Currently over in the Marvel comics universe, Wolverine is dead. Of course everybody knows that this is just a temporary situation, because unless they’re named “Uncle Ben”, nobody in comics really ever stay dead. And besides this is Wolverine we’re talking about here, the Canuk with the almost immortality granting healing factor!
But while that may be the case in the comics, things are much different for the real life Wolverine. Despite the fact that he seems to get more ripped the older he gets, the 46-year old Hugh Jackman has no healing factor. And according to Sir Patrick Stewart, who played X-Men leader Charles Xavier next Jackman in 5 movies thus far, it’s that mortality that has prompted the Aussie actor to hang up his claws after 15 years. As he told Collider:
“[Wolverine’s] not supposed to [age]. Unfortunately, actors do and so I think Hugh maybe has begun to get a little uncomfortable, and I know how that feels.”
Stewart will be getting back to comfortable, familiar surroundings though, as he has now confirmed that he will indeed be appearing in the currently in-development Wolverine 3. And talking to Digital Spy as well, he explained this this time will be “different” and seemingly be much more than the cameo he had in the last solo flick.
“I think what you say is true. There is a project in development. I understand that Professor Xavier will be making more than an appearance, however, and that intrigues me.”
“[This will be] a very different Charles Xavier from the one we have seen before. And I don’t quite know what that means, but I’m very excited about it.”
Hmmm… intriguing. More importantly than that tease though, Patrick Stewart has also heard the rumours that the “Old Man Logan” story might be the basis for this third film, and sorta kinda maybe confirms that it is happening.
“…the idea of an old Wolverine – I’m really looking forward to Hugh Jackman getting old. You know, damn him. He looks so great! So I’m hoping to see him covered in prosthetics, you know? And then he’ll make me look better if that’s the case.”
For those of you unfamiliar with it, “Old Man Logan” is a 2011 comic-book mini-series set in an alternate future version of the Marvel Comics universe, where America has been divided up and is ruled by supervillains after they all teamed up and nearly killed off all the heroes. Those heroes who are not dead, live in hiding, including the man formally know as Wolverine who has started a family and adopted a complete pacifist way of life after some great tragedy that happened during the final battles. But when an old, blind Hawkeye shows up, asking Logan to accompany him in a cross-country road-trip to deliver a mysterious package, it sets events in motion that will thoroughly test his vow to never again pop his claws.
“Old Man Logan” is one massive, epic, crazy story – think of Unforgiven but with superheroes – but it also features a crap load of characters that 20th Century Fox do not have the movie rights for. Because of this, most fans realize that a true adaptation can probably never happen. However, the themes of an older, pacifist Logan trying to find redemption without violence is certainly one that can definitely be adopted for a feature film. And when Jackman recently took to social media to ask fans what they wanted to see in Wolverine 3, this is what thousands of people responded with.
Appearing on The Daily Telegraph’s Sydney Confidential Podcast (via Screenrant), Jackman also shared some other things that fans asked for, and which was more than likely right on the money for the movie they’re working on. First up: An old foe!
“There were a lot of calls for Victor Creed to come back”
Victor Creed is of course best known as Sabretooth, Wolverine’s nemesis who as it was revealed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was like a brother to Logan for many years before going bad. In that film, the character was played by Liev Schrieber, and was a drastic departure from Tyler Mane’s goonish, unspeaking version in the original X-Men.
Jackman went on to explain that fans of Wolverine should also look forward to something we’ve only seen a few glimpses of in the movies thus far.
“I must admit I was quite heartened by a number of people saying please don’t make it the last, but look, I’m really excited about this last one. And if you’re a comic book fan, the words ‘berserker rage’ came up a lot. If you know Wolverine, you’ll understand.”
In the comics, the “berserker rage” is a feral state that Wolverine would sometimes enter into when pushed too far. More animal than man, it would often result in him going on massive violent spree, hacking and slashing his way through friend and foe alike, as pure animal instinct takes over from logical reasoning. We’ve yet to see Wolverine truly unleash to this level before, mainly because it’s very hard to do a PG-13 comic book movie where the hero fillets people like salmon while screaming incoherently like a wounded animal. Before it’s comically bad third act though, James Mangold’s The Wolverine certainly appeared to have the mature enough tone to carry violence like that, and with Mangold back at the helm for Wolverine, maybe we’ll actually get to see it this time?
Speaking of The Wolverine though, it’s still completely uncertain whether Wolverine 3 will actually be following on from the events of that film. Since X-Men: Days of Future Past reset the timeline, several of the main events in The Wolverine couldn’t really have happened (if Jean is alive now again, there would be no reason for Logan to have gone to live in the wild due to his grief). It could even be that Wolverine 3 just ignores all those events and actually follows on the upcoming 1980’s set X-Men: Apocalypse. Right now it’s all up in the air, and with franchise architects Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg having the ultimate retcon tool in their hands thanks to the time-travel being introduced, they could essentially just tweak all the stories we know to get everything where they want them to be.
Personally, I just want to see the damn yellow suit in action!
The Wolverine 3 is currently scheduled for release on March 3, 2017
Last Updated: August 19, 2015
Rock789
August 19, 2015 at 13:43
Sad that Jackman is leaving the role behind (although I totally get the reasons listed above)… But looking forward to seeing how he does so. This could really be the definitive Wolverine movie! Bring it on! 🙂