According to the portrayal of Logan in the X-Men films:He was born as James 'Jimmy' Howlett in the 1830's in Alberta, Canada. In 1845, James sees his father killed by groundskeeper Thomas Logan. The trauma activates his mutation where bone claws protrude from his hands, and he kills Thomas, who reveals that he is James' real father. James flees along with Thomas' son Victor Creed, who is thus James's half-brother. They spend the next century as soldiers, fighting in every war they could. In Vietnam they are captured and the two are sentenced to execution by firing squad, which they survive.They are found by Major William Stryker and offered release and membership in a mutant division called Team X. They accept, and later meet Agent Zero, Wade Wilson, John Wraith, Fred Dukes, and Chris Bradley. They join the team for a few years, but the group's disregard for human life causes James to leave. Six years later, James, now using the alias Logan, works as a lumberjack in Canada, where he lives with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox. Stryker and Zero approach Logan at work where they report that Wade and Bradley have been killed, and he thinks someone is targeting the team's members. Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker, but after finding Kayla's bloodied body in the forest, Logan realizes Victor is responsible, and finds him at a local bar. He loses a fight to his half-brother, and goes on to find Stryker who explains that Victor has gone rogue, and offers Logan a way to become strong enough to get his revenge. Logan agree's to have adamantium grafted to his skeleton, on the condition that Stryker wouldn't attempt to stop him from killing Victor. After completion of the operation Logan escapes after hearing Stryker attempt to erase his memory, and seeks refuge with an old couple. Zero kills the couple, which leads Logan to kill him and go on to find John and Fred. Fred explains that Victor is still working for Stryker, hunting down mutants for Stryker to experiment on at his new laboratory. He also mentions Remy Gambit LeBeau, who escaped and therefore knows its location. John and Logan find LeBeau in Vegas, then both fight Victor, who kills John and extracts his DNA. Gambit takes Logan to Stryker's facility where he learns that Kayla is alive, having been coerced by Stryker into keeping tabs on him in exchange for her sister's safety. Stryker activates Wade to kill Logan. While Logan and Victor join forces to fight Wade, Kayla is wounded. Stryker arrives and shoots Logan in the head with adamantium bullets, rendering him unconscious. Logan regains consciousness but has lost his memory; he sees Kayla's dead body but does not recognize her. He flees from the scene believing his name is Logan/Wolverine according to the military tag around his neck.For the next 15 years, Logan becomes a traveler, making his money from cage fighting, until he is discovered a mutant by the barmen and kicked out. While driving, he hears something in his trailer and pulls over to investigate. He finds a young girl 'Rogue' who tries to hitch a ride after discovering he's a mutant as she's a mutant runaway. He kicks her out but later agrees to give her a ride where they exchange names, knowledge of their powers and conversation. They are attacked by Sabretooth and after being knocked out he is rescued by Storm and Cyclops and taken to Xaviers School for the Gifted. He awakes in a lab with Jean Grey attempting to give him a drip and almost strangles her before running away into the mansion. In an attempt to get out of the building he runs into Charles Xaviers office and is explained how and why he is there. He learns of the school and agrees to stay so Charles can attempt to recover his past. During this time he finds an attraction to Jean, a dislike to Cyclops and forms a friendship with Rogue despite almost killing each other with their powers. After Rogue runs away, he finds her in a train station and convinces her to return promising he'll look after her. Rogue is then taken hostage by Magneto and Logan retreats to the mansion. After Charles is wounded and put into a coma, Logan, Jean, Storm and Cyclops carry out a rescue mission for Rogue. After a wave of radiation expends over the group, Logan uses his power to revive Rogue and is affectedly almost killed in the process. He wakes back in he mansion where he confesses that his heart belong to Jean. Charles informs him of Alkali Lake (Stryker's lab) and he lends his tags to Rogue to keep hold of until he returns. Logan then leaves the mansion to explore Strykers lab.