The multiverse is officially a thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and pretty soon, there could be more Marvel heroes than we can shake a stick at. Fans already know Marvel Studios intends to bring the X-Men in at some point, which means Wolverine is heading back to Marvel cinema. Things will be different this time though, and I mean that for more reasons than the fact that the character won’t be played by Hugh Jackman.
This time around, Marvel fans will likely get to see Wolverine not just alongside the X-Men, but with other heroes in the MCU as well. It will be cool to see Wolverine interact with all the Marvel heroes strictly because of who he is, but there are several interactions I’d love to see more than others for both positive and negative reasons.
The Hulk
The MCU doesn’t have a ton of tense rivalries between heroes, but introducing Hulk to Wolverine would likely change that. Neither one is afraid of a fight, both have anger issues and both can sustain an incredible amount of damage and continue to fight. One would think the two would find immense respect for each other out of that, but more often than not, it just leads to fighting.
Hulk and Wolverine do occasionally work together, of course, but they have a strained relationship. Granted, the MCU’s Hulk is in a good place with his anger right now, so who knows if we’ll ever get a chance to see a truly chaotic Hulk again. Wolverine can piss off even the most level-headed heroes with his brash attitude though, so perhaps he’ll be the one to wake the beast when he shows up in the MCU. For the record, Mark Ruffalo is totally down for Hulk to fight Wolverine, so maybe this will happen.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a cocky, sweet and somewhat naive kid from Queens, and Wolverine is a seemingly immortal gruff Canadian who was at one point a brainwashed super-weapon. These two couldn’t be more different, though while they are on opposite ends of the spectrum, there’s a level of respect there. In Marvel Comics, that bond came from the two being trapped in a time stream together that spread across multiple eras. The two still don’t get along excellently, but at the end of the day, they have each other’s backs.
I could see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man being intimidated by Wolverine, but at the same time trying to step up to him if he’s doing something that goes against what Avengers do. Who knows if we’ll ever see Holland’s Spider-Man stick around long enough to rub shoulders with Wolverine, but damn, I would love to see it happen just to see what direction the MCU took it.
Deadpool
Deadpool is now officially a part of the MCU, but as we saw in Deadpool 2, he's not officially an X-Men member. That’s really for the best given that his violent tendencies wouldn’t mesh well with Charles Xavier’s team. Plus, he and Wolverine don’t get along, especially as former members of Weapon X. Granted, there’s no evidence the MCU’s current Deadpool ever worked alongside Wolverine, so Marvel Studios would probably sidestep that part of the two’s history.
In an ideal world, Ryan Reynolds’ fully-realized version of Deadpool would’ve had a chance to share a screen with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and we would’ve never gotten the X-Men Origins: Wolverine version. Unfortunately, we’re in the timeline in which that movie did happen. Despite repeated jabs from Reynolds, Jackman has not returned to Marvel in order to portray the character he played on screen for so long. Honestly, I’d love to see Deadpool just for the snarky comments he’d make about how the MCU’s Wolverine isn’t Jackman. I’m sure the jokes would eventually get old, but they’d make for some great humor for a movie or two.
Captain America (Steve Rogers)
I’ll preface this by saying that no, we have no idea where Steve Rogers is (unless the moon theory is legit) or if Chris Evans will ever reprise his role again. There’s a golden opportunity for Marvel to bring him back eventually, if only to see him interact with the new Wolverine whenever he arrives. After all, it’s not often Steve can talk to someone who has lived as long as he has, and there’s probably a good deal of things the two could relate to.
The only real tension I foresee these two having would be Wolverine’s love of violence. I’d argue the Steve Rogers of the MCU is no boy scout by any means. Still, there’s a difference between inadvertently killing someone by triggering an explosion and ripping out the entrails of some henchman with adamantium claws. Again though, this may all be a moot point if Steve Rogers is dead in the MCU, and we’ll never see him again. Call me crazy, but I highly doubt that’s the case, but that’s another post entirely.
Namor
Namor has yet to debut in the MCU, but it is rumored that he’s on the way. Those who aren’t familiar with the character should know the ruler of Atlantis as arrogant, privileged and someone who will attack anyone he feels has disrespected him. In short, he’s the type of guy who would love to knock Wolverine’s block off with the slightest provocation, and he’s tried to do that throughout the history of Marvel Comics. Honestly, Namor is like this with many Marvel heroes, and Wolverine is just someone who can easily provoke others with his actions.
One might wonder how often an underwater monarch and guy like Wolverine cross paths, and that will be a challenge for the MCU, to be sure. With that said, there’s a somewhat valid excuse for the two to meet once or twice, given that Namor is a mutant in the Marvel Universe. It would stand to reason that won’t change when he enters the MCU, which then presents an opportunity for him to meet with Wolverine someday. That’s assuming the two haven’t met already, which is entirely possible given their ages.
We don’t know for sure when Wolverine will appear with the rest of the X-Men in the MCU, but CinemaBlend will keep an ear to the ground for any updates in the meantime. For an update on the X-Men, read up on what James McAvoy had to say recently when asked if his time was up with Professor X.
