For years, Wolverine and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were mutually exclusive – Hugh Jackman’s beloved mutant operated under the shadow of Fox, while Kevin Feige and Co. turned the MCU into one of the biggest movie franchises in Hollywood history. To the tune of $17 billion, no less.
But earlier this week, everything changed. Bringing an end to months of heated speculation and rumors, Disney and 21st Century Fox shareholders agreed to a historic merger that will, in time, redraw the superhero genre as we know it.
Yes, heroes like Deadpool and the Fantastic Four, who were originally offloaded by Marvel in the ’90s, are finally heading home now, while the Mouse House will also gain control of Alien, Predator and a number of other big-name franchises. But what does this all mean for Wolverine?
Well, it’s a forgone conclusion that the studio 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, you can bet that Marvel will find a way to toss Wolverine into their beloved cinematic universe and while we still don’t know how exactly they’ll do it just yet, 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 learn how Kevin Feige and Co. handle such an iconic character once this merger is signed, sealed and delivered. Just don’t count on seeing Hugh Jackman in the role again.
After nine movies in 17 years, the actor’s ostensibly finished with the clawed mutant, and actually 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,” Jackman 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.