Speaking of superheroes, what’s up with the “Milwaukee Wolverine”?

When we're not busy writing about local art, music, or hotly contentious cast-iron pans, we at The A.V. Club occasionally embrace our inner J. Jonah Jamesons and bust the chops of local superheroes. Earlier this week, we called for the unmasking of the Watchman, a "real-life superhero" who patrols the streets of Riverwest armed with nothing more than a cell phone and a so-so costume from Halloween Express. Now comes another homegrown superhero to pique our interests and capture our slow-news-day imaginations: the Milwaukee Wolverine.

Little is known about this mysterious local character, other than the fact that he bears a rather—ahem—uncanny resemblance to the legendary X-Men anti-hero. Dubbed the "Bay View Wolverine" by some, and simply "Milverine" by others, this oft-shirtless enigma has been striding purposefully through the Third Ward area for years, no doubt keeping our streets safe from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and/or walking home from Pick ‘n Save. Spotting the mutton-chopped maverick has become something of a cottage industry around town, and is the subject of not one, but two Facebook pages. Sadly, most photos of the ripped, power-walking renegade are maddeningly blurry and out-of-focus, qualifying him for the title of both Milwaukee Wolverine and Milwaukee Sasquatch.

While we're certainly not calling for the "unmasking" of the Milwaukee Wolverine—after all, he's just a guy who happens to look a lot like X-Men-era Hugh Jackman—we can't help but be fascinated by him. Is he trying to look like the troubled James "Logan" Howlett? Why the ultra-determined walk? What's Sir Ian McKellen really like? And, perhaps most importantly, is "Cigar Guy"-level meme fame looming on the horizon? A genetically-altered, adamantium-reinforced supersoldier can only dream, bub.