The Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman has confirmed that the next Wolverine film will be his last as the character. Confirmation was made when asked on the Dr. Oz show, Jackman said that “after 17 years as the character it seems like the right time to leave.” He says he knows what he’s going to do in the third film and it feels like the perfect time to go out.
Hugh, did not say if he was going to be in X-Men: Apocalypse or not but I’m pretty sure he will be involved in some way. The third Wolverine film is scheduled to be in theaters in 2017. What does PopcultHQ think Hugh Jackman will do with his final time he brings my all-time favorite comic book superhero to life, the ever so complex mutant with the mysterious origin and a list of names that seem to precede his reputation. That reputation is of being the best there is at what he does….and what he does is not pretty!!
Logan, Patch, James Howlett, Weapon X and more famously known as Wolverine has to be one of the coolest anti-heroes to really become a superstar in comics who was not (at the time) over exposed in TV, movies or cartoons. Then again this was around 1988 and I was just getting into comic books and fortunately one of the first comics I ever bought was Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. I, as many other young men at the time, fell in love with the mutant that had this extraordinarily fast healing factor that made him nearly invincible. Not only did the healing factor save his life Logan also had a skeleton laced in a very rare metal. Adamantium was the indestructible metal that lined Logan’s bones and also implanted metal claws in his wrists that would come out his knuckles. Again (at the time)….Logan had no clue how he had acquired such a invaluable enhancements to his body.
Let’s go back in time and follow Jackman’s history as Logan and where it might end up going in Wolverine 3.
In one simple picture Hugh Jackman gave hope to millions of Wolverine fans of what was to come. The image had two hands laying on the table clenched. One of the the hands has a set of metallic claws protruding from the fists……it of course meant The Wolverine 3!
The picture was shared by the one and only Hugh Jackman with the cryptic sub-text “One last time!” What did Hugh Jackman mean with that message? We know now that Hugh Jackman has confirmed that the next Wolverine film will be his last.
Hugh Jackman’s history with Wolverine
Hugh Jackman took over the reigns of Wolverine for the very first time as a relative unknown for the filming of Fox Studio’s first foray into making actual good movies from comic book source material and good acting talents. Triva: What not many people don’t know is that Hugh was NOT the original actor that was supposed to play Wolverine in the first place! There was another even more unknown actor who had already been cast as Wolverine for the X-Men film but he was replaced after he broke his leg right before filming! Thus the legend of Hugh Jackman and Wolverine would go on to be cemented and virtually changed for the first time the landscape of future comic book films to be taken serious. The level of realism and acting Hugh Jackman brought to the seriousness of the character of Wolverine has made the difference on how all movies Marvel wanted to be made from their stock of characters ever again.
After the monumental success of X-Men 2 where Wolverine’s story was the central point of the movie with the intro of the Weapon X story, Hugh Jackman took Wolverine into another level of coolness and fan frenzy by working his body out to the max to bring the brutal rage of Weapon X to life. Really who could ever forget the epic shot of Wolverine rising from the pool of water snarling and unleashing his adamantium claws in such a visceral rage!!
It didn’t take much for Fox Studios to know they had a bankable sure-fire money making hit on their hands and it was time for them to milk it. X-Men: Origins Wolverine was the product of the studios trying to give fans what they don’t want. Fox Studios seems to be good at doing that when it comes to comic book movies because for some odd and really idiotic decisions by studios heads who seem to think they know more than what thousands of fans already love (Yes I’m talking Deadpool!) What had such potential to become an epic Wolverine movie, ended up flat on it’s face by the end. Sad to think a simple thing like completely messing up putting a mask on Deadpool at the end of the film over what Fox studios thought was just a side character. Still Hugh Jackman delivered a solid performance and the rest of the film with the origin of James Howlett made Jackman want to do an even better more serious job for a sequel…….but would there even be more Wolverine movies? This was about the time Hugh was seriously thinking of hanging up the Wolverine claws once and for all after another failed X-franchise film (in the comic book fans eyes) with X-Men 3 – Last Stand.
Jackman got his chance once again to redeem the Wolverine name after his first bout of rumors of leaving the Wolverine mantle when Hugh was given almost full creative control to do what he really wanted to do with The Wolverine the sequel to his first solo movie.
With “The Wolverine,” Hugh truly gave fans what they really wanted not what studio heads thought fans want. Hugh listened to the ravaging comic book nerds (and I was one of them) to make Wolverine as badass and lethal as he really is in the source material. Wolverine is not a “good guy” by all means but he does do good guy deeds when it comes down to it. The touching of Frank Miller’s and Chris Claremont’s Samurai-style epic take of Logan’s past was the way to go. The deep background love story and the connections to all other X-Men films was very well done. What really topped of the movie was the extreme violence and issue that come with Wolverine.
Movie Trivia: The Wolverine – Did you know there’s an alternate ending (not used) showing what’s IN the suitcase Yukio brings onto the plane at the end!! The “Classic Brown Costume”!!
Where will Hugh Jackman take us for Wolverine 3?
I really hope he does one of the The End or The Death of Wolverine story-lines. The best of them all has to be Old Man Logan written by Mark Millar the man responsible for great comic book movies like Wanted, The Kingsmen and the ever so popular Kick-Ass. Old Man Logan is a future tale of the…….you know what? Old Man Logan is so good I won’t even spoil a single page. Go read it! It’s so worth it!!
