Marvel looking to replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

The original X-Men movie came out in 2000, nearly 20 years ago. Hugh Jackman has been playing the superhero Wolverine for nearly that long, with his last onscreen appearance coming in 2017’s Logan. For many, Jackman is Wolverine. He played the guy throughout his 30s and 40s, and his career exploded in the process.

But with the X-Men about to be integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise is entering a new era, which means new blood. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner spoke at the Television Critics Association press junket about Jackman saying his goodbyes. “This man worked so hard to bulk up, would get up at four in the morning to bulk and eat protein meals every two hours because his natural state, they used to call him Worm when he was a kid,” she explained. “So his natural state is a very skinny guy. Once you reach a certain age, the body just won’t go anymore. I think he was wise to say, ‘I’m at that point. I can’t do it.’”

"Now, that doesn’t mean he can’t come back as older Wolverine. You never know. Future Wolverine, you never know."

True, Wolverine did technically, you know, die at the end of Logan, but when has death ever been a problem in comics?

As for who will replace Jackman, the Marvel machine isn’t sure yet. “I don’t know what [Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige’s] thinking honestly,” Donner said. “I don’t even think Kevin knows. I think Kevin’s still dealing with this wealth of characters and trying to make sense of them.”

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Jackman is inextricably tied to the role of Wolverine, so replacing him will be a challenge. But it’s not the X-Men without Wolverine, so some young actor out there is going to get really lucky.

As for when we could see a new Wolverine on the big screen, it’ll probably be a while. 20th Century Fox is still releasing X-Men: Dark Phoenix into theaters this June (word is it’s awful, FYI) whereafter Marvel and Disney will get to play with these characters. At the moment, those companies are busy following up on the shocking end of Avengers: Infinity War. After Avengers: Endgame comes out in April, we can start thinking about a new wave of X-Men movies.

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h/t ComicBook.com