Despite having over half a century’s worth of comic book stories to adapt, Fox’s X-Men franchise still went ahead and botched the iconic Phoenix Saga twice, with their second attempt quickly earning a reputation as one of the worst comic book movies in recent memory as well as the unwanted title of 2019’s biggest box office bomb.
With the characters now finally in the hands of Marvel Studios, the smart money is on Kevin Feige and his team completely reinventing the mutants in an effort to distance their reboot as much as possible from their previous incarnations that spawned a dozen movies across two decades and earned over $6 billion at the box office in the process.
It looks like we might not even see the MCU’s X-Men until as far away as Phase Six, which gives Marvel plenty of time to figure out a way to reinvent a property that audiences have already seen sequelized, rebooted and spun off numerous times. Unsurprisingly, most of the speculation has been centered around Wolverine, with Hugh Jackman reportedly turning down the studio’s offer to return while countless actors have already been linked as his potential replacement.
Given that Jackman’s Logan is arguably the single most iconic recurring character that the superhero genre has ever seen though, both Marvel and whoever ends up getting cast in the role will be under huge pressure to deliver a new take on such a familiar face, and now it seems that they might end up doing it in a way that nobody would ever expect. And that’s because one idea being discussed behind the scenes is apparently to have the MCU’s Wolverine portrayed as bisexual, which actually does have a precedent in the pages of Marvel Comics.
There’s no confirmation of this from the studio just yet, but trusted insider Daniel Richtman, who has a superb track record when it comes to MCU scoops, recently Re-Tweeted a comic book panel showing Wolverine and Hercules kissing.
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) June 5, 2020
Meanwhile, another insider, MCU Cosmic’s Jeremy Conrad, posted the below Tweet, teasing something Hercules-related as well:
— ManaByte (@ManaByte) June 5, 2020
Following this, Richtman outright revealed what he was teasing, stating that he’s indeed talking about Hercules and Wolverine and that he’s referring to the MCU, not the comics. Which seems to confirm that Marvel are planning to adapt this relationship for the big screen.
Hercules and Wolverine.
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) June 5, 2020
MCU
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) June 5, 2020
As those who read the comics will know, in 2013 it was revealed that an alternate universe version of James ‘Logan’ Howlett was in a relationship with Hercules, while earlier this year it was hinted that the love triangle between Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean Grey was a lot more complex than first thought. The X-Men comics have always had a reputation for being progressive, of course, and while this would no doubt rouse the trolls if it became part of MCU canon, it would certainly put a fresh spin on the character when he makes his big screen return.
