Logan’s mother is still alive! At least that is the impression the momentous Wolverine #400 wants to leave readers with. After defeating Romulus and Adamantine, Logan receives a mysterious letter from his supposedly deceased mother, Elizabeth Hudson. Wolverine’s mother was long thought to be dead by a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head, as shown in Origin. This shocking plot development likely received some eye-rolls and groans from some readers. Long-lost family members are a constant soap opera trope many view as cheap dramatic ploys. Furthermore, Logan has had multiple family angles played too many times for some fans’ tastes. How many forgotten children and brothers does Logan have?
But there’s something inherently more interesting about having Logan’s mother revealed as alive rather than a different family member. Elizabeth Hudson is a pre-existing character whose story fans believe began and ended within one miniseries. There is still a lot of mystery with the character, and while fans would prefer if certain things in Logan’s life remain unknown, there’s still plenty of narrative drama to gain from Mama Wolverine returning to modern day. Readers don’t often see Logan interact with any of his parents for long, even in What-If storylines. It would be refreshing to see what that relationship would be like today.
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We Get To Finally See a New Side of Logan’s Family
Elizabeth offers a good opportunity for the comics to cover the maternal side of Logan’s family tree. Logan’s family typically focuses on the paternal side, his male relatives, rather than the women in his life. Even though his relationship with Laura is an important aspect of Logan’s comics now, his family history is more centered on men like Romulus or his brother, Dog. Given how much masculinity plays into Wolverine’s character, it would be a nice change of pace to see how a motherly figure can influence the hero. In Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine from 2010, Logan sees a vision of his mother after sacrificing himself to defeat a planet-sized Dr. Doom.
The vision of his mother shows how much Elizabeth still influences her son in the modern day, showing that, deep down, Logan is still the damaged boy he was the night his powers manifested. Elizabeth’s return could also finally reveal a longstanding fan theory about Logan’s heritage. Wolverine: The End, a What-If final story for Wolverine, suggests that Logan gained his mutation through his mother. It’s never been confirmed in the main continuity, but many fans suspect that it is the case.
Logan was born from an affair between Elizabeth and the groundskeeper named Logan. It’s hinted that Elizabeth’s other son, John, had the same mutation as Logan. The groundskeeper’s other son, Dog, is not a mutant and has no superpowers, meaning Logan should have inherited his mutation from his mother. What confuses the matter is that Romulus claims to be a descendant of Wolverine’s family tree and looks like Groundskeeper Logan and Wolverine himself. It’s heavily implied that Romulus was lying, yet it is still an unbelievable coincidence that Romulus would look so similar to the Logan family. Elizabeth’s maiden name is Hudson, a family that has worked with Romulus for generations. Elizabeth’s return could offer a potential familial bond between Romulus and the Hudsons, foreshadowing Logan’s mother’s connection to the supervillain.
This is a Perfect Opportunity to Expand Elizabeth’s Character
Elizabeth’s characterization in Origin boiled down to a grieving mother who closed herself off from the rest of the world. She didn’t have much going for her other than looking traumatized. Her final panel is her aiming a gun at her head and pulling the trigger, showcasing how far off the edge she was before that fateful night. There’s a lot of room for writers to take the character, especially since if it is revealed that she has the same healing powers as Logan. Since she was so catatonic throughout her brief appearances, her true personality could be vastly different than what was previously presented.
Her catatonic personality was an important piece of Logan’s story in Origin, helping convey the story’s tragic nature. However, Elizabeth needs to evolve past that trauma to be a more fully fleshed-out character, which can be exciting. Depending on the story’s direction, she could be an enemy or an ally to Logan. She could even finally offer more clarification on Romulus’ whole deal. There is so much story potential that it is easy to overlook the convoluted nature of her modern-day survival.
While it may seem hard to believe Logan would be alive for so long and not know his mother was still alive, it’s worth the suspension of disbelief if future stories could pull it off. Some readers may not have confidence that future Wolverine stories could carry the weight of this type of story, but it is always worth going into things with an optimistic viewpoint. It is also very much possible that Elizabeth’s survival is a fakeout, as Logan only has a letter to go by. Nonetheless, the idea of Wolverine finally meeting his mother has so much potential that it is exciting to think about. With Jean Grey’s sister revealed to be alive, it may be a new era of long-lost family members for the X-Men.
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