He entered as a little-known face in Hollywood and is now one of the most prominent names in the world of pop culture. Hugh Jackman enjoys a huge fan base all over the world thanks to his portrayal of Wolverine in X-Men franchise. Jackman, who played the character of the indispensable X-Man for over 17 years is set to bid goodbye to his iron claws post-Logan. Yes, Jackman is going to play Wolverine for the very last time in James Mangold's Logan.
While the trailer and teaser of the film show him as an old man with his healing abilities diminishing, we have a hunch about his end (please don't make it brutal). While every character has an ending, biding goodbye to Jackman's Wolverine is going to be hard for every Marvel fan.
Let's flashback to 2000's, when comics to movies transition was not too common and franchise superhero films weren't as popular as they are now. Bryan Singer's idea to bring Marvel's popular comic series X-Men, into cinema space was a revolutionary step that went on to define the Marvel Cinematic Universe of today. While the first two films were all about Charles Xavier and Magneto, there was one star who was creating his own niche.
Wolverine became one of the most loved and respected mutants from the X-Men series. His character always had a lot more depth and an interesting backstory. The makers dedicated the fourth instalment of the series completely to him and his stand alone film X-Men Origin: Wolverine started the spin-off culture in superhero films. Wolverine was the only mutant to get his stand alone franchise within a franchise and Logan is going to be (what looks like) its last part.
Seldom do actors overgrow the franchise so much so that people sit through every scene just to get a glimpse of the actor. X-Men makers always estimated the power of Jackman's Wolverine and made sure to give him enough cameos in every Marvel film possible. After playing a successful character for 17 years, an actor becomes an extension of that character. Jackman got into the skin of Logan, so much that now it is going to be a tough job for the studios to find his replacement.
Remember last year when Ben Affleck stepped into the shoes of Batman in Dawn of Justice? Despite playing a decent night-watcher, his comparisons to Christian Bale's Dark Knight never faded away. The benchmark was set so high by the fans that half of Affleck's promotion went in explaining fans to give him a chance. Now, any actor who is even aspiring to own those iron claws has a huge challenge ahead for he will have to overcome the shadow of Hugh Jackman. And, not many actors would be ready to do so.
From his physique to his attitude, Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. The character gave him a strong niche in Hollywood, made him an A-Lister and poster boy of a big franchise. While fans are already mourning Jackman's exit from the franchise, the actor too will have a hard time to shed the skin of Wolverine. While, in many interviews, Jackman has played it cool with the thought of another actor as Wolverine, the mere idea of another body with Jackman's character soul is saddening.
However, the studio might play it smart as in Logan we could see Wolverine tutoring a little kid with powers similar to his. So as it may happen, this little kid might grow up to adopt the title of Wolverine, making Jackman's Logan as a legacy, which is how it should be. Carrying around a character for 17 years is an achievement in itself and carrying it around maintaining a mystery and interest for the fans is next level. Hugh Jackman successfully did it thus making him irreplaceable in the franchise.
Jackman's absence will drastically impact the X-Men franchise. While bringing in Deadpool might help but Ryan Reynolds starrer will always remain a spinoff first. There can be no debate about the lasting effect Hugh Jackman’s absence will have on the entire Marvel franchise, leave alone fans.
While iron claws might be owned by someone new in the next X-Men film, the legacy of this great mutant will always be owned by Hugh Jackman. He is and always will be the original brave and immortal WOLVERINE.
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