Hugh Jackman Returning As Wolverine For A Marvel Project?
Could Hugh Jackman be bringing Wolverine into the Marvel Cinematic Universe? There are rumors he'll be featured in an upcoming movie
Fans are going absolutely insane speculating what heroes could pop up in the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Super Bowl trailer featured a voice and bald head that could very well belong to that of Sir Patrick Stewart, reprising his role as Charles Xavier aka Professor X. But could Hugh Jackman be sharpening his claws up for an appearance as well? Geekosity has it that Jackman could be making a return as Wolverine in the movie.
These are just rumors at this point, but with the level of fan-service Marvel is dishing out at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if this cameo came to fruition. Hugh Jackman seemed pretty done with the role of Wolverine after 2017’s Logan, which provided a proper send-off for his beloved iteration of the mutant. The role takes a toll on Jackman’s body because of how much work he has to put in to look superhero ready, but the final outing also closed the book in an incredibly satisfying way that made nearly every fan happy.
With that being said, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness doesn’t necessarily have to dig up any character’s graves. If you’ve seen the Loki Disney+ series, you know that the concept of variants exists. In other words, there are versions of people who exist in separate timelines and universes. We also saw this in Spider-Man: No Way Home when we got to see three different Peter Parkers on-screen together. Though the Charles Xavier and Wolverine we’ve come to know had their fate sealed in Logan, it doesn’t mean we can’t see variants that look the same as those characters in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel. Plus, that movie happens well off in terms of the overall timeline.
If Marvel wants to introduce the X-Men in the wake of Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the Multiverse would be a great way to do it. The existence of mutants hasn’t been mentioned in the MCU. Even with notable X-Men characters Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver making their appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, they were referred to as “enhanced.” It would be pretty hard to hide the existence of mutants entirely, so now Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may be looking to organically integrate them through multiverse shenanigans. And who better to bring mutants back into the fold than fan-favorite X-Men actors Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman?
Of course, Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart probably aren’t going to be in it for the long haul. It seems more likely that this is just a clever way to introduce mass audiences to the existence of mutants in the MCU so that the roles of Wolverine and Charles Xavier can be recast for future MCU appearances without anyone batting an eye.
With the deft handling of the Multiverse so far, it’s safe to say we can probably trust Marvel to stick the landing. Everyone was extremely happy with Spider-Man: No Way Home and the entire plot of that movie was based around the Multiverse. Loki also introduced us to the next potentially Thanos-level threat with Kang the Conqueror, a multiversal villain. It seems like Marvel is fully leaning into the multiverse at this point and audiences are just going to be along for the ride. Doctor Stange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theatres on May 6, 2022.
