After years of wishful thinking, superhero fans are now more than excited to have the X-Men finally join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, one bittersweet aspect of this development is that Hugh Jackman won’t be the actor wearing the claws when Wolverine makes his MCU debut. The actor seems content with his time within Fox’s X-Men franchise, but he absolutely would have loved to join the shared universe if he’d had the chance:
If seven years ago that had happened I’d be like, ‘Oh yeah!’ but I knew it was the right time for me to leave the party—not just for me, but for the character. Somebody else will pick it up and run with it. It’s too good of a character not to. It’s kind of like, you’re on your way home and your friend rings you and goes, Oh, dude, a new DJ just came on and the music is awesome, are you going to come back? And you say, Sounds good but… no. They’re fine with someone else.
Hugh Jackman’s comments to The Daily Beast echo similar statements he’s made in the past. But the idea of having him play the adamantium-clawed character in the MCU is too exciting not to think about. One can only imagine what it would have been like to see him play off the likes of Chris Evan’s Steve Rogers or Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark.
Still, Hugh Jackman managed to leave the role of Wolverine on a high note with 2017’s Logan. Jackman has admitted that he was initially uneasy about the James Mangold-directed film being his swan song, but the filmmaker’s vision for the film quickly eased his concerns.
Despite having hung up his claws, Jackman is still asked if he’d ever consider returning to the role, and he’s not the only superhero actor in that boat.
Robert Downey Jr., who finished up his run as Tony Stark with last year’s Avengers: Endgame, has still been pressed about reviving the character. While Downey doesn’t appear to be opposed to the idea of returning, he doesn’t seem to have any immediate plans to do so, either.
The same can be said about Downey’s co-star and former Captain America actor Chris Evans. Like Downey, Evans isn’t ruling out the possibility entirely, but he’s not keen on picking up the star-spangled shield again in the near future. Evans was pleased with how Endgame handled Steve Rogers’ story and touted it as the conclusion of Cap’s story even before the film was released.
Fans will more than likely always wonder what could have been when it comes to Hugh Jackman’s involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But at the very least, they can take comfort knowing Jackman gave them the definitive big-screen version of the hero.
