UPDATE 9/10: The reviews are in, and IGN went 6 out of 10 — with the animations nowhere among the critics’ complaints.
UPDATE 9/8: Insomniac has also confirmed the launch trailer’s mystery villain is Lady Deathstrike, not Psylocke.
One week before Marvel’s Wolverine launches, a new claim is making the rounds: that Wolverine’s motion capture was performed by women.
The posts point to a video as proof.
The video shows something else.
The Claim Going Around
The earliest big post came August 18 from an X user who wrote that Wolverine moves the way he does in the game because “his mocap was done by women.”
It spread from there.
Another user pointed followers to the 40-second mark of a YouTuber’s video, writing, “you can clearly see that Black woman wearing the Wolverine mocap suit.”
YouTube shorts channels have since cut the clip into reaction videos, freeze-framing on a woman in a mocap suit posing with Wolverine’s claws.
What The Video Actually Shows
The footage comes from French gaming YouTuber Julien Chieze, whose Marvel’s Wolverine preview video went up in mid-August after a press visit to Insomniac Games.
Around 40 seconds in, Chieze is on the studio’s mocap stage.
He is the man front and center in the clip being passed around — white t-shirt, shorts, glasses — striking the claw pose with prop claws while people in mocap suits flank him.
The monitor behind them shows the stage’s live view, with a Wolverine model tracking the performers.
That is the same screen the viral screenshots zoom in on.
In other words, this is the part of a studio visit where guests get to try the mocap stage, filmed by the guest himself.
A reviewer in gym shorts is not the game’s stunt performer.
The clip is not a production capture from the game’s shoots.
Australian actor Liam McIntyre provides the voice, motion capture, and facial motion for Wolverine in the game. Additional reports have offered that male stuntmen have added scenes that require more physical action.
At this time, there is no evidence they used female stuntmen or actors for Wolverine.
The Animation Fight Was Already Running
The moves-weirdly premise didn’t come out of nowhere.
Wolverine’s animations have been picked at since the launch trailer, part of the criticism Insomniac has been fielding for months.
Even PlayStation’s official clip showing off Wolverine’s upgrade techniques drew replies mocking the animations.
Reviews arrive September 10. Marvel’s Wolverine launches September 15 on PS5, one week from today.
