Earlier this week, rumours swirled that The Bear star Jeremy Allen White has met with Marvel Studios to potentially discuss playing Wolverine in the upcoming X-Men reboot.
We've since heard that he could debut in that, Avengers: Secret Wars, or even Alpha Flight, while there's chatter that another A-lister could be in contention to inherit the claws from Hugh Jackman.
Now, though, new paparazzi photos of White out and about in Los Angeles have got everyone talking about what a great fit he'd be to play the MCU's Logan. It's even a trending news topic on X under the headline, "Fans See Jeremy Allen White as Perfect Wolverine After New Photos."
We've included several reactions below, but it's hard not to look at White here and see a version of Wolverine who is far more in line with the comics than the much taller, less stocky Jackman. He certainly looks ripped enough, anyway.
Last year, Allen reflected on a previous meeting with Marvel Studios, which he'd previously explained had gone poorly after he said to them, "'Tell me about why should I do your movie,' They were, like, 'F*** you,' and I was like, 'Right on.'"
"That was out of line," The Mandalorian and Grogu star admitted, walking back his 2023 remarks. "That was, again, me sort of not being entirely invited to the party, and being like, 'I don't even wanna go anyway.' But yes, I had a meeting that I probably could have handled differently, for sure."
"First of all, it's not a bag on the genre, as much as it is, like, I don't know what I can give to it, really, or how I fit into it. And also, I think there was a period where being in one of those films guaranteed you [could] get any movie made," White continued. "If you find a script on the street and you take that around to people, and you love it, you can get it made, and I just don't know if that's how it's working anymore."
If the Wolverine rumours are true, White has clearly made things right with Marvel Studios and landed himself one of the most highly sought-after roles in Hollywood after James Bond. For now, we'll have to wait and see whether the rumours pan out.
Directed by Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*), the untitled X-Men movie stars Kit Connor (Heartstopper) as Scott Summers, Sadie Sink (Spider-Man: Brand New Day) as Jean Grey, Inde Navarrette (Obsession) as Rogue, Asa Germann (Gen V) as Angel, Ben Wang (The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping), Maya Boyd (& Juliet) as Storm, and Christopher Abbott (Catch-22) as Professor Charles Xavier.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) also stars as Emma Frost, alongside Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who plays Nathaniel Milbury, an alias of Mister Sinister in the comics. There are also rumours that Marvel Studios will introduce Apocalypse as the next Saga's big bad.
X-Men will be released exclusively in theaters May 5, 2028.