A prequel to the X-Men films, revolving around Hugh Jackman's character. Y'know, because he'd been used so sparinglyup until this point in the franchise.Little Victor Creed loves his half-brother James "Jimmy" Logan dearly, so much that he ran with him into the night when the sickly little boy sprouted claws of bone and killed his birth father on a cold Canadian night in 1845.As they grew into men, the beast in Victor also awakens, and over the next one hundred years the brothers tore a bloody swathe through everymajor warof AmericanInvolvement. A century of bloodshed drove the already callous Victor mad, eventually resulting in their execution when Jimmy was forced to turn on him to protect a peasant woman from Victor during the Vietnam War.Thanks to the Healing Factor that conveyed near immortality, the execution merely "tickled" Jimmy and Victor, allowing Colonel William Stryker to exonerate them of their war crimes and recruit them into a squadron of mutant warriors that performed morally reprehensible tasks for the American Government. Jimmy left in disgust to start a new life after one massacre of innocents too many, with Victor enjoyinghis job too much to go with him. Victor's twisted mind took his beloved little brother Jimmy's departure as abandonment, and this he did not take too gracefully.Another Logan solo movie, The Wolverine, directed by James Mangold, is in the works. Though apparently it will follow the X-Men trilogy instead of just this movie.
Big Brother Instinct: For all his (many) flaws, Victor Creed really loves his little brother Jimmy. It's best illustrated in the Civil War part of the opening montage, when Logan is shot and they are (at the time) unaware of their healing factors, Victor's expression says it all.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Weapon XI in has full length retractable katana blades in each arm. At least Wolverine's blades might've slid into his forearm allowing him to bend his wrist. This guy has no excuse. The blades are in fact so long that he shouldn't even be able to bend his elbow.
Call Back: Col. Stryker says that Wade Wilson would be the perfect mercenary if it weren't for his mouth; towards the end of the movie, Wade has his mouth sewn shut.
Several characters from the comic book can also be seen in the Weapon X scenes: Quicksilver, Banshee, and Toad, specifically. Others are harder to distinguish on sight.
The name "Blob" is only mentioned once, as an insulting nickname that Fred Dukes hates. Even then, it only comes up when Freddie mishears Logan calling him "Bub".
"Gambit" is only briefly mentioned as Remy LeBeau's nickname that the prison guards gave him because he always beat them at poker.
"Deadpool" isn't spoken until the end of the movie, when it's used as a callsign for Weapon XI. Other than that, he's either "Wade" or "Weapon XI".
Victor's nickname Sabretooth is never mentioned.
Of course, averted by the main character. Although he's more frequently called "James" or "Logan", he fully embraces the codename "Wolverine" by requesting to add it to his military tags, replacing his actual name.
Composite Character: The film went along with the comic book's then (and rather compelling) implication of Dog Logan and Victor Creed/Sabretooth being the same individual, years later however, the comics show Dog and Sabretooth as not being the same person.
Cool Bike: The Harley-Davidson Logan acquires at the Hudsons' farm.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Wolverine handles Sabretooth with relative ease both of the times they fight after he gets the adamantium upgrade and it's only through sheer luck that Sabretooth doesn't die in either fight. Logan himself gets beaten up by Victor before the upgrade.
Deadpan Snarker: Wade Wilson. Too bad they took away Deadpool's mouth.
Empty Elevator: Very much averted - they're in the elevator, right in the firing line of two dozen mooks with automatic weapons.
Even Evil Has Standards: The generals allowed for Stryker to carry out his Weapon X project. However, one of them called Stryker out when telling him that he suspects that Stryker's motivations were basically out of Fantastic Racism. This gets him killed by Stryker.
False Reassurance: Wolverine nearly throttles Stryker at one stage when he thinks he's lying. Styker swears that he's telling the truth "on the life of my son!" Of course, as we saw in X2, Stryker doesn't value his son's life very highly.
Faux Affably Evil/Affably Evil: Stryker is very polite and charming, often calling Wolverine "Old friend". This doesn't change the fact that he's unrepentantly homicidal and manipulative.
Flashback Nightmare: Implied in one scene with Wolverine where he is screaming in bed and apparently accidentally injured Fox with his (regular) claws, where he explained that he had nightmares on everysinglewarhe fought in.
In Name Only: This film is fairly notorious for it, with many of the featured mutants having little (or nothing) to do with its comic book counterparts:
Emma Frost. The only attributes that she has in common with her comics counterpart is that she's blonde and can turn her skin into a diamond-like form. First Class would ignore her appearance in this story and present its own version of Emma as much closer to her comics counterpart. Then again, she's called "Emma", but the surname is never said.
Agent Zero. Not only do they use his New Weapon X callsign instead of his Weapon X one (Maverick), he somehow has Agent X's powers as well. Neither his powers as Maverick (kinetic energy absorption and redirection), nor his powers as Agent Zero (corrosive skin secretions designed to defeat Healing Factor abilities) make an actual appearance. Oh, and he's no longer East German. Perhaps they actually confused Agent Zero with Agent X?
Bolt. Or Bradley, for those who missed him because he's long-dead in the comics. He's not only not called by his callsign, he's also no longer the kid Maverick teaches in the use of his powers after retiring - he's now Maverick's comrade-in-arms. Who, instead of lightning-flinging powers, has electric-appliance-powering-and-controlling powers.
Deadpool, full stop.
In the comics, Blob's fat body was a part of his mutation, with the super strength more of a Required Secondary Power. In fact it's the fat that made him virtually resistant to any weapons.
It's Personal: The only thing in the world Victor cares about is his baby brother. When said brother walks out on him, he doesn't take it well.
This is also how Stryker gets Jimmy involved in the Weapon X program.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: For all its faults, the film's opening montage of the many wars the US has been in did show Victor's decline from a soldier doing his job to a ruthless killer quite nicely without being really obvious about it.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Wolverine's "memories don't grow back", but his ability to speak, read, walk, recognize police cars, hide from police cars, etc, do.
In the comics it is explained that when Wolverine experiences particularly traumatic moments, his brain mentally 'heals' around the memories of that moment. Traumatic memories could include having to watch the woman you love die/betray you, watching all of your friends and family members get killed, undergoing an intensely painful medical procedure under no anesthesia or finding out your brother is now an Ax Crazy psycho.
And that's not even getting into the pain of having several slugs being fired into your skull/brain at near point-blank range.
Mythology Gag: In the comics, Deadpool's nickname was "The Merc with the Mouth". Here, he's the Merc with No Mouth.
Stryker's ultimate mutant weapon being called "Weapon XI", in reference to the revelation in the comics that "Weapon X" actually meant "Weapon Ten". Which means that if Weapon XI is Wade Wilson, and Weapon X is Wolverine, there were nine previous attempts.
Stryker can be seen wearing a silver cross necklace in the scene where he goes to meet Logan in the hospital, likely as a nod to the fact that he was a priest (not a military officer) in the comics.
Pragmatic Adaptation: In the comics, Fred Dukes A.K.A Blob, is a mutant whose specific abilities seem to revolve around being morbidly obese. In the film however, Dukes is physically fit until he develops an eating disorder, but his super strength is what allows him to carry his own weight.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "I can feel your spine, Johnny Boy. Never knew you had one."
Present Day Past: The movie doesn't look like it takes place 20-30 years before the main X-Men movies.
Rule Of Cool: The movie is generally considered at its best when it remembers that it's about Hugh Jackman running around stabbing people in the face.
The Runaway: In the beginning of the film, young James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine and Victor Creed ran away from home together after James stabs and kills Thomas Logan for murdering his father, then finds out that Thomas was his real father.
Token Good Teammate: Subverted. Wolverine was the most vocal and adamant about his disapproval of Team X's actions, but it turns out after his departure most of the rest left not long after, with only Zero and Victor staying behind.
Too Dumb to Live: John Wraith, whose only power is teleportation and who thinks the best way to take down a big angry guy with claws and a huge healing factor is to punch him out.
The Stinger: After the credits there is a short clip. There are two clips (a different one depending on your screening) that all function as some sort of Sequel Hook. On the DVD Blu-Ray release, the Deadpool ending is included at the end of the credits, whilst the Japan ending is included as a deleted scene.
Unobtanium: Adamantium comes from meteors. Specifically, sacred African meteors, making it this continuity's answer to Vibranium. Thus completing the transformation begun in the Ultimate Avengers films.
Unwitting Pawn: The look on Wolverine's face when Blob told him that Stryker was performing experiments on mutants and when he realizes what led him to willingly get his brand spankin' new adamantium skeleton... priceless.
Vapor Trail: Wolvie ignites a spark with his claws. The fire travels up the trail of fuel leaking from Agent Zero's downed helicopter.
Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: Striker finally finds a way to shut Wade up by first sewing, and in the finished version, plastering his mouth shut. The Stinger shows the decapitation/fall of the head somehow opened it again.
Wolverine Publicity: The first X-Man so popular that he gets his own movie. Also features fan-favorites Wade Wilson and Gambit.
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