With Disney’s merger with 21st Century Fox now behind us, Marvel Studios are hard at work on figuring out how they can bring the mutants and Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, their top priority is probably trying to work out how Wolverine will fit into things, as there’s been a whole lot of chatter online regarding what’s next for the beloved hero.
Sadly for fans of Hugh Jackman, the actor doesn’t seem terribly interested in returning, but there may be a sliver of hope. Sources close to We Got This Covered have revealed that studio execs are hoping they’ll be able to coax him back. It’s unclear if discussions between the two parties have actually begun or this is just something Marvel’s been discussing internally, but from what we understand, they aren’t ruling it out.
If it were to actually happen, we’re told Jackman would be playing a different version of Wolverine than the one we saw in Fox’s X-Men movies. The specifics of how exactly this would work and how he’d fit in with the rest of the rebooted mutants are still a bit hazy, but again, the studio is hoping he’ll return.
Of course, Jackman’s always been proud of his time in the role, but he’s remained resolute in recent years that he won’t ever reprise it in any capacity in the future. In fact, it seems not even the prospect of joining the MCU can convince him otherwise, so Marvel may be holding out hope for nothing.
Then again, who knows what’s actually going on behind closed doors and if perhaps Hugh has had a change of heart. After all, we imagine the amount of money Kevin Feige and co. may offer the actor would be hard to turn down. Regardless, right now we can only wait and see what ends up happening.
Feige’s already said that it’ll be at least another five years before the X-Men enter the MCU, following the Disney-Fox merger, so it’s unlikely we’ll hear anything concrete on Wolverine‘s future any time soon. But it’s nice to learn that studio execs are hoping for Jackman to return and with any luck, they’ll get their wish.