10 X-Men Who Deserve Cameos In Marvel’s Wolverine

Before Marvel’s Wolverine had its big PlayStation State of Play gameplay showcase last month, Insomniac had been somewhat tight-lipped about how many other mutant characters we might see throughout the course of the globe-trotting action-adventure game. However, because the X-Men are never too far from James “Logan” Howlett, Wolverine was bound to run into other mutants. Mystique appearing in Marvel’s Wolverine’s reveal trailer and characters like Jean Grey and Sabretooth appearing thereafter basically implies that anyone could feasibly be playing either a supporting or cameo role in-game.

Not unlike Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, Marvel’s Wolverine’s original story and continuity essentially give it a blank slate with no expectations as to what relationships Wolverine may have, much less which characters will eventually assemble as the X-Men. Indeed, there apparently isn’t even an established X-Men team yet in this universe, yet there are plenty of iconic and traditional X-Men characters in Marvel lore that would make for terrific cameos in Marvel’s Wolverine nonetheless.

10 Professor X

If Marvel’s Wolverine indeed intends to be the appetizer before a future X-Men game’s main course, it seems inevitable that Insomniac will feature a Professor Charles Xavier cameo sooner or later. However, with the X-Men absent in Marvel’s Wolverine’s story, perhaps Insomniac’s original narrative is making incredibly unprecedented choices in terms of which characters are actually paramount.

Marvel’s Wolverine not having a Professor X cameo would ironically be more illuminating than if it does, as that could possibly infer that Insomniac’s X-Men is going for a bold new origin that doesn’t feature him for some reason. But, even if we do not get to see Professor X yet, he could still have a cameo appearance via telepathic communication.

His full debut could be teased for a sequel, perhaps, with players hearing him as he suddenly begins talking in Wolverine’s mind, rather than meeting and speaking to him in person. Either way, whether or not there is a Professor X cameo in Marvel’s Wolverine will go a long way in helping to flesh out this universe’s much-needed worldbuilding.

9 Cyclops

Cyclops making a cameo appearance in Marvel’s Wolverine would seem like a no-brainer due to how immensely popular the stalwart X-Men leader has become, thanks in no small part to how wonderfully his portrayal has been in the nostalgic Disney+ TV show X-Men ’97. Scott Summers would apparently have no X-Men to lead, but maybe he could be depicted as the leader of Marvel’s Wolverine’s Team X, where he’d wear a yellow-and-black suit with all the utility straps and padding he could possibly dream of.

Cyclops commanding Wolverine on a battlefield, such as a Team X prequel mission, might give players a taste of what it’d be like with him leading the X-Men in a future Insomniac X-Men game. Otherwise, Insomniac could boldly choose not to take advantage of the character’s popularity and not feature him at all—a bold choice indeed, if Insomniac does go that route, since James Marsden’s Cyclops will appear in Avengers: Doomsday and propel the character into the stratosphere of hype even further.

8 Beast

Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy’s brilliance would make him a valuable cameo character. Flying what could eventually be known as the X-Men’s cloaked Blackbird jet (explaining how Wolverine makes it to Japan, Madripoor, and Canada), it would be neat to see Beast as a Team X affiliate who aids Wolverine in traversing the planet and locating mutants who are being hunted.

7 Colossus

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was the first real breadcrumb we received regarding how much Insomniac wished to emphasize players’ interactions with NPCs during combat, such as how Miles Morales, Harry Osborn, or Yuri Watanabe could randomly appear while players tended to criminal activity in the open world and participate in shared finisher animations with Peter Parker. We now know that this feature has been inherited in Insomniac’s upcoming Marvel epic, thanks to Marvel’s Wolverine’s extended gameplay trailer, as Wolverine fights Reavers alongside Jean, combining telekinesis and savagery.

So, if for no other reason, it would be excellent to have Marvel’s Wolverine depict Wolverine and Colossus’ iconic fastball special maneuver, wherein Piotr Rasputin picks Wolverine up and hurls him across the battlefield. Sadly, Marvel Rivals already beat it to the punch with an allied Hulk or Thing being able to throw Wolverine in the 6v6 live-service hero shooter.

6 Iceman

Marvel’s Wolverine’s visceral and gory combat would be complemented well by Robert “Bobby” Drake’s cryokinesis. It’s brutal enough seeing Wolverine stab endless holes into enemies and sever their limbs, but it’d add a fun and creative element to combat if players could shatter a block of ice encasing a Reaver and watch as they erupt in an explosion of blood.

5 Magik

Illyana Rasputina having a cameo would be another thrilling opportunity for Insomniac to flex its instantaneous load times via interdimensional and teleportation portals that players pass through with the Rift Tether in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and the Wand of Watoomb in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Just like Black Cat fluidly traverses between portals, so could Magik, with a ton of potential for creative tag-team finisher animations, as Wolverine might tackle a Reaver into a portal and stab them repeatedly as they careen back down from the sky.

4 Kitty Pryde

Kitty Pryde’s intangibility would make her a fun character to interact with, whether she’s someone who is helping Wolverine free mutants or a mutant whom Wolverine must free. It would be interesting to see characters who are traditionally X-Men be found at the beginning of this franchise as mutants who are in peril, with Kitty then potentially being inspired to join Wolverine, Jean, and anybody else they might recruit by the end of Marvel’s Wolverine.

3 Storm

Ororo Munroe is one of the X-Men’s most overpowered characters. Thus, having her appear in Marvel’s Wolverine would be astonishing if not for how underpowered Wolverine may seem in comparison.

That said, if mutants are beginning to come crawling out of the woodwork now in the events of the game’s story, it would be spectacular to see Insomniac implement a series of dynamic weather fluctuations in gameplay. Tornadoes sweeping Sentinels into the air, for instance, or a sudden downpour at night with lightning striking Reavers, could look exceptional in Marvel’s Wolverine’s high-fidelity graphics (rivaling Logan’s arm hair, even).

2 Gambit

Deadpool & Wolverine and X-Men ’97 have delivered two memorable iterations of Remy LeBeau that will probably define the character for the foreseeable future, particularly Channing Tatum’s hilarious Gambit appearing again this holiday season in Avengers: Doomsday. Therefore, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to see Gambit appear in Marvel’s Wolverine, though Insomniac’s brand-new iteration of him would have fairly big shoes to fill.

1 Angel

Besides his enormous, feathery wings being neat visually (and his Archangel appearance as one of Apocalypse’s Horsemen arguably being his best look ever), Warren Worthington III isn’t necessarily an inherently interesting character on the basis of his mutant powers alone, which is all we’d truly be able to expect from a new iteration of him in Insomniac’s original Marvel universe.

He’s a founding member of the X-Men in Marvel’s comic book source material, sure, but there is no guarantee that Marvel’s Wolverine will be adapting the X-Men’s founding members faithfully, especially if Wolverine is already around and presumably earns a role on the team once it is established. Still, Angel could be a neat character to have to rescue from Bolivar Trask’s Sentinels and the Reavers, and having him fly enemies or Wolverine around could be a fun way to make combat or traversal more three-dimensional.