Meet the new superhero 'Wolverhampton' - Find out more on the city’s bizarre place in Marvel comics universe
When you think of cities associated with the comic book universe, Wolverhampton isn't the first place that comes to mind.
Gotham City is home to Batman and Coast City is home to the Green Lantern but now, a Marvel artist has created a character named 'Wolverhampton', who appeared in a Marvel mind-swap comic as a cross between Wolverine and Spider Gwen.
But just how did the humble city of Wolverhampton find its way into the vast and complex Marvel Universe?
As always with the iconic US comic books nothing is simple.
But Marvel artist Tom Taylor says he is delighted with his creation and hopes he may return to the pages of Marvel soon.
He drew up the namesake character as a part of an intricate mind-swap storyline in the All-New Wolverine Annual Volume 1, based on a plot where Wolverine and Spider-Gwen switch conciousness with one another.
The character, who is dressed in a blue, gold and black outfit, appears in front of another new face by the name of Spider-Gwen, who at this point is inhabiting Wolverine’s mind.
He is a twist on the Marvel Universe character Spider Ham, a pig version of Spider Man who has made semi regular appearances in the comics since first appearing in ‘Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham #1’ back in November 1983.
Spider-Gwen, a character invented in 2015 in a world where Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker, asks Wolverhampton if he is Spider-Ham when she first sees him, to which he replies: “No.
“My name is Wolverhampton.”
Their conversation continues with Gwen asking him ‘huh?’ to which he replies: “It’s a city in England.”
Gwen then tells him she knows that but asks why that is his name, to which he replies: “I’m assuming it’s the only ‘Wolverine and pig’ portmanteau your subconscious could come up with on short notice.”
Speaking on how the character came about, Tom, who is also a number one New York Times best selling author and the co-creator of popular children’s TV series The Deep, said he had Wolverhampton in mind because he was aware of Wolverhampton Wanderers from watching football on television.
He said: “I was writing All-New Wolverine where Laura, Logan’s daughter from the recent Logan movie, is now Wolverine.
“I wrote an annual for Marvel where she was body-swapped with a popular new character called Spider-Gwen. “Spider-Gwen has a bit of an imaginary friend called Spider-Ham, whose been around in Marvel for ages.
“I thought it would be good to create a Wolverine version of this.
“He’s essentially a pig and Wolverine, so that makes perfect sense, right?”
Tom puts his choice of name for the character down to watching ‘a bunch’ of Wolves games over the years. He said: “I’ve never visited, but I’d love to get to the UK.
I’m a huge fan of the Premier League, and I co-created a TV series called The Deep, which I know has been the number one rated show for its age group across the UK on CBBC and Netflix.
“I’d definitely heard of Wolverhampton, being a football fan. I’ve watched a bunch of their games over the years. It is because of football that I probably thought of it so quickly.” And what does the future hold for our Black Country hero?
Tom said: “I think there’s something instantly funny and likeable about Wolverhampton – and hopefully someone will bring him back one day.”
