9 Actors Who Almost Ended Up Playing X-Men

1) Practically Half Of Hollywood – Wolverine

Understandably, Wolverine is the most highly sought after role in the X-Men franchise, with many an actor having been in the running to play the part before Jackman (and Dougray Scott before him) was cast. In fact, it seemed that half of the men in Hollywood were under consideration.

The list of potential Wolvies included Mel Gibson, Keanu Reeves, Ed Norton, Jean Claude Van Damme, Aaron Eckhart, Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortensen and Johnny Depp. You can pretty much see why they considered each of these, although presumably Depp was only one thought of for previously playing another character with sharp digits in Edward Scissorhands.

Some of these would have been very interesting to see, but we think the right actor ended up donning the claws in the end. Though with the clock ticking on Hugh Jackman’s time in the role, the hunt for a new Wolverine might be about to begin….