Marvel Rivals Has Resurrected the Wolverine/Squirrel Girl Romance Marvel Wants You to Forget

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Marvel has created numerous odd relationships throughout comics, but one such implied pairing, Wolverine and Squirrel Girl,was so bizarre that Marvel tried extremely hard to get fans to forget it. That is, until the game Marvel Rivals brought the pairing back. The X-Men’s Wolverine has had his fair share of superhero romances, and Squirrel Girl may just be his most questionable.

In New Avengers #7 – written by Brian Michael Bendis, with art by Steve McNiven – Wolverine encounters Squirrel Girl while she’s babysitting for Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, and the two share an uneasy interaction, recalling they had agreed to never see each other again. Marvel later tried to retcon this implied relationship, saying Wolverine had taken Squirrel Girl’s cab, but Logan and Squirrel Girl’s exchange implied much more than a stolen taxi.

Despite Marvel’s efforts to backtrack, Squirrel Girl revived the forgotten relationship in Marvel Rivals with the ine, “I do still kind of have a crush on Wolverine.”

Squirrel Girl Stirs Up Her Once Forgotten Comic Romance With Wolverine With A Dropped lIne In “Marvel Rivals

Romance Was First Hinted At In: New Avengers #7 – Written By Brian Michael Bendis; Art By Steve McNiven; Released In 2005

In Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #2 – written by Ryan North – a fan raised concern over Squirrel Girl and Wolverine’s romance in the Q&A pages, to which North responded that Wolverine had taken Squirrel Girl’s cab and Squirrel Girl held a strong grudge. Though the relationship was never further explored, there has been other suggestions, such as in Wolverine #8 – written by Jason Aaron, with art by Daniel Acuña – when Emma Frost enters Wolverine’s mind and sees Squirrel Girl in Wolverine’s fantasies. While an unconventional pairing, there were also scandalous reasons why Marvel decided to pull the plug on the couple.

Squirrel Girl was initially introduced as a fourteen-year-old with dreams of becoming a superheroandmany were put off by the age gap between her and Wolverine. Though she was no longer a teen when the relationship was implied – and Squirrel Girl has since been depicted as an adult – she has kept her sunny, happy-go-lucky demeanor as seen throughout many character interactions in Marvel Rivals, a stark contrast to Wolverine’s iconically brutish personality. Given the questionable age gap, with Wolverine being older than Squirrel Girl by hundreds of years old, Marvel Rivals references their comic history in a subtle yet playful way.

“Marvel Rivals” Reignites The Discourse Around The Controversial Romance Between Wolverine & Squirrel Girl

A Subtle Nod To A Forgotten Pairing

The Squirrel Girl and Wolverine relationship was a moment Marvel was quick to backtrack on as fans were perplexed by their large age gap and the pairing of two characters who seemingly had no chemistry. While Marvel Rivals does pay homage to the odd pairing, Squirrel Girl’s voice line changes the dynamic between her and Wolverine to allude to a cute one-sided crush that far better suits her character. There have been many relationships within Marvel lore, but Wolverine and Squirrel Girl’s romantic past was so unexpected and strange that Marvel was adamant about keeping it forgotten until now.

“}]] Marvel’s controversial hero romance returns.  Read More