DC And Marvel World have marked the release of Logan, Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine, with an incredible tribute video summarizing his best moments over 17 years and 8 movies. Though the films have varied in quality from the dreadful (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: The Last Stand) to the great (X2 and Days of Future Past) to the simply phenomenal (Logan), Jackman has been a consistently enjoyable screen presence the whole way through.
He’s proved a committed custodian of those adamantium claws, putting himself through the exercise and diet regime from hell in order to create that ripped superhuman physique and, in Logan, giving what must be one of the defining superhero performances to date. So, it’s perhaps no wonder then that fans are upset to see him go and skeptical of who might take over.
With that in mind, let’s take a trip back in time to October 11, 1999, when venerable website Ain’t It Cool News was first to break the story of Jackman’s casting:
“Well seems that a fairly unknown Australian actor by the name of Hugh Jackman has been cast as the clawed one. … I’ve been hearing from Australian readers that this is one of the world’s greatest horrible decisions.”
Naturally, fans were distraught that their preferred choice of Glenn Danzig (ha!) had fallen through. Complaints about Jackman ranged from him being too tall for the role, too Australian and, bizarrely, that he couldn’t play Wolverine as he’s appeared in stage musicals and no one will take him seriously. No doubt they were eating their words a year or so later when he tore up the screen as one of the best things in Bryan Singer’s original X-Men, which arguably kicked off the ongoing superhero movie renaissance.
If you’re eager for more of the mutant, check out the tribute video above and give a salute to the man who brought Wolverine to life in all his glory and gave us an all-time future classic in Logan.
