Elizabeth Howlett

Elizabeth Howlett is the troubled mother of young James Howlett (the future Wolverine) in late 19th-century Canada. Her difficult marriage and strained household set the tragic events of Wolverine's earliest years into motion.

Few characters carry as much quiet, tragic weight as Elizabeth Howlett, the figure at the very heart of Wolverine's origin story. Introduced in the landmark 2001 Marvel series Wolverine: The Origin — a Modern Age event co-created by Paul Jenkins, Bill Jemas, and Andy Kubert that finally pulled back the curtain on one of comics' greatest mysteries — Elizabeth anchors a story that shares its pages with Logan himself, Thomas Logan, Sabretooth, and John Howlett Sr. Her presence across Wolverine, Wolverine: The Origin, and Origin II speaks to how foundational she remains to that mythology, and though her catalog appearances are select rather than sprawling, each one carries genuine significance. For collectors and fans who want to understand where the most famous X-Man truly comes from, Elizabeth Howlett is the place to start.