One week from today we will witness the final appearance of Hugh Jackman’s tough, complex, badass Wolverine in LOGAN. It’s the passing of an era, and a sadness we will have to get used to seeing as other comic book actors who have made a name for themselves in their roles (Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, for one) eventually pass on the crown. But in a perfect world Jackman would always be Wolverine, and though that’s not the case there’s one scenario where we would still have our favorite clawed hero.
While talking with Screen Rant at a press junket for the film, Jackman was asked if he would stay on if he were, say, offered to be a part of the MCU, getting a chance to team-up or go toe-to-toe with other members of the Avengers. Though not a guarantee he would’ve said yes, there would’ve been a moment of thought:
If that was on the table when I made my decision, it certainly would have made me pause. That’s for sure. Because I always love the idea of him within that dynamic, with the Hulk obviously, with Iron Man but there’s a lot of smarter people with MBAs who can’t figure that out [laughter]. You never know.
But he did go into what story arcs he would’ve liked to explore in his time playing the character, but that sadly we will never see:
This was the one that I really thought…When I spoke with the guys who created Old Man Logan – a lot of people think, “Oh this is Old Man Logan.” And I’m like, “Well….” The inspiration for that was Unforgiven. That’s what we have in common. But there’s no Hulk babies in this one [laughter]
At the moment, honestly, if I really did have them there, I probably wouldn’t have said this is the last. It just feels like this is the right time [to leave the character].
Obviously this scenario is out the window, but Jackman has said before he would’ve liked to take on Hulk in a movie, hinting at some “great dysfunction” between other members of the Avengers. But seeing as how Disney and Marvel don’t have the cinematic rights to the characters, and we chalk this mash-up on the list of awesome things we will never get.
I would like to enter myself in as one of many who would kill a loved on to see Jackman take on Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, but at this point that’s like a poor kid wishing for a PS4 for his birthday: not gonna happen. The world is an unjust place, but we should be thankful LOGAN is getting such great reception, and that we got the time with the character that we did. Actually, f@ck that. Let’s start a Kickstarter and buy the rights to everything ourselves. I’ll enter the first buck.
LOGAN arrives March 3.