Hugh Jackman said before leaving the role of Wolverine, that he might not do it if he had the chance to see the character join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so how does he feel now that such a thing is a real possibility? With the word that Disney's purchase of Fox's film studio could be imminent, would Hugh Jackman consider returning to the role if Disney reacquires the film rights to the X-men? While Hugh Jackman says he momentarily felt a pull back to the claws when he heard the news, he says the time to play Wolverine has passed him by, and that somebody else should unleash the claws for Disney. According to Jackman...
It's interesting because for the whole 17 years I kept thinking that would be so great, like I would love to see, particularly, Iron Man and the Hulk and Wolverine together. And every time I saw an Avengers movie I could just see Wolverine in the middle of all of them like punching them all on the head. But it was like, 'Oh well, that's not gonna happen,' and it was interesting just when I first saw that headline --- it was just the possibility of it and who knows what's gonna happen, obviously --- I was like, 'Hang on!' But I think, unfortunately, the ship has sailed for me, but for someone else I would like to see Wolverine in there.
While there are some clear questions about how a Disney/Fox combination would impact the movie business, as movie fans, there's a lot to be excited about, and the potential of finally uniting almost all of Marvel in one place (Spider-Man's rights are still held by Sony) is certainly an intriguing idea. We want to see Wolverine alongside the Hulk and Iron Man too. Of course, what we really would have loved to have seen was Hugh Jackman in the role. While it's understandable that Jackman tells Collider he has decided to leave the part behind, we still can't help but be a little disappointed that a deal like this couldn't have happened a couple of years ago.
Of course, even if an announcement is made that Disney is picking up 21st Century Fox, there's no telling how that will actually impact the Marvel and X-Men movies, or when. Fox already has three films set for release that have either finished filming or are currently in production, with Deadpool 2, New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. It's going to be a year before those films run their course and it's unlikely we'd start to see anything crossing over until after that. Depending on how far along Marvel is with Phase 4 planning, it could be even longer if Marvel decides it doesn't want to change things to incorporate the X-Men immediately. Hugh Jackman may have had to hang around for several years in order to play in the MCU, so he probably made the right call.
We'll always wonder about what might have been. As far as what will actually be, we'll be following further developments in the world of Disney and Fox to see if Wolverine, in some form, actually will stand toe-to-toe with the Incredible Hulk one day on the big screen.
