Roy Thomas was hired by Stan Lee in 1965 as staff writer and succeeded him as Marvel editor-in-chief in 1972 when Lee became the publisher. He is known for his work as the co-creator of numerous popular characters, including Vision, Carol Danvers, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. But until this month’s Deadpool & Wolverine, he was not officially credited in a movie as a co-creator on Wolverine, recognition he lobbied Marvel for and received in 2022. That new credit has rubbed some corners of the Internet (and some in the creator community) the wrong way, in part because he was an editor at the time of Wolverine’s 1974 creation, and editors generally do not receive such credits. This feeling intensified after Christine Valada, the widow of late Wolverine co-creator Len Wein expressed her displeasure publicly. Thomas has said the credit only formalizes what he has maintained for decades — that he initiated the character’s creation and was responsible for many of its key concepts — and he has decades-old press clippings to back it up. Below, he shares his thoughts on the movie, as well as feelings on seeing his name credited along with Wein, John Romita Sr. and Herb Trimpe: “The four of us made a good team on that book, with myself as editor-in-chief quite content to let Len, John, and Herb handle things once I gave out general marching orders.“
Events and circumstances prevented me from seeing Deadpool & Wolverine before this morning at 10:30, unfortunately — primarily the computer and airline problems last week, then an obligation to throw out the first pitch at “Marvel night” at a local baseball game in Columbia, South Carolina. But it was worth the wait. I’ve never been much of a fan of the Deadpool franchise (still haven’t seen Deadpool 2, almost alone among Marvel-related movies), and I have real trouble taking a story seriously once it starts breaking through the fourth wall; even so, I’m overjoyed that nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of paying customers felt positively enough toward the film over the past weekend to go see it.
I hope that it does its little part to get the slightly stalled MCU back on track, which should be doable. There’s no such thing as “super-hero film fatigue” — only an impatience with movies that are poorly done and don’t respect the original material. We need more like the four Avengers films, a number of the Spider-Mans (especially Spider-Man: No Way Home), Iron Man, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America: Civil War, both Doctor Stranges, et al. And here’s hoping we get them, over the next few years while I’m still young enough to enjoy them, giant tub of popcorn on my lap!
I’m particularly grateful to Marvel Entertainment for seeing the virtue of my position of some months ago that, building on the less formalized credits in 2017’s Logan, Len Wein, John Romita, and I all deserved official “co-creator” status on Deadpool & Wolverine, just as the two co-creators of Deadpool have enjoyed. [Editor’s note: On Logan, Thomas was part of a list of thank yous.] Oh, sure, I strongly feel my name should have come first, not last, in the Wolverine grouping, since the Wolverine character was my concept on which Len and the others built … but hey, being listed last never hurt Oliver Hardy, Lou Costello, Jerry Lewis, or Paul McCartney, right? (Or Jack Kirby as in “Simon and” and “Lee and,” come to that.)
I’m especially pleased that, just as I have importuned them to do at every opportunity I ever had (even if they did so for their own good reasons, not because of my suggestions), Marvel decided to add the name of Herb Trimpe to the mix. Taking John Romita’s two-figure concept sketch and turning it into a 20-page story and super-hero battle in The Incredible Hulk No. 181 was every bit as important as Len taking my original requirements as to name, nationality, small stature, and fierce disposition and turning out that first story, inventively adding the “Weapon X” complex, Wolverine being a mutant, and the notion that his Romita-devised claws were made of adamantium, a little metal I’d tossed into an earlier Avengers comic.
The four of us made a good team on that book, with myself as editor-in-chief quite content to let Len, John, and Herb handle things once I gave out general marching orders. It’s a shame and pity there’s been so much ill-considered ill will generated in recent months since Marvel decided to give me the official co-creator status that I’ve never for one moment doubted that I (just like Herb) deserved… the more so since my side of the creation story has been a part of the public record since articles printed in 1982 and 1999.
A very special and personal thanks, too, to my friend and media rep John Cimino, who has backed the little Wolverine co-creditor notion for the past decade, and who has survived, alongside me, the slings and arrows.
The main thing to the general public, though, is that Hugh Jackman is back as Wolverine, and I hope he really does go on playing the part till he’s 90, as Deadpool says in the movie. Despite his being a bit tall for the part, I forgive him; as Joe E. Brown said at the end of Some Like It Hot, “Nobody’s perfect.” Otherwise, though, Jackman is perfection as Logan, whether in costume or out of it. If he isn’t a part of the next Avengers movie, I may just wait to see it till it streams
John Cimino and Roy Thomas Courtesy John Cimino
