It's hard to 'blame' Marvel on Wolverine's cliches when they literally wrote the book on just what a cliche is (plus a lot of movies have taken their ideas from these comics and if there's one thing Hollywood knows, it's how to be cliche). Who knew comics would turn into movies and become big enough to touch on so many issues, you know?
I wonder if someone in Marvel planned (and penned) his story out long ago (someone like Stan Lee), and knew to give it away bit by bit, year by year (even decade) to keep his character fresh because, yes, he's pretty cliche on face value alone, like an 80s Hulk Hogan waving an American flag.
His
Origins story fleshes out that mysterious past that the 70s writers didn't (didn't want to yet?) explain.
Old Man Logan tells of his life 50 years after the Civil War arc where he seems to be losing his edge.
Ultimate Origins goes on to say that Logan is 'Mutant Zero', and the sole reason mutants exist in the Marvel Universe in the first place.
You have your beginnings, middles and ends right there in those 3 arcs. A little over 10 years ago, nobody knew crap jack about Logan's past. They also probably noticed the potential in Wolverine even early on, so no need to rush his awesomeness when his is one that ages better with time.
So why then all of this explanation all of the sudden? Well Marvel didn't want anything said in the Wolverine movie to be taken as canon so they went ahead and fleshed it all out themselves.
Beast is what more comic book characters would be had their universe not been built upon the now cliche Cold War era. That's what the 'X-men' were all about in the beginning -- the differences between humans (usa) and mutants (non-usa beliefs) of that time.
Edit: wtf my link changed to a porn website? ... not funny. lol abuse of power