Originally posted by srankmissingnin
He wasn't the main focal point in X-Men TAS... in fact... he was pretty much a joke.He wasn't the main focal point in X-Men Evolution... and again... he was pretty much a joke.
Despite being the title character for Wolverine and the X-Men, the difference in focus between Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men (for the most part at least, some of them are still under represented), wasn't all that severe.
Wolverine has practically never been the focal point in the X-Men comics. Sure he is there all the time but he rarely fills any role of importance to the story. In more than 30 years there are only a hand full of issues where Wolverine is the driving force behind an X-Men story.
He was the main character - for lack of a better term - in the move... but for the most part (like Wolverine and the X-Men), the rest of the cast got a comparable (though not equal) amount of screen time. Maybe Cyclops and Storm were under represented, but Magneto, Xavier, Rogue and Jean all got a good amount of screen time and character development.
He is the main character of his solo series... but that seems appropriate.
He has hands down has the most action figures and merch of any of the X-Men though.
Wolverine has never been the focal point of the X-Men universe?
In X-Men:TAS, Wolverine set the tone for the entire series. His outbursts and instincts were the basis for pretty much every scene he was in. If the story didn't revolve around him, then the story was rewritten to involve his instincts and insight, as though the other characters would never have made it out of a situation unless Wolverine was there to tell them what they did wrong; how wrong they were for not listening to him in the first place or at an outright disadvantage because he wasn't there.
X-Men Evolution did a good job of starting the entire mythology over again in line with the school aspect begun by the movies, but why was Wolverine one of the adult teachers while other, longer-established characters tuned back into teenagers when his own back story should have been no where to be seen given his history?
In the X-Movies he wasn't just the main character, but pretty much every plot point and story impetus was based on him not knowing who the hell he was and how he was going to figure that out. Even when Magneto wasn't actually looking for him, the entire film revolved around Magneto looking for Wolverine. I like that, because when it actually unfolded, Magneto made a joke about Wolverine thinking it was all about him. Again, don't assume that what's his face is right when he paints me as a Wolverine-hater. I think Wolverine has his place, but any time the entire X-Universe begins to focus on one character it begins to suffer. Magneto is my favorite, but anytime the entire universe becomes centered around him for more than a hand full of issues it starts to suck. Sadly, since the 90's Wolverine has been that character. Perhaps not always in the comics, but certainly in the public and the majority of off-shoot media endeavors.
What really happens is that Wolverine is the most over-exposed character, meaning that all those action figures, cartoons, one shots, posters and origin movies end up serving only the most vocal of X-Fans. I never said that the entire comic aspect of X-Men focused on Wolverine. Otherwise, there would only be five or six mutants in 40 years worth of comics. What I really said was that most people become involved with X-Men comics because Wolverine is in the story, being the badass they all really wish they were rather than taking the time to figure out which character they really are. No one wants to be leech, but most want to be Wolverine. To sum it up for barrel-butt or hammerhocks or what ever his name was; I like Wolverine, I just think his fans are typically idiots.