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After a little Google search, I couldn't find a canonical answer regarding why Wolverine used to wear those colours. Is it maybe because Wolverine just likes those colours?

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    Could it be.....? Nah.
    – Mark Beadles
    Jun 19, 2012 at 15:03
  • Wolverine has many outfits, blue and yellow is just one of them.
    – user8537
    Aug 29, 2012 at 12:03
  • Pretty sure the colours were blue and yellow, bro.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Sep 27, 2017 at 14:30

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I don't know about canonical (as in Wolverine the character choosing the colors), but according to the Wolverine Costume Guide:

Wolverine's original costume introduced his signature blue and yellow color scheme and other apparel that would become hallmarks of the character's look. Featuring blue gloves, trunks, shoulder pads and winged-boots with a red belt over a yellow spandex body suit highlighted with tiger stripes, this would serve as the basis for most of Wolverine's future costumes. Designed by John Romita Sr., the yellow and blue colors were chosen because it presented a new combination in comics.

The beginning of the article starts with: “Ever since his introduction in 1974, Wolverine has changed outfits about as many times as he's killed ninjas—a lot.” However the blue and yellow is his signature look, and is the most commonly recognized Wolverine suit.

For a perhaps in-universe explanation. In some versions of Wolverine's backstory the suit was given to him as part of the Weapon X program. The people in charge decided they liked him in blue and yellow.

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    +1 to your answer. While the yellow and blue costume is listed as the most recognized, the brown and tan was considered the most popular of his looks. This is the costume he also appears in the recently released Animated Ultimate Spiderman cartoon. (The brown and tan is also my personal favorite. Hard to be stealthy in YELLOW.)
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Jun 18, 2012 at 22:31
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    Wolverine...stleathy?
    – Virusboy
    Feb 3, 2015 at 2:48
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According to this site, John Romita Sr. was asked by Len Wein to design a character called Wolverine. Not knowing what a wolverine was, he consulted an encyclopedia, which described the animal as a "catlike carnivore" hence the most likely reason for the catlike costume. In 1980, X-Men penciler and co-plotter John Byrne gave the character a costume with colors more befitting his namesake, but he regained his old yellow-and-blue in 1991 and has worn those colors since, although Wolverine's son, Daken, has worn the brown-and-tan as "Dark Wolverine."

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There's also the fact that, well, all of the original X-Men wore blue and yellow. ...Maybe. Or yellow-and-navy, yellow-and-purple, or yellow-and-black; honestly, it seemed like those same costumes changed color depending on who was coloring them. Seriously, here's the cover of X-Men issue #1, from 1963. (Although this image looks like it might be a 1980s reprint.)

X-Men issue #1 cover

Yeah, Wolverine didn't show up until over 10 years later, and by the time he hooked up with the X-Men even the original members had mostly evolved away from those costumes. But, his original costume was pretty much in line with his future team's early look.

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    Except Wolverine's costume was designed before he became a member of the X-Men. He was just a bit character in The Incredible Hulk.
    – phantom42
    Dec 8, 2015 at 21:11
  • True, though I find myself confused about the highlighted part of the quote in the accepted answer: "Designed by John Romita Sr., the yellow and blue colors were chosen because it presented a new combination in comics." New? How so? (This also makes me wonder whether Wolverine ending up on the X-Men might have been the plan all along, at least for someone at Marvel. But that's pure speculation.)
    – FeRD
    Dec 14, 2015 at 19:28
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Len Wein didn't know what a wolverine was when asked to draw him, so I always assumed he made the costume blue & yellow because those are the University of Michigan (the Wolverines...) team colors.

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  • Do you have anything to substantiate this claim?
    – phantom42
    Dec 26, 2012 at 20:50
  • i would change the correct answer if you have some reference to share
    – osdamv
    Dec 26, 2012 at 21:57
  • “Trust me, the U of M football team was in NO WAY an influence on the design of Wolverine’s original costume. Since I stood at John Romita’s shoulder as we designed it together, I can absolutely guarantee it. We were just looking for images that evoked a Wolverine, hence the black slash/stripes and the earlike black thingies that have evolved into huge earwings. Just thought you’d like to know.” - Len Wein source
    – Pants
    May 10, 2016 at 21:29
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I was thinking maybe because of University of Michigan Wolverines. U of M colors are Maize Blue and Yellow. That is just my opinion though.

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