Credit: Inside the MagicWhen the X-Men finally debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they won’t have one very important member: the Wolverine.
At least that’s what Daniel Richtman, the well-regarded scooper also known as @DanielRPK, says is happening with the X-Men reboot at Marvel Studios. On his Patreon, Richtman claims that the upcoming movie featuring the MCU version of the iconic mutant superhero group will not include Wolverine.
That is pretty odd, considering that the studio just released a titanic blockbuster film almost entirely predicated on the idea that Logan was “the” X-Man.
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It is less odd, however, if Richtman is correct that Kevin Feige is holding off on recasting Wolverine because the studio wants to keep Hugh Jackman in the role, at least through Avengers: Secret Wars and possibly after.
The Marvel Studios ‘X-MEN’ reboot film will reportedly not include Wolverine
Reason is Hugh Jackman will continue to play the role, even after ‘AVENGERS: SECRET WARS’
(via: @DanielRPK) pic.twitter.com/aiiEQp9BPm
— ScreenTime (@screentime) September 12, 2024
Of course, Secret Wars is not scheduled to be released in theaters until 2027, so that’s keeping Hugh Jackman on a retainer for a long time. On the other hand, the return of Logan alongside Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) in Deadpool & Wolverine made Disney $1.29 billion so far, so they’re probably not too worried about that.
In fact, Marvel Studio seems to be leaning hard into a new strategy of bringing back beloved (and aging) superhero actors whose characters died in critically acclaimed circumstances in order to stuff them into Secret Wars. If you stack Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, who’s next?
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There is even less known about the upcoming X-Men reboot than Secret Wars, including whether or not it will include legacy characters like Professor X (Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy edition, take your pick), Beast (Kelsey Grammer or Nicholas Hoult), or Magneto (Ian McKellen or Michael Fassbender).
It is generally being assumed that at least some of these characters will be rebooted with younger (and cheaper) actors, but apparently not Wolverine.
Marvel seems to be playing things as safe as possible these days when it comes to casting, which makes some sense after several years of sustained bombs like The Marvels (2023). The billion-dollar gross of Deadpool & Wolverine was probably the nail in the coffin that means we won’t be getting a new Wolverine any time soon, but who knows what’s going to happen after Secret Wars?
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