Back in 2000, a largely unknown-in-America Australian actor was hired to play one of Marvel’s single most iconic characters, the vicious mutant loner James “Wolverine” Logan in Bryan Singer’s movie X-Men. 2000 was, if you’ll recall, before the superhero boom began in earnest, and producers were unsure of this untested performer would be able to sell a character that was known to many fanboys, only just then getting a cinematic taste of their favorite comics. Jackman, many critics have agreed over the years, was nigh perfect for the role.
So perfect, in fact, that Jackman has returned to play the role in the subsequent six X-Men sequels X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he had a cameo in X-Men: First Class, starred in The Wolverine, and was a central figure in X-Men: Days of Future Past. This morning on Instagram, however, Jackman, 46, revealed that he will be playing Wolverine only ‘one last time.’ Whether or not Jackman would appear in the 8th X-Men film, X-Men: Apocalypse, has been a matter of conjecture, and some have posited that he will only make a cameo.
Check Out: The Wolverine XXX Trailer!
He will, however, star in the 9th X-Men film, an as yet untitled Wolverine solo movie. After that, Jackman has implied, he’s out. This comes on the heels of a few other notable superhero retirements. Jennifer Lawrence has announced that she will no longer play the character of Mystique in the same film series, and Joss Whedon seems to be stepping away from Disney’s Marvel series.
Will we have new blood? Stay tuned to find out, bub.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
