Long before ruling the 2024 summer box office alongside Marvel Jesus, Deadpool & Wolverine star Hugh Jackman cut his teeth on the role throughout all of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movies, from the 2000 original to 2017’s highly acclaimed Logan. But that’s definitely not the only kind of cutting that went on, thanks to the prop and costume department utilizing legitimate metal blades for Wolverine’s claws.
When Jackman popped in for an interview on the chat show Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? (streaming with a Max subscription), he talked about his history of playing Wolverine, and how different the process was in the early days before superhero franchises were commonplace and the phrase "upcoming Marvel movies" was fairly meaningless. Speaking with an understandable sense of shock that’s survived throughout the decades, the actor addressed a clip from the O.G. X-Men film of his throwdown with Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, saying:
In that fight, I actually stabbed the double of Mystique. So like in the beginning — I don’t know what we were thinking — they were actually metal, and they were actually sharp. . . . I had to get used to another nine inches behind my hand as I’m fighting. So I had to adjust. So I’d practice, practice, and I would follow through. I’ve stabbed my thighs. I had scars; I still have scars on my thighs.
I have to imagine it would be extremely difficult to perform 90%+ of one’s daily tasks with full-on metal blades attached to one’s hands, from making a sandwich to using the bathroom. (Wolverine painfully wiping his ass has to be a joke in Mad or Cracked magazines, right?) But it wasn’t just his thighs that received the brunt of the blades, as Jackman explained how he accidentally stabbed the stuntwoman donning Mystique’s makeup. In his words:
In that particular scene, there’s one thing where she’s reaching for something, and I go to stab her arm. She forgot to move her arm, and I literally stabbed her. It went about this deep — [holds fingers an inch or so apart] — into her arm, and I’ll never forget it. I went white.
Wolverine may exude little to no regrets whenever he's slicing and dicing enemies with ease, but it's another thing entirely for Hugh Jackman to actually impale someone while filming. Especially while in the middle of a job where injuries and dealing with insurance can no doubt make everyone involved miserable.
To Jackman's surprise, though, the stuntwoman did not pull back in pain or immediately call for on-set first aid. Instead, she immediately saw the value in suffering such a specific injury. The Greatest Showman actor continued:
I’ve literally just stabbed someone for the first time in my life. And she just…the blood was burbling out, like bloop bloop bloop. It was starting to come, and just like this, she goes: ‘I’ve been stabbed by Wolverine!’ There was blue and red pouring down her arm, because she’s a stunt woman, and she’s a hell of a lot tougher than me. It was a badge of honor for her.
Thankfully, that incident seemed to have happened without any unfortunate follow-ups, and the stuntwoman was likely able to make that story one of the most ideal conversational icebreakers possible. "Oh, this scar? Have a seat, and I'll tell you all about it."
Jackman and Deadpool portrayer Ryan Reynolds first met back on the set of 2009’s highly disappointing spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine, at which point the Canadian mutant's on-screen claws were no doubt made of less injurous materials. Thankfully, something far more lethal was used to take out that particular version of the Merc with the Mouth during Deadpool's 2018 sequel. I dare say that iteration of the character was a bigger gaping wound than the X-Men stuntwoman being stabbed.
Fans can watch Hugh Jackman as Wolverine as much as they want with a Disney+ subscription, but we're still waiting to hear when the streaming service will add Deadpool & Wolverine to its mutant-filled library.
