In releasing Marvel's Wolverine, Sony and Insomniac Games have made a rare and deliberate wager: that depth of character and the weight of consequence can justify turning away the very audiences who made their previous work a cultural landmark. The game, arriving Tuesday with an 18-rating and the blood to match, asks whether a superhero franchise built on mass appeal can find equal meaning in restraint of reach. It is a question the games industry seldom poses so openly, and the answer will say something not just about Wolverine, but about what we expect art to sacrifice in pursuit of truth.