Avengers: Endgame director wanted Wolverine from X-Men in the final battle

Imagine if Wolverine had shown up during that iconic battle scene at the end of Avengers: Endgame. How epic would that have been? And to hear co-director Joe Russo tell it, he wanted it to happen.

During an interview with Comicbookmovie.com, Russo named Wolverine as a Marvel character he would have loved to include in the battle against Thanos. At the time, Fox still had the film rights to the X-Men franchise, and Disney hadn’t yet bought the company, so bringing in Wolverine or anyone else from the X-Men universe would have been difficult.

Although not impossible, let’s note. Studios can make deals over certain characters — Disney and Sony have a kind of joint custody agreement over Spider-Man, for example — but obviously Wolverine in Endgame didn’t happen.

“I mean, Wolverine was always one of my favorite characters,” Russo said. “Incredible Hulk #181 was one of the first comic books that I remember collecting, which was the first appearance of Wolverine. Hugh Jackman has done an incredible job with that character over the years, and I think they should take a break for a little while before someone else takes a crack at it.”

BEIJING,CHINA – OCTOBER 15:Austrilian actor Hugh Jackman attends premiere of film The Wolverine 2 on Tuesday Oct 15,2013 in Beijing,China.(Photo by TPG/Getty Images)

Hugh Jackman did indeed have a historic run with the character; he’s been playing him since 2000, in the first X-Men movie. It’s very hard to imagine someone else taking on that role, so I absolutely get where Russo is coming from when he says the character should have a big screen break.

That said, now that Disney has bought Fox, it’s only a matter of time between X-Men characters show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in some form. And when that happens, we’re all gonna be on the lookout for who will play Wolverine. Many have suggested Henry Cavill or Jason Momoa, but in my head I see Jon Bernthal doing that role justice. Since the Marvel TV shows are moot now, he can technically leave behind the Punisher and just be Wolverine, right? Or what about Tom Hardy? Charlie Hunnam?

The possibilities are endless, folks! Who would you like to see?

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 14: Jon Bernthal attends Marvel’s “The Punisher” Los Angeles Premiere at ArcLight Hollywood on January 14, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Of course, Wolverine isn’t the only famous X-Men character who will need to be recast. Singer and actor Janelle Monáe told Empire that she would love to play Storm, the weather witch, at some point.

“I definitely have thrown it out there,” Monae said. “One of my dreams has always been to play Storm. I don’t know if she comes in Black Panther, but it would be a dream to have her in it. I don’t know where they are with that. A lot of women have played Storm and they’ve done an exceptional job, and I would love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice.”

In the X-Men movies from Fox, Storm has been played by Halle Berry, although the iconic character has appeared in lots of video games and TV shows over the years played by other actors. And Monae isn’t the only actor interested in playing her: American Gods star Yetide Badaki has also put herself forward.

Disney has some exciting decisions to make, and we’ll be watching.

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h/t Cinemablend