Hugh Jackman names the greatest 15 seconds of his career
There’s no debate about what Hugh Jackman’s most iconic character is, but he has different takeaways about the role than some of his fans may have.
While there have now been multiple actors who have played Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman, Wolverine is a character who will always be associated with Hugh Jackman. The actor may be a musical fan at heart, but he’s been playing the most beloved character in the X-Men franchise for over 25 years.
What’s most fascinating about Jackman’s casting is how unusual it was to begin with; the short, stocky Canadian superhero didn’t seem like a role that Jackman would be suited for, especially given that his experience had primarily been in theatre.
At the time, an X-Men film was by no means a sure bet, as Marvel had had only a mixed track record of film adaptations, with the legendary failure of 1986’s Howard the Duck hanging darkly over the industry, but X-Men hit at the exact right moment, propelling Jackman to stardom and launching one of the most unique (and often confusing) franchises of all-time. Not every instalment was great, as X-Men Origins: Wolverine was so terrible that Jackman memorably admitted to it, but the unevenness of the saga’s trajectory did not in any way impact his performance, which was easy to rely on.
The most significant creative choice made to sustain the X-Men franchise came when it was decided to develop a prequel series, in which new actors could be incorporated to play the legacy characters, and with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, respectively, 2011’s X-Men: First Class brought the franchise back to the 1960s, plus, given that Wolverine is someone who does not age, Jackman could still appear in the film alongside the new cast.
About this, he cited his cameo in X-Men: First Class, in which he mutters profanities at McAvoy and Fassbender, as being his favourite moment in the history of the series. Getting to drop the one “F-bomb” in a PG-13 film is a distinctive honour, and it felt perfect coming from someone like Jackman, who played Wolverine as a cold, often detached character.
Although the scene had been included as a way to wink at the fans, the chemistry that he had with McAvoy and Fassbender was certainly something that the franchise producers took note of. The next core instalment in the series, X-Men: Days of Future Past, involved Wolverine in a more central role because he was the best protagonist for the time-travel story.
The future of Jackman as Wolverine is unclear; while he had been given a perfect sendoff in 2017’s Logan, one of the few superhero films to also be regarded as ‘great cinema’, he decided to reprise the role for a more comedic interpretation in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, in which he teamed up with Ryan Reynlds’ ‘Merc with a Mouth’.
Whether this means that all the X-Men characters have a future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe under Disney is still up for debate, even if Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, James Marsden’s Cyclops, and Kelsey Grammer’s Beast will all be appearing in Avengers: Doomsday. It is inevitable that the MCU will introduce a younger generation of X-Men, but finding someone who can take over the part of Wolverine after Jackman is a seemingly insurmountable challenge.
