Wendigo

Origin

Wendigo was adapted into marvel by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe in 1973 and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #162.

Character Evolution

Wendigo is the product of a mystical curse which causes anyone that ingests the flesh of another human, while within the Canadian wilderness, to transform into the beast.

Several people have been afflicted with the curse of the Wendigo, including Paul Cartier, Georges Baptiste, Francois Lartigue, Lorenzo and most recently a sorcerer named Mauvais, through this was on purpose.

Even though each Wendigo was once a human being, in most cases very little is left of the person it once was. It is relatively unintelligent and, with the exception of brief and rare instances, is unable to remember things about its former life. It also lacks the ability to speak, except for its own name. Sorcerers such as Mauvais and Lorenzo have been able to avoid this aspect of the curse, using magic to gain the power of the Wendigo while keeping their intelligence and the power of speech. While the curse used to only affect one person at a time it now seems to have become more like a pandemic, as recent Wendigo cases have had people be infected by mere cuts or bites. The Wendigo problem became such a issue that they were almost able to overrun the Avengers and the very country of Canada itself by sheer numbers.

Powers and Abilities

Aside from its vast strength, the tissues of the Wendigo body are considerably stronger than those of a human being. The Wendigo body can resist high caliber machine gun bullets without sustaining injury. If it is injured, it can recover from the physical trauma with tremendous speed and efficiency, with a highly potent healing factor that even Wolverine struggles to overcome.

The Wendigo’s fingers and toes are tipped with razor sharp, retractable claws that are capable of piercing most conventional materials, due to a combination of the sharpness of the claws and the Wendigo’s massive physical strength.

The Wendigo can only properly die if its heart is removed from its body. The consumption of the removed heart will confer all powers and even the form of the Wendigo on whomever consumes it.

Alternate Realities

Earth-37072

This reality is ruled by Kulan Gath and Wendigo is one of his servants.

Earth X: In this alternate future Madrox fell to the Curse of The Wendigo after being forced to eat one of his copies to survive. As the Wendigo Madrox retained his multiplication powers, this allowed him to function as an army of wendigos all at once.

Other Media

Animation

• Wendigo appears in the Incredible Hulk episode “And the wind cries…Wendigo,” voiced by Leeza Miller McGree. Like in the comic books, Wendigo is the product of an ancient curse, but unlike the comics, his curse can be lifted simply by losing to a stronger foe, which leads Wendigo to instinctively attack the Hulk.
• Wendigo is the main villain in Wolverine and the X-Men episode “Wolverine vs. Hulk. In it, Hulk was blamed for a series of violent crimes in Canada, leading Nick Fury to blackmail Wolverine into stopping Hulk or Fury would publicly expose the secret identities of every member of the X-Men. Wolverine yielded and confronted Hulk, but knew Hulk was not the true person responsible for the disappearance of an entire town. Soon Wolverine and Bruce Banner discovered Wendigo to be the true culprit, and that it had infected an entire town, turning them all into wendigos. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that SHIELD was responsible for the creation of Wendigo, as it was an attempt to create super soldiers.
• Wendigo makes a cameo appearance in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as one of the villains incarcerated in the Raft.
• Wendigo appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and Avengers Assemble, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

Film

• Wendigoes appear in Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United.

Video Games

• Wendigo appears as a boss character in Konami’s X-Men arcade game.
• Wendigo appears in the Playstation and Xbox game X2: Wolverine’s Revenge. He is a boss during the infiltration of Wolverine gaining access to the Canadian Weapon X facility. As most bosses of the game, Wendigo was more easily defeated in a puzzle manner by making the hulking beast jump into danger, as opposed to beating Wendigo down. Depending on the performance of the player, a clip featuring Wendigo could be featured upon the game’s completion. The Wendigo was voiced by Frank Welker.
• W.E.N.D.I.G.O.s (Weaponized Experiment Neurodindritic Incident Gamma Zero) appear as bosses in the video game of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In keeping with the more grounded tone of the X-Men live-action films, the W.E.N.D.I.G.Os are genetically-engineered super soldiers created by Weapon X, rather than victims of an ancient curse.
• Wendigo appears as an enemy in Avengers Initiative.
• Wendigo appears as a villain in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
• Wendigo is a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

Merchandise

• Wendigo was featured as part of the Hulk: Outcasts action figure line from Toybiz, based on the 90s animated series.
• Wendigo was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
• Bowen Designs created a Wendigo statue.
• Bowen Designs also created a Wendigo bust.
• Hasbro created a Wendigo figure as part of the Marvel Legends Fin Fang Foom Build-a-Figure wave.
• Hasbro later released an updated Marvel Legends Wendigo as a Build-a-Figure of the X-Force wave.