Published Jul 5, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT
JC is a pop-culture enthusiast and native New Yorker, with over 20 years of experience in entertainment as a writer/producer creating content for HBO, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. He has covered the biggest Hollywood red carpet premieres from Los Angeles, California, to Leicester Square, UK, and has been behind the scenes of hit series, interviewing notable industry personalities across all media, on the front lines of many of the most thrilling franchise hits and theatricals. A lifelong comic book reader, JC likes to say: “I knew comics were cool before primetime.” The intersection of comics, science fiction, and fantasy across all media, becoming mainstream, remains one of the most profound shifts in modern popular culture, keeping JC’s finger on the pulse, grateful for the opportunity to share his unique insights with fans everywhere, especially as a contributor to CBR and via the podcast “Out Loud & Live with JC Alvarez!”
You wouldn’t necessarily peg him as a fashion icon, but X-Men’s Wolverine shows off a startlingly cool retro 80s look that leaps off the cover and might give us a glimpse of what the hero’s MCU look could be.
On a series of upcoming variant covers, artist Alexander Lozano is giving Marvel’s mutants an inspired redress back in time. Fittingly straddling a Yamaha hotrod cycle with bright neon detailing, Logan is giving off a 1980s Miami Vice sense of heat. In ripped jeans, a Hawaiian button-down, and a leather racer jacket in his signature blue and yellow colors, a pair of Aviator glasses completes his ready-for-the-runway look.
It took movie audiences almost a quarter of a century for Wolverine to suit up on the big screen. Hugh Jackman has been sitting in the skin of everyone’s favorite wily wildman for all that time, but didn’t sport the traditional comic book look of the hero until 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine. And then made up for lost time by featuring practically everyone of Logan’s distinct outfits in a still-classic montage.
That moment in the film capitalized on pure fan service by giving the audience what it had been denied ever since the X-Men blockbuster introduced the team. They all mostly wore matching black leather suits in combat, which, for many, was somewhat contentious, and as Wolverine’s filmography progressed, Jackman wore various civilian outfits throughout the series.
Image via Marvel ComicsAs Deadpool (portrayed by Ryan Reynolds) jumped through the MCU multiverse in search of a variant Wolverine, several nods to Logan’s comic looks made their first live-action impressions. Besides ultimately landing on the fan-favorite yellow-and-blue, masked look, audiences were treated to “Patch” Logan in his white tuxedo jacket, an Age of Apocalypse Logan, and even an appropriately-five-foot-sized Logan.
Of course, audiences were given a shot of brown-and-tan Wolverine, and who can forget the ultimate dream casting: Henry Cavill as tank-top biker Logan. Fans are undoubtedly anxious to see Jackman don the suit one more time for Avengers: Doomday or its sequel, but even more thrilling is the anticipation ahead as the X-Men, including Wolverine, gear up for their proper reemergence in the MCU.
Wolverine, The Global Fashion Icon, Gets a Reboot
For his latest retro styling on the cover of Wolverine #24, Lozano may have drawn inspiration from iconic 80s television series like Miami Vice and Magnum P.I. Although this civilian look, with the mustache and unkempt, big hair, still reads as authentically Wolverine, it is not particularly “super heroic” yet remains iconic. It could make an interesting live-action reintroduction of the character when he gets rebooted.
With several names being tossed around, a proper announcement hasn’t been made of who will inherit the reins after Jackman vacates a role he has inhabited for 11 on-screen appearances. It’s unlikely that whoever steps in will appear in a suit we’ve seen before, but something completely original. For now, Lozano has given fans something to think about with his 1980s take on Wolverine. Vrooom!
Wolverine #24, featuring the variant cover by Alexander Lozano, is published by Marvel Comics and will be available July 22nd. Reserve your copy now at your favorite local comic retailer.
Wolverine first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #180, where he battled the Jade Giant to a standstill, before joining Marvel's X-Men in 1975. Since then, the short-tempered berserker with unbreakable claws has proven himself as one of Marvel's most popular characters. The mutant hero was also the backbone of the X-Men film franchise, which ran from 2000 to 2020, and critics consider his solo film, Logan, one of the best superhero movies ever made.
Known as an unstoppable tank who can cut through anything, Wolverine isn't technically one of Marvel's most powerful heroes but he's one of the deadliest characters on their roster. Even villains like Magneto and the Juggernaut have learned to be wary of Wolverine's claws.
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