It's no secret that Wolverine, Canada's most famous fictitious resident, hails from northern Alberta.

Now, a campaign is afoot to have the community of Fort McMurray embrace the clawed comic book and movie hero as a community mascot.

Edmonton's Sam Singh and Brian LaBelle have launched an Indiegogo fundraiser to build a bronze statue of the muscular X-Men mutant.

They want to build a life-size replica of the superhero erected along Fort McMurray's aptly named Wolverine Drive.

The statue would be a long-clawed tribute to northern resilience in the community as it recovers from the "Beast," said Singh.

"It's kind of a goodwill gesture," Singh said in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"The city has gone to hell and back, almost literally, with the fires and the collapse of the oilsands economy, so this is a chance to do something new, creative and unique for a community that could certainly use some help these days." First appearing in the pages of The Incredible Hulk back in 1974, Wolverine is a powerful anti-hero with superhuman healing powers, retractable metal claws, an Adamantium skeleton and long-lived history in Canada.

According to Marvel Comic myth, Wolverine was born in northern Alberta during the late 1880s.

After avenging the death of his father by killing his brother with his newly-formed claws, Wolverine flees to the Yukon.

Wolverine made his full debut in The Incredible Hulk in 1974; cover art by Herb Trimpe with alterations by John Romita Sr. (Marvel) Then, after accidentally killing his lover in a steely embrace, he runs wild with a pack of wolves before returning to civilization and fighting for Canada in the First World War.LaBelle started a petition a few years ago to build 1,000-foot statue of Wolverine in Edmonton, which garnered more than a thousand signatures and even a mention in the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone Magazine.

While that plan was purely satirical, LaBelle is dead serious time around.

LaBelle said Wolverine, most famously brought to the big screen by Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman, is a homegrown hero and should be celebrated as such.

"Wolverine is from northern Alberta and his main thing is that he heals back from any injury," LaBelle said.

"And right now, it would definitely make sense to have something like that in Fort McMurray.

Arguably the most famous Canadian comic book figure is adamantium-enhanced Wolverine, brought to life on the big screen by actor Hugh Jackman. (Michael Muller/20th Century Fox/AP) "We would want it to be somewhere public where people could go take their picture with it, or throw an Oilers jersey on it during the playoffs."The campaign takes inspiration from Detroit's famous statue of Robocop, another Marvel Comic character, which will be constructed in 2018.

Based on that grassroots fundraising campaign, the Wolverine statue is expected to cost $85,000.

If they can't make the statue a reality, the money raised will be donated the conservation of real wolverines in northern Alberta.

LaBelle and Singh have presented their plan to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and the local arts council, with decidedly mixed results.

LaBelle recalls when Singh first called the municipal offices to make his pitch, and ended up with a very confused nature lover on the line.

"One person first thought he was talking about the animal wolverine for like 20 minutes. He had no idea who this character was," LaBelle said with a chuckle.

"I know typically governments don't like to fund pop culture stuff as public artwork but the response was, if you can fund it, we have absolutely no opposition to it."

Listen to Edmonton AM with host Mark Connolly, weekday mornings at CBC Radio One, 93.9 FM in Edmonton. Follow the morning crew on Twitter @EdmAMCBC.