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Sunday, July 28, 2024

Classic John Byrne

My favorite scene from Deadpool & Wolverine occurs relatively early in the film. In that scene, Deadpool encounters a version of Wolverine sporting a brown costume (rather than the yellow suit he wears throughout most of the picture). Deadpool describes the brown costume as "classic John Byrne" … just before Hulk moves into frame and pummels the wisecracking Deadpool.

In comic book history, Wolverine first wore that brown costume in X-Men #139 (although the cover still depicted him in yellow). In that issue, Wolverine returned to Canada to reconnect with members of Alpha Flight who were on the trail of the monstrous Wendigo. That story contained flashbacks to Wolverine's first encounter with Wendigo from Incredible Hulk #181. Because Wolverine wore his original yellow uniform in the flashback panels, the new brown costume helped to delineate the past from the present.

Illustrated by John Byrne, this panel from X-Men #139 shows an unmasked Wolverine in his new brown costume. Beside him are Vindicator and Snowbird of Alpha Flight.

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