I recently had to tell a first grade student to take the pencils out from between his fingers, as he was pretending they were Wolverine's claws. And I had the thought "It's all John Byrne's fault!". And that got me thinking, because even though there have been many creative hands involved in the character, I give JB the most credit. After all, the character may have been dropped from the X-Men if our host hadn't protested. And then the character started getting popular. And more popular. And now it's 2025 and kids are still fantasizing about having wolverine claws.

All these years later. Who's have figured?

No argument... Logan's popularity rose while you were on UXM.

-C!

Patsy Walker + the Cat = Hellcat

Carol Danvers + Captain Mar-Vell = Ms. Marvel

Jane Foster + Brunnhilde = Valkyrie

Granted, Wolverine is a character who they tacked an origin story to years after his debut, but there have been others that they have done that to (the Vision. for instance) and some who have been greatly altered over the years (Captain America, Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, Falcon, Thor).

My least favorite is the history of tacking on costumes identities to lon-time supporting characters (Pepper Potts, Carol Danvers, Jane Foster, Rick Jones, Betty Ross, Thunderbolt Ross, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Cassie Lang, James Rhodes, Bill Foster).  Many of them were "legacy characters"

Does anyone other than Stan Lee and Steve Ditko deserve credit for creating the Harry Osborn Green Goblin?  No, he was merely extrapolated from the two Kirby/Ditko creations.

(And aside from variations in haircut and costume, Guy's current personality seems to have been there from the cover his first appearance in 1968):

Welllll, maybe I should have been more specific. Your examples are all civilians who became superheroes later in life, and yes do fit my initial criteria. But Wolverine was introduced in reverse - superhero first (wearing a mask), civilian identity/face reveal later - with the extra irony that it was actually his civilian look that actually became worldwide famous, to the point that I feel it's unfair that Dave Cockrum doesn't get a co-creator credit for that. That's much more rare.