Origin (alternatively known as Wolverine: Origin or Origin: The True Story of Wolverine) is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics from November 2001 to July 2002, written by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins, and illustrated by Andy Kubert (pencils) and Richard Isanove (color).

Origin tells the story of the superhero Wolverine, best known as a member of the X-Men. Since the character first appeared in the early 1970s his history had often been shrouded in mystery, with bits of information revealed piecemeal over time (notably in Weapon X), but this series was the first to reveal Wolverine's early days and his original background.

The series reveals that Wolverine was born James Howlett, the son of rich plantation owners in 19th-century Canada. He is a sickly child who suffers from allergies, so his loving father, John Howlett, Sr., brings an orphaned girl named Rose up from the town to be his companion. The two children also often play with Dog Logan, son of the Howletts' brutal groundskeeper, Thomas Logan (who looks a lot like the fully-grown Wolverine). Readers are led to believe that Dog was the young Wolverine, but this is later revealed to not be the case. The children's friendship is spoiled by the tension between the boys' fathers centering on James' mother, Elizabeth, who went mad after her first son, John, died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. Rose later stumbles upon Elizabeth changing, and sees that she has three parallel scars along her ribs, hinting that John Howlett Jr. had claws.

As a result of beatings and alcohol, Dog, over the next few years, becomes increasingly like his father, and his misdeeds, including an attempted assault on Rose and the killing of James' dog, become so violent that he and his father are expelled from the manor. Thomas returns for the purpose of robbing the Howlett estate and to convince Elizabeth to leave with him (it is implied that they had an affair and that Thomas may be the biological father of Elizabeth's sons).

John Howlett enters the bedroom after hearing noises. Thomas kills John Howlett with a shotgun in front of all three children and Elizabeth. The horror of his father's death causes James' powers to manifest for the first time, and he uses his claws to kill Thomas and injure Dog, before lapsing into shock. Elizabeth tells James "Not you too" (implying that something similar had happened to his deceased brother), rejecting him with disgust. James escapes and Rose follows him. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, surprisingly, cradles the body of Thomas Logan rather than that of her husband. After a few moments, with her shallow grip on reality shattered, she picks up Thomas' shotgun and kills herself in front of Dog.

Questioned by the police, Dog accuses Rose of the killings and the fact that she fled the scene with James appears to confirm this. James is still in shock and appears to have no recollection of what happened. This loss of memory is due to Wolverine's/James' healing factor which, in effect, "healed" (by putting up a mental block) the mentally devastating traumas of witnessing his father's death, the confusion at his mother's anger towards him and the pain and surprise caused by the sudden manifestation of his claws.

Rose seeks help from her aunt, her only relative, who rejects her saying that she had stopped being family when she chose to live with the Howlett's. James' grandfather then drives them both away from the house due to the manifestation of James' powers, mentioning he has had to deal with this sort of thing before. They are given some money and take the train from Alberta to British Columbia, where they are given work in a stone quarry by the foreman, Smitty. Rose claims that her male companion is her cousin and, since they are on the run, calls him Logan to conceal his identity; though why she should choose the name of their enemy remains unexplained.

Over several years James/Logan strengthens physically, to the point where he no longer resembles the sickly child he had been, although his memory is still shattered. He often goes into the woods to hunt game, typically among a pack of wolves. He quickly becomes the head of the pack, and begins using his claws to hunt. He turns down Rose's offers to tell him about his past, and reacts angrily when the subject comes up. She therefore keeps detailed notes in her diary.