For years, Wolverine and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were mutually exclusive – Hugh Jackman’s enraged mutant operated under the shadow of Fox, while Kevin Feige and Co. nurtured the MCU into one of the biggest film franchises in Hollywood history.
But on December 14th, everything changed. Bringing an end to weeks of heated speculation and alleged false starts, Disney and 21st Century Fox reached a $52 billion deal that will, in time, redraw the superhero genre as we know it.
Characters like Deadpool and Fantastic Four, who were originally offloaded by Marvel in the ’90s, are headed home, while the Mouse House also gained control of Alien, Predator and a number of other big-name franchises. And don’t get us started on the TV front.
What does this all mean for Wolverine? Well, as stated by Disney CEO Bob Iger, the company will soon cross-pollinate those famous X-Men characters with its prized MCU, which may well spell danger for Fox’s current timeline. However that may be, analysts are now expecting the stars to align in time for Marvel’s Phase 4, by which point Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans will be ready to pass down the torch. Perhaps Tom Hardy will be the one to succeed Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? It’s too soon to tell, but one Reddit user has gone ahead and imagined the MCU version of Jackman’s famous mutant to stoke excitement.
It’s certainly a more faithful rendition of Wolverine than the one we’ve seen anchor Fox’s X-Men franchise, so it’ll be interesting to see how Kevin Feige and Co. handle such an iconic comic book character once the Disney-Fox merger is signed, sealed and delivered.
But after nine movies in 17 years, Hugh Jackman is ostensibly finished with the clawed mutant, and hopes that Disney’s acquisition will allow for a younger star to come in and offer his own spin on Wolverine.
“I think unfortunately, the ship has sailed for me, but for someone else I would like to see Wolverine in there,” the actor said.
And we couldn’t agree more. Alas, Tom Hardy currently has his hands full with Venom, but there are plenty of other equally exciting options out there should Marvel decide to cast a younger Wolverine. Failing that, there’s always X-23.