5 THINGS FOX and the X-MEN FRANCHISE need to address with Hugh Jackman leaving the role of WOLVERINE
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With Hugh Jackman himself telling us that the Logan Movie will be separate from the X-Men Franchise Continuity this is both Happy News and Sad News.
Now on one hand Logan looks incredible. It makes me sad that in any future use of X-23 there’s probably not going to be that X-23 Wolverine Father Daughter esq relationship. But because of the departure of Hugh Jackman things are going to be very different in future X-Men Movies. So let’s start.
Numer 1: Is Logan Alive?
Fox is going to have to let the viewers know if he’s alive or dead since were most likely not going to see any aspect of Wolverine for a number of years. Now I personally think they won’t “Kill Him” as Wolverine is too well known and too important in too many story lines to just Kill Off when in reality Wolverine is a huge money maker. We don’t need another Days of Future Past to bring back people we should have never killed off in the first place, even though I enjoyed that movie we do not need another one. We all can agree that killing off Cyclops, Professor X, and Jean Grey in the first franchise was a poor decision. I honestly think they can address this in a couple ways and here’s how. Have him seclude himself and we only hear of him by passing stories or rumors kind of like Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond. People can say he’s gotten tired of the nonsense of his long life and the things he’s seen and done. This allows for us to know he’s still around, but we get why he’s not around to help, and if they ever recast him (which they will) not seeing Wolverine for so long might get most people comfortable with seeing a new face by then.
Number 2: Do you recast Wolverine?
Yes, you know they will so let's not fight it. Now it’s undoubtable the love and appreciation so many have for Hugh Jackman in the roll of Wolverine. It’s almost like he always had our backs. Even with the flaws in the X-Men Movie Franchise It’s really hard to complain about anything he’s done in this role. So as you can see it’s a hard pill to swallow when someone else is goving to take over this role. Personally I believe he 100% will be recast in the future. As I mentioned earlier the character draws in the crowds and is extremely pivotal in so many X-men Stories. No to mention all of the money Hugh and Wolverine brought in. My only hope is that they wait a bit. And there is a way they can give us that time.
Number 3: Introduce a New yet Familiar face Laura Kinny X-23 the Clone of Wolverine himself.
How do we introduce her without Wolverine in the picture. Now her origin can be done as often Wolverine is only mentioned by name for most of it so it’s entirely possible to bring her into the fold in future X-men Movies. Now if you haven’t seen X-Men Apocalypse I’m going to spoil an after credit scene but it doesn’t ruin the movie so here you go. In an after credits scene we get a hint of ESSEX CORP and a man taking a vile of Weapon X blood definitely hinting at the project continuing most likely with X-23. Now if you haven’t seen Apocalypse rent it, buy it, whatever, it has a lot of redeeming qualities and yes it is definitely not perfect. With the end of that movie we get Essex Corp clearly taking samples of Logan so clearly this can be used as the introduction of X-23 in a future solo movie or ensemble movie in future X-Men Movies.
Number 4: Does X-23 take the Mantle of Wolverine or just become a side role.
They’ve done this in the comics with the All-New Wolverine introduced back in 2015 where she takes the persona of Wolverine. Do we translate this into the big screen. This begs the bigger question of would this be permanent or would she eventually step aside if Wolverine comes back recasted. Now as I mentioned earlier he can come back as he ages very slowly giving this character the perfect excuse to why hes not an old grampy gramps and why hes still fit to fight. This would make it okay for us to not see him for not only a few years in real life but they could wait decades in the movie verse to bring him back and still have him look the same if they needed to. Personally with how incredible Hugh Jackman has taken care of the role of Wolverine and the fact that I’m sure that character will have to come back in the movie verse I’d like to see an X-23 come into the fold, hear the stories of her clone father and in her journey to find him she finds the X-Men and decides she wants to take over the mantle until she finds him. Eventually she can step aside for the day that Papa Logan finds his way back to the X-men perhaps to fight off another Powerful Evil Villian like the hinted MR. Sinister. I think it would bring a new perspective, a strong female lead heroine and give us time to get used to the idea of someone else being Wolverine that’s not Hugh Jackman in the future.
Number 5: Do You Reboot (AGAIN)
At this point with the attempts to connect all the movies it’s almost felt like they’ve done 2 reboots anyway. Marvel has many of times in the comics merged and altered realities having some X-men meet alternate X-Men from another reality and so on and so on. It wouldn’t be too odd to think of us getting another reboot. Now don’t get me wrong I like the new cast we’ve gotten since First class but think about it. X-men First class was basically a reboot, it was a Prequel so we had all new cast with the same character titles. No continuity issues yet because it’s all in the past. Then we hit Days of Future Past, a somewhat descent attempt to alter time lines and bring back characters that should have never died in the first place which is basically reboot number 2. It has the same cast as First Class, we jacked up the time line again and still have plot holes but not as much. Baby steps here people. Then comes Apocalypse, not a horrible movie but it brought more questions and plot holes then it removes. At this point I wouldn’t be against another major event that alters reality but this time the gotta make it a complete fresh start. Personally I can't decide if I would want another reboot or not.
Side note: I just read a new article by Josh Wilding which I'll link below about how if the Wolverine teaming up with Marvle's Cinimatic Universe was on the table, he may have reconsidered leaving the role of Wolverine and maybe put another movie or two back in the cards. Since fox has no intention of ever doing the Sony/Marvel Spiderman deal it looks like our hearts will have to stay broken.
Check out the article:
https://www.comicbookmovie.com/x-men/logan/hugh-jackman-would-keep-playing-wolverine-if-the-x-men-were-part-of-a149177