After the release of James Mangold’s Logan, actor Hugh Jackman decided in the wake of the critical and financial success of the X-Men release that he would retire from the Wolverine role for good. This didn’t stop people like his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star Ryan Reynolds bugging him to make a comeback for Wolverine vs Deadpool movie that Ryan had been dreaming about making.
However, it doesn’t seem like even the X-Men going the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is even enough to convince him to don the claws one more time. There has also been a rather large rallying-cry from X-Men/Marvel fans for Hugh to simply play Wolverine again, which isn’t terribly logical given that Marvel is going with a hard-reboot concerning X-Men with Ryan’s Deadpool officially being spared.
During an interview with TheDailyBeast, Hugh says that if he had been asked seven years ago he would have jumped at that chance and now is ready for a new actor to pick up the claws. Reaffirming that he has indeed retired from playing Wolverine again.
JACKMAN: “Totally. Honestly, Marlow, if seven years ago that had happened I’d be like, ‘Oh yeah!’ but I knew it was the right time for me to leave the party—not just for me, but for the character. Somebody else will pick it up and run with it. It’s too good of a character not to. It’s kind of like, you’re on your way home and your friend rings you and goes, ‘Oh, dude, a new DJ just came on and the music is awesome, are you going to come back? And you say, Sounds good but… no’. They’re fine with someone else.”
It’s lovely to see Hugh still warming to the idea of a new actor taking on the mantle. He suggested Tom Hardy for the role in 2015 before Hardy ultimately took on Venom for Sony Picture’s Spider-Man pocket universe.
Wolverine’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t even been established officially yet despite some hopes from actor Mark Ruffalo that he’ll eventually get to see Wolverine vs Hulk on the big screen someday down the road. As it stands according to Marvel’s Kevin Feige from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the X-Men aren’t currently part of the studios’ five-year plan.
Who would you like to see play Wolverine in the MCU?
