Councillor reacts to petition urging city to erect life-sized Wolverine statue in Edmonton

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An online petition has been launched to urge Edmonton’s City Council to recognize the province as the home of one comic book character, with a life-sized statue of his likeness.

He was created in the mid-1970s, but until a few years ago, little was known about where Wolverine came from.

When the mystery was answered about a decade ago, Brian Schatz with Wizzard’s Comics and Collectibles said response was mixed.

“When they decided to tell it it everyone was up in arms,” Schatz said. “’You can’t tell the mystery of Wolverine’s origins’, because it kind of wrecks the character.”

As it turns out, Wolverine is from Alberta.

“I remember just the general feeling of ‘Oh, he’s ours’,” Schatz said.

That origin story has inspired a petition on Change.org, pushing the City Council of Alberta’s capital city to recognize the self-healing superhero with a life-sized statue – at City Hall or the Legislature grounds.

A statue of Wolverine in Edmonton wouldn’t be the first time a city had recognized a fictional character – Superman is immortalized in bronze in Illinois, in Philadelphia, a Rocky statue stands.

The petition for Wolverine has caught the attention of one council member, who calls himself a fan of the character.

“The first reaction is, this is kind of funny,” Councillor Andrew Knack said. “But then you realize they’re taking this very seriously.

“I think it’s a great idea, assuming we go about it the right approach, can’t be taxpayer dollars to fund a statue of Wolverine.”

With files from Brenna Rose