Of all the superheroes currently raking in millions at the box office, you’d be hard-pressed to find one more strongly linked to a specific actor than Wolverine, whom Hugh Jackman has portrayed in every big screen outing for the character since 2000’s X-Men. Indeed, many people have voiced concern over what happens when Jackman, now 45, ages out of the part, leaving Fox with the unenviable situation of recasting the adamantium-clawed mutant. But does even Jackman have the sway to overcome the fact that the X-Men and Avengers are currently owned by two different studios?
In short, the answer is probably no, even Jackman’s enthusiasm won’t be able to spark a cinematic team-up between 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios. At some point in the future, the rights to Wolverine may revert back to Marvel, at which point a film featuring X-Men and Avengers could happen, but that will likely be long after Jackman has turned over the role.
Still, Jackman recently voiced his interest in bringing Wolverine into contact with such characters as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. In a conversation with IGN, he said:
“I would love to see him as part of The Avengers”. “Because there’s a great dysfunction among that team, and I think Wolverine would fit right into that. He’d like that.”
Of course, given Wolverine’s lone wolf nature and hot temper, Jackman doesn’t anticipate that the characters would get along well at first. When asked which Avenger Wolverine would likely end up brawling with first, the actor said:
“There’s no doubt he’d get in a fight with Hulk at some point. Those two bad, rage-filled characters are going to square off at some point. It would be quite fun. I don’t know how much fun to shoot it would be because I’m sure I’d be on the worst end of it, but hey, he can heal.”
It would definitely be a huge thrill for fans to see Wolverine share the screen with other comic-book heavyweights, so hopefully the right people at Marvel and Fox hear Jackman and start working to make it happen. In the meantime, audiences will get more than their fair share of Wolverine when X-Men: Days of Future Past opens this Friday.
