoint, doesn't do this episode many favors in terms of clarity. Outside of shedding some light on Wolverine's past, the plot is concerned with linking two seemingly disparate milestones in Logan's history: how his skeleton came to be laced with adamantium, and his involvement with Alpha Flight. The shadowy, unscrupulous, ultra-militaristic Department H serves as the connective tissue, leading to an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion. If Department H was behind or had knowledge of the Weapon X Project, as the episode suggests, then Logan escaped their clutches by the skin of his teeth, only to soon thereafter coincidentally meet James Hudson, who happens to be the leader of Canada's premiere superhero team, and is brought in to join Alpha Flight, under the purview of... Department H. It begs the question as to how Wolverine was allowed to leave the team in the first place. (To say nothing for the fact that he was given the codename of the project that "created" him, a detail which makes little sense as either another absurd coincidence or as an inside joke by Department H... for the audience's benefit only.) Department H's connection to Weapon X seems like it should come as a major revelation, at least to Logan, but the script doesn't attribute any particular significance to this. Still, it's hard to fault the show for filling in logic gaps that the comics themselves had yet to address, given the time and resources allotted.

Wolverine's mysterious past represents a corner of X-Men lore that somehow always manages to be more interesting in theory than in execution. Every resolution offered comes with its own set of brand new questions, and in that sense, "Repo Man" can be considered faithful to the spirit of Wolverine's role throughout the '90s. As a cohesive story, it is ultimately unsatisfying, but almost manages to stick the landing by way of momentum and novelty. It remains to be seen how sustainable that approach will be going forward.

X-TRA: This episode was written by Wolverine co-creator Len Wein, his first of four such credits over the course of the series. It's a curious fit, given that Wein chronicled only Wolverine's earliest appearances when the character was effectively a blank slate. He therefore has the unenviable task of cobbling together pieces of a mythology which he had no hand in establishing. It's an admirable effort, and a credit to the production for reaching outside their usual pool of television writers.