Wolverine PS5 Game Gives Jean Grey a Makeover

Video Games

Remember that story from yesterday where a video game artist spilled the beans about his female characters having their looks severely downgraded from the concepts he sent to the developers? We’ve got another example of that practice in action, and damn, does this one hurt. A while back, some test footage from Marvel’s Wolverine, the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive that was teased in 2021, leaked online, and it featured Jean Grey in a sequence where she helps Wolverine – dressed in his Patch duds – fight the Hand in a casino, presumably in Madripoor. You can see the footage below:

However, it appears Jean Grey has gotten a makeover since then. Grummz, the online handle of former Blizzard producer Mark Kern, posted some images of Jean in the game on X, and she has changed mightily from the version seen in that footage. Kern also has a screenshot of everyone’s favorite woke consulting firm, Sweet Baby Inc., bragging about being given the opportunity to ruin another game based on a beloved comic book character:

Something big happened yesterday and most people missed it. Every theory we had about the uglification of women in AAA gaming turned out to be true.

Look at what happened to Jean Grey from @insomniacgames Marvel's Wolverine from these leaked early screenshots of the first,… pic.twitter.com/Zm5h6ovgwD

— Grummz (@Grummz) June 19, 2024

Okay, let me start by saying I’m not big on Jean’s initial design, either. She doesn’t look terrible, but I think Jean should look a bit more mature than she does in the footage, where she looks like a sort of willowy college student. Jean should be a woman, as opposed to a girl, if that makes sense (particularly by the time Logan shows up at the X Mansion). But the later design Kern shared is awful, though par for the course. Her head is weirdly elongated now, and her hair looks like a wig. There’s no possible way this isn’t on purpose, just like Mary Jane was in Spider-Man 2 (not that she was a whole lot better in the first one). But this is the chosen direction, and they’re going to keep going down this road. And I’m not just blaming Sweet Baby Inc.; Marvel and Insomniac are even more guilty because this is what they want, and they hired SBI to enact it.

What makes me hate this one even more, though, is that this game could be so cool. That footage is rough as hell, but it’s not close to done (look how much Jean changed in just a couple of months), so you have to take that into consideration. But conceptually, it’s fantastic, and I love the idea of a Wolverine video game with this kind of gameplay. There’s no reason this shouldn’t be a fantastic game, and I have every expectation that they’re going to waste this opportunity. Much like Peter Parker, Logan will inevitably be pushed aside for X-23, and these idiots will pat themselves on the back as gamers walk away from their lecture disguised as a video game. It’s depressing; all this potential, and it’s in the hands of exactly the wrong people. There’s still no release date for Marvel’s Wolverine, so I suppose a miracle could happen at some point, but I’m not holding my breath.