The man with the claws is back, and this time he's bringing his memories. For comic fans X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the realisation of two long-held dreams: to see Wolvie go berserk in his first solo screen adventure and, more importantly, to discover how he became the hero he is. The latter. however, could prove to be a bitter pill.

Ever since Wolverine first appeared in the pages of the Incredible Hulk in 1974 and later in The Uncanny X-Men, fans have craved an origin story. Like Jason Bourne, Wolverine is a mysterious figure whose past is a muddy soup of government secrets, black ops and tragedy. Most of his life he could not remember and the parts he did, he wasn't telling. And that was part of his appeal - that and the claws.

Most superhero comics deal with origin stories in the first few issues but Wolverine was different. Readers became intimate with his mutant abilities - heightened senses, a healing factor that allows him to recover from almost any wound and retractable claws - and his gruff yet noble heart, but not his past. Over the years writers have fed readers little snippets but these have only served to make him more of an enigma: he fought in the Second World War, sinister government scientists erased his memories and covered his bones with an indestructible metal alloy, he may have been the first mutant, he is somehow connected by blood to the villain Sabretooth and his real name is not Logan but James. Teasing readers for almost 30 years is a dangerous game: once you decide to tell the origin story, as Marvel did in 2001, it better live up to expectations.

Wolverine Origin, which serves as the film's inspiration, is set in late 19th century and tells the story of a servant girl who befriends a frail, pampered boy from a rich family. The boy eventually turns into a rough, beer-swilling clawed killer after a series of tragedies that could come from any great novel of the period, with the plot bearing similarities to Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Great Expectations among others.

Paul Jenkins, Origin's writer, said that one of the reasons Marvel commissioned the series was "a character's mysterious origin can only be shrouded in secrecy for so before said character begins to look like twerp". The story still leaves some questions unanswered but in many ways it is a let down and feels unnecessary, as does the ongoing series Wolverine: Origins, which has been steadily revealing the character's entire history (the movie-like teaser is: "Wolverine knows his past — all of it").

Chris Claremont, who has written X-Men for more than three decades and did much to establish the character of Wolverine, said that when Marvel proposed doing the origin story he vehemently opposed it. "With Logan, the less you know the better. He's a mystery, an enigma. Once an origin story has been told you can't untell it. It's like Spider-man's marriage to Mary-Jane - you can't undo it without making a deal with the devil."

The actual origin of Wolverine is more interesting than his fictional one. He was created by writer Len Wein and artist John Romita as a punch bag for the Hulk. There was no indication he would go onto be one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe and be the linchpin of a multi-billion-dollar franchise, although many of his trademark characteristics were there in issue 180 of The Incredible Hulk: the claws, the Canadian background, the rough temperament, the yellow and blue costume and the strange mask with pointy ears.

Herb Trimpe, who drew the issue, said: "John Romita did the costume design and I told him, 'You realise, John, that the costume is the character.' He was very deferential about it. I saw my job in drawing Wolverine as Dr Frankenstein: Len and John had sown the monster together and it was my job to bring him to life. Wolverine was originally a secondary character and secondary characters tended to last only an issue or two and then they were ditched. He was hard to draw because his mask doesn't really make sense, especially the ears as they disappear into the skull."

Despite being only a secondary character, Wolverine was brought back the following year in 1975 for the relaunch of The Uncanny X-Men. Marvel had cancelled the original X-Men in 1970 after 66 issues and had been reprinting old issues until the decision was taken to revive the franchise. Wein was given the task and cast Wolverine as one of the new team members. After several issues Wein handed the series over to Claremont, who together with Cockrum and later John Byrne defined the character.

"When Hugh Jackman was at the San Diego Comic Con he stood up and asked if Len Wein was there," said Claremont. "Len said yes and Hugh got down off the stage and gave him a hug. The only reason he was at there was to meet Len because Len created Wolverine and if not for Wolverine, there would be no Hugh Jackman.

"For me it's a double-edge sword because Len's vision of Wolverine was so different from what Dave and I evolved the character into. Len thought of him as an 18-year-old kid and intended the claws to be part of the gloves. It was Dave that came up with that idea of the claws being part of Wolverine's body, to which I said, 'That's disgusting. Let's do it.' Len and I never talked about it. Dave and I just made it up as we went along. But there's a part of me that's incredibly jealous that Len got to shake hands with Hugh Jackman."

Wolverine soon became a firm favourite with readers, who perhaps yearned for a Dirty Harry-like hero who was happy to bend the superhero code and fight dirty. In 1982 Claremont and artist Frank Miller added another dimension to the character: soul. Their series envisaged Wolverine as a failed samurai.

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