Long before Marvel Studios finally brought mutants into the MCU fold, there was always the same looming question: what happens when someone else eventually plays Wolverine? Hugh Jackman has made the question more complicated by simply refusing to stay retired. After 2017’s “Logan” was positioned as his goodbye to the character, Jackman returned for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and the multiverse has made another appearance feel possible, if not inevitable.
But whenever that recasting finally happens, Jackman doesn’t sound especially interested in giving his successor a rulebook. And, maybe more tellingly, he also doesn’t sound like a guy who is in a hurry to walk away.
Speaking in a recent interview with Project Big Screen, Jackman was asked what advice he would give to the next actor to play Wolverine. His answer was pretty simple: none. (Barstool Sports)
“I’m not gonna say anything to whoever plays it ’cause no one said anything to me, which I am really thrilled about,” Jackman said. “And I had not read the comics, so I was just coming to it fresh, and I learned a lot over the years.”
That lack of instruction, Jackman suggested, was part of why he was able to find his own version of Logan. Cast in 1999 and first appearing in Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” in 2000, Jackman became the defining live-action version of the character across more than two decades, several uneven franchise turns, and at least one genuinely great sendoff in “Logan.”
“Of course, I’ve got my own take, but it must be melding in with me in some ways,” Jackman continued. “So I just hope someone comes in and does whatever the fuck they want and makes it their own.”
Of course, Jackman also undercut the idea that he’s ready to pass the claws along anytime soon. Asked about his own future as Wolverine in a separate iterview (via ComicBookMovie.com), the actor joked, “I’m 57 and I’m doing this till I’m 90, so I’ll make a little time capsule for them.”
That answer has already been read as another hint that Jackman may not be done with the Logan role just yet, though that is still inference rather than confirmation from Marvel or Jackman himself. “Deadpool & Wolverine” already established Jackman’s current Logan as a variant, giving the studio plenty of multiverse room to keep using him before deciding what a long-term MCU Wolverine looks like.
And that is the funny tension around Wolverine right now. Marvel almost certainly needs its own long-term version of the character whenever the X-Men become a proper MCU concern. But Jackman remains so closely identified with the role that every return delays the clean break a little longer. Even the idea of a “next Wolverine” still feels theoretical when Jackman keeps joking that he is not going anywhere.
Still, his advice is probably the right one. Whoever takes over Wolverine next will already be fighting comparisons to one of the longest-running superhero performances in movie history. Trying to imitate Jackman would only make that worse.
Meanwhile, Jackman may show up in one, both, or neither of the next two “Avengers” films, depending on which rumors you believe and how generously you want to parse his own leading answers. Marvel has not confirmed anything, but Jackman clearly knows that joking about playing Logan until he’s 90 is enough to keep the speculation machine fed. If and when the studio finally does recast Wolverine for the long haul, the next actor will need permission to make a mess, make it different, and, yes, do whatever the fuck they want.
