News broke the other day from the mouth of Patrick Stewart himself that he was in talks to join up with Hugh Jackman in the next Wolverine movie. (The Wolverine 2? Wolverine 3? Whatever you call it.) It looks like the plan is to feature Professor Xavier in the sequel to James Mangold’s film in some way. We caught up with Jackman on Tuesday to get his comment on the situation, and, as expected, he skirted around the topic.
We haven't had [Charles Xavier] in the Wolverine movies, and it’s always been a really important relationship to understand. ... I’m not gonna deny it, but I’m not gonna not not not say it’s true… not. You got it?
That's one of the best non-denial non-confirmations we've heard. While he couldn’t for obvious reasons reveal any details on what this film might entail, he did confirm that it will be based on an existing comic book arc. When asked about that specifically, he joked:
Yeah. Ask Patrick
With James Mangold's The Wolverine based on the character’s famous Japan Saga in the comic books -- which offered a darker dive into the superhero’s psyche -- where might he take us next with his longtime confidante and mentor Professor X by his side? What side of the character might we see next? Not much else is known about The Wolverine 2, except from what the actor said about actively working on this film with director James Mangold with a script from David James Kelly.
Earlier, Jackman commented on the future of Wolverine’s character in light of the major news that Sony and Marvel are working together to bring Spider-Man into the MCU fold. Though the adamantium-clawed anti-hero is in 20th Century Fox terrain, he seemed to pine for the "ideal world" when a Wolverine-Avengers crossover could happen on screen.
As the next Wolverine movie is scheduled for release on March 3, 2017, with X-Men: Apocalypse a year before that on May 27, 2016, the actor previously said that he expects to shoot both of these films back to back. Up to this date, the previous Wolverine films have kept Logan separate from his brothers and sisters in the X-Men universe, though he pined heavily for his lost love, Jean Grey, in Mangold's The Wolverine. There was a post-credits sequence at the end of that film which set up X-Men: Days of Future Past -- as well as a Happy Ending coda that concluded Bryan Singer's film. Jackman and Stewart's comments have us wondering when, specifically, this next Wolverine movie could take place -- but it certainly sounds like the actors are ready to work together once again as these iconic characters!
