If only Disney acquired Fox sooner. Hugh Jackman has recently come out and said that he would’ve loved to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Only problem is that his Wolverine was killed off right before Disney bought Twentieth Century Fox. That’s old news, but one question still stands: will Hugh Jackman return to the role for the MCU. The X-Men are back under Marvel’s care, so why not? I would’ve killed to have seen Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine interact with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man or Chris Evans’ Captain America. The man played him for years, and he ended his run with the character on a high note. He pretty much owns the role.
Will Jackman ever return to fight alongside The Avengers? Will he partner up with Deadpool and give us a hilarious buddy-cop style superhero movie? Anything is possible, but Jackman has been very adamant about letting someone else take over for him. He has recently told The Daily Beast that he basically had his thrills playing Wolverine and is content with letting another actor play the role. I’ll be honest, that’s not really the news I want to hear. I loved watching him play The Wolverine, and it was sad to see him go. However, his final act in Logan was the perfect way to end his run with our favorite mutant. If he did somehow return in the MCU, it would kind of undermine the impact Logan struck.
Then again, seeing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine again, and in the MCU on top of that, would satisfy the dreams of many fanboys (mine included). Perhaps I’m just the kind of guy who likes to look for silver linings, but let’s just say Marvel makes Hugh Jackman an offer he can’t refuse. We’ve heard actors say they’d never return to roles before and they eventually found their way back to them. So let’s just say good ol’ Hugh does decide to return as Wolverine. That’s awesome, but his Wolverine is still technically dead. Plus he was in the Fox-produced universe, completely separate from the MCU. How exactly can he be used in the MCU with these issues? Well, before you start saying it’s impossible, just remember what kind of universe we’re talking about here.
The Fox-produced X-Men films and the MCU under Disney’s care are both universes inspired by comic books. In the world of comic books, anything can happen. Literally. The events of Avengers: Endgame showed us a little something called time travel. Yes, it’s a pretty cliche concept by now, but when it’s utilized with proper thought, it can lead to some interesting storylines. It’s how the heroes reclaimed the destroyed infinity stones and brought back their dead friends. It’s also how Thanos came back to challenge them, as well as bringing back Loki and Gamora back into the mix. Time travel can get weird, but they used it in a manner that actually worked.
The Fox-produced X-Men movies pulled it off pretty well with the Days of Future Past movie. Heck, that movie used time travel just to erase the mistakes the previous X-Men movies made. As far as course correction goes, it did it’s job, but it also made for one great movie. Dead characters were brought back, past mistakes were overturned, and the stages for a new universe was set. Call time travel a cliche, but if Marvel can make it work once, they can do it again. This time, however, they have almost all of their characters to work with.
See where I’m going with this? If Hugh Jackman is to return, we just have to look at the time setting of Days of Future Past. In the dystopian future where the Sentinels rule, the year is 2023. In the universe of the MCU, 2023 is the fifth year after Thanos snapped his fingers. Technically, Wolverine is still alive in his universe, while half the MCU’s heroes are dead. In the end of Days of Future Past when history was rewritten, the year was still 2023. Wolverine and the X-Men were safe and sound in the comforts of their school. The events of Logan occurred six years later in 2029. Things didn’t work out in the end for the X-Men, but Wolverine was the last one to die. He survived a long time, and still remained a ferocious fighter. Technically speaking, he died long after Iron Man and Black Widow.
If that’s the case, we’re going to need a very tough Wolverine to help even the odds for the heroes. Sure, now that the X-Men are back in Marvel’s hands, there’s probably a younger Wolverine already lurking in the MCU, but let’s think bigger. The idea of mutants lurking in the MCU already is a bit strange. How can an entire species live in plain sight of humanity without anyone noticing? There are plenty of fan theories on how mutants will debut in the MCU; too many to go over, but we have to consider something here. Wolverine is a mutant who has lived for a few centuries, and even crossed paths with Captain America during World War II. Yes, he’s not the only mutant who has lived that long, but he’s the one we care about the most.
Since Captain America is apparently retired, having them interact for the sake of setting up an “I was there too” arc seems irrelevant. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine already fought in a World War II in another universe without Captain America. He really doesn’t need to sit down and talk about it with him just to please fans. What would please fans, however, is seeing Wolverine arrive to mentor and fight alongside other Avengers. Now that Cap is out of the picture and younger, less experienced heroes are joining the team, they’re going to need someone to be their new “father” of the group. Jackman’s Wolverine lived much longer than Cap did, and has twice the fighting experience. He would serve as the perfect mentor to the heroes, while acting as a liaison for The Avengers and The X-Men.
So how does he get there? Well, I always imagined it as him popping through a portal and slicing through legions of bad guys, but we can tone it down. That Wolverine from 2023 fighting the war with the Sentinels would be the one we could see arrive in the MCU. He’s an older version of Logan, but not exactly Old Man Logan, and he still has the fighting spirit in him. It could be during the war or right after, meaning he dodged his bloody fate at the end of Logan. Hey, if we could see Professor X die twice, we could handle seeing Logan die a second time. Okay, maybe not, but the point still stands. He might not even have to die, but we need to see that experienced, battle-hardened Logan to whip The Avengers into fighting shape.
You can time travel it, you can magic portal it, the options are practically endless. Despite Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine dying on-screen, we still want to see more of him. Call me an optimist, but I think it’s still possible we can see Jackman again as Wolverine. Heck, even a cameo would be fun to see. It’ll be a while before we see The X-Men join the MCU, but let’s hope Jackman’s name drops during the announcement.
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