ShareThisFrom the pages of Marvel comic books, X-Men heroes and villains are introduced to the big screen in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," a prequel to the film trilogy. Bolt, Blob and Emma Frost are among the new mutants onscreen, along with recurring characters such as Cyclops/Scott Summers, originated by James Marsden but now played by Tim Pocock.
Here are a half-dozen X-Men characters with some background to jump-start your viewing experience (some info is deliberately vague to avoid spoilers):
Wolverine/Logan
Actor: Hugh Jackman (reprising his most popular role).
Power: Super-healer with retractable claws. And watch out for "berserker rage."
Origins: In the comic-book saga that inspires the opening scene of the film, James Howlett was a frail boy living in the 1800s when he saw his father killed and claws extended from James' hands for the first time. The boy escaped and was raised in a Canadian mining colony, where he took the name "Logan." Later, seeking revenge for what he believed to be a brutal attack on the love of his life, Kayla Silverfox, Logan entered the nefarious Weapon X program (which undergoes some alterations in the films), where his skeleton was bonded to the unbreakable metal adamantium.
William Stryker
Actor: Danny Huston.
Power: Nonmutant rogue military scientist.
Origins: Played by Brian Cox in "X2," the Stryker of that film had a grown mutant son who had killed his mother with his mutant abilities. In the Marvel-verse, it was Stryker who killed his wife and baby.
The Stryker of the comics was a military outcast on a crusade to purify the world of mutants. But the film "X2" introduced Col. William Stryker as a mutant-hating military scientist who conducted experiments to enslave or eliminate mutants.
Sabretooth/Victor Creed
Actor: Liev Schreiber.
Power: Feral strength and instincts; healing.
Origins: When last we left Sabretooth in the X-films, he was a growling henchman of Magneto and played by wrestler Tyler Mane. In the prequel, Schreiber takes on the angry beast of the Marvel Universe.
Unlike in the comic books, in which Victor and Logan clashed as adults, the film gives the pair a familial bond that's broken by Logan's disgust at Victor's brutality.
The paths of the two feral mutants continued to cross in violent ways in Marvel story lines and in the film.
Gambit/Remy LeBeau
Actor: Taylor Kitsch.
Power: Can charge objects with explosive energy.
Origins: Gambit was raised by street thieves until, at 10, he tried to pick the pocket of Jean-Luc LeBeau, head of the New Orleans Thieves' Guild, and was adopted by Jean-Luc. He got his nickname as a gambler whose trademark weapons are playing cards charged with energy.
They come in handy in the film when he's approached by Wolverine seeking the location of Stryker's island base.
Deadpool/Wade Wilson
Actor: Ryan Reynolds.
Power: Uncanny combat skills; he gained a superhuman healing factor similar to Wolverine's.
Origins: An assassin and mercenary, Wilson learned he had cancer in the comic-book world and became a test subject in the Weapon X Program.
Wilson, also known for his constant wisecracks, was an expert marksman and swordsman most identified with the two swords he would pull from sheaths on his back, as he does onscreen.
Kayla Silverfox
Actress: Lynn Collins.
Power: Healing, regeneration.
Origins: Kayla's story line in both the comic books and the film includes her happy life with Logan in the Canadian wilderness, before the attack that sets Logan on the path to becoming Wolverine.
Her involvement in the Weapon X program is explored in various ways onscreen and in the Marvel-verse.
John Wraith
Actor: Will.i.am.
Power: Teleportation.
Origins: Also known as Kestrel in the comic books, John Wraith could teleport himself and the X-team out of sticky situations. He's Wolverine's friend and ally in the film.
(Sources include Marvel Universe online at http://www.marvel.com.)
(Sharon Eberson can be reached at seberson(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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