For decades, Hugh Jackman has brilliantly portrayed the iconic Marvel Comics character Wolverine to live action, originally in 20th Century Fox X-Men films and now in the MCU. However, as any comic book fan knows, his image (and the movies themselves) offered a decidedly unique take on the character that made some notable changes from the source material. And now, one more can be added to the list, as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine made a dark change to an iconic piece of Marvel lore.
in X2: X-Men United: The Movie Prequel: Wolverine By Brian K. Vaughan and Tom Mandrake, readers are shown what Wolverine was doing right after he left the X-Mansion in the first film, and right before he came to Alkali Lake in the second. While riding through Canada on Cyclops’ motorcycle, Logan is attacked by Sabretooth, who Wolverine (and fans) thought was dead after he was blasted off the Statue of Liberty.
After a brief skirmish, Wolverine and Sabretooth end up having a few beers together, as they realize they may have a shared past, and neither of them remember it. Then, the bar they are flooded with Weapon X soldiers, ordered to take them both in. So, Wolverine and Sabretooth team up to take the soldiers down, at which point Wolverine tells Sabretooth to do “Maneuver 355”, which was Sabretooth launching Wolverine claw-first at the enemy.
Wolverine & Colossus’ iconic ‘Fastball Special’ originated with Sabretooth in the movies
The fastball special was first used in X-Men #100 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum
“Maneuver 355” was a move performed by Sabretooth and Wolverine during their days as Weapon X operatives, and although Wolverine made it clear in the prequel comic that he didn’t remember how he remembered it, the maneuver is the exact same thing as the fastball Special. In the comics, Wolverine and Colossus came up with the Fastball Special during their time as mutant heroes on the X-Men, which means the movie-universe counterpart is much darker in every conceivable way.
Sabretooth – a known sadistic villain – not only replaces Colossus in this alternate ‘Fastball Special’ move, but he and Wolverine learned it as Weapon X Soldier. Sabretooth wasn’t throwing Wolverine at the bad guys in a fun combo that highlights their respective strengths (like Wolverine and Colossus’ Fastball Special), he was launching Wolverine at Weapon X marked for death, which often included innocent civilians – even children.
Wolverine eventually reclaimed the Fastball Special after his team-up with Sabretooth
X-Men: The Last Stand
While the Fastball Special (aka Maneuver 355) has dark origins in the Fox X-Men movies, Wolverine eventually reclaimed the move with Colossus. in X3Colossus and Wolverine (and some other X-Men) fight Sentinels in the Danger Room, and to take the latter down, Wolverine tells Colossus to throw him at the giant robot. Fans now know that Wolverine was no stranger to this maneuver, but after doing it with Colossus, Wolverine reclaimed the classic fastball special, making it more in line with the comics.
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The Fastball Special would eventually come back to be the fun, heroic move performed by Wolverine and Colossus that it was in the comics. However, this does not detract from the fact that this piece of Marvel lore has a dark origin in the movies, a change ushered in by Hugh Jackman’s iteration of Wolverine.