Marvel’s first scripted podcast, Wolverine: The Long Night, wraps its second season this week, so there’s no better time to jump in and binge!
Avoiding spoilers, the show’s first season centres around two agents, Tad Marshall (voiced by Ato Essandoh) and Sally Pierce (voiced by Celia Keenan-Bolger), who are sent to investigate the murders of a fishing boat crew in Alaska.
The tale begins with the special agents interviewing a weather-beaten captain, who stumbled upon the ship in his section of the Bering Strait. Initially annoyed about them encroaching upon his territory, it’s not long before he notices something strange about the ship; it’s adrift. Although the cabin lights are on, there is no movement on-deck.
The script is amazing, as is the story’s character development, and the soundscapes painted throughout.
The sound effects are of such a high quality that, if you close your eyes, you feel like you’re on the boat, scouring for the missing crew. Even water slapping on the boat’s empty hull paints vivid imagery in one’s mind.
As you would expect from Marvel, every care and thought has gone into the creation of this amazing and highly entertaining show. Even the casting of the characters is something that should be celebrated.
Richard Armitage, most famous for portraying Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, is the voice of Wolverine/Logan. No stranger to voice work, having lent his voice to the Netflix series Castlevania for the character Trevor Belmont, he provides a gravelly and menacing tone reminiscent of Cal Dodd’s Wolverine/Logan from the ‘90s X-Men: The Animated Series. However, Armitage brings an animalistic quality to his version of Wolverine that, unless you were a fan of the comics, you may have been unaware he possessed.
Having said that, Logan does have the capacity to care for others, and Armitage is able to capture this tenderness in a letter Logan has written to a loved one left behind in New Orleans. The pain, vulnerability and longing that Armitage portrays is a testament to his amazing talents, but also writer Benjamin Percy and director Brendan Baker.
There is a refreshing simplicity to just listening to a story. It’s a welcomed break from a screen; letting your imagination connect the dots to paint the picture the voice artists and sound effects are helping create.
If you haven’t had the chance to experience Wolverine: The Long Night just yet, then jump on it now.
