Superhero Origins: Bigby Wolf

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Actually, a lot of people. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origin of Bigby Wolf. As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen primarily to follow the storyline which unfolded in in 2002's Fables #1 and 2003's Fables #16, which was expanded upon in 2006's Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. Bigby Wolf was introduced in the first issue of Fables as the trench-coated sheriff of Fabletown, a community of former fairytale characters now living in New York City. The Fabletown refugees had fled their places of birth when a mysterious and all-powerful adversary had begun waging war on them, capturing their lands and mercilessly killing all in his path. As the name Bigby Wolf implies, the sheriff was in fact the Big Bad Wolf who once upon a time terrorized the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. Like other fairytale creatures in Fabletown, he had adopted a human appearance – but was capable of shedding it when the occasion demanded. Bigby's Big Bad Wolf origins date back centuries. His mother was a snow white wolf by the name of Winter, but his father was no ordinary forest creature. Rather, he was the mighty North Wind itself, who took on the form of an immense wolf to court the alluring Winter. Being fickle and always on the move, the North Wind left her after a time; Winter soon thereafter gave birth to a litter of seven male wolf cubs. One of these cubs was small and sickly and was mercilessly taunted by his brothers; they called him Bigby, which was short for "big" and "bad" – and which was definitely meant ironically. His mother defended Bigby, but she was heartbroken by the North Wind's abandonment and died soon after. Though his brothers immediately left Bigby stayed behind to try to guard his mother's body from scavengers. Too small to fight off the scavengers, Bigby made a vow that he would hunt every day and that every time he killed he would feast on something larger than what he had killed previously. Moving from grasshoppers to rats, he eventually worked his way up to larger animals like pigs – demonstrating that he had inherited tremendous breath control from the North Wind. Soon he was attacking humans, destroying whole towns and obtaining a massive physique. Bigby finally hunted down his father, the North Wind, and attempted to exact revenge for his mother's death; unfortunately, despite repeated attempts, the North Wind proved unbeatable. Accepting this, Bigby made a new vow: to always live alone and apart from all other living things. Sometime later, Bigby encountered Snow White and Rose Red, who were prisoners of the Adversary's army. He destroyed their captives, initially because he resented the Adversary for invading his territory; later, however, Bigby revealed that he also was immediately smitten with Snow's scent. He helped them escape from the fairytale land – and after some time passed, joined them, becoming sheriff of Fabletown. Bigby Wolf is the star of an episodic video game, The Wolf Among Us, the first season of which is set before the events of Fables #1. In the game, Bigby works to solve the case of who left a severed head on the doorstep of the Woodsman – the same Woodsman who once cut him open after he swallowed Little Red Riding Hood. All in a day's work for the sheriff of Fabletown, of course. Are you a fan of Bigby Wolf? For more comic book origins, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.