Show notes

Marvel's Wolverine just dropped on PS5. Rello & Cunda trace Logan from Hulk #181 in 1974 to the arcade, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and now. Marvel's Wolverine landed exclusively on PlayStation 5 on September 15, 2026 and on this episode of Circle The Block, hosts Rello The Saya and Cunda use the biggest game drop of the year as a doorway into the full history of one of the greatest comic book characters ever created. The crew starts where most '80s babies started: the 1992 X-Men animated series — that theme song, Cyclops as the actual front-runner, and the Jean Grey / Cyclops / Wolverine love triangle that taught a generation of kids what a love triangle even was. From there they go back further, into the character's real origins: created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr., first appearing in The Incredible Hulk #181 in 1974 before joining the team in Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975 meaning the X-Men existed as a team before Logan ever walked in and took over. They dig into the parts of the mythology casual fans miss: that Wolverine was born in the 1800s and is pushing 215 years old, that he served across World War I, World War II, and Vietnam, that his claws were bone before they were adamantium, and the brutal origin moment; a sickly boy who discovered his powers by killing the man who murdered his father, only to learn he'd just killed his actual father, and took the name Logan because of it. The back half is a full Wolverine gaming retrospective: the 1992 Konami X-Men arcade cabinet (a six-player machine and one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games in the U.S. that year — where fans still argue Storm and Dazzler were strongest and Cyclops was the weakest), its 2010 HD port and 2013 delisting, the 2021 Arcade1Up home cabinet, and the game that owns a permanent place in Rello's heart: X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), the game that introduced tag-team combat and still draws tournament play today. Then the headliner itself — the new Insomniac-developed Wolverine, its linear campaign spanning Canada, Japan, and the mutant haven Madripoor, Liam McIntyre (Spartacus) on voice and performance capture, and Sabretooth and Omega Red showing up as major antagonists. Plus a genuine DC-vs-Marvel debate between two hosts on opposite sides of that fence, Halloween costume confessions, and Storm appreciation that gets slightly out of hand. As always, the crew runs their odds: Big 12 and ACC championship futures before Bishop Cunda closes with a sermon on the misconceptions people hold about gamers, and the head coach who's been building a Minecraft world for sixteen years. 00:00 – Cold open & intro with the crew 01:21 – How everybody's feeling & running into childhood homies 03:13 – Like, share, subscribe... and where's Angie? 04:10 – Marvel's Wolverine just dropped 04:28 – The hype was real: early gameplay reactions 05:26 – Earliest Wolverine memories: the cartoon & the action figures 05:49 – That X-Men animated series theme song 06:23 – Wait, Cyclops was actually the front-runner? 07:12 – The love triangle that taught us all about love triangles 08:26 – Storm appreciation (and a brief Halle Berry detour) 09:57 – Wolverine's real origins: Roy Thomas, Len Wein & John Romita Sr. 10:35 – Who added the retractable claws 11:10 – Incredible Hulk #181 (1974) & Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975) 12:05 – The X-Men existed before Wolverine walked in 13:03 – The 1992 animated series creators & visual style 13:52 – DC all day vs. Marvel neutral: the household divide 15:00 – Halloween costume confessions 16:01 – Born in the 1800s: the wars Logan fought in 18:35 – Action figures, imagination & bringing toys to school 19:26 – Which Wolverine power would you take? 19:34 – Bone claws before adamantium 20:22 – The traumatic origin: how his powers first surfaced 21:46 – The father he didn't know he killed & how he became Logan 22:57 – Circling the block on the 1992 X-Men animated series 23:41 – Why the cartoon was really a drama 24:15 – Big 12 championship futures 25:50 – Back from break: Wolverine in video games 26:58 – The 1992 Konami X-Men arcade cabinet 27:29 – Six players, one machine, top five grossing arcade game of 1992 28:00 – Storm & Dazzler strongest, Cyclops weakest: fight us 29:05 – The 2010 HD port, the 2013 delisting & the 2021 Arcade1Up cabinet 31:29 – X-Men vs. Street Fighter enters the chat 33:28 – The 1996 Christmas that made the game legendary 35:02 – How it became Marvel vs. Capcom 35:32 – Wolverine & Ryu: the unbeatable team 36:11 – They still hold tournaments for these games today 37:07 – Circling the block on the 1992 arcade graphics 37:50 – "It can't get better than this" — 16-bit mindset 38:39 – Circling the block on the new Wolverine game 39:06 – PS5 exclusive, September 15, 2026: Canada, Japan & Madripoor 40:22 – Omega Red and Sabretooth show up 41:01 – Why gaming was never a fad 41:52 – ACC championship futures 43:35 – Bishop Cunda's closing sermon: the misconceptions about gamers 44:46 – Mike Tomlin's sixteen-year Minecraft world 46:33 – Last words