It’s good to know that Mike Floorwalker of Looper has his head on straight since the idea of casting Danny DeVito as the next Wolverine is something that only a joke run amok could make possible. Not only is the guy well into his 70s but even in his glory days this wouldn’t have worked since like it or not, Danny isn’t the physical type no matter that he’s been seen to get slightly aggressive now and again. As far as being action-level aggressive goes he’s about as intimidating as a stuffed teddy bear, and apart from that the physical demands of the character would leave him gasping for breath. DeVito has been a great actor throughout the years and still is but the fans sometimes tend to make a joke that too many of them think is funny and could happen in some warped universe or are deadly serious and somehow think that this would be a good idea. The height issue with Wolverine is undeniable since Hugh Jackman was well over six feet tall and the Canadian-born mutant has always been well under six feet, in fact closer to five feet tall, which is fairly short for the average man these days.
As to the petition, fans need to start realizing that a petition isn’t a guarantee dipped in gold that will make something happen. It’s entirely possible to voice your opinion, be heard, and make your desires as fans known, but the downside is that the filmmakers might take it under advisement and not listen any further than this. A petition isn’t something that a filmmaker HAS to do, and when dealing with Disney, people really need to start coming to grips with the idea that unless they think it’s going to make money, it’s not going to happen. So letting DeVito into the MCU for one role or another could possibly happen, but it won’t be as Wolverine. There are a lot of times that stating ‘it will never happen’ can blow up in a person’s face, but this isn’t one of them, and if it did then the Mouse House must be seeing something that many of us don’t. Ella Kemp of NME seems like an advocate but it’s hard to tell when a joke is being made these days unless it’s fairly obvious. But while the joke of this is wearing off quickly one can’t help but think that someone in their 30s or 20s will be a much better fit when the MCU finally does bring the X-Men in, and DeVito can get a good laugh at thinking that tens of thousands of people were credited with signing a petition stating that he needs to play a character that’s been iconic since before several of them were even born.
Think about that for a second. Wolverine has been around since 1974 when he first tangled with the Hulk, and he’s been gaining ground ever since, becoming the favorite mutant of many people for many reasons and winning over fan after fan simply because he’s not the do-gooder that the others are. Wolverine is the type of guy that will get down and dirty and fans have come to love that since it means that he’s shaken up the superhero world in a big way. Of course there have been complications with the character throughout his long run, but thankfully being turned into a diminutive old man isn’t going to be one of them since seeing DeVito as Wolverine is a great joke but nothing that the Mouse House is going to think twice about hopefully. As a What-If? topic it might be kind of interesting but at the same time it would still be more of a laugh riot than anything since Danny would have to be playing the old, tired, run-down version of Wolverine at best, perhaps a character whose healing factor gave out a long time ago and is now forced to lug around a body filled with heavy metal that gets heavier by the year as his body is finally beginning to age. Imagine old Wolverine in a nursing home trying to get by every day and needing a team of orderlies just to help him get out of bed. Honestly that’s a little more depressing than amusing, but there might be a way to make it funny. Jacob Dressler of ScreenGeek has more to say on this matter.
All in all though this isn’t likely to happen no matter how fans decide to sign the petition since DeVito is too old, Disney wants to use the character for more than one go-around, and when factoring this into what fans really want it seems more like a chance to let off steam and say the first silly thing that comes to mind. The petition, for all the good it wouldn’t do, is someone’s idea of a great joke to gain a little bit more attention on the internet, and obviously it’s worked. But if went any further it would seriously backfire.
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