The voice of Wolverine comes from Norfolk County.
In the 90’s, X-Men: The Animated Series series took the world by storm, being one of the go to kids shows of that generation.
It ran for 5 seasons before ending.
As the years went on, the nostalgia for the groundbreaking nature of the show continued to grow, with the eventual announcement of X-Men 97 – a continuation of the series which is currently releasing weekly on Disney+.
One of the main characters of the show, and a fan favourite, was Wolverine – and he has those Port Dover connections.
As an infant, Cal Dodd travelled from Ireland to Port Dover, where his family planted it’s roots.
He grew up in the Lakeside community, even got into a scrap in the Arbor parking lot, and held a job as a CA in Simcoe before following his dreams.
He ended up singing many jingles, touring with bands, and living that dream he had in his head when a moment that would change his life forever took place.
At the time, Marvel comics were popular but it is no where near as main stream as it is today.
The direction they gave him is they pictured a Clint Eastwood style of voice – so drawing inspiration from that and Wolfman Jack – he took a swing.
After that this team of Canadian voice actors took the world by storm.
For 5 seasons, the show was a tremendous hit but all good things must come to an end.
Between the X-Men animated series and it’s recent revival, there has of course been many appearances of X-Men in mainstream media.
For many, Hugh Jackman became the “face” of Wolverine for many years, starring in multiple films with another set to debut later this year with Deadpool and Wolverine.
But funny enough, Dodd has a connection to THAT Wolverine as well – as he talks about meeting Jackman at an event prior to the first X-Men movie coming out in 2000.
We spoke to Dodd after he was finally coming down from a whirlwind couple of weeks, including a big Hollywood premier of the two part opening episodes of the newly revised show.
He talked about the atmosphere during that premier.
X-Men 97 is considered a hit on Disney+ racking in millions of viewers each week as they release episodes.
You can currently hear Dodd as Wolverine on X-men 97 on Disney+ with new episodes releasing weekly.
Written by Matt LeBlanc